[A case of an advanced gastric cancer patient on hemodialysis achieving long-term progression-free survival after CPT-11+CDDP therapy].

A 59-year-old male with chronic kidney disease was diagnosed as having advanced gastric cancer(cT2N1P0H1M0), and CPT-11+CDDP therapy was started for him simultaneously with hemodialysis(HD). Serum CDDP concentrations were measured in the 1st course, and free-platinum(f-Pt)showing the anti-tumor effect was found to be eliminated by HD. Serum f-Pt levels, however, re-elevated until 24 hours after HD completion.

Activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 correlates with cell proliferation and renal injury in human glomerulonephritis.

Background: Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 plays an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation. However, the mechanism of STAT3 activation in human glomerulonephritis is unclear.

Methods: STAT3 activation was determined using immunohistochemistry for phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3) in normal human kidney and various types of glomerulonephritis.

Simple surgical treatment for pleuroperitoneal communication without interruption of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

Pleuroperitoneal communication is a complication of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) that can necessitate cessation of CAPD. Hemodialysis was started on a 52-year-old woman and shifted to CAPD 1 month later. However, 18 days after initiation of CAPD, her chest radiograph showed a right-side hydrothorax.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 involvement in the development of renal interstitial fibrosis after unilateral ureteral obstruction.

Background: In vitro studies suggest that the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) plays a critical role in renal fibrosis. However, the process of STAT activation in vivo remains unclear. This study in rats aimed to localize STAT3 activation within the kidney and examine the in vivo relationship between STAT3 activation and renal fibrosis.

Hydnellins A and B, nitrogen-containing Terphenyls from the mushrooms Hydnellum suaveolens and Hydnellum geogerirum.

Fractionation of methanol extracts of the fruit bodies of two inedible mushrooms Hydnellum suaveolens and Hydnellum geogerirum (Thelephoraceae) resulted in isolation of two new p-terphenyl derivatives named hydnellins A and B and sarcodonin delta possessing N-oxide. Their structures were determined by 2D NMR, IR, UV spectroscopy, and chemical reaction. These terphenyls showed moderate antioxidant activity.

PDGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor suppresses mesangial cell proliferation involving STAT3 activation.

Proliferation of mesangial cells is a hallmark of glomerular disease, and understanding the regulatory mechanisms is critically important. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mesangial cell proliferation and phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 and to determine whether the PDGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor STI 571 inhibited mesangial cell proliferation via modulation of STAT3. In this study, we investigated for the first time, the glomerular expression of phosphorylated STAT3 in paraffin sections from animals with experimental mesangial proliferative glomeronephritis.

Effect of lactate and bicarbonate on human peritoneal mesothelial cells, fibroblasts and vascular endothelial cells, and the role of basic fibroblast growth factor.

Background: In patients on long-term continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), peritoneal dysfunction may occur due to loss of peritoneal mesothelial cells, peritoneal fibrosis and neovascularization. Lactate, long used as a buffer in peritoneal dialysates, has been substituted by bicarbonate in recent years. However, their effects on the peritoneum of CAPD patients are unknown.

Viability of, and basic fibroblast growth factor secretion by, human peritoneal mesothelial cells cultured with various components of peritoneal dialysis fluid.

In patients on long-term continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), peritoneal dysfunction is considered to be due to the loss of peritoneal mesothelial cells and to subsequent peritoneal fibrosis and neovascularization. Our aim in the present study was to clarify the role of various components of peritoneal dialysis fluid in the occurrence of peritoneal dysfunction in CAPD patients. We used a cell counting assay and ELISA to study the viability of human peritoneal mesothelial cells and their secretion of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)--which induces peritoneal fibrosis and neovascularization--by cells cultured with various components of peritoneal dialysis fluid.

Interleukin-6 localization and the prognosis of IgA nephropathy.

Various cytokines and growth factors may be involved in IgA nephropathy. To clarify whether interleukin-6 was a prognostic factor for this disease, we investigated interleukin-6 positivity of renal biopsy specimens and its relationship with the prognosis. The subjects were 90 patients with IgA nephropathy (42 males and 48 females with a median age of 32.

An improved method for the detection of differential survival between normal and xeroderma pigmentosum lymphoblastoid cell lines in culture with 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide.

The effects of the UV-mimetic chemical 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO) upon cell lines heterozygous or homozygous for the recessive mutant xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) were investigated. Human lymphoblastoid cell lines, which were established from 4 XP homozygote patients (XPL15, XPL17, XPL19 and XPL20). 2 XP heterozygote individuals (XPPL17 and XPML17) and 58 normal individuals, were cultured in the presence of 4-NQO at doses of 0, 2, 4 and 8 x 10(-6) M.

A case-control study of gastric cancer and diet in northern Kyushu, Japan.

A case-control study of gastric cancer was done in a rural area of northern Kyushu, Japan, in relation to dietary habits especially focusing on the relationship with the consumption of broiled fish. The study was based upon 139 cases of newly diagnosed gastric cancer at a single institution, 2,574 hospital controls and 278 controls sampled randomly from the residents of the study area (with sex and year of birth matched). No association was observed between the consumption of broiled fish and gastric cancer risk whether three types of broiled fish (raw fish, dried fish and salted fish) were analyzed separately or as a single category.

Cigarette smoking, alcohol and cancer mortality: a cohort study of male Japanese physicians.

Mortalities from selected sites of cancer among 5,130 male Japanese physicians followed up for 19 years were examined in relation to smoking and drinking habits surveyed in 1965. With smoking habit classified into three categories (never/past, 1-19 and greater than or equal to 20 cigarettes/day) and drinking habit into four (never/past, occasional, less than 2 and greater than or equal to 2 go of sake/day), the effects of the two factors and their combined effect were analyzed by using the Cox proportional hazard model. Interaction of smoking and drinking was found to be negligible for the sites of cancer studied (upper aerodigestive tract, esophagus, stomach, large bowel, liver and lung), and independent relationships of smoking and drinking with upper aerodigestive cancer were confirmed.

Effect of cigarette smoking and dietary factors on the amount of N-nitrosothiazolidine 4-carboxylic acid and N-nitroso-2-methyl-thiazolidine 4-carboxylic acid in human urine.

The effects of cigarette smoking and dietary factors on urinary excretion of N-nitrosothiazolidine 4-carboxylic acid (NTCA; N-nitrosothioproline) and N-nitroso-2-methylthiazolidine 4-carboxylic acid (NMTCA; N-nitroso-2-methylthioproline) were studied in a male volunteer and in healthy Japanese subjects from the general population and Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA). Twenty-four-hour urine samples from the male volunteer were collected on 20 smoking days and 20 nonsmoking days during ingestion of a fixed diet, and the amounts of urinary N-nitrosamino acids were analysed by gas chromatography-thermal energy analysis. Cigarette smoking caused about two-fold (significant) increases in the amounts of NTCA and NMTCA in the volunteer.

A cohort study on mortality of "yusho" patients: a preliminary report.

In 1968, a mass food poisoning (yusho) occurred in western Japan involving more than 1,850 people, the majority of whom were residents of Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures. The poisoning is now understood to have been caused by ingestion of a commercial brand of rice oil contaminated with polychlorinated derivatives of biphenyls, dibenzofurans, quaterphenyls, and some other related compounds. The number of deaths seen among 1,761 victims (887 males and 874 females) from the date of official registration as yusho up to the end of 1983 was compared with the expected number of deaths which was calculated on the basis of the national age, sex, and cause-specific death rates.

Alcohol and mortality: a cohort study of male Japanese physicians.

The relationship between drinking habit surveyed in 1965 and cause-specific mortality over 19 years was investigated in 5135 male Japanese physicians taking into account smoking habit and separating ex-drinker from non-drinker. As compared with non-drinkers, daily drinkers with high consumption had a significantly increased mortality from all causes. Drinking was significantly related to the so-called alcohol-related causes of death; upper aerodigestive cancer, liver cancer and liver cirrhosis.

Epidemiologic studies on possible health effects of intake of pyrolyzates of foods, with reference to mortality among Japanese Seventh-Day Adventists.

To elucidate the effect of intake of mutagenic and/or carcinogenic pyrolysis products of proteins and amino acids on carcinogenesis in man, we have undertaken two epidemiologic cohort studies: one concerning the possible association of broiled fish consumption with cancer and the other concerning the cancer mortality among Japanese Seventh-Day Adventists. The main findings of these studies are described.

Dietary fiber in the Japanese diet as investigated in connection with colon cancer risk.

The low risk of colon cancer among the Japanese suggests a high intake of dietary fiber. Composite diets for 1959, 1970, and 1979 were prepared using food consumption data from the National Nutrition Survey in Japan and analyzed for non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) at the Dunn Clinical Nutrition Centre in Cambridge. The results showed that average intake of NSP by Japanese in the above years did not exceed 13 g per day, which is as low as the corresponding intake by the Scandinavians and the British, whose risk of colon cancer is known to be high.

Cancer mortality among patients undergoing cholecystectomy for benign biliary diseases.

Potential risks of gastrointestinal cancers after cholecystectomy were examined among 1238 patients who had had their gallbladders extirpated for benign biliary diseases from 1951 to 1970. The observed deaths between 1953 and 1984 were compared with the expected values which were calculated from death rates in Japan. No appreciable excess mortality was found for stomach cancer, colorectal cancer or pancreas cancer in relation to cholecystectomy.

Genetically mediated induction of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in human lymphoblastoid cells by polychlorinated dibenzofuran isomers and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase(AHH)-inducing potency of toxic polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons such as polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) isomers, 3,4,5,3',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (HCB) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was investigated in human lymphoblastoid cell lines with different AHH inducibility for 3-methylcholanthrene (3-MC) obtained from healthy subjects. Each of the cell lines was treated with eight individual PCDF isomers, TCDD, and HCB at doses of 1.9-15 ng/ml of culture medium, 1.

Genetically mediated induction of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in mice by polychlorinated dibenzofuran isomers and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.

Hepatic aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH)-inducing potency of toxic polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons such as polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), 3,4,5,3',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (HCB) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) was studied in four inbred strains of mice with different phenotypes of Ah locus, i.e., AHH-responsive strains: C57BL/6N and AKR/Ms Qdj, and AHH-nonresponsive strains: DBA/2Cr Slc and Qdj; DDD.

Inducing potency of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity in human lymphoblastoid cells and mice by polychlorinated dibenzofuran congeners.

Aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH)-inducing potency of eight polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) isomers, 3,4,5,3',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (HCB) and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxon (TCDD) in two inbred mouse strains (AHH responsive and nonresponsive mouse strains) and eight human lymphoblastoid cell lines (four males and four females) was investigated to evaluate their relative toxic potency. In AHH nonresponsive DBA mouse strain, only TCDD induced hepatic AHH activity at a dose of 30 micrograms/kg, while in AHH responsive C57 mouse strain, six PCDF isomers besides TCDD could enhance the enzyme activity significantly. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzofuran (2,3,7,8-TCDF), 1,2,3,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (1,2,3,7,8-PCDF) and 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (2,3,4,7,8-PCDF) showed the highest AHH inducing activity among the PCDF isomers tested.