[A discussion on surgical procedures to palliate symptoms for home medical care].

In the field of digestive tract surgery, QOL can be significantly decreased in patients who experience recurrence or metastasis of a cancer, not only by digestive tract disorders that prevent the patient from taking a meal, but also by installation of gastric or ileus tubes. For such patients, surgical procedures aimed to palliate their symptoms are necessary, rather than radical surgeries. We examined 24 cases at our department, for which operations were performed with the aim of palliating their symptoms, during the 4-year period from October 2001 to December 2005.

[Prediction and treatment of peritoneal dissemination in gastric cancer].

In advanced gastric cancer, the frequency of relapses such as metastasis to the peritoneum is high. For this reason, prognostic and treatment methods were studied. In 457 cases in which diagnostic cytology was utilized, 36 (61%) of the 59 cases in which dissemination had been macroscopically observed (P 1) were positive.

Regulation of interleukin-12 gene expression and its anti-tumor activities by prostaglandin E2 derived from mammary carcinomas.

Interleukin-12 (IL-12)-mediated immune responses are critical for the control of malignant development. Tumors can actively resist detrimental immunity of the host via many routes. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is one of the major immune-suppressive factors derived from many types of tumors.

Gene expression analysis in Interleukin-12-induced suppression of mouse mammary carcinoma.

Interleukin-12 (IL-12) has potent antitumor activities via natural killer cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes. However, the molecular mechanisms whereby IL-12 induces tumoricidal activities are poorly understood. Here, we report the genome-wide analysis of gene expression in a primary murine mammary carcinoma model that resembles human breast cancer, following the therapeutic application of recombinant IL-12, which restricted tumor growth and metastasis.

Genome-wide analysis of molecular changes in IL-12-induced control of mammary carcinoma via IFN-gamma-independent mechanisms.

IL-12 is a major activator of tumor-killing NK cells and CTL. IFN-gamma mediates most of the well-known immunological activities of IL-12. In this study, we report IFN-gamma-independent activities induced by therapeutic application of rIL-12 in restricting tumor growth and metastasis in the 4T1 murine mammary carcinoma model.