Phase I study of CPT-11 and bolus 5-FU/ l-leucovorin in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Background: Irinotecan (CPT-11) and bolus 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) administered weekly for 4 weeks every 42 days (Saltz regimen) is active but substantially toxic in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). The efficacy and toxicity of this regimen, however, have not been determined in Japanese patients with metastatic CRC.

Methods: We investigated the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), and recommended phase II dose (RD) for CPT-11 given i.

The effect of HLA alleles on response to interferon therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Objective: To compare HLA alleles in the patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) between patients with response to IFN treatment and nonresponse.

Method: Sixty-seven Japanese patients with chronic hepatitis C were treated with daily intramuscular administration of IFN-alpha (6 million units) for 2 weeks followed by three times per week for 22 weeks. Viral loads of hepatitis virus C (HCV), HCV genotypes and HLA antigens were determined just before IFN-alpha treatment.

Association of hepatocellular carcinoma and a hyperplastic nodule after phosphate diethylstilbestrol therapy.

We treated a patient in whom a hepatocellular carcinoma and a hyperplastic nodule of the liver concomitantly grew in association with long term phosphate diethylstilbestrol therapy for a carcinoma of the prostate. A 72-year-old Japanese man was admitted for investigation of hepatic masses. A diagnosis of prostate carcinoma had been made seven years ago and phosphate diethylstilbestrol 200 mg daily had been prescribed.

[A case of remission in metastatic lung tumor from hepatocellular carcinoma after combined CDDP and PSK therapy].

Discussed is the case of a 71-year-old man with multiple large hepatocellular carcinomas. His serum AFP level had markedly increased to 115 X 10(4) ng/ml. His AFP level also elevated and multiple lung metastatic tumors appeared after the second TAE therapy of 30 mg ADM, 10 mg MMC.

[A study of familial case histories of hepatocellular carcinoma--285 cases in Saga Prefectural Hospital].

We studied whether familial case histories of a liver cancers might be associated with the high mortality rate from liver cancers in Saga prefecture. Examined were 285 familial case histories of a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incurred by parents, siblings, and children during the past 10 years. Familial case histories of patients with a gastric cancer and/or apoplexy also were studied as controls.

[A clinico-pathological study of hepatocellular carcinoma patients with other primary malignancies].

In examining 293 patients with a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 27 patients (9.2%) were found to have another primary malignancy located elsewhere. Of this number, fifteen were male and twelve were female, with ages that ranged from 53 to 81 years (mean 67.

[Analysis of 293 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma of recent ten years--II. Diagnosis, therapy and prognosis].

Two hundred and ninety-three cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of recent ten years during 1979 and 1988 were analysed on its diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. Angiography was the most useful diagnostic method for the first 5 years. During recent 5 years and for the tumor with size less than 2 cm, however, ultrasonography was the best method.

[Analysis of 293 cases of hepatocellular carcinoma of recent ten years--I. Epidemiology, anamnesis and tumor occupying rate].

Two hundred and ninety-three cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) admitted to the key hospital of the rural area of western Japan, Saga Prefectural Hospital, during 10 years since 1979 to 1988 were analysed retrospectively. The male to female ratio was 3.7 to 1 and the ratio of HBs-Ag positive to negative was 3.

[Clinical analysis of 17 cases of Japanese encephalitis experienced in the last ten years].

We studied on the prognosis-related factors on 17 cases of Japanese encephalitis experienced during the last ten years and compared the clinical features with those in previous reports, especially when the disease was prevalent. The patients, ranging from 33 to 91 years old, consisted of 7 men and 10 women. All of them showed an encephalitis type.

Lack of evidence for a pyruvate kinase isozyme shift in hepatocytes of the regenerating rat liver.

1. Pyruvate kinase isozyme shift in a regenerating rat liver was studied. Rats were subjected to a 70% hepatectomy and the liver homogenate or hepatocyte preparations were obtained from the regenerating liver.

Rendu-Osler-Weber disease with portosystemic encephalopathy.

We treated a Japanese man with Rendu-Osler-Weber disease and a recurrent encephalopathy with hyperammonemia concomitant with recurrent epistaxis, G-I bleeding, congestive heart failure with aortic and mitral regurgitation, and chronic renal failure. At peritoneoscopy, several telangiectasia were noted on the surface of the liver. Angiographical studies revealed widened and tortuous hepatic arteries with early filling of hepatic veins and small pools of contrast medium scattered throughout the parenchyma.

Differentiation of mononucleosis from hepatitis by sonographic measurement of spleen size.

Spleen size in patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) was measured using ultrasound, and the findings were compared with data obtained in cases of acute viral hepatitis (AVH). The size was expressed as the spleen index (SI) or the product of the longitudinal and transverse diameters, expressed in cm2, of the maximum cross-sectional area of the spleen. A normal value obtained from 28 healthy individuals was 15 +/- 7 cm2.

The long-term effect of glucagon on pyruvate kinase activity in primary cultures of hepatocytes.

Glucagon caused a marked decrease in the total L-pyruvate kinase activity of control hepatocytes maintained in monolayer culture (t1/2 = 54 h), while the addition of insulin to hepatocytes isolated from a fasted rat caused a four- to fivefold increase in the total enzyme activity. Maintenance of L-pyruvate kinase in control cultures of hepatocytes was shown to require insulin. However, when 1 microM glucagon was present in the medium, the total L-pyruvate kinase activity was not maintained even in the presence of 1 microM insulin, but rather the total L-pyruvate kinase activity of the cells steadily declined from 12.

Regulation of L-pyruvate kinase activity by insulin and glycolytic intermediates.

The presence of insulin and various carbohydrates in long term cultures of hepatocytes was studied to examine the mechanism by which insulin and glycolytic metabolites regulate L-pyruvate kinase activity. When hepatocytes were isolated from a control rat and cultured in the presence of insulin, a constant level of enzyme activity (16 EU/mg DNA) was maintained for 12 days. The L-pyruvate kinase activity in hepatocytes from refed rats initially was elevated (45 EU/mg DNA) and decreased to control values by the 5th day in culture.

The effect of dexamethasone on pyruvate kinase activity in primary cultures of hepatocytes.

Pyruvate kinase activity in primary cultures of hepatocytes isolated from a normal rat was maintained at a constant level similar to that found in vivo (14.0 +/- 2.8 units per mg of DNA) for over 6 days when both dexamethasone and insulin were included in the medium.

Effect of alpha 2-macroglobulin on the lymphocyte response.

We studied the effect of α-macroglobulin (αMG) on the proliferative response of lymphocytes to several different lectins. This response to concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) was markedly reduced by addition of αMG to the reaction mixture, while that to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was reduced to a lesser extent. Preincubation of lymphocytes with αMG had little effect on the response of the lymphocytes to lectin, when the protein was washed out before addition of the lectin.