The anti-tumor effect of Apo2L/TRAIL on patient pancreatic adenocarcinomas grown as xenografts in SCID mice.

BACKGROUND: Apo2L/TRAIL has considerable promise for cancer therapy based on the fact that this member of the tumor necrosis factor family induces apoptosis in the majority of malignant cells, while normal cells are more resistant. Furthermore, in many cells, when Apo2L/TRAIL is combined with chemotherapy, the effect is synergistic. The majority of this work has been carried out using cell lines.

Characterization of KLK4 expression and detection of KLK4-specific antibody in prostate cancer patient sera.

The ability to identify prostate tumor or prostate tissue specific genes that are expressed at high levels and use their protein products as targets could greatly aid in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based subtraction technique, we have recovered the recently described KLK4 (prostase) gene from human prostate cDNA. In this study, KLK4 gene expression in human prostate tumors was further characterized using cDNA quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry, demonstrating that the gene is specifically expressed at both the mRNA and protein levels in normal human prostate tissue, and in both primary and metastatic prostate tumor samples.

Clinicopathologic effects of cryotherapy on hepatic vessels and bile ducts in a porcine model.

Background: The proximity of a hepatic tumor to major vessels and bile ducts limits the use of cryotherapy because of the potential damage to these structures. However, the effects of cryotherapy on major hepatic vessels and bile ducts are not well understood.

Methods: Nine pigs underwent laparotomy and intraoperative ultrasound to identify hepatic vessels larger than 5.

Utility of mapping lymph nodes cleared from rectal adenocarcinoma specimens.

The lymph node clearing technique improves the detection of lymph nodes in colorectal cancer specimens. The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of mapping the lymph nodes cleared from rectal adenocarcinoma specimens by evaluating the possible relationship between the pattern of lymph node metastases to the site of the recurrent disease. A retrospective medical record review was performed in 40 patients with primary rectal adenocarcinoma.

Clinical significance of colorectal cancer: metastases in lymph nodes < 5 mm in size.

Background: The clinical significance of metastases in small lymph nodes is not known. Our objective was to evaluate possible relationships between the number and size of lymph node metastases and survival after potentially curative colorectal resection.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed in patients with Dukes'C (any T, N(1-3') M0) colorectal cancers from July 31, 1971 to December 31, 1987.

Cellular proliferative activity of mammographic normal dense and fatty tissue determined by DNA S phase percentage.

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate associations among mammographic normal dense and fatty tissue, benign histologic findings, and cellular proliferative activity determined by DNA S phase percentages. Mammographic and histologic findings of benign, normal dense and fatty tissue contained in 100 excised specimens were cross-tabulated with flow cytometric DNA S phase percentages of needle aspirates obtained under radiographic guidance. Histologic evidence of atypia or hyperplasia was present in 21 (32%) of 66 fatty tissue samples and 11 (32%) of 34 dense tissue samples (p = NS).

Curative resection for stage I rectal cancer: natural history, prognostic factors, and recurrence patterns.

Our goal was to evaluate the recurrence patterns and outcomes of a large group of patients with stage I rectal adenocarcinoma treated at a single institution with uniform surgical and pathological techniques. Medical records of 71 patients who had undergone potentially curative surgery were reviewed to determine clinical and histologically significant prognostic factors that could affect survival and recurrence patterns. The median follow-up for all patients was 81 months.

Intraoperative small bowel enteroscopy in familial adenomatous and familial juvenile polyposis.

Background: In familial adenomatous polyposis and juvenile polyposis, polyps can occur throughout the gastrointestinal tract.

Methods: We report seven patients with familial adenomatous polyposis and two patients with juvenile polyposis who underwent small bowel enteroscopy at the time of exploratory celiotomy either for colectomy or other pathology.

Results: Polyps in the jejunum and/or ileum were noted in five of nine (56%) patients at enteroscopy.

Malignant melanoma of the gallbladder: report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of primary melanoma of the gallbladder is presented and review of the literature. Eighteen cases have been previously reported. The diagnosis is usually not made preoperatively.

In situ breast carcinoma after treatment during adolescence for thyroid cancer with radioiodine.

We reviewed the courses of patients treated during childhood or adolescence for thyroid cancer to estimate the frequency of, and to identify possible risk factors for, the occurrence of second malignant tumors in this population. We identified all patients treated for thyroid cancer in a cohort of 1,406 pediatric cancer patients who were diagnosed prior to 20 years of age during the period January 1, 1960 through December 31, 1988 and who were treated at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Twelve patients were treated for thyroid cancer, of whom nine were women.

Endocrine organ metastases in subjects with lobular carcinoma of the breast.

Objective: To define the frequency and pattern of endocrine organ metastases in patients dying of invasive lobular carcinoma.

Design: Postmortem microscopic evaluation of the ovaries and adrenal, pituitary, thyroid, and parathyroid glands for breast cancer metastases.

Setting: Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY, between 1971 and 1990.

Atypical hyperplasia: frequency and mammographic and pathologic relationships in excisional biopsies guided with mammography and clinical examination.

Purpose: To ascertain the frequency and pathologic relationships of atypical hyperplasia in biopsy specimens obtained after clinical and mammographic examination.

Materials And Methods: Clinical, mammographic, and histologic findings were prospectively correlated in 300 consecutive excisional biopsies.

Results: Atypical hyperplasia was detected in 26 (17%) of 154 biopsies with benign findings and 19 (13%) of 146 biopsies with malignant findings overall (P > .

Evaluation of porfimer sodium fluorescence for measuring tissue transformation.

Background: Neoplastic tissue can be detected by its increased fluorescence compared with surrounding normal tissue after the injection of the tumor-localizing compound porfimer sodium (Photofrin; Quadra Logic Technologies, Vancouver, BC, Canada). In vivo fluorescence photometry is a nonimaging photodetector technique that detects specific 690 nm fluorescence of the porphyrin by subtracting nonspecific 612 nm excitation from 630 nm excitation. The technique was applied in the developmental stages of the 9,10 dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (DMBA)-induced hamster buccal cheek pouch carcinoma model to (1) quantitate and characterize porfimer sodium fluorescence and uptake as it relates to lesion progression and biochemical changes and (2) determine whether porfimer sodium-induced fluorescence will vary with promotional and inhibitory stimuli.

Results of salvage mastectomy for local recurrence after breast-conserving surgery without radiation therapy.

Background: Between 1975 and 1987, 128 patients with infiltrating breast cancer, categorized as clinical Stage I and II disease, were treated by breast conservation surgery without radiation therapy.

Materials: After a median disease-free interval of 20 months (range, 8-64 months), 25 of 128 patients had local recurrence, for which salvage mastectomy was performed. The results of modified radial mastectomy as a salvage procedure were analyzed in these 25 patients.

Patterns of occurrence of second primary non-mammary malignancies in breast cancer patients: results from 1382 consecutive autopsies.

An autopsy series on the patterns of occurrence of second primary non-mammary malignancies (SPNM) in breast cancer patients is presented. SPNM occurred in 11.4% of breast cancer patients at a mean interval of 83.

Flow cytometric DNA analysis of excised breast lesions: use of fresh tissue needle aspirates obtained under guidance with mammography of the specimen.

Eighty consecutive biopsy specimens were studied to determine whether DNA analysis could be performed on fine-needle aspirates of excised clinically occult breast lesions obtained under guidance with mammography of the specimen before fixation to offer the advantages of fresh-tissue analysis. With use of single aspirates, cytologic analysis was possible in 50 cases (62%); DNA analysis was possible in 75 cases (94%). These methods combined offered no statistically significant increase in sensitivity for detection of malignancy compared with cytologic analysis alone.

Multiple myeloma presenting as space-occupying lesions of the liver.

Initial myeloma presentation as discrete liver nodules is unusual. A 59-year-old man who presented with hepatomegaly and multiple space-occupying lesions in the liver and who was found to have a lambda light chain multiple myeloma with hepatic plasmacytomas is described and a review of liver involvement in multiple myeloma is presented.

Intraductal carcinoma. Analysis of presentation, pathologic findings, and outcome of disease.

A retrospective analysis of 52 patients with intraductal carcinoma or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and 30 patients with microinvasive DCIS was performed. All patients but one were treated by mastectomy. The average follow-up was 5 1/2 years.

Metastatic basal cell carcinoma of the skin. Metastasis to the skeletal system producing myelophthisic anemia.

In the typical patient with a metastasizing basal cell carcinoma, the tumor is large, ulcerated, and has been neglected. Recurrences are common, and the tumor is usually refractory to all modalities of treatment. Our patient neglected to seek medical help for 10 years, at which time metastases were already present.