Helicobacter pylori eradication treatment does not benefit patients with nonulcer dyspepsia.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the still controversial role of treatment of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in patients with nonulcer dyspepsia.

Methods: We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial comparing the efficacy of 7 days of eradication treatment (lansoprazole 15 mg b.

Intratumor genetic heterogeneity in advanced human colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Colorectal carcinogenesis is widely accepted as one of the best-characterized examples of stepwise progression. The existing colorectal carcinogenesis model assumes genetic homogeneity of individual tumors for the main known genetic alterations: K-ras and p53 genes point mutations and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of chromosome 5q and 18q. The object of the present study was to demonstrate the existence of an intratumor genetic heterogeneity in advanced sporadic colorectal carcinoma for these genetic alterations.

Expression of telomerase genes correlates with telomerase activity in human colorectal carcinogenesis.

The human telomerase enzyme is composed of two essential components, hTR, which acts as a template for reverse transcription, and hTERT, which is the putative catalytic subunit for the enzyme. Recent studies have demonstrated a good correlation between hTERT expression and telomerase activation, whereas RT-PCR results seemed to reveal that hTR is ubiquitously expressed in all cells. These observations left unclear the role of hTR, and to a lesser extent hTERT, in the regulation of telomerase activation.

Isolated granulomatous phlebitis: rare cause of ischemic necrosis of the colon: report of a case.

Isolated phlebitis of the gastrointestinal tract is rare and potentially life threatening. We report on a patient who developed peritonitis, requiring emergency laparotomy, total colectomy, and ileostomy because of colon necrosis. The specimen displayed multiple ulcerations and erosions.

p53 and Ki-ras as prognostic factors for Dukes' stage B colorectal cancer.

Mutations of the TP53 and Ki-ras genes have been reported to be of prognostic importance in colorectal carcinomas. An increased intracellular concentration of the p53 protein, although not identical to, is sometimes seen in tumours with TP53 mutation and has been correlated with poor prognosis in some tumour types. Previous colorectal cancer studies, addressing the prognostic importance of Ki-ras mutation and TP53 aberrations, yielded contradictory results.

Enterocolic (lymphocytic) phlebitis: a rare cause of intestinal ischemic necrosis: a series of six patients and review of the literature.

Vasculitis of the gastrointestinal tract is known to occur as part of a systemic process but also may be present in a localized form involving only the digestive tract. We report the clinical and pathologic findings of six patients with intestinal ischemia and necrosis resulting from localized phlebitis associated with fresh and/or organized thrombosis of intramural mesenteric veins. None of the patients showed clinical or laboratory evidence of systemic vasculitis.

The effects of omeprazole on healing and appearance of small gastric and duodenal lesions during dosing with diclofenac in healthy subjects.

Background: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with gastrointestinal mucosal damage. Omeprazole prevents the formation, and accelerates the healing, of NSAID-induced ulcers.

Aim: To test whether omeprazole accelerates healing of standardized gastroduodenal lesions in the presence of diclofenac.

Oral administration of antigens from intestinal flora anaerobic bacteria reduces the severity of experimental acute colitis in BALB/c mice.

Homeostasis between indigenous intestinal flora and host response may be broken in inflammatory bowel disease. The present study explores whether repeated oral administration of intestinal flora antigens can protect mice against dextran sodium sulphate (DSS)-induced colitis. Sonicates of Gram-positive, Gram-negative, or anaerobic resident bacteria isolated from mouse intestinal flora were fed to BALB/c mice by gastric gavage, with or without cholera toxin.

Evaluation of heterogeneity of DNA ploidy in early gastric cancers.

DNA ploidy has been shown to be a predictive parameter for prognosis in various solid tumours. The prognostic value of DNA-ploidy in gastric cancers is still a matter of controversy. A possible explanation for the discrepant results reported in the literature could be sampling error in tumours with multiple stemlines differing in DNA-ploidy.

Telomerase activation in colorectal carcinogenesis.

Telomerase activity has been detected in germ cells as well as in the developing embryo. Activity is no longer detectable in most somatic cells of the neonate, although low levels of activity persist in regenerative tissues. Telomerase has been found to be reactivated or up-regulated in the majority of cancers.

Prognosis in Duke's B colorectal carcinoma: the Jass classification revisited.

Objective: To assess whether Jass staging enhances prognostic prediction in Dukes' B colorectal carcinoma.

Design: A historical cohort observational study.

Setting: A university tertiary care centre, Switzerland.

Fas and Fas ligand expression in tumor cells and in vascular smooth-muscle cells of colonic and renal carcinomas.

CD95/APO-1 ligand (FasL) is implicated in the maintenance of immune privileged sites by inducing apoptosis of activated infiltrating T lymphocytes. Therefore, progressive tumors might express high levels of FasL and develop as immune privileged sites. In this study, we investigated the expression of FasL and CD95/APO-1 (Fas, the FasL-receptor) in vitro in rat adenocarcinoma cell lines and the localization in situ in normal human kidney and colon and in their adenocarcinomas.

The role of Helicobacter pylori in primary gastric MALT lymphoma.

Aims: Helicobacter pylori has been claimed to be an important aetiological factor which raises the risk of mucosa-associated tissue lymphoid (MALT) lymphoma. However, some studies on gastric MALT lymphoma revealed a low rate of H. pylori infection suggesting that not all gastric lymphomas are related to H.

Aberrant crypt foci in patients with neoplastic and nonneoplastic colonic disease.

Aberrant crypt foci (ACF) are putative preneoplastic lesions that might represent the earliest morphological lesion visible in colonic carcinogenesis. However, findings concerning the growth and morphological features of these lesions in human studies suggest that ACF are highly heterogeneous in nature. In this study, we evaluated the morphological features of a large number of ACF in colon mucosa of 26 patients with colorectal carcinoma (CRC), four patients with adenoma as well as seven patients with nonneoplastic colonic diseases.

Early gastric carcinoma with focal advanced cancer: a particular subtype of gastric carcinoma.

Early gastric cancer (EGC) is defined as a carcinoma limited to the mucosa or mucosa and submucosa, irrespective of whether metastasis to lymph nodes has occurred. EGC presents a much more favorable prognosis than advanced gastric carcinoma (AGC), with a 5-year survival rate between 88% and 96% for EGC versus 45% to 50% for AGC. Moreover, some gastric cancers appear as a more or less extended EGC with focal AGC (fAGC).

Budesonide in the treatment of collagenous colitis.

Collagenous colitis is characterized by watery diarrhea and inflammatory infiltration associated with a subepithelial collagen deposit on colonic biopsies despite a normal or subnormal endoscopic appearance. We here describe 5 patients treated with the locally active steroid budesonide. Complete and partial response was observed in 3 and 2 patients, respectively.

The type of K-ras mutation determines prognosis in colorectal cancer.

Background: Mutations involving the oncogene K-ras in colorectal cancer may be related to tumor aggressiveness. However, the value of K-ras gene determination as a prognostic marker has not been clearly established.

Patients And Methods: The results from 98 patients recruited in a prospective study analyzing the effect of a K-ras mutation as a prognostic factor in colorectal cancer are reported.

Alterations in plasminogen activation correlate with epithelial cell dysplasia grading in colorectal adenomas.

Proteases are important for neoplastic invasion but a specific role for the plasminogen activator system in the progression of colorectal epithelial dysplasia to adenomatous lesions remains unclear. Consecutive tissue cryosections of 51 adenomas, 49 distant mucosa samples and five mucosa samples from control subjects were histopathologically analysed for dysplasia grade and tissue type, urokinase plasminogen activator levels and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) using immunosorbent methods. Plasminogen activation and urokinase-mediated proteolytic activity levels were assessed using in situ zymography.

Neonatal injection of native proton pump antigens induces autoimmune gastritis in mice.

Background & Aims: Autoimmune gastritis is associated with gastric H+, K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase)-specific autoantibodies (HKAb). The (auto) antigen that triggers disease and the pathogenic role of the autoantibodies are unknown. The aim of this study was to analyze when these autoantibodies are produced during autoimmune gastritis in neonatally thymectomized mice and whether a native H+, K(+)-ATPase antigen preparation can induce disease in mice.

Genetic heterogeneity in sporadic colorectal adenomas.

The majority of colorectal cancers develop from adenomatous polyps under the influence of factors that are still poorly understood. Tumourigenesis is generally considered a multistep process in which multiple genetic alterations occur, eventually reflected in abnormalities of the cellular DNA content. Macroscopical features such as tumour size and tumour architecture (tubular, tubulovillous, or villous) are correlated wit the chance of malignancy in the lesion.

In situ stromal expression of the urokinase/plasmin system correlates with epithelial dysplasia in colorectal adenomas.

An increase of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and a decrease of tissue-type PA (tPA) have been associated with the transition from normal to adenomatous colorectal mucosa. Serial sections from 25 adenomas were used to identify PA-related caseinolytic activities by in situ zymography, blocking selectively uPA or tPA. The distribution of uPA, tPA, and type 1 PA inhibitor mRNAs was investigated by nonradioactive in situ hybridization, and the receptor for uPA was detected by immunostaining.

Digestive leishmaniasis in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: a light and electron microscopic study of two cases.

An increased incidence of visceral leishmaniasis in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is observed in areas in which both infectious diseases are endemic. Intensive worldwide traveling has also resulted recently in an increasing number of leishmanial and HIV coinfections in nonendemic areas. We describe the clinical, light microscopic, and ultrastructural features of two cases of imported, HIV-related, visceral leishmaniasis involving the alimentary tract, including the esophagus, the stomach, the duodenum, the ileum, the colon, and the rectum.

Effects of misoprostol on healing and prevention of biopsy-induced gastroduodenal lesions occurring during the administration of diclofenac to volunteers.

Aim: To determine whether misoprostol promotes the healing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced gastroduodenal lesions in a human experimental model.

Methods: Mucosal damage and healing of mucosal biopsy sites were assessed endoscopically in 10 healthy, Helicobacter pylori-negative volunteers with a normal initial endoscopy: they were enrolled in a double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled cross-over study. They received 2-week courses of misoprostol (200 micrograms b.