Joint symptoms, aromatase inhibitor-related adverse reactions, are indirectly associated with decreased serum estradiol.

Background. Joint symptoms (JSs) are problematic adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of aromatase inhibitors (AIs). Involvement of decreased serum estradiol (SE) has been suggested.

The time since last menstrual period is important as a clinical predictor for non-steroidal aromatase inhibitor-related arthralgia.

Background: The clinical predictors of aromatase inhibitor-related arthralgia (AIA), a drug-related adverse reaction of aromatase inhibitors (AIs), remain unclear.

Methods: AIA was prospectively surveyed every 4 months in 328 postmenopausal breast cancer patients administered a non-steroidal AI (anastrozole). Various clinicopathological parameters were recorded and analyzed (chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression analysis).

Expression of p53, Ki-67, E-cadherin, N-cadherin and TOP2A in triple-negative breast cancer.

Background: Elucidation of the biological features of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is important for deciding treatment strategies. The expression of a number of biomarkers in TNBC was analyzed to elucidate those features.

Patients And Methods: The subjects were 134 TNBC patients.

Among triple-negative breast cancers, HER2(0) breast cancer shows a strong tendency to be basal-like compared with HER2(1+) breast cancer: preliminary results.

Background: Diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (ER-negative, PgR-negative, HER2-negative; TNBC) is performed by means of immunohistological staining. HER2-negative includes HER2(0) and HER2(1+), based on differences in the staining intensity, but there have been no reports on comparison of these two types in TNBC. Accordingly, this study was designed to investigate the possible differences in the biological characteristics of HER2(0) breast cancer and HER2(1+) breast cancer in TNBC.

Serum estradiol should be monitored not only during the peri-menopausal period but also the post-menopausal period at the time of aromatase inhibitor administration.

Background: Aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy is being extensively used as postoperative adjuvant therapy in patients with hormone receptor-positive postmenopausal breast cancer. On the other hand, it has been reported that ovarian function was restored when AI was administered to patients who had undergone chemical menopause with chemotherapy or tamoxifen. However, there have been no reports of comprehensive monitoring of estradiol (E2) in breast cancer patients with ordinary menopause who were being administered AI.

Current status of breast cancer screening in the world.

The mortality associated with breast cancer is decreasing in Europe and the United States. There are various reasons for these trends, including an increase in detection of early-stage breast cancers due to increased use of mammographic screening and the establishment of standardized systemic treatments based on evidence-based medicine. However, in Japanese women, both the morbidity and the mortality of breast cancer are increasing.

Aberrant methylation of tumour-related genes in thymic epithelial tumours.

Background: Thymoma is an uncommon neoplasm derived from epithelial cells of the thymus. Few studies have addressed the genetic alterations that occur in the tumourigenesis of thymoma.

Methods: We examined aberrant DNA methylation of DAP-K, p-16, MGMT and HPP1 genes in 26 thymomas and 6 thymic carcinoma to clarify the association between aberrant DNA methylation and clinicopathological features.

A case of matrix-producing carcinoma of the breast.

Background: Matrix-producing carcinoma (MPC) of the breast is one variant type of metaplastic carcinoma. The cellular origin of MPC remains unclear. It has been suggested the tumor cells in MPC have the combined characteristics of both epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells.

Thymidine phosphorylase and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase are predictive factors of therapeutic efficacy of capecitabine monotherapy for breast cancer-preliminary results.

Capecitabine monotherapy was administered for 25 patients with advanced or recurrent breast cancer, and the clinical therapeutic efficacy and its relationship to expression of 5-fluorouracil-related enzymes (i. e., thymidine phosphorylase (TP), thymidylate synthase (TS) and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD)) were investigated.

Screening for basal marker expression is necessary for decision of therapeutic strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.

Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative and Her2-negative) can be classified into two subtypes: basal and non-basal phenotype. Among these subtypes the basal phenotype is associated with poor outcome. Ordinarily, clinicopathological testing involves only screening for ER, PgR and Her2, and for this reason the therapeutic approach that is decided for triple-negative disease is usually the same regardless of the subtype.

[Safety evaluation of adjuvant chemotherapy by weekly paclitaxel combined with weekly carboplatin in patients with postoperative non-small cell lung cancer].

Favorable results of various comparative studies have been reported in recent years regarding adjuvant chemotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), resulting in an increase in the number of facilities that proactively conduct adjuvant chemotherapy in Japan. In the present study, we evaluate the tolerability of a postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimen conducted in our facility using paclitaxel (PTX) and carboplatin (CBDCA). Thirteen patients who received weekly PTX and CBDCA as postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy were evaluated retrospectively.

Bilateral male breast cancer with male potential hypogonadism.

Background: Male breast cancer is a comparatively rare disease, and simultaneous bilateral male breast cancer is considered to be an extremely rare event. Risk factors are said to be genetic factors and hormonal abnormalities due to obesity or testicular diseases.

Case Presentation: The patient was a 47-year-old Japanese male.

Chromosomal aneusomy (chr 1, 11, 17) detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization may be a prognostic factor in breast cancer.

The relationship between clinicopathological findings and the long-term prognosis was investigated in 42 breast cancer patients in whom aneusomy was detected for chromosomes 1, 11 and 17. The frequencies of aneusomy of those chromosomes were 78.6%, 47.

Current status of sentinel lymph node navigation surgery in breast and gastrointestinal tract.

Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) has been developed as a new diagnostic and therapeutic modality in melanoma and breast cancer surgery. The purpose of the SLNB include preventing the operative morbidity and improving the pathologic stage by focusing on fewer lymph nodes using immunocytochemic and molecular technology has almost achieved in breast cancer surgery. The prognostic meaning of immunocytochemically detected micrometastases is also evaluating in the SLN and bone marrow aspirates of women with early-stage breast cancer.

False-positives in fine-needle aspiration cytology of breast disease can be reduced with p63 immunostaining--a preliminary report.

Myoepithelial cells of the mammary gland are considered to be a key to distinguishing benign from malignant disease in fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology. However, identification of these cells with Papanicolaou staining is not easy. The identification of myoepithelial cells was investigated using p63 antibodies to carry out immunostaining of FNA specimens that had been used at the time of Papanicolaou staining for 37 patients who yielded false-positives in FNA.

The reduced expression and aberrant methylation of p16(INK4a) in chromate workers with lung cancer.

Study Objectives: It is known that chromium is one of the important inhaled carcinogens that cause lung cancer. Our previous studies revealed a variety of genetic changes in lung cancers from chromate-exposed workers (chromate lung cancer). However, the epigenetic effects of chromium are not understood.

Matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor MMI-166 inhibits lymphogenous metastasis in an orthotopically implanted model of lung cancer.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are considered to be critically involved in tumor invasion and the metastasis of various cancers. MMI-166 is a selective inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-14). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of MMI-166 on both the growth of the implanted tumor and the lymph node metastasis of the mediastinum and prolonging the life span, using an orthotopic implantation model of the Ma44-3 cancer cell line.

Lower axillary dissection in breast cancer surgery may be candidate for cases with early breast cancer.

Lower axillary lymph node dissection (lower parts of both the level I and II elements below the second intracostobrachial nerve) and level I and II lymph node dissection were performed on breast cancer patients (n = 54), and the results with the two methods were compared in terms of the status of detected lymph node metastases. For Stage I, N0 cases, the results for pathological classification lymph node metastases (pN) were in agreement between the two dissection methods. And, the occurrence of operated arm swelling wasn't recognized when a side effect was examined with the case (n = 28) that only lower axillary dissection was carried out in case of an operation for breast cancer.

Establishment of patient-like SCID mouse model by orthotopically implanting primary cultured cells from surgically-resected lung cancer tissues.

In our previous studies, we established a lymphogenous metastatic SCID mouse model using orthotopic implantation of human lung cancer cell lines. However, the lymphogenous metastatic potential of each cell line in our models does not reflect that of a primary tumor. In this study, we made orthotopic implanted models using primary cultured cells from surgically-resected lung cancer tissues.