Circulating tumor cells (CTC) are newly discovered biomarkers of cancers. Although many systems detect CTC, a gold standard has not yet been established. We analyzed CTC in uterine cervical cancer patients using an advanced version of conditionally replicative adenovirus targeting telomerase-positive cells, which was enabled to infect coxsackievirus-adenovirus receptor-negative cells and to reduce false-positive signals in myeloid cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Obstet Gynaecol Res
March 2017
Positron emission tomography (PET) with fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ( F-FDG) is useful for detecting malignancies, but benign lesions occasionally have false-positive F-FDG uptake. Here, we report the cases of five postmenopausal women with solid ovarian tumors suspected to be ovarian cancer on magnetic resonance imaging and F-FDG uptake. Mean age of the five patients was 57 years (range, 53-65 years).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDienogest (DNG) is a selective progesterone receptor (PR) agonist and oral administration of DNG is used for the treatment of endometriosis. DNG is considered to act on PR to down-regulate pathophysiological factors associated with endometriosis. PR exists as two major isoforms, PR-A and PR-B, and their physiological functions are mostly distinct.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate the impact of estrogen contained in oral contraceptives (OCs) on the action of progestin on ovarian endometrioma epithelial cells.
Design: Experimental in vitro study and immunohistochemical analysis.
Setting: University hospital.
A small subset of cells with CD133 expression is thought to have increased chemoresistance and tumorigenicity, features of cancer stem cells (CSCs); the molecular mechanisms by which these properties arise remain unclear. We characterized CD133+ endometrial cancer cells based on microarray analyses of Ishikawa cells. Of the genes upregulated in CD133+ cells compared with CD133- cells, we noted several key factors involved in the aggressive behavior of cells, including ABCG2 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of molecular target therapy has not been established for endometrial cancer. The present study investigated the potential therapeutic strategy of targeting CD117-positive cancer cells as a novel molecular target therapy. FACS-sorted CD117(+) cells isolated from endometrial cancer cell lines (Ishikawa or MFE280 cells) exhibited higher proliferative capacity in vitro and colony forming activity on soft agar, and decreased sensitivity to cisplatin, compared to CD117(-) cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Although the KRAS mutation is one of critical genetic alterations in endometrial carcinogenesis, the downstream targets are not known.
Experimental Design: In this study, we investigated the molecular targets of KRAS signals, using tumorigenic cells with oncogenic KRAS mutation established from telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT)-immortalized endometrial epithelial cells.
Results: We first confirmed that the RAF-ERK pathway, but not the PI3K-Akt pathway, was activated in KRAS tumorigenic cells.