The risk of cancer in rheumatoid patients in Japan.

In order to clarify the risk of cancer development in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the incidence of malignant tumors during a follow-up period was investigated in RA patients at the Center for Adult Diseases, Osaka, Japan. Six hundred and fifty-five eligible rheumatoid patients (131 males, 524 females) who were admitted to our institute between 1980 and 1989 were matched against the files of the Osaka Cancer Registry. Among them, a total of 26 patients (5 males, 21 females) were noted to have developed some kinds of cancer.

Scanning electron microscopic observations on gastric mucus secretion in rats, and the effects of tetraprenylacetone.

Mucus secretion in the gastric mucosa of rats was studied with a scanning electron microscope. After stimulation, two types of mucus secretion were observed: exocytosis and apical expulsion. Prolonged administration of tetraprenylacetone (TPA) significantly increased the number of mucus-secreting cells in both the gastric corpus and antrum 12 h after the last administration of TPA.

Detection of c-erbB-2 gene amplification in nipple discharge by means of polymerase chain reaction.

In a patient with non-palpable breast carcinoma, c-erbB-2 gene amplification was detected by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the small number of breast carcinoma cells present in nipple discharge. Amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene is more frequent in carcinoma in situ than in invasive types. Detection by a PCR-based method may help diagnose non-palpable breast carcinoma with nipple discharge.

Survival rates of childhood cancer patients in Osaka, Japan, 1975-1984.

Survival rates for childhood cancers were analyzed with a total of 2,209 cases who were registered in a population-based cancer registry in Osaka, Japan in 1975-1984. These cases were reclassified according to Birch's classification and the survival rate of each diagnostic group was calculated by Kaplan-Meier methods. Death certificate-only cases, which amounted to 3.

No effect of RU 486 (mifepristone) on hepatocellular tumorigenesis in orchiectomized male mice induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene.

Effects of RU 486 (mifepristone) on hepatocellular tumorigenesis in orchiectomized male mice induced by 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-Me-DAB) were investigated. Male mice that had been treated with 3'-Me-DAB neonatally were orchiectomized at one month of age, and injected daily with vehicle only or RU 486 at 0.2 or 0.

Dye-injection method for placement of an infusion catheter in regional hepatic chemotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the usefulness of a dye-injection method in the placement of an infusion catheter and port via proximal branches of the axillary artery for hepatic infusion chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Sixteen patients with surgically unresectable hepatic cancer underwent transfemoral hepatic arteriography. Then a 3-F coaxial catheter was inserted into a proximal branch of the left axillary artery.

Mode of differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, by 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3.

Differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells, HL-60, has been extensively studied. In this study we utilized 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (D3) as a potent inducer and cellular superoxide production as the functional differentiation marker. We examined how nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) positive cells were produced in the presence of D3.

A new approach for performing a one-stage operation through the mediastinum to resect bilateral lung metastases: report of a case.

We describe herein a new operative technique for reaching the opposite lung from the thoracotomy site through the mediastinum. This procedure was successfully performed on a 76-year-old woman with bilateral lung metastases whose case is presented. After resection of the right lower lobe which contained two metastases, the anterior mediastinum was opened, and contralateral metastasis located in the lingular segment was resected using a neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser.

Effectiveness of galactose-based intravenous contrast medium on color Doppler sonography of deeply located hepatocellular carcinoma.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of intravenously injectable sonographic contrast medium for color Doppler sonographic diagnosis of deeply located hepatocellular carcinoma. Subjects were 7 hepatocellular carcinomas, an adenomatous hyperplasia and a hemangioma located more than 7 cm below the abdominal surface. Levovist, a galactose-based sonographic contrast medium was injected through median cubital vein as a phase-two clinical study, and the pre- and post-enhanced color Doppler sonographic findings of these lesions were compared.

Antiangiogenic substance(s) in a tumor cell line with low metastatic potential originating from the BALB/c mouse liver.

Two cell lines were established from liver cells (BALB/c mouse) exposed to benzo(a)pyrene: one was highly metastatic (G-5) and the other poorly metastatic (G-1) to the lung when subcutaneously implanted. However, there was no difference in lung colonization between G-1 and G-5 cells when they were intravenously injected. When G-1 cells were subcutaneously inoculated on one side of the back of mice followed by a challenge on the other side with G-5 cells 10 days later, the growth of the latter tumor was inhibited and the number of metastatic nodules in the lung was reduced.

Demonstration of polyclonal origin of giant fibroadenoma of the breast.

We have shown that fibroadenoma of the breast is polyclonal and that phyllodes tumour is monoclonal in origin. It is not known whether a giant fibroadenoma which is histologically identical to the more usual type of fibroadenoma but grows to be a huge mass, like a phyllodes tumour, is polyclonal or monoclona. Clonal analysis was conducted on the DNA samples extracted from the paraffin sections of a giant fibroadenoma resected from a 21-year-old woman.

Assessment of immunoassays for insulin in diagnostic tests for insulinoma.

An immunoassay for insulin using a monoclonal insulin-specific antibody has been marketed in Japan for 2 years. This new assay may yield different plasma insulin (IRI) values from those obtained by the conventional immunoassay because of its high specificity. In this study, we compared IRI values obtained by three different immunoassays, assays P, M1 and M2, the last two of which involved monoclonal antibodies.

[Recent advance of hormonal treatment for breast cancer].

Since ER positivity in breast cancer is highest in the early stage of its natural history, hormonal treatment should be given as the initial treatment after both surgery and recurrence. Tamoxifen and medroxyprogesterone acetate have been commonly used as the standard hormonal treatment with a response rate of 20-30% and a median duration of response of 6-10 months. New agents for hormone therapy include tamoxifen analogues, LH-RH analogues and aromatase inhibitors.

Clonal analysis of regenerative nodules in hepatitis C virus-induced liver cirrhosis.

Background/aims: Based on histological criteria, regenerative nodules in cirrhotic liver have been generally considered to result from hyperplastic proliferation of hepatocytes. Whether these nodules are hyperplastic or neoplastic has not been determined definitively. This study examined the issue by clonal analysis of each nodule.

Antiarrhythmic effects of eicosapentaenoic acid during myocardial infarction--enhanced cardiac microsomal (Ca(2+)-Mg2+)-ATPase activity.

The effects of dietary supplementation with eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on ventricular arrhythmias during myocardial infarction were examined in a canine model. EPA was incorporated into cellular membranes after ingestion of EPA-ester (100 mg/kg body weight/day) for 8 weeks. The ratio of EPA to arachidonic acid (AA) in platelet cell membranes and myocardial microsomes was significantly increased (7% to 37% in platelet cell membranes; p < 0.

Effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine and/or L-arginine on experimental pulmonary metastasis in mice.

Effects of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; an inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) synthase) and/or L-arginine (substrate of NO synthase) on pulmonary metastasis of murine melanoma and Lewis lung carcinoma cells were investigated. L-NAME, L-arginine or both L-NAME and L-arginine was injected i.p.

The functions of the ninth component of human complement are sustained by disulfide bonds with different susceptibilities to reduction.

Purified C9 with expected hemolytic and polymerizing activities was found to contain approximately 0.2 mol of sulfhydryl groups/mol of C9. By proteolysis of C9 with labeled SH groups, the SH residues on intact C9 were mapped to Cys-359 and Cys-384 which, presumably, form an intra-domain disulfide bond in the intact molecule.

Retinoblastoma protein expression in lung cancer: an immunohistochemical analysis.

Several analyses of the retinoblastoma (RB) gene in lung cancer at the DNA, mRNA and protein levels have recently been reported. In particular, small cell lung carcinoma shows a high incidence of RB gene abnormalities, suggesting that alterations of this gene may participate in tumor development. In the present study, we used an immunohistochemical technique with a monoclonal antibody raised against RB protein (PMG3-245) to detect its expression in representative paraffin sections of tissues obtained from 108 patients with various types of lung cancer treated by surgical resection of the primary tumor.

Identification of a unique antigen peptide pRL1 on BALB/c RL male 1 leukemia recognized by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and its relation to the Akt oncogene.

BALB/c radiation leukemia RL male 1 is an immunogenic tumor. We established bulk and cloned cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) lines from regressor (BALB/c x C57BL/6)F1 (CB6F1) spleen cells that recognized RL male 1 specifically. We then obtained antigen peptide recognized by CTL from RL male 1 by acid extraction.

Diagnosis of colorectal tumors by the endoscopic Congo red-methylene blue test.

The endoscopic Congo red-methylene blue test was performed on 51 tumors of the large intestine. Results revealed that colorectal adenocarcinomas and adenomas bleached the Congo red and methylene blue sprayed over their surface and so appeared in sharp contrast to the bluish red mucosa of unaffected areas. No bleaching of the dyes was observed on the surface of non-neoplastic polyps.

[The monitoring of cytomegalovirus antigenemia and arterial oxygen saturation for the early detection of cytomegalovirus pneumonia].

Eighteen patients underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo. BMT) during the period May, 1991 to December, 1992 in the Center for Adult Diseases, Osaka. They were monitored for cytomegalovirus (CMV) antigenemia and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2).

Expression of autocrine motility factor receptor in colorectal cancer as a predictor for disease recurrence.

Background: New biologic prognostic factors are needed to guide the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer. The prognostic value of the altered expression of the cell surface glycoprotein gp78, which has been implicated in tumor-cell invasion and metastasis as an autocrine motility factor (AMF) receptor, was evaluated.

Methods: The level of expression of AMF receptor gp78 was analyzed immunohistochemically in tumor specimens from 118 patients who had undergone surgery for colorectal cancer.

[Management of advanced renal cell carcinoma: surgical treatment of metastasis].

The prognosis of advanced renal cell carcinoma, especially with metastatic lesions was very poor. We described the outcome of surgical treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma with metastasis. From 1964 to 1992, 279 cases of renal cancer were treated in the Department of Urology, the Center for Adult Diseases, Osaka.

[Neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy of bladder cancer].

Conventional treatments such as surgery and radiotherapy for deeply invasive, clinically non-metastatic bladder cancer are associated with cure in less than 30% of cases. This has led to the search for new approaches to therapy. Based on the excellent results with combination chemotherapy such as M-VAC in patients with advanced disease, neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy has been advocated to improve survival.

The prognostic significance of surgical margin in liver resection of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To evaluate the prognostic significance of surgical margin in liver resection of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Design: Retrospective study.

Setting: The Center for Adult Diseases, Osaka, Japan, between 1980 and 1989.