• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.207-214
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• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate the MRI findings of breast cancer with BRCA mutation. Materials and Methods: We collected information of the breast cancer patients who underwent the test for BRCA gene mutation as well as preoperative breast MRI from January 2007 to December 2010. A total of 185 patients were enrolled; 33 of these patients had BRCA mutations and 152 patients did not. Among them, a total of 231 breast cancers were detected. Images of the 47 breast cancers with BRCA mutation and of the 184 breast cancers without mutations were evaluated to compare the morphologic and enhancement features on MRI. Results: With MR imaging, there were no significant difference in morphologic characteristic between two groups. However, enhancement pattern in the group with BRCA mutation were more likely to have persistent enhancement (p < 0.233), and LN metastasis was more common in breast cancers without BRCA mutation. Breast cancers with BRCA 2 mutation tend to show more persistent enhancement pattern than BRCA 1 mutation. Conclusion: In breast cancer patients with BRCA mutation, MRI didn't show significant difference in morphologic characteristics, however breast cancers with BRCA gene mutation carriers tend to have benign morphologic features on MRI, such as Type 1 kinetic curve enhancement.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.6 s.251
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• pp.421-427
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• 2005

Complete surgical resection is the most effective treatment for pT1/2N1 non-small cell lung cancer, however 5 year survival rate of these patients is about $40\%$ and the major cause of death is recurrent disease. We intended to clarify the risk factors of recurrence in completely resected pT1/2N1 non-small cell lung cancer. Material and Method: From Jan. f990 to Jul. 2003, total of 117 patients were operated for pT1/2N1 non-small cell lung cancer. The risk of recurrence according to patients characteristics, histopathologic findings, type of resection, pattern of lymph node metastasis, postoperative adjuvant treatment were evaluated retrospectively. Result: Mean age of patients was 59.3 years. There were 14 patients with T1N1 and 103 patients with T2N1 disease. Median follow-up time was 27.5 months and overall 5 year suwival rate was $41.3\%$. 5 year freedom-from recurrence rate was $54.1\%$. Recurrence was observed in $44 (37.6\%)$ patients and distant recurrence developed in 40 patients. 5 year survival rate of patients with recurence was $3.3\%$, which was significantly lower than patients without recurrence $(61.3\%,\;p=0.000).$ In multi-variate analysis of risk factors for freedom-from recurrence rate, multi-station N1 $(hazard\;ratio=1.997,\;p=0.047)$ was a poor prognostic factor. Conclusion: Multi-station N1 is the risk factor for recurrence in completely resected pT1/2N1 non-small cell lung cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.230-236
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• 2001

Purpose : To evaluate treatment results in terms of local control, complications and survival after reirraidiation in recurrent cervical cancer following definite radiation therapy. Material and methods : From November 1987 through March 1998, eighteen patients with recurrent cervical cancer following definite radiation therapy were subsequently treated with reirradiation at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center. In regard to the initial FIGO stage, one patient was stage la, five were stage IIa, three were IIb, two were IIb and two were IVa. The age range was 37 to 79 years old with median age of 57. The time interval from initial definite radiation therapy to recurrence ranged from 6 to 122 months with a median of 58 months. The recurrent sites were the uterine cervix in seven patients, vagina in ten and pelvic lymph node in one. Reirradiation was peformed with external radiation and intracavitary radiation in twelve patients, external radiation and implantation in four and external radiation alone in two. The range of external radiation dose was $2,100\~5,400\;cGy$ and the range of the total radiation dose was $3,780\~8,550\;cGy$. The follow-up periods ranged from 8 to 20 months with median of 25 following reirradiation. Results : Fourteen of eighteen patients $(78\%)$ had local control just after reirradiation. The two year disease free survival (2YDFS) rate was $53.6\%$. There were statistically significant differences in the 2YDFS according to both recurrent site (2YDFS $28.5\%$ in uterine cervix, $71.4\%$ in vagina, (p=0.03)) and the total dose (2YDFS $71.8\%$ in >6,000 cGy , $25\%$ in $\leq6,000$ cGy, p=0.007). Seven of ten patients who were followed for more than 20 months remain alive and disease free (7/18, $39\%$). Patients treated with external radiation and intracavitary radiation had a higher rate of 2YDFS. Seven patients including 4 patients with no local control experienced local failure in the uterus or vagina and two patients died with distant metastasis. Complications included rectal bleeding in 3 patients, bowel obstruction treated with surgery in two, hematuria in one, radiation cystitis in two, soft tissue swelling in two and vaginal necrosis spontaneously healed in one. There was no statistical difference in complications according to the total dose or the time to recurrence from initial radiation. Conclusion : In patients with recurrence following definite radiation therapy in the uterine cervical cancer, reirradiation may be effective but requires an effort to reduce radiation induced severe complications.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2002

Purpose : Preoperative radiotherapy has been used to induce tumor regression and allow complete resection of rectal cancer with a sphincter preservation surgery. This study was performed to determine the effectiveness of preoperative radiotherapy for $T_2,\;T_3$ distal rectal carcinoma. Materials and Methods : From November 1995 to June 1997, fifteen patients with invasive distal rectal cancer were treated with preoperative radiotherapy followed by sphincter preservation surgery. Classification by preoperative T stage consisted of 7 $T_2$ and 8 $T_3$ tumors. Radiation therapy was delivered with 6 MV and 15 MV linear accelerator, at 1.8 Gy fractions for 5 days per week. Total radiation doses were 45 Gy to 50.4 Gy (median : 50.4 Gy). Sphincter preservation surgery was peformed $4\~6$ weeks after the completion of radiotherapy. Median follow-up was 22 months (range : $16\~37\;months$). Results : One patient $(6.7\%)$ had a complete pathologic response. Comparing the stage at the diagnostic workup with the pathologic stage, tumor downstaging of T stages occurred in 11 of 15 patients $(73.3\%)$ and $N_1$ stages occurred in 2 of 5 patients $(40\%)$. No patient developed progressive disease undergoing treatment. Two patients suffered local recurrence at 7 and 20 months, and one a distant metastasis at 30 months. No grade 3 or 4 toxicity was observed. Conclusion : Our experience suggests that preoperative radiotherapy followed by sphincter preservation surgery is well tolerated, and can significantly reduce the tumor burden for $T_2\;T_3$ distal rectal cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 1995

Purpose : The aim of this study is to analyze the survival rate, treatment failure and complication of radiation therapy alone in stage III uterine cervical cancer. Materials and Methods : From January 1980 through December 1985, 227 patients with stage III uterine cervical cancer treated with radiation therapy at Kosin Medical Center were retrospectively studied. Among 227 patients, 72 patients($317{\%}$) were stage IIIa, and 155 patients($68.3{\%}$) were stage IIIb according to FIGO classification. Age distribution was 32-71 years (median: 62 years). Sixty nine patients($95.8{\%}$) in stage IIIa and 150 patient ($96.8{\%}$) in stage IIIb were squamous cell carcinoma. pelvic lymph node metastasis at initial diagnosis was 8 patients($11.1{\%}$) in stage IIIa and 29 patients($18.7{\%}$) in stage IIIb, Among 72 patients with stage IIIa, 36 patients ($50{\%}$) were treated with external radiation therapy alone by conventional technique (180-200 cGy/fr.) and 36 patients($50{\%}$) were treated with external radiation therapy with intracavitary radiotherapy(ICR) with $Cs^{137}$ sources, and among 155 patients with stage IIIb, 80 patients ($51.6{\%}$) were treated with external radiation therapy alone and 75 patients ($48.4{\%}$) were treated with external radiation therapy with ICR. Total radiation doses of stage IIIa and IIIb were 65-105 Gy(median: 78.5 Gy) and 65-125.5 Gy (median 83.5 Gy). Survival rate was calculated by life-table method. Results : Complete response rates were $58.3{\%}$(42 patients) in stage IIIa and $56.1{\%}$(87 patients) in stage IIIb. Overall 5 year survival rates were $57{\%}$ in stage IIIa and $40{\%}$ in stage IIIb. Five year survival rates by radiation technique in stage IIIa and IIIb were $64{\%},\;40{\%}$ in the group treated in combination of external radiation and ICR, and $50\%,\;40\%$ in the group of external radiation therapy alone(P=NS). Five year survival rates by response of radiation therapy in stage IIIa and IIIb were $90\%,\;66\%$ in responder group and $10\%,\;7\%$ in non-responder group (P<0.001) There were statistically no significant differences of 5 year survival rate by total radiation doses and external radiation doses(40 Gy vs 50 Gy) of whole or true pelvis in stage IIIa and IIIb(P=NS). Treatment failures rates were $40.3\%$(29 patients) in stage IIla and $57.4\%$(89 patients) in stage IIIb. 17 patients ($23.6\%$) in stage IIIa and 46 patients ($29.7\%$) in stage IIIb experienced complications. Total radiation doses more than 85 Gy produced serious complication in both stage IIIa($50\%$) and IIIb($50\%$). Serious complication rates were higher in group received external radiation doses of 50 Gy than 40 Gy to whole or true pelvis in stage IIIa and IIIb. Serious rectal complication developed in rectal doses more than 65 Gy, and serious bladder complication developed in bladder doses more than 75 Gy. Major cause of death was cachexia due to locoregional failure in both stage IIIa($34.7\%$) and IIIb($43.9\%$). Conclusion : From this study, we found that external radiation therapy with ICR was found to have a tendency to be superior to external radiation therapy alone in survival rate, local control rate and complication rate but not different in statistics, and external radiation doses of 50 Gy than 40 Gy to whole or true pelvis produced serious rectal and bladder complications in stage III uterine cervical cancer.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2005

Nitric Oxide (NO), derived from L-arginine, is produced by two types (constitutive and inducible) of nitric oxide synthase (NOS: cNOS and iNOS). The NO produced in large amounts by the iNOS is known to be responsible for the vasodilation and hypotension observed in septic shock, cancer metastasis and inflammation. The inhibitors of iNOS, thus, may be useful candidates for the treatment of inflammatory diseases accompanied by the overproduction of NO. We prepared alcoholic extracts of herbal drugs which have been used for the treatment of inflammation in oriental medicine. We have screened the inhibitory activity of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages after the treatment of these extracts. Among 82 kinds of extracts of herbal drugs, 35 extracts showed the potent inhibitory activity of NO production above 50% at the concentration of $50\;{\mu}g/mL$. The inhibitory activities of NO production were also evaluated for several solvent fractions at two different concentrations. Especially, hexane and EtOAc fractions of Alpinia officinarum, Angelica gigas, Ostericum koreanum, Saussurea lappa, Torilis japonica, and hexane fractions of Agrimonia pilosa, Machilus thunbergii, Hydrangea serrata, Magnolia obovata, Prunella vulgaris, Tussilago farfara, and EtOAC fractions of Perilla frutescence showed a significant activity at 10 and/or $25\;{\mu}g/mL$. In Western blot analysis, the hexane fractions ($5\;{\mu}g/mL$) of Magnolia obovata and Saussurea lappa, and EtOAc fractions ($20\;{\mu}g/mL$) of Hydrangea Serrata, Perilla frutescence and Torilis japonica inhibited the expression of iNOS protein in LPS-activated macrophages. These plants may be promising candidates for the study of the activity-guided purification of active compounds and might be useful for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and endotoxemia accompanying overproduction of NO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Statistical Society Conference
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• 2002.05a
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• pp.79-83
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• 2002

Since its introduction in 1995 by Schena et al. cDNA microarrays have been established as a potential tool for high-throughput analysis which allows the global monitoring of expression levels for thousands of genes simultaneously. One of the characteristics of the cDNA microarray data is that there is inherent noise even after the removal of systematic effects in the experiment. Therefore, replication is crucial to the microarray experiment. The assessment of reproducibility among replicates, however, has drawn little attention. Reproducibility may be assessed with several different endpoints along the process of data reduction of the microarray data. We define the reproducibility to be the degree with which replicate arrays duplicate each other. The aim of this note is to develop a novel measure of reproducibility among replicates in the cDNA microarray experiment based on the unprocessed data. Suppose we have p genes and n replicates in a microarray experiment. We first develop a measure of reproducibility between two replicates and generalize this concept for a measure of reproducibility of one replicate against the remaining n-1 replicates. We used the rank of the outcome variable and employed the concept of a measure of tracking in the blood pressure literature. We applied the reproducibility measure to two sets of microarray experiments in which one experiment was performed in a more homogeneous environment, resulting in validation of this novel method. The operational interpretation of this measure is clearer than Pearson's correlation coefficient which might be used as a crude measure of reproducibility of two replicates.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 2002

Follicular carcinomas are the second most common form of thyroid cancer, accounting for 10 to 20% of all thyroid cancers. Follicular carcinomas have a propensity to metastasize via the bloodstream, spreading to bone, lungs, liver, and elsewhere. We described the case of a 48-year-old woman who presented with swelling of the left preauricular area, which was a consequence of a metastatic follicular carcinoma of the masticator space. Plain films showed illdefined erosive bony changes from the left condylar head to the mandibular notch. Contrast-enhanced CT images showed a well circumscribed round mass with well enhancement within left masticator space. On MR images, the mass was heterogenously hyperintense to the muscle on T2-weighted images and isointense or hyperintense to the muscle on Tl-weighted images, and showed good enhancement on contrast-enhanced Tl-weighted images. Upon microscopic examination, the metastatic mass was found to be composed of fairly uniform cells forming small follicles containing colloid, showing capsular and vascular invasion.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.142-147
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• 1990

Malignant oral tumors occurred in the oral cavity. They were thought to result from the other primary tumors through hematogenous metastasis. Primary tumors were unusually gall bladder tumor and pancreatic tumor. Biopsy was performed and these specimens were similar to those of the primary sites histologically and clinically. Diagnoses were adenocarcinomas metastatic from the primary tumors. They did not reveal the bony changes, only soft tissue masses.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.38-43
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• 2016

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are crucial extracellular matrices degrading enzymes that take important roles in metastasis of cancer progression as well as other significant conditions such as oxidative stress and hepatic fibrosis. Natural products are on the rise for their potential to provide remarkable health benefits. In this context, halophytes have been of interest in the nutraceutical field with reported instances of isolation of bioactive compounds. In this study, Limonium tetragonum, an edible halophyte, was studied for its ability to inhibit MMP-2 and -9 using HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells. Results showed that L. tetragonum extract was able to inhibit the enzymatic activity and mRNA expression of MMP-2 and -9 according to gelatin zymography and RT-PCR assays, respectively, but it was not able to significantly change the MMP pathway related factors such as tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases. Also, Mitogen-activated protein kinases pathway-related protein levels and their phosphorylation were assayed. While the phosphorylated p38 levels were decreased, extracellular signal-regulated kinase and c-Jun N-terminal kinase were not affected by L. tetragonum treatment. In conclusion, it was suggested that L. tetragonum contains substances acting as MMP inhibitors on enzymatic activity rather than intracellular pathway intervention, which could be useful for further utilization of L. tetragonum as a source for anti-MMP agents.