• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.3601-3604
• /
• 2016

Background: The monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2) is a potent chemoattractant for natural killer cells, monocytes, and memory T lymphocytes. However, any role in the genesis of salivary gland tumors (SGT) is unknown. To assess the diagnostic relevance of chemokines in SGT, MCP-1 levels in the serum of patients were investigated in association with tumor progression and clinical aggressiveness. Materials and Methods: Using an ELISA kit, we assessed and compared the circulating levels of MCP-1 in blood serum of 70 SGT patients with 44 healthy control samples. Results: The results of this study showed that the concentration of MCP-1 was significantly lower in patients with benign ($463.8{\pm}158.5pg/ml$, P=0.033) and malignant ($454.8{\pm}190.4pg/ml$, P=0.007) SGT than in healthy subjects ($645.7{\pm}338.9$). No significant difference in mean serum levels of MCP-1 was observed between the benign and malignant group (p=0.9). While MCP-1 levels were lower in patients with an advanced clinical stage, advanced tumor size, higher tumor grade, or lymph node involvement, but the mean MCP-1 level between groups showed no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). Conclusions: MCP-1 levels in the serum of patients with SGT were decreased, indicating that this might a good marker for discriminating patients with SGT from healthy people. However, no clear-cut relationship was detected between MCP-1 levels and clinicopathologic factors, and MCP-1 is not a good marker for evaluating tumor dissemination.

• The Korean Journal of Zoology
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.185-190
• /
• 1988

To investigate whether malignant behavior of skin tumor correlates with changes in the level of proteolytic activities in skin tumors, rats were treated with 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene followed by photbor ester. Tumors induced upon the treatrnents exhibited more than 20-fold increase in the activity of plasminogen activator and about 3-fold of plasmin-like activity. as compared to those in treated controls. Furthermore, the former activity was raised to about 6-fold even in the preneoplastic dssues of the skin tissues. On the other hand, the proteolytic activity against casein and insulin decreased to several-fold in the tumor tissues while antitrvpsin activity remained similar in both tumor and controls. Thus, the increase in the activities of plasmInogen activator and plasminlike enzyme appears to occur as a charaderistic to skin cancer and may involve in invasion and metsstasis of the tumor.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.343-348
• /
• 1977

The author reviewed 10 patients of chest wall tumors which were operated during 7 years, from 1970 to 1976, in Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Chonnam University Hospital. Benign tumors were 6 patients, malignant tumors were 2 patients and metastatic tumors were 2 patients. Benign tumors were more than malignant tumors, but total cases were small, so, statistical analysis was not enough. Specific symptoms of chest wall tumor were swelling due to mass and pain. All cases had swelling due to mass and 4 cases [40%] had pain. Dyspnea was noted in metastatic tumors. The review of the literatures was also done.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.24 no.12
• /
• pp.1197-1200
• /
• 1991

Polypoid lesions of the esophagus occur infrequently and may be benign or malignant. Pseudosarcoma, a malignant polypoid tumor of the esophagus is rare and appears to be a distinct pathological entity; the polypoid portion is composed of sarcomatous spindle cells and the base of the polyp shows in situ or invasive squamous cell carcinoma. We experienced a case of pseudosarcoma of the esophagus and report the case with the review of literature.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.45 no.5
• /
• pp.345-347
• /
• 2012

We describe herein an extremely rare case of a recurrent primary pulmonary malignant fibrous histiocytoma 3 months after operation that occurred in a 55-year-old man who was treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy successfully. Until now, 36 months later, the patient has shown no evidence of tumor recurrence. The clinical, radiographic, and pathologic features are reported here together with a brief review of the literature.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.36 no.3
• /
• pp.254-259
• /
• 2019

Pheochromocytoma (PCC) is a rare catecholamine-producing tumor with the incidence in hypertension of 0.1-0.6%. PCC crisis is an endocrine emergency that can lead to hemodynamic disturbance and organ failure such as catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy. The circulatory collapse caused by it often requires mechanical support. The author reports an unusual case in which a patient who previously underwent surgery for malignant PCC developed catecholamine-induced cardiomyopathy, and successfully recovered using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.217-221
• /
• 2011

Purpose: FGF4 (fibroblast growth factor 4) is a newly characterized gene which was found to be a transforming gene in several cancerous cells. FGF4 expression and amplification has been subsequently observed in several human cancers including stomach cancer, breast cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, lung cancer and bladder cancer. This study was designed to measure the protein expression of FGF4 in malignant skin cancers. Methods: We examined 8 normal skin tissues and 24 malignant skin tumor tissues which were 8 malignant melanomas, 8 squamous cell carcinomas and 8 basal cell carcinomas. The specimens were analyzed for the protein expression of FGF4 using immunohistochemical staining. To evaluate the amount of expression of FGF4, the histochemical score (HSCORE) was used. Results: FGF4 was expressed more intensely in malignant melanoma, followed by SCC and BCC in immunohistochemistry. The average HSCORE was 0.01 for normal skin, 2.02 for malignant melanoma, 1.28 for squamous cell carcinoma, and 0.27 for basal cell carcinoma, respectively. The expression of FGF4 in malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma was increased in comparison with normal tissues and basal cell cancer, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The difference between malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma was not statistically significant. Conclusion: These findings provide evidences that the expression of FGF4 plays an important role in malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma progressions. This article demonstrates expression of FGF4 in human skin malignant tumors, and suggests that FGF4 is more expressed in highly aggressive skin tumors.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.91-101
• /
• 1994

Nodular thyroid disease is a common clinical problem. The problem in clinical practice is to distinguish malignant or potentially malignant tumor from harmless nodules. The cases of thyroid nodule surgically managed at Department of General Surgery, Soon Chun Hyang Univ. Hospital during the period Jan. 1985 to July. 1992 were reviewed retrospectively. To assess method of distinguishing malignant from benign lesions of the thyroid gland, we reviewed 162 patients with thyroid nodule. There were 61(37.7%) malignant nodules and 101(62.3%) benign nodules. According to the review, distinguishing the benign from the malignant nodule with history, physical examination, clinical manifestation, and duration of illness was not suggested sufficiently. In ultrasonogram of 73 cases, 57.5% of nodules were solid, 20.6% were cystic, 21.9% were mixed solid and cystic. Of these, 28.5% of the operated solid lesions, 12.5% of the mixed lesions, and only 6.7% of the cystic lesions were malignant. Thyroid scanning of 82 cases revealed cold nodules in 60 patients(73.2%), of which 26 cases were malignant(36.6%) 137 patients underwent fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC), and these results were as follow: sensitiviey was 70.6%, specificity was 93.0%, false-positive rate was 14.3%, and false-negative rate was 15.8%. 41 patients underwent frozen biopsy, and the results as follow: sensitivity was 80.0%, specificity was 89.7%. Neither scintigraphy nor ultrasonogram has sufficient specificity to distinguish benign from malignant nodule. But FNAC and frozen biopsy have sufficient accuracy to differentiate benign from malignant nodule. In the benign nodules, the most common type of operation was total lobectomy (60.4%). Of the malignant nodules, total thyroidectomy with or without modified radical neck dissection was performed in 30 cases(49.2%). We conclude that the single technique used to determine the differential diagnosis of a thyroid nodule are unrealiable. It is therefore essential to combine all avaiable clinical and laboratory information.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.58-65
• /
• 2015

Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer and its incidence is gradually increasing worldwide. Patients with metastatic melanoma have a very poor prognosis (estimated 5-year survival rate of <16%). In the last few years, several drugs have been approved for malignant melanoma, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint blockades. Although new therapeutic agents have improved progression-free and overall survival, their use is limited by drug resistance and drug-related toxicity. At the same time, adoptive cell therapy of metastatic melanoma with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has shown promising results in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we summarize the currently available drugs for treatment of malignant melanoma. In addition, we suggest cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells as another candidate approach for adoptive cell therapy of melanoma. Our preclinical study and several previous studies have shown that CIK cells have potent anti-tumor activity against melanomas in vitro and in an in vivo human tumor xenograft model without any toxicity.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.123-126
• /
• 2020

Skin cancer, which often occurs as a result of skin exposure to ultraviolet light radiation, usually presents with characteristic abnormal features, such as ulcerative lesions, irregular morphology, bleeding, and excessive growth. Therefore, skin cancer rarely resembles a benign tumor on visual inspection. Nonetheless, squamous cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma with nodular or polypoid features can have a similar appearance to that of benign tumors, meaning that they are sometimes misdiagnosed as benign. As benign and malignant tumors have some overlapping features, clinicians sometimes use additional imaging techniques such as ultrasonography to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis because even a malignant tumor that externally resembles a benign tumor generally has internal morphological features characteristic of malignancy, such as invasion and irregular borders. However, these imaging tools also have limitations, and punch or excisional biopsy can be needed if malignancy cannot be completely ruled out. Herein, we report a case of skin malignancy initially misdiagnosed as a benign epidermal cyst based on external visual inspection and ultrasonography.