• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1514-1521
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• 2009

To evaluate the feasibility of cathepsin-B levels in preoperatively screening patients with thyroid cancer, we assigned these patients to either the thyroid cancer group (n=32) or the nodular hyperplasia group (n=7). Five healthy volunteers served as controls (n=5). We quantified cathepsin-B expressions in cancerous lesions with follicular carcinoma and hyperplastic lesions with nodular hyperplasia, and compared the degrees to those of normal thyroid tissue, which was obtained from matched contralateral lobe. The activity of serum cathepsin B was significantly higher in patients with thyroid carcinoma ($284.87{\pm}79.32$, ${\times}10^{-2}\;mU$) and those with nodular hyperplasia ($255.45{\pm}95.68$, ${\times}10^{-2}\;mU$) than compared to normal control ($168.94{\pm}15.10$, ${\times}10^{-2}\;mU$) (p<0.05). Based on the results of immunoassay, the concentrations of cathepsin B in the thyroid cancer group ($15.50{\pm}7.86\;ng/ml$) and the nodular hyperplasia group ($17.64{\pm}7.49\;ng/ml$) were higher than those of the control group ($4.85{\pm}0.61\;ng/ml$). The degree of cathepsin-B mRNA expression was significantly higher in cancerous or hyperplastic lesions than normal thyroid tissues from matched contralateral lobe with follicular carcinoma or non-neoplastic thyroid disease. Our results indicate that the activity of serum cathepsin B is a useful indicator in screening patients with nodular hyperplasia or neoplastic thyroid disease and it may be involved in the abnormal proliferation of cells.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.367-372
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• 2015

Background: Human adiponectin (ApN), a 30 kDa glycoprotein of 244-amino acids which is predominantly produced by adipocytes, exerts its effects via two receptors, namely adiponectin receptor-1 (adipo-R1) and adiponectin receptor-2 (adipo-R2) with differential binding affinity to globular adiponectin. Adiponectin receptor expression has been studied in several cancer tissues. However, there are no studies of colorectal adenomas which are considered to be precursors for colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Objectives: In the present study, the expression of adipo-R1 and adipo-R2 was investigated immunohistochemically in colorectal adenomas and colorectal carcinoma tissues in an attempt to determine associations with these tumors. Materials and Methods: The study enrolled 50 CRC patients with tumor resection and 82 patients who were diagnosed with adenomatous polyps, classified as negative for neoplasia, low-grade dysplasia (L-GD) or high- grade dysplasia (H-GD). Results: Expression of both adipo-R1 and adipo-R2 was found to be significantly lower in the CRCs than in colorectal adenomas (tubular and tubulovillous, p=0.009 and p<0.001, respectively). Adipo-R1 and adipo-R2 expression was also significantly lower in the CRC group when compared with the groups of patients with low grade dysplasia, high-grade dysplasia or no neoplasia (p=0.012 and p<0.001, respectively). In addition, it was observed that adipo-R2 expression was generally positive in the non-neoplastic group irrespective of the adipo-R2 expression. In the L-GD, H-GD and CRC groups, the adipo-R2 result was positive whenever adipo-R1 result was positive but some patients with negative adipo-R1 had positive adipo-R2 (p<0.001, p=0.004, p<0.001, respectively). Conclusions: This study indicated that ApN may play a role in the progression of colorectal adenomatous polyps to carcinoma through actions on adipo-R1 and adipo-R2 receptors.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.364-371
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• 2007

The tumor suppressor gene Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A) is highly methylated in a wide range of human sporadic tumors. The current study investigated the hypermethylation of RASSF1A, the expression of RASSF1A protein, and the correlation between these and the clinicopathological features of gallbladder (GB) cancer in Korean patients. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumors and non-neoplastic GB tissues (22 carcinomas, 8 adenomas, 26 normal epithelia) were collected from patients who had undergone surgical resection. The methylation status of two regions of the RASSF1A CpG island was determined by methylation-specific PCR (MSP), and the expression of RASSF1A protein was examined by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays. The K-RAS mutation was analyzed by direct sequencing. Methylation of the RASSF1A promoter (region 1) was detected in 22.7% (5/22) of carcinomas, 12.5% (1/8) of adenomas, and 0% (0/26) of normal gallbladder epithelia (P = 0.025). Methylation of the first exon (region 2) was found in 36.4% (8/22) of carcinomas, 25.0% (2/8) of adenomas, and 8.0% (2/26) of normal gallbladder epithelia (P = 0.038). K-RAS mutations were present in 4.5% (1/22) of carcinomas and 25% (2/8) of adenomas. RASSF1A methylaton was not associated with clinicopathological factors or K-ras mutation. Reduction or loss of RASSF1A expression was observed in most methylated adenocarcinomas. Three RASSF1A-expressing human biliary tract cancer cell lines examined contained unmethylated promoters and exons 1. These results suggest that downregulation of RASSF1A expression by DNA hypermethylation may be involved in GB carcinogenesis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.3043-3050
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• 2015

The tumor microenvironment (TME) includes numerous non-neoplastic cells such as leukocytes and fibroblasts that surround the neoplasm and influence its growth. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and cancerassociated fibroblasts (CAFs) are documented as key players in facilitating cancer appearance and progression. Alteration of the macrophage (CD68, CD163) and fibroblast (${\alpha}-SMA$, FSP-1) cells in Opisthorchis viverrini (Ov) -induced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) was here assessed using liver tissues from an established hamster model and from 43 human cases using immunohistochemistry. We further investigated whether M2-activated TAMs influence CCA cell migration ability by wound healing assay and Western blot analysis. Macrophages and fibroblasts change their phenotypes to M2-TAMs (CD68+, CD163+) and CAFs (${\alpha}-SMA+$, FSP-1+), respectively in the early stages of carcinogenesis. Interestingly, a high density of the M2-TAMs CCA in patients is significantly associated with the presence of extrahepatic metastases (p=0.021). Similarly, CD163+ CCA cells are correlated with metastases (p=0.002), and they may be representative of an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) with increased metastatic activity. We further showed that M2-TAM conditioned medium can induce CCA cell migration as well as increase N-cadherin expression (mesenchymal marker). The present work revealed that significant TME changes occur at an early stage of Ov-induced carcinogenesis and that M2-TAMs are key factors contributing to CCA metastasis, possibly via EMT processes.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3543-3549
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• 2015

Background: Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Gene expression profiling using microarray technologies improves the understanding of cancer biology. The aim of this study was to determine the gene expression profile in Egyptian bladder cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Samples from 29 human bladder cancers and adjacent non-neoplastic tissues were analyzed by cDNA microarray, with hierarchical clustering and multidimensional analysis. Results: Five hundred and sixteen genes were differentially expressed of which SOS1, HDAC2, PLXNC1, GTSE1, ULK2, IRS2, ABCA12, TOP3A, HES1, and SRP68 genes were involved in 33 different pathways. The most frequently detected genes were: SOS1 in 20 different pathways; HDAC2 in 5 different pathways; IRS2 in 3 different pathways. There were 388 down-regulated genes. PLCB2 was involved in 11 different pathways, MDM2 in 9 pathways, FZD4 in 5 pathways, p15 and FGF12 in 4 pathways, POLE2 in 3 pathways, and MCM4 and POLR2E in 2 pathways. Thirty genes showed significant differences between transitional cell cancer (TCC) and squamous cell cancer (SCC) samples. Unsupervised cluster analysis of DNA microarray data revealed a clear distinction between low and high grade tumors. In addition 26 genes showed significant differences between low and high tumor stages, including fragile histidine triad, Ras and sialyltransferase 8 (alpha) and 16 showed significant differences between low and high tumor grades, like methionine adenosyl transferase II, beta. Conclusions: The present study identified some genes, that can be used as molecular biomarkers or target genes in Egyptian bladder cancer patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.79 no.6
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• pp.348-353
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• 2018

Hepatic pseudolymphoma is a rare benign liver mass that is characterized by proliferation of non-neoplastic lymphocytes extranodally. To the best of our knowledge, only 46 cases have been reported in the English literature. We described the case of a 75-year-old woman with hepatic pseudolymphoma mimicking a hypervascular tumor. After the histological confirmation of the rectal neuroendocrine tumor, CT scan revealed a 1.0 cm-sized, poorly-defined and low-density nodule in the liver. On MRI, the hepatic nodule showed an arterial enhancement and a low-signal intensity on the hepatobiliary phase. On diffusion-weighted imaging, the hepatic nodule showed a high signal intensity on a high b-value. On fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT, it revealed a high standardized uptake value nodule. The US showed the hypoechoic nodule and the US-guided biopsy confirmed the hepatic pseudolymphoma.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.481-486
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• 2021

Endosalpingiosis is a condition that causes the non-neoplastic proliferation of ectopic tubal epithelium. Florid cystic endosalpingiosis is an atypical subtype that is very rarely reported. It presents as a mass-like feature and therefore needs to be differentiated from tumorous conditions. Here, we report the imaging findings of a case of multicentric florid cystic endosalpingiosis in the extraperitoneal pelvic cavity and the retroperitoneal spaces.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.113-121
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• 2022

Background/Aims: We have been developing artificial intelligence based polyp histology prediction (AIPHP) method to classify Narrow Band Imaging (NBI) magnifying colonoscopy images to predict the hyperplastic or neoplastic histology of polyps. Our aim was to analyze the accuracy of AIPHP and narrow-band imaging international colorectal endoscopic (NICE) classification based histology predictions and also to compare the results of the two methods. Methods: We studied 373 colorectal polyp samples taken by polypectomy from 279 patients. The documented NBI still images were analyzed by the AIPHP method and by the NICE classification parallel. The AIPHP software was created by machine learning method. The software measures five geometrical and color features on the endoscopic image. Results: The accuracy of AIPHP was 86.6% (323/373) in total of polyps. We compared the AIPHP accuracy results for diminutive and non-diminutive polyps (82.1% vs. 92.2%; p=0.0032). The accuracy of the hyperplastic histology prediction was significantly better by NICE compared to AIPHP method both in the diminutive polyps (n=207) (95.2% vs. 82.1%) (p<0.001) and also in all evaluated polyps (n=373) (97.1% vs. 86.6%) (p<0.001) Conclusions: Our artificial intelligence based polyp histology prediction software could predict histology with high accuracy only in the large size polyp subgroup.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.85 no.5
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• pp.970-975
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• 2024

Ovarian fibromatosis is a rare non-neoplastic condition that causes ovarian enlargement in women, typically around the age of 25. This enlargement is due to the proliferation of the collagen-producing ovarian stroma. On T2-weighted MRI, a key diagnostic feature of ovarian fibromatosis is the 'black garland sign,' characterized by multilobulated very low signal intensity along the ovarian surface. This condition also features the preservation of normal ovarian stroma or follicles internally. We present a case involving a 65-year-old postmenopausal female who was pathologically misdiagnosed with ovarian fibroma. However, the diagnosis was later revised to ovarian fibromatosis based on characteristic MRI findings. The case report discusses the differential diagnosis and pathologic findings associated with ovarian fibromatosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5237-5242
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• 2013

Background: Inflammation is a critical component of tumor progression. Many cancers arise from sites of infection, chronic irritation, and inflammation. It is now becoming clear that the tumour microenvironment, which is largely orchestrated by inflammatory cells, is an essential participant in the neoplastic process, promoting proliferation, survival and migration. Platelets can release some growth factors such as platelet-derived growth factor, platelet factor 4, and thrombospondin. Such factors have been shown to promote hematogenous tumour spread, tumor cell adhesion and invasion, and angiogenesis and to play an important role in tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to investigate effects of the pretreatment neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) on survival and response to chemoradiotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: Ninety-four patients with non-metastatic NSCLC were included and separated into two groups according to median valuse of NLR and PLR (low:<3.44 or high:${\geq}3.44$ and low:<194 or high${\geq}194$, respectively). Results: Pretreatment high NLR and PLR were associated with significantly shorter disease-free and overall survival rates. Multivariate analysis revealed that the overall survival rates were significantly linked with PLR (OR: 1.87, CI: 1.20-2.91, p: 0.006) and response to chemoradiotherapy (OR: 1.80, CI: 1.14-2.81, p: 0.012) and the disease-free survival rates were significantly associated with NLR (OR: 1.81, CI: 1.16-2.82, p: 0.009) and response to chemoradiotherapy (OR: 2.30, CI: 1.45-3.66, p: 0.001). There was no significant difference between patients with high and low NLR in terms of response to chemoradiotherapy. Similarly, there was no significant influence of the PLR. Conclusions: Pretreatment NLR and PLR measurements can provide important prognostic results in patients with NSCLC and assessment of the two parameters together appears to better predict the prognosis in patients with NSCLC. The effect of inflammation, indicators of NLR and PLR, on survival seems independent of the response to chemoradiotherapy.