• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.214-217
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• 2013

A 3-year-old intact female hedgehog (Atelerix albiventris) was presented for evaluation of mandibular swelling. Fine needle aspiration of swollen mandibular was performed and smears were stained with Romanowsky type stain for cytological evaluation. Smears were highly cellular with predominance of variably shaped keratinized or non keratinized squamous cells with low numbers of spindloid to abnormally elongated cells. Cytologic impression was squamous cell carcinoma. The mass was surgically removed for histological examination. Microscopically tortuous and anastomosing delicate to broad pegs and nests of neoplastic squamous epithelial cells were supported by a moderate collagenous and spindloid fibroblast stroma. Tumor cells had moderate anisocytosis and mild anisokaryosis and range from moderately to well keratinized, with areas of intratumoral acantholysis accompanied by mixed stromal lymphoplasmacytic, neutrophilic inflammation. The mitotic index is 2-3 per high-power field. Tumor cells were expanding the subcutis subjacent to the layer of skeletal muscle and incorporating the osseous tissue fragments. The final diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma. The patient survived three months after surgery without any further medical treatments.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10299-10306
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• 2015

The esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is thought to develop through a multi-stage process. Epigenetic gene silencing constitutes an alternative or complementary mechanism to mutational events in tumorigenesis. Posttranscriptional regulation of human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) and antigen processing machinery (APM) proteins expression may be associated with novel epigenetic modifications in cancer development. In the present study, we determined the expression levels of HLA-I antigen and APM components by immunohistochemistry. Then by a bisulfite-sequencing PCR (BSP) approach, we identified target CpG islands methylated at the gene promoter region of APM family genes in a ESCC cell line (ECa109), and further quantitative analysis of CpG site specific methylation of these genes in cases of Kazakh primary ESCCs with corresponding non-cancerous esophageal tissues using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Here we showed that the development of ESCCs was accompanied by partial or total loss of protein expression of HLA-B, TAP2, LMP7, tapasin and ERp57. The results demonstrated that although no statistical significance was found of global target CpG fragment methylation level sof HLA-B, TAP2, tapasin and ERp57 genes between ESCC and corresponding non-cancerous esophageal tissues, there was significant differences in the methylation level of several single sites between the two groups. Of thesse only the global methylation level of LMP7 gene target fragments was statistically higher ($0.0517{\pm}0.0357$) in Kazakh esophageal cancer than in neighboring normal tissues ($0.0380{\pm}0.0214$, p<0.05). Our results suggest that multiple CpG sites, but not methylation of every site leads to down regulation or deletion of gene expression. Only some of them result in genetic transcription, and silencing of HLA-B, ERp57, and LMP7 expression through hypermethylation of the promoters or other mechanisms may contribute to mechanisms of tumor escape from immune surveillance in Kazakh esophageal carcinogenesis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4279-4282
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• 2013

Background: The activation and inactivation of receptor tyrosine kinases are tightly regulated to ensure faithful replication of cells. After having transduced extracellular growth activating signals, activated EGFR is subjected to downregulation either by clathrin mediated endocytosis or c-Cbl mediated proteasome degradation depending on the ligand concentration. c-Cbl is an ubiquitin ligase which requires a phosphorylated tyrosine residue at position 1045 in the cytoplasmic domain of EGFR to interact and add ubiquitin molecules. While activating mutations in exons 19 and 21 have been associated with the development of several cancers, the status of mutations at tyrosine 1045 coding exon 27 of EGFR remain to be investigated. Consistently, defective phosphorylation at 1045 has been associated with sustained phosphorylation of EGFR in non-small lung carcinomas. Hence in the present study we investigated the genetic status of the tyrosine 1045 coding site within exon 27 of EGFR gene to explore for possible occurrence of mutations in this region, especially since no studies have addressed this issue so far. Materials and Methods: Tumor chromosomal DNA isolated from thirty five surgically excised oral squamous cell carcinoma tissues was subjected to PCR amplification with intronic primers flanking the tyrosine 1045 coding exon 27 of EGFR gene. The PCR amplicons were subsequently subjected to direct sequencing to elucidate the mutation status. Results: Sequence analysis identified no mutations in the tyrosine 1045 codon of EGFR in any of the thirty five samples that were analyzed. Conclusions: The lack of identification of mutation in the tyrosine 1045 codon of EGFR suggests that mutations in this region may be relatively rare in oral squamous cell carcinomas. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to have explored the genetic status of exon 27 of EGFR in oral squamous cell carcinoma tissue samples.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.70 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2011

Background: Maspin (mammary serine protease inhibitor) is a member of the serpin superfamily. A few studies have examined the role of maspin in tumor suppression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); however, its role in the development and progression of NSCLC still remains controversial. We evaluated the immunohistochemical expression of maspin in order to elucidate its clinical significance in NSCLC. Methods: We analyzed 145 patients with pathologically confirmed NSCLC, including 66 cases of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and 79 cases of adenocarcinomas (ADCs). We performed a immuno-histochemical stain with maspin and PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen) using tissue microarray blocks. Results: There were 108 men and 37 women in the study population. The mean age of patients in the study was 63.7 years (range, 40.0~82.0; median, 65.0). The proportion of maspin expression was significantly higher in SCCs (52/66, 78.8%; p<0.01) than in ADCs (17/79, 21.5%; p<0.01). Maspin expression was not associated with PCNA (p=0.828), lymph node involvement (p=0.483), or tumor stage (p=0.216), but showed correlation with well-to-moderate tumor differentiation (p=0.012). There was no observed correlation between maspin expression and survival with NSCLC (p=0.218). Conclusion: The present study suggests that maspin expression was significantly higher in SCCs than in ADCs and was associated with low histological grade. However, maspin expression was not an independent factor to predict a prognosis in NSCLC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3851-3854
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• 2013

Objective: To explore changes in the serum tumor makers, hypoxia-inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level and their relations in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) before and after intervention. Materials and Methods: Forty patients with NSCLC and 40 healthy individuals undergoing physical examination in our hospital provided the observation and control groups. HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and VEGF levels in serum were detected by enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA) in the observation group before and after intervention and in control group on the day of physical examination, along with serum carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-speci ic enolase (NSE) and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) levels in the observation group with a fully automatic biochemical analyzer. Clinical effects and improvement of life quality in the observation group were also evaluated. Results: The total effective rate and improvement of life quality after treatment in observation group were 30.0% and 32.5%, respectively. Serum HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and VEGF levels in the control group were lower than that in observation group (p<0.01), but remarkably elevatedafter intervention (p<0.01). In addition, serum CEA, NSE and SCC levels were apparently lowered by treatment (p<0.01). Serum HIF-$1{\alpha}$ demonstrated a positive relation with VEGF level (p<0.01) and was inversely related with CEA, NSE and SCC levels (p<0.01). Conclusions: Significant correlations exist between marked increase of serum HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and VEGF levels and decrease of indexes related to hematological tumor markers in NSCLC patients after intervention.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1093-1096
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• 2016

The tumor suppressor p16 is a biomarker for transforming human papilloma virus (HPV) infections that can lead to contradictory results in skin carcinomas. The aim of this study was to evaluate p16 expression and HPV-16 infection in the cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). This case-control study was performed on paraffin blocks of BCCs and SCCs and normal skin (53, 36, and 44 cases, respectively), between 2006 to 2015. Initial sections for groups were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H & E). Immunohistochemistry was performed for p16 expression and human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV-16) infection. Normal group was skin of mammoplasty specimens and normal skin tissue in the periphery of tumors. The mean age at diagnosis was 42.1, 61.7 and 71.4 years for normal, BCC and SCC groups, respectively. P16 positivity was more in SCC and BCC groups compared to normal group (P<0.05) and HPV was negative in all patients in three groups. Also, the mean age at diagnosis and P16-positivity were higher for the SCC group than the BCC group (P<0.005). In conclusion, in non-melanoma skin cancers (SCC and BCC), p16-positivity can be a prognostic factor but there is no correlation between HPV-16 and p16 in these tumors.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.3797-3800
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• 2014

Background: BMI1, TWIST1 and SNAI2/SLUG have been implicated in aggressive behavior of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma and BMI1 expression could identify subtypes of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). However, BMI1, TWIST1 and SNAI2 expression levels in basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) have not been elucidated. We hypothesized BCC could be a good model system to decipher mechanisms which inhibit processes that drive tumor metastasis. The aim of this study was to examine the mRNA expression level of BMI1, TWIST1, and SNAI2 in BCCs. Materials and Methods: Thirty-five fresh non-metastatic BCC tissue samples and seven fresh normal skin tissue samples were evaluated by real-time RT-PCR. Results: BMI1 and TWIST1 demonstrated marked down-regulation (p<0.00l, p=0.00l respectively), but SNAI2 showed no significant change (p=0.12). Conclusions: Previous literature has clearly demonstrated a positive association between BMI1 and TWIST1 expression and metastatic BCC, aggressive SCC and melanoma. Here, we demonstrated a negative association between BMI1 and TWIST1 mRNA expression level and BCC.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.73 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2012

Background: While qualitative analysis of methylation has been reviewed, the quantitative analysis of methylation has rarely been studied. We evaluated the methylation status of CDKN2A, $RAR{\beta}$, and RASSF1A promoter regions in non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs) by using pyrosequencing. Then, we evaluated the association between methylation at the promoter regions of these tumor suppressor genes and the clinicopathological parameters of the NSCLCs. Methods: We collected tumor tissues from a total of 53 patients with NSCLCs and analyzed the methylation level of the CDKN2A, $RAR{\beta}$, and RASSF1A promoter regions by using pyrosequencing. In addition, we investigated the correlation between the hypermethylation of CDKN2A and the loss of $p16^{INK4A}$ immunoexpression. Results: Hypermethylation of CDKN2A, $RAR{\beta}$, and RASSF1A promoter regions were 16 (30.2%), 22 (41.5%), and 21 tumors (39.6%), respectively. The incidence of hypermethylation at the CDKN2A promoter in the tumors was higher in undifferentiated large cell carcinomas than in other subtypes (p=0.002). Hyperrmethylation of CDKN2A was significantly associated with $p16^{INK4A}$ immunoexpression loss (p=0.045). With regard to the clinicopathological characteristics of NSCLC, certain histopathological subtypes were found to be strongly associated with the loss of $p16^{INK4A}$ immunoexpression (p=0.016). Squamous cell carcinoma and undifferentiated large cell carcinoma showed $p16^{INK4A}$ immunoexpression loss more frequently. The Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis showed that methylation level and patient survival were barely related to one another. Conclusion: We quantitatively analyzed the promoter methylation status by using pyrosequencing. We showed a significant correlation between CDKN2A hypermethylation and $p16^{INK4A}$ immunoexpression loss.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.197-204
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• 1991

A retrospective study of 53 patients suffering from non-small cell carcinoma of lung with brain metastases is presented. They were treated in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology of Kyung Hee University Hospital from 1983 to 1990. There were 37 male and 10 female patients. The age range was 39 to 85 years (median=59). The most common histologic cell type of tumor was adenocarcinoma ($50.9\%$), followed by squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma. All patients were treated with whole-brain photon irradiation (WBI) using lateral opposing fields. The overall median survival time was 5 months. Age, sex, histologic type, and initial performance status were not prognostically important. The most important prognostic factors were the response to radiotherapy and the presence of brain metastases alone. increasing the dose of radiotherapy to the main bulk of tumor may improve the symptom-free survival or overall survival in patients who present with brain metastases as the sole site of extrathoracic disease.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.337-344
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• 2000

Germ-line mutations at DNA repair loci confer susceptibility to colon cancer in hereditary non-polypopsis colorectal cancer. Somatic loss of DNA mismatch repair gene has been reported in a large variety of other tumor types. Replication errors(RERs) judged by microsatellite instability(MSI) and its associated mutations have been recognized as an important mechanism in various tumor types. To investigate associations between MSI and oral squamous cell carcinoma, the frequency of MSI using 12 microsatellite markers were analyzed for the series of oral tumors. Of 17 tumors, 8 cases(47%) did not show instability at any of the 12 loci; 5(29%) showed instability at $2{\sim}3$ loci; and 4(24%) showed instability above 4 loci. The 4 cases showing widespread MSI did not differ from those without evidence of instability in terms of age at diagnosis, degree of differentiation, metastasis to lymph node, tumor location or the presence of mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene. DCC and D17S 796 were the most frequently detected in MSI analysis. There were no correlation between smoking and MSI frequency, instead, smoking was suggested to increase the mutation rate of p53 and development of oral carcinomas.