• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.11-17
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• 2002

Objectives: Expression of HMGI(Y), a nucleoprotein that binds to A/T rich sequences in the minor groove of the DNA helix, is observed in neoplastically transformed cells but not in normal cells. We have analyzed HMGI(Y), p53 expression and Ki-67 labelling index in squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck, and evaluated its clinicopathologic significance. Materials and Methods: 40 cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were entered on the study of immunohistochemical stains for HMGI(Y), p53 and Ki-67. We analyzed the relationship between HMGI(Y), p53, Ki-67 expression and age, sex, primary tumor site, stage, survival rate, recurrence. Results: HMGI(Y) expression evidenced by immunohistochemical staining was observed in 35 of 40 (87.5%) squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. But no significant correlation was observed between HMGI(Y) expression and other clinical factors such as primary site, tumor stage, differenciation, cervical lymph node, metastasis, recurrence and immunohistochemical status of p53. The Ki-67 labelling index was significantly correlated with recurrence and HMGI(Y) expression (p<0.05). Conclusion: This results suggest the Ki-67 is a good prognostic factor and the HMGI(Y) expression plays some roles in carcinogenesis and cellular proliferation of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. HMGI(Y) gene can be used as a cancer marker, the correlation between the gene expression and the prognosis of the cancer patient should be proved in the future studies.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2007

Background : Interpretative reporting is an important aspect of laboratory medicine. The large menu of laboratory tests available today makes it increasingly difficult for the non-specialist to order and interpret all laboratory tests. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of an expert system to interpret laboratory tests and help physicians order the appropriate tests. Materials and Methods : In order to interpret laboratory tests, a rules-based expert system was developed. In this module, if-then rules were used to interpret the given test result patterns (e.g. urinalysis, anemia, hepatitis B virus, hypercholesterolemia, glucose, syphilis, and tumor markers) and select matching text elements. The system was used to evaluate 535 subjects who visited a health-check program. Results : The overall abnormal rate was 50.5% in the expert system; 34% for cholesterol, 9.9% for urinalysis, 8.0% for anemia, 7.7% for thyroid function tests, 4.5% for tumor marker study, 4.7% for hepatitis virus antigen, 4.3% for serum glucose, and 1.1% for syphilis. Conclusion : These results indicate that the application of the expert system for the interpretation of laboratory tests may provide a useful method for the interpretation of reports. However more rules are needed for the application to in-patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5815-5818
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• 2014

For an exact comparison of mRNA transcription in different samples or tissues with real time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), it is crucial to select a suitable internal reference gene. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and beta-actin (ACTB) have been frequently considered as house-keeping genes to normalize for changes in specific gene expression. However, it has been reported that these genes are unsuitable references in some cases, because their transcription is significantly variable under particular experimental conditions and among tissues. The present study was aimed to investigate which reference genes are most suitable for the study of gastric cancer tissues using qRT-PCR. 50 pairs of gastric cancer and corresponding peritumoral tissues were obtained from patients with gastric cancer. Absolute qRT-PCR was employed to detect the expression of GAPDH, ACTB, RPII and 18sRNA in the gastric cancer samples. Comparing gastric cancer with corresponding peritumoral tissues, GAPDH, ACTB and RPII were obviously upregulated 6.49, 5.0 and 3.68 fold, respectively. Yet 18sRNA had no obvious expression change in gastric cancer tissues and the corresponding peritumoral tissues. The expression of GAPDH, ${\beta}$-actin, RPII and 18sRNA showed no obvious changes in normal gastric epithelial cells compared with gastric cancer cell lines. The carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a widely used clinical tumor marker, was used as a validation gene. Only when 18sRNA was used as the normalizing gene was CEA obviously elevated in gastric cancer tissues compared with peritumoral tissues. Our data show that 18sRNA is stably expressed in gastric cancer samples and corresponding peritumoral tissues. These observations confirm that there is no universal reference gene and underline the importance of specific optimization of potential reference genes for any experimental condition.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.293-301
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• 1991

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has been studied in the field of gynecologic malignancy to determine whether it can be used as a tumor marker for early detection of recurrence or evaluation of therapeutic results. From January 1985 through December 1989, a total of 239 cervical cancer patients were entered for an analysis of plasma CEA level in the group with conical cancer compared to the control group consisting of 65 normal healthy women and 18 women with benign gynecologic disease. Plasma CEA levels appear to be directly related with the tumor extension and as stages advance, the incidence of patients with abnormal plasma CEA levels is increased. Also, there seems to be a little higher incidence of abnormal CEA levels in patients with adenocarcinomas or adenosquamous carcinoma but not statistically significant because of small number of patients. When the patients developed recurrence, plasma CEA levels are markedly elevated in the majority, particularly in patients with hepatic metastases, In conclusion, serial plasma CEA checks could be used to detect recurrence during follow-up after treatment of cervical cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.136-140
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• 1999

Purpose : Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a useful tumor marker, which is widely used as a diagnostic index and predictor of both treatment and follow-up result in prostate cancer. A prospective analysis was carried out to obtain the period of PSA normalization and the half life of PSA and to analyze the factors influencing the period of PSA normalization. The PSA level was checked before and serially after radical radiotherapy. Materials and Method : Twen쇼 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer who underwent radical external beam radiotherapy were enrolled in this study. Accrual period was from April 1993 to May 1998. Median follow-up period was 20 months. Radiotherapy was given to whole pelvis followed by a boost to prostate. Dose range for the whole pelvis was from 45 Gy to 50 Gy and boost dose to prostate, from 14 Gy to 20 Gy. The post-irradiation PSA normal value was under 3.0 ng/ml. The physical examination and serum PSA level evaluation were performed at 3 month interval in the first one year, and then at every 4 to 6 months. Results : PSA value was normalized in nineteen patients (95%) within 12 months. The mean period of PSA normalization was 5.3 (${\pm}$2.7) months. The half life of PSA Of the nonfailing patients was 2.1 (${\pm}$0.9) month. The nadir PSA level Of the nonfailing Patients waS 0.8 (${\pm}$0.5) ng/ml. The period of PSA normalization had the positive correlation with pretreatment PSA level (R$^{2}$=0.468). The nadir PSA level had no definite positive correlation with the pretreatment PSA level (R$^{2}$=0.075). The half life of serum PSA level also had no definite correlation with pretreatment PSA level (R$^{2}$=0.029). Conclusion :The PSA level was mostly normalized within 8 months (85%). If it has not normalized within 12 months, we should consider the residual disease in prostate or distant metastasis. In 2 patients, the PSA level increased 6 months or 20 months before clinical disease was detected. So the serum PSA level can be used as early diagnostic indicator of treatment failure.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 1993

Background: Since an important component of carcinogenesis is unregulated growth, many investigators have reported the methods to detect cell proliferation in tissues including PCNA. PCNA is a 36 Kd intranuclear polypeptide and plays a critical role in cell proliferation. Thus progressive dysregulation of proliferation during carcinogenesis can be directly visualized in the paraffin embedded tissue using immunohistochemistry for PCNA which has an advantage of simplicity and maintenance of tissue architecture. The heterogeneity of PCNA expression is known to be related with proliferating fraction, histologic grade, DNA ploidy, and susceptibility of anticancer drugs, etc. We analyzed the biologic significance of the expression of PCNA in lung cancer tissues. Method: 43 lung cancer tissues, which were resected by surgery and were embedded in paraffin, were stained immunohistochemically by one hour MicroProbe System and the results were corelated with cell type, stage, site and survival. Result: 1) Suamous cell type showed high positivity (89%) than in adenocarcinoma (54%). 2) No significant difference related to tumor stage was noticed. 3) No significant difference between primary site and metastatic site was noticed. 4) No significant difference in 12-month survival between positive group and negative group was noticed. Conclusion: From this study, we concluded that imunohistochemistry for PCNA expression of routinely processed tissue is a simple technique for the assessment of proliferation in non-small cell lung cancer. Whether the labelling index has an independent prognostic value and deserves special attention in pathobiological evaluation in lung cancer remains to be investigated from large series with longer follow-up and to be correlated with multiple biological markers.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.263-272
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• 2022

Objectives: Infections with hepatitis B, C, and D virus (HBV, HCV, and HDV) are a major public health problem and lead to serious complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We aimed to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti-HCV, anti-HDV immunoglobulin G, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), and dual and triple hepatitis virus infections in Mongolia. Methods: A total of 2313 participants from urban and rural regions were randomly recruited for this cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was used to identify the risk factors for hepatitis virus infections, and the seromarkers were measured using immunoassay kits. Results: Among all participants, the prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HDV was 15.6%, 36.6%, and 14.3%, respectively. The infection rates were significantly higher in females and participants with a lower education level, rural residence, older age, and a history of blood transfusion. HBV and HCV co-infection was found in 120 (5.2%) participants and HBV, HCV, and HDV triple infection was detected in 67 (2.9%) participants. The prevalence of elevated AFP was 2.7%, 5.5%, and 2.6% higher in participants who were seropositive for HBsAg (p=0.01), anti-HCV (p<0.001), and anti-HDV (p=0.022), respectively. Elevated AFP was more prevalent in participants co-infected with HBV and HCV (5.8%, p=0.023), HBV and HDV (6.0%, p<0.001), and triple-infected with HBV, HCV, and HDV (7.5%) than in uninfected individuals. Conclusions: Nearly half (49.8%) of the study population aged ≥40 years were infected with HBV, HCV, or HDV, and 22.4% had dual or triple infections.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.159-168
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• 2004

Background : In recent years, numerous human tumor specific antigens such as melanoma antigen gene(MAGE) that is recognized by autologous cytotoxic T lymphocytes have been identified. MAGE is expressed in many human malignancies in various organs, such as lung, breast, stomach, esophagus and leukemia. Therefore MAGE has been studied widely for tumor diagnosis and immunotherapy. But, so far there were no clinical studies evaluating the role of MAGE in pleural effusion. We investigated the expression of MAGE in the patients with exudative pleural effusion for it's diagnostic utility and the results were compared with those of cytologic examinations. Methods : Diagnostic thoracentesis was performed in 44 consecutive patients with exudative pleural effusion during 6 months. We examined the expression of MAGE and cytology with the obtained pleural effusion. Expression of MAGE was interpreted by means of a commercial kit using RT-PCR method. Enrolled patients were divided into two groups such as malignant and benign and we analyzed its' sensitivity and specificity. Results : There were no significant differences between two groups in age, sex, white blood cell counts in pleural fluid, pleural fluid/serum protein ratio and pleural fluid/serum LDH ratio. The sensitivity and specificity of MAGE were 72.2% and 96.2% respectively and the positive predictive value and negative predictive value of MAGE were also 92.9% and 83.3% respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive value of cytologic examinations were 66.7% and 81.3% respectively. There were no significant differences between sensitivities of MAGE and cytologic examinations but false positive result of MAGE was found in 1 case of tuberculous pleurisy. Conclusion : MAGE is a sensitive and specific marker for the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant effusion in patients with exudative pleural effusion. And MAGE would provide the equal sensitivity compared with that of cytologic examination in patients with malignant pleural effusion if 5mL of the pleural fluid is examined.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.785-795
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• 1997

Background : Tumor markers have been used in diagnosis, predicting the extent of disease, monitoring recurrence after therapy and prediction of prognosis. But the utility of markers in lung cancer has been limited by low sensitivity and specificity. TPA-M is recently developed marker using combined monoclonal antibody of Cytokeratin 8, 18, and 19. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of new tumor marker, TPA-M by comparing the estabilished markers SCC, CEA, Cyfra21-1 in lung cancer. Method : An immunoradiometric assay of serum CEA, sec, Cyfra21-1, and TPA-M was performed in 49 pathologically confirmed lung cancer patients who visited Keimyung University Hospital from April 1996 to August 1996, and 29 benign lung diseases. Commercially available kits, Ab bead CEA (Eiken) to CEA, SCC RIA BEAD (DAINABOT) to SCC, CA2H (TFB) to Cyfra2H. and TPA-M (DAIICHI) to TPA-M were used for this study. Results : The mean serum values of lung cancer group and control group were $10.05{\pm}38.39{\mu}/L$, $1.59{\pm}0.94{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $3.04{\pm}5.79{\mu}/L$, $1.58{\pm}2.85{\mu}/L$ in SCC, $8.27{\pm}11.96{\mu}/L$, $1.77{\pm}2.72{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra21-1, and $132.02{\pm}209.35\;U/L$, $45.86{\pm}75.86\;U/L$ in TPA-M respectively. Serum values of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M in lung cancer group were higher than control group (p<0.05). Using cutoff value recommended by the manufactures, that is $2.5{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $3.0{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra21-1, 70.0 U/L in TPA-M, and $2.0{\mu}/L$ in SCC, sensitivity and specificity of lung cancer were 33.3%, 78.6% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.7% in Cyfra21-1, 52.3%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 23.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of nonsmall cell lung cancer were 36.1%, 78.1% in CEA, 50.1%, 89.7% in Cyfra21-1, 53.1%, 89.7% in TPA-M, 33.8%, 89.3% in SCC. Sensitivity and specificity of small cell lung cancer were 25.0%, 78.5% in CEA, 50.0%, 89.6% in Cyfra21-1, 50.0%, 89.6% in TPA-M, 0%, 89.2% in SCC. Cutoff value according to ROC(Receiver operating characteristics) curve was $1.25{\mu}/L$ in CEA, $1.5{\mu}/L$ in Cyfra2-1, 35 U/L in TPA-M, $0.6{\mu}/L$ in SCC. With this cutoff value, sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and kappa index of Cyfra21-1 and TPA-M were better than CEA and SCC. SCC only was related with statistic significance to TNM stages, dividing to operable stages(TNM stage I to IIIA) and inoperable stages (IIIB and IV) (p<0.05). But no tumor markers showed any correlation with significance with tumor size(p>0.05). Conclusion : Serum TPA-M and Cyfra21-1 shows higher sensitivity and specificity than CEA and SCC in overall lung cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer those were confirmed pathologically. SCC has higher specificity in nonsmall cell lung cancer. And the level of serum sec are signiticantly related with TNM staging.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.846-854
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• 1995

Background: Cytokeratin 19 is a subunit of cytokeratin intermediate filament expressed in simple epithelia such as respiratory epithelial cells and their malignant counterparts. An immunoradiometric assay is available to detect a fragment of the cytokeratin, referred to as Cyfra 21-1 in the serum. This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical utility of this new marker in the diagnosis of lung cancer compared with established markers of squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) and carcino-embryonic antigen(CEA). In addition, we compared the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of Cyfra 21-1 with those of SCC Ag in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. We also measured the level of Cyfra 21-1 in the different stages of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Method: We measured Cyfra 21-1(ELSA-CYFRA 21-1), SCC Ag(ABBOTT SCC RIABEAD) and CEA(ELSA2-CEA) in 79 patients with primary lung cancer and in 78 persons as a comparison group including 32 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, 23 patients with benign lung disease and 23 cases with healthy individual. Cyfra 21-1 is measured by a solid-phase immunoradiometric assay(CIS Bio International, France) based on the two-site sandwich method. SCC Ag is measured by a radioimmunoassay(Abbott Laboratories, USA). CEA is measured by a immunoradiometric assay(CIS Bio International, France). All data were expressed as the mean$\pm$standard deviation. Results: 1) The mean value of Cyfra 21-1 was $18.38{\pm}3.65\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $1.l6{\pm}0.53\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.0001). SCC Ag was $3.53{\pm}6.06\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $1.19{\pm}0.5\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.01). CEA was $35.03{\pm}13.9\;ng/mL$ in the lung cancer and $2.89{\pm}1.01\;ng/mL$ in the comparison group(p<0.0001). 2) Cyfra 21-1 level in squamous cell carcinoma($31.52{\pm}40.13\;ng/mL$) was higher than that in adenocarcinoma($2.41{\pm}1.34\;ng/mL$)(p<0.0001) and small cell carcinoma($2.15{\pm}2.05\;ng/mL$)(p=0.007). SCC Ag level in squamous cell carcinoma($5.1{\pm}7.68\;ng/mL$) was higher than that in adenocarcinoma($1.36{\pm}0.69\;ng/mL$)(p=0.009) and small cell carcinoma($1.1{\pm}0.24\;ng/mL$) (p=0.024). 3) The level of Cyfra 21-1 was not correlated with the progression of stage in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. 4) Using the cut-off value of 3.3ng/mL, the diagnostic sensitivity of Cyfra 21-1 was 83% in squamous cell carcinoma, 22% in adenocarcinoma and 17% in small cell carcinoma. The sensitivity of SCC Ag and CEA were 39% and 20%, respectively in squamous cell carcinoma, 11% and 39% in adenocarcinoma, and 0% and 33% in small cell carcinoma. 5) Comparison of the receiver operating characteristics curves(ROC curve) for Cyfra 21-1, SCC Ag and CEA revealed that Cyfra 21-1 showed highest diagnostic sensitivity among them in the diagnosis of lung cancer. Conclusion: Cyfra 21-1 is thought to be a better tumor marker for the diagnosis of lung cancer than SCC Ag and CEA, especially in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.