• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.136-140
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• 2008

Purpose: Stage IV early gastric carcinoma (EGC) is a rare disease. We report here on 10 cases of EGC that showed metastasis in more than 15 lymph nodes. Materials and Methods: A total of 8354 cases of gastric carcinoma in patients who underwent surgical procedures between January 2001 and January 2007 at Samsung Medical Center were studied, and 10 cases were classified as stage IV EGC. We investigated their clinicopathologic characteristics. Results: There were 5 males and 5 females. Their ages at operation ranged from 46 to 76 years with a mean age of 61. All of the 10 patients had undergone curative resection for gastric cancer. The pathological diagnosis confirmed that all of the patients had tumor confined to the submucosa. The median size of the tumors was 5.3cm and the mean number of dissected nodes was 45.5 with a mean number of 22.2 involved nodes. Six cases were classified as the diffuse type and 4 were classified as the intestinal type by Lauren's classification. Histologically, 3 cases were signet ring cell carcinoma, 3 were poorly differentiated, 2 were moderately differentiated and 2 were well differentiated adenocarcinoma. Endolymphatic invasion was found in 9 cases. The median follow-up was 31 months. Adjuvant chemotherapy was done in 9 patients, and the patient who did not receive chemotherapy died by cerebrovascular accident. 2 patient had recurrence of gastric cancer and 7 survived without recurrence. Conclusion: More cases should be collected and further studies on the molecular and cellular tumor characteristics are required to characterize these tumors that show aggressive lymphatic spread.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.254-260
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the clinicopathological characteristics of stomach and small bowel gastrointestinal stromal tumors and to determine the risk factors and treatment guidelines. Materials and Methods: Among 38 patients who were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal stromal tumor from August 1998 to May 2006, 29 patients at the Pundang Jesaeng General Hospital, Daejin Medical Center were evaluated. The clinicopathological characteristics of gastrointestinal stromal tumors arising from stomach and small bowel were compared. Immunohistochemical staining for CD117, CD34, smooth muscle actin, desmin, and S-100 protein was performed and classified according to NIH criteria. Prognosis between groups was analyzed according to NIH criteria. Results: There was no significant difference in the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis between gastrointestinal stromal tumors arising from the stomach and small bowel. Recurrence of the disease occurred in four (13.8%) patients. Classification of gastrointestinal stromal tumors according to NIH criteria was predictive of recurrence (P=0.030). Conclusion: NIH criteria were predictive of recurrence, but the location of the primary site was not predictive of recurrence. A further study involving multi center data and a long-term follow-up will be needed for formulating diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.167-172
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• 2011

Purpose: Peritoneal seeding of gastric cancer is known to have a poor prognosis. With the diagnosis of peritoneal seeding, there is no effective treatment modality. Gastrectomy with chemotherapy or primary chemotherapy is basically one of major options for this condition. This study was conducted to compare the clinical outcomes of these treatments and to identify the better way to improve the prognosis of patients with peritoneal seeding. Materials and Methods: Between 2001 and 2007, gastric cancer patients with peritoneal seeding by preoperative or intraoperative diagnosis were reviewed retrospectively. The enrolled patients were divided as primary gastrectomy and primary chemotherapy group. Clinicopathologic characteristics and clinical outcomes of groups were analyzed and compared. Results: Fifty-four patients were enrolled. 21 patients belonged to the group of primary gastrectomy and 33 patients were to the primary chemotherapy group. Among 33 patients of the primary chemotherapy group, 17 patients were received only chemotherapy and 16 patients were received gastrectomy due to the good responses of primary chemotherapy. The 3 years survival rates were 14% in primary gastrectomy group, 55% in patients who received gastrectomy after primary chemotherapy, and 0% in patients with primary chemotherapy only. Conclusions: Although this study had many limitations, some valuable information was produced. In terms of survival benefits for the gastric cancer patients with peritoneal seeding, primary gastrectomy and additional gastrectomy after primary chemotherapy revealed the better clinical outcomes. But, prospective randomized clinical study and multi-center study should be performed to decide proper treatment for gastric cancer patients with peritoneal seeding.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2289-2293
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• 2013

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that are critical regulators of various diseases. MicroRNA-20a (miR-20a) and microRNA-203 (miR-203) have previously shown significant alteration in a range of cancers. In this study, the expression levels of miR-20a and miR-203 in 100 cervical cancer tissues were detected by qRT-PCR and compared to patient matched-nontumor cervical tissues. Correlations between expression level and clinicopathologic characteristics of cervical cancer were also analyzed. Finally, we studied the effect of miR-20a and miR-203 on cell proliferation in cervical cancer cell lines by MTT. We found that the expression level of miR-20a (P<0.001) was significantly higher in cervical cancer patients than in healthy controls, while that of miR-203 (P<0.001) was lower. Aberrant expression of miR-20a was correlated with lymph node metastasis (LNM), histological grade and tumor diameter, but down-regulated miR-203 was correlated with LNM only. Furthermore, we found that over-expression of miR-203 decreased cell proliferation, while reduction of miR-20a also prevented tumor progression. Our results support the involvement of miR-20a and miR-203 in cervical tumorigenesis. We propose that miRNAs might be used as therapeutic agents for cervical cancer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.1-7
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• 2020

Background/Objectives: Pediatric & Adolescent thyroid cancer is a steadily increasing malignancy. We aimed to report our experience at a single tertiary institution and to evaluate the risk factors for recurrence in pediatric & adolescent patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). Materials & Methods: The data of 42 pediatric & adolescent patients (aged ≤19 years) with DTC who underwent thyroidectomy at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital (Seoul, Korea) between December 1997 and February 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Clinicopathologic features and surgical outcomes were retrospectively analyzed through complete chart reviews. Results: The mean age was 16.6 years. A total of 6 (14.3%) patients experienced recurrence after initial treatment. The recurrence rate was significantly different between total thyroidectomy (TT) and lobectomy groups (23.1% vs. 0%, p=0.038). However, no statistically significant differences were found in the recurrence rate according to lymph node ratio (LNR) of 0.4 (10.7% vs 21.4%; P=0.383). Multivariate analysis confirmed age (hazard ratio [HR], 0.443; P=0.008) and bilaterality (HR, 11.477; P=0.022) as significant risk factors for DFS. Conclusion: Pediatric & Adolescent thyroid cancer is a rare malignancy and TT is recommended as the treatment of choice. However, lobectomy may be considered for Pediatric & Adolescent patients with age >16 years, tumor size <1 cm, and no bilateral disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.4711-4716
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• 2014

Introduction: Adiponectin (ApN) is a complement C1q-related protein, mainly secreted from adipose tissue, that signals through ApN receptor1 (Adipo-R1) and ApN receptor 2 (Adipo-R2). Low serum ApN concentrations are associated with obesity-related malignancies. However, there are very few studies on any prognostic role of ApN receptors in gastric cancer. Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between AdipoR1/R2 expression and early/advanced stage gastric cancer in terms of clinicopathologic characteristics and survival. Materials and Methods: Eighteen patients with early and 39 with advanced stage gastric cancer who underwent surgical gastric resection were included in this study. Results: Adipo-R1 expression was low in 2 of the 18 patients with early stage gastric cancer (11.1%), while 4 had low Adipo-R2 expression (22.2%). In those with advanced stage gastric cancer, 7 of 39 had low Adipo-R1 expression (17.9%) and 16 had low Adipo-R2 expression (41%). Adipo-R2 expression was significantly higher (p=0.011) in moderately differentiated tumors when compared to well-differentiated tumors. While there was nearly a statistically significant relationship between TNM stage (T, tumor size; N, regional lymph node; M, whether distant metastases exist) and Adipo-R2 expression (p=0.054), there was no relationship between Adipo-R1/-R2 expression with tumor stage and survival. Conclusion: Adipo-R1/-R2 expression has no prognostic significance of in early/advanced stage gastric cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3613-3618
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• 2013

Object: To detect expression of hypoxia inducible factor-$1{\alpha}$ (HIF-$1{\alpha}$) and lysyl oxidase (LOX) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explore their roles in prognosis. Methods: The mRNA levels of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and LOX were investigated by real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in 40 cases of tumour and paired normal tissues. In addition, protein expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and LOX was examined by immunohistochemistry in 82 cases of tumour and 45 paired normal tissues. The relationship between HIF-$1{\alpha}$ or LOX and clinicopathologic characteristics, as well as the correlation between HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and LOX, were also examined. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and the log-rank test were used to analyze progression-free survival. Results: HIF-$1{\alpha}$ or LOX mRNA levels in tumor tissues was significantly higher than those in paired normal tissues (p<0.01). Positive HIF-$1{\alpha}$ or LOX protein expression in tumor tissues was noted in 46/82 (56.1%) and 49/82 (59.8%) of the cases, respectively, being significantly higher than those in paired normal tissues (p<0.05). There was significant correlation between the expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ or LOX and tumor size, lymph node metastasis and pathological stage (p<0.05). The expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and LOX had a significant inverse impact on survival of patients with NSCLC. Conclusion: HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and LOX may play a pivotal role in the development of NSCLC, and may act in synergy to promote the progression of NSCLC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.2037-2041
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• 2015

Background: Relationships between poor prognosis of ovarian malignancies and changes in complete blood count parameters have been proposed previously. In this work, we aimed to evaluate clinicopathologic features in adolescents with adnexal masses and sought to establish any predictive value of the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in diagnosis. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 196 adolescent females with adnexal masses. Three groups were constituted with respect to clinical or histopathology results: group 1, non-neoplastic patients (n:65); group 2, neoplastic patients (n:68); and group 3 expectantly managed patients (n:63). The main parameters recorded from the hospital database and patient files were age, body mass index (BMI), chief symptoms, diameter of the mass (DOM), tumor marker levels, complete blood count values including absolute neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, and platecrit, surgical features, and postoperative histopathology results. Results: The expectantly managed patients were younger than the other groups (p=0.007). The mean body mass index (BMI) was higher in the neoplastic group (p=0.016). Preoperative DOM, CA125, mean platelet volume and PLR were statistically significantly different between the groups (p<0.05). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that increased PLR (AUC, 0.609; p=0.011) and BMI (AUC, 0.611; p=0.011) may be discriminative factors in predicting ovarian neoplasms in adolescents preoperatively. When the cut-off point for the PLR level was set to 140, the sensitivity and specificity levels were found to be 65.7% and 57.6%, respectively. Conclusions: We suggest that beside a careful preoperative evaluation including clinical characteristics, ultrasonographic features and tumor markers, PLR may predict ovarian neoplasms in adolescents.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.320-325
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• 2007

Promoter hypermethylation of the $p16^{INK4a}$ gene was investigated in 52 sets of samples of tumor tissue and adjacent normal tissue from Korean patients with colorectal cancer, using the proposed modified the Real-time PCR/SYBR Green detection method presented in this study. In normal tissue, 29 of 52 patients (56%) were methylated and in tumor tissue, 23 of 52 patients (44%) were methylated. The 34 cases (65.4%) showed a concordant DNA methylation pattern in both normal tissue and tumor tissue. Analyzing the association between the clinicopathologic features and DNA methylation status of the $p16^{INK4a}$ gene, the DNA methylation status according to by Duke's stage was different while other clinicopathological characteristics, including the age, sex, tumor stage, and histologic type of the patient were not found to be correlated with $p16^{INK4a}$ methylation. With multivariate logistic regression, it was observed that the DNA methylation status of $p16^{INK4a}$ gene in normal tissue was correlated with the DNA methylation status of the $p16^{INK4a}$ gene in tumor tissue (P=0.026). According to a Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, a difference in the survival rate by DNA methylation status was found, but it was not significant.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.6-10
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• 2015

Background and Objective : Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma(PTMC) is known as slow growing cancer with good prognosis. However, extrathyroidal extension may increase the risk of cervical lymph node metastasis and local invasion to surrounding structures. The aim of this study was to assess the characteristic features of the tumor invading the posterior thyroid capsule. Material and Methods : We made a retrospective review of 123 PTMC patients with thyroid capsule invasion, pathologically staged as T3 or T4. 74 patients (60.2%) had invasion to posterior thyroid capsule (group A) while 49 patients (39.8%) had invasion to-anterior thyroid capsule or anterior wall of trachea (group B). We assessed the clinicopathologic factors of the patients according to the location of capsular invasion of PTMC. Results : There was no difference regarding age, gender, T and N classification and incidence of lymph node metastasis between two groups. Local invasion rate to recurrent laryngeal nerve was 6.8% in patients with posterior thyroid capsule invasion, while the incidence was zero in those with capsular invasion to other locations Conclusion : Increased risk of local invasion to the recurrent laryngeal nerve should be considered in patients with PTMC presenting invasion of the posterior capsule.