• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.19-24
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• 2006

Mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4) is a tumor suppressor gene associated with gastrointestinal carcinogenesis. The aim of the present study was to characterize more precisely its role in the development and progression of human gastric carcinoma. In this study, using tissue microarray analysis of 283 gastric cancers and related lesions, we found loss of SMAD4 protein expression in the cytoplasm (36/114, 32%) and in the nucleus (46/114, 40%) of gastric cancer cells. The loss of nuclear SMAD4 expression in primary tumors correlated significantly with poor survival, and was an independent prognostic marker in multivariate analysis. We also found a substantial decrease in SMAD4 expression at both the RNA and protein level in several human gastric carcinoma cell lines. To identify the genetic and/or epigenetic mechanisms of altered SMAD4 expression in gastric carcinoma, loss of heterozygosity (LOH), promoter hypermethylation, and exon mutations were examined. We found that LOH (20/70, 29%) and promoter hypermethylation (4/73, 5%) were associated with the loss of SMAD4 expression. SMAD4 protein levels wore also affected in certain gastric carcinoma cell lines following incubation with Mc132, a proteasome inhibitor. Taken together, our results indicate that the loss of SMAD4, especially loss of nuclear SMAD4 expression, is involved in gastric cancer progression. The loss of SMAD4 in gastric carcinomas is due to several mechanisms, including LOH, hypermethylation, and proteasome degradation.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) is one of the four subtypes of gastric carcinoma (GC), as defined by the novel classification recently proposed by The Cancer Genome Atlas. EBVaGC has several clinicopathological features such as longer survival and higher frequency of lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) and carcinoma with Crohn's disease-like lymphoid reaction that distinguish it from EBV-negative GC. The intensity and pattern of host cellular immune response in GC have been found to significantly correlate with the prognosis of patients with GC, suggesting that immune reaction and tumor microenvironment have critical roles in the progression of GC, and in particular, EBVaGC. Here, we reviewed the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying prominent immune reactions in patients with EBVaGC. In EBVaGC, deregulation of the expression of immune response-related genes promotes marked intra-or peritumoral immune cell infiltration. The expression of programmed death receptor-ligand 1 is known to be increased in EBVaGC, and therefore, it has been proposed as a favorable prognostic factor for patients with EBVaGC, albeit some data supporting this claim are controversial. Overall, the underlying mechanisms and clinical significance of the host cellular immune response in patients with EBVaGC have not been thoroughly elucidated. Therefore, further research is necessary to better understand the role of tumor microenvironment in EBVaGC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1987-1992
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• 2015

The aim of this research was to investigate the possible association between gastric carcinoma (GC) and polymorphisms of the IL-$1{\beta}$ gene in the Kashmiri population using peripheral blood DNA from 150 gastric carcinoma cases and 250 population controls with detailed data for clinicopathological characteristics of the disease. Two SNPs in the IL-$1{\beta}$ gene were selected for this study. Expression of IL-$1{\beta}$ was studied in 50 gastric carcinoma cases using immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR and then correlated with genotype. The frequency of the IL-$1{\beta}$-511 C allele was significantly higher in the GC case group (53.3%) than in controls (45.4%) with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.73 and a P value of 0.03. Multivariate regression analysis showed associations of gastric carcinoma with mutant form of IL-$1{\beta}$-511 TT (OR 0.309; P value <0.001) and the CC genotype of IL-$1{\beta}$-31 (OR 0.313; P value of 0.002). Haplotype analysis of IL-$1{\beta}$-31 and IL-$1{\beta}$-511 showed decreased association of IL-$1{\beta}$-31 T with IL-$1{\beta}$-511 C with gastric carcinoma (OR 0.728; P value 0.03). Expression study of 50 samples by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and RT-PCR showed association with grade III and stage III+IV. After correlating the expression with polymorphism no association was found.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.482-486
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• 2016

Inonotus obliquus is a medicinal mushroom with a variety of biological activities. It has reported to have strong anti-cancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. EBV+ gastric carcinoma is one of the most common EBV-associated cancers that were caused by latent EBV infection. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of ethanol extract of I. obliquus using in vivo xenograft animal models implanted with EBV+ human gastric carcinoma (SNU719). We also explored the molecular mechanisms responsible for its anti-cancer activity. The result indicated that the extract of I. obliquus had an anti-cancer effect in in vivo xenograft mice with EBV+ gastric carcinoma (SNU719). Extract of I. obliquus also showed a great effect on inducing the expression of p53, p21 and Bax in tumor tissue derived from EBV+ human gastric carcinoma, and these were correlated with increased expressions of the cleaved forms of caspase-9 and Parp. Also, I. obliquus attenuated the expression of viral proteins, BZLF-1 and LMP-2 in tumor tissue from EBV+ human gastric carcinoma.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.50-58
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• 2011

Background: Epstein-Barr virus associated gastric lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is characterized by the intensive infiltration of lymphoid cells, the presence of EBV, and the better prognosis over typical adenocarcinoma. Thus, it was assumable that viral latent proteins may be responsible for the recruitment of a certain T cell repertoire to EBV-associated gastric carcinoma. Methods: To examine above possibility, EBV gene expression in gastric carcinoma tissues and usage of TCR among the tumor infiltrating lymphocytes were analyzed. Results: EBV specific DNA and EBERs RNA were detected in 4 out of 30 patients. RT-PCR analysis revealed that all 4 of EBV-positive tumor tissues expressed EBNA1 mRNA and BARTs and LMP2a was detected only one sample out of 4. However, the EBNA2 and LMP-1 transcripts were not detected in these tissues. $CD8^+$ T cells were the predominant population of infiltrating lymphocytes in the EBV-positive gastric carcinoma. According to spectra type analysis of infiltrating T cells, 10 predominant bands were detected by TCR $V{\beta}$ CDR3 specific RT-PCR from 4 EBV-positive tumor tissues. Sequence analysis of these bands revealed oligoclonal expansion of T cells. Conclusion: These findings suggest that clonally expanded T cells in vivo might be a population of cytotoxic T cells reactive to EBV-associated gastric carcinoma.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.141-145
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• 2011

Although the biological potential of gastric epithelial dysplasia (GED) as a precursor of gastric cancer has never been in doubt, the classification of these lesions has been controversial and fraught with marked variations in approach to diagnosis across the world. The complexity of cyto-architectural features has been considered to be of paramount importance for the diagnosis of carcinoma in Japan, while breach of the basement membrane and invasion into the lamina propria has been considered the sine qua non of malignancy and hence a pre-requisite for the diagnosis of cancer in the West. In Korea, although the incidence of gastric cancer is similar to Japan, the diagnostic approach to GED or cancer seems to lie midway between Western and Japanese criteria. In this review, we will discuss the difference in the diagnosis of GED and cancer between two pathologists working in the comprehensive cancer center located in Japan and Korea, one of the most prevalent areas in the world for gastric cancer.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.55-58
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• 2018

Gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC) is a poorly differentiated or undifferentiated cancer of the stomach. However, early gastric SRC showed lower LN metastasis in many studies, thus some endoscopists now regard early gastric SRC as a candidate for endoscopic treatment. But there are unsolved problems of the validity of endoscopic resection in early gastric SRC. In this review, we will comprehensively review the previous clinical studies and discuss the limitation of current studies and the possibility of endoscopic resection of early gastric SRC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.535-541
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• 2005

It has been suggested that the endoscopic color of intramucosal gastric carcinoma is correlated with mucosal vascularity within the carcinomatous tissue. The development of electronic endoscopy has made it possible to quantitatively measure the mucosal hemoglobin volume, using a hemoglobin index. The aim of this study was to make a software program to calculate the hemoglobin index (IHb) and then investigate whether the mucosal IHb determined from the electronic endoscopic data is a useful marker for evaluating the color of intramucosal gastric carcinoma, in particular with regard to its value for discriminating between the histologic type. The mean values of IHb for the carcinoma (IHb-C) and the mean values of IHb for the surrounding non-cancerous mucosa ( IHb-N) were calculated in 75 intestinal-type and 34 diffuse-type gastric carcinomas. Then, we analyzed the ratio of the IHb-C to IHb-N. The mean IHb-C/IHb-N ratio in the intestinal-type carcinoma group was higher than that in the diffuse-type carcinoma group ($1.28{\pm}0.19$ vs. $0.81{\pm}0.18$, respectively, p<0.001). When the cut-off point of the C/N ratio was set at 1.00, the accuracy rate, the sensitivity, the specificity, and the positive and negative predictive values of a C/N ratio below 1.00 for the differential diagnosis of diffuse-type carcinoma from intestinal-type carcinoma were $94.5\%$, $94.1\%$, $94.7\%$, $88.9\%$ and $97.3\%$, respectively. IHb is useful for quantitative measurement of the endoscopic color in intramucosal gastric carcinoma and the IHb-C/IHb-N ratio would be helpful in distinguishing diffuse-type carcinoma from intestinal -type carcinoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.3437-3441
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• 2012

Background: Oncogenic Bmi-1 (B-lymphoma Moloney murine leukemia virus insertion region-1) belongs to the Polycomb-group (PcG) family of proteins and plays an important role in the regulation of proliferation, senescence, cell cycle and apoptosis, chromosome stability, activation of gene transcription. Methods: To clarify the roles of Bmi-1 in tumourigenesis and progression of gastric carcinomas, it was examined by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and real-time RT-PCR in gastric carcinomas, dysplasia, intestinal metaplasia (IM), and gastritis with a comparison of its expression with clinicopathological parameters of carcinomas. Results: There was gradually increased Bmi-1 protein expression from gastritis, IM, dyplasia to carcinoma (p<0.001). Bmi-1 expression was positively linked to tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and worse prognosis of carcinomas (p<0.001), but not to age or sex of carcinoma patients (p>0.05). There was higher Bmi-1 protein expression in intestinal-type carcinomas than diffuse-type ones (p<0.001). At mRNA level, Bmi-1 protein expression was increased from gastritis, IM, dysplasia and carcinoma (p<0.001). Bmi-1 overexpression was observed in gastric carcinoma with larger diameter, deeper invasion, lymph node metastasis, and intestinal-type carcinoma (p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings indicate that up-regulated Bmi-1 expression is positively linked to pathogenesis, growth, invasion, metastasis and differentiation of gastric carcinomas. It was considered as a promising marker to indicate the aggressive behaviors and prognosis of gastric carcinomas.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.211-214
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• 2014

We report our experience of a concurrent robot assisted distal gastrectomy and partial nephrectomy for synchronous early gastric cancer and renal cell carcinoma. A 55-year-old female patient was diagnosed with early gastric cancer on screening endoscopy. Abdominal computed tomography showed an incidental right renal cell carcinoma. Robot assisted distal gastrectomy was performed, followed by partial nephrectomy. The final pathological examination showed signet ring cell carcinoma within the lamina propria and renal cell carcinoma with negative resection margins. The patient showed no evidence of recurrence at 6-months. A robot-assisted combined operation could be a treatment option for early stages of synchronous malignancies.