• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-12
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• 2007

Purpose: Uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) are common estrogen-dependent uterine tumors. Houttuynia cordata thunberg has cancer-preventing properties and often used in Chinese medicine. In the present study we used Houttuynia cordata thunberg to determine its effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human uterine leiomyoma cells. Methods: Primary cultured human uterine leiomyoma cells were treated with Houttuynia cordata thunberg. Cell viability analysis was analyzed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTS) assay and Flow cytometry was performed to ascertain the effects Houttuynia cordata thunberg. Expression of cell cycle related proteins and apoptosis related proteins were evaluated by Western blot analysis. Results: Cell viability was significantly influenced by Houttuynia cordata thunberg treatment in a dose-dependent manner in leiomyoma cells compare to normal myometrial cells. Flow cytometric analysis showed that Houttuynia cordata thunberg induced Sub G1 arrest. DNA fragmentation assay was carried out and apoptosis was detected. Activation of caspase-3, down-regulation of Bcl-2, with concomitant increase in p21 was observed. Houttuynia cordata thunberg treatment of uterine leiomyoma cellsresulted in a concentration-dependent cell death induced via the caspase dependent mechanism. Conclusion: These results suggest that Houttuynia cordata thunberg treatment in uterine leiomyoma cells leads to growth inhibition and induced apoptosis. These results suggest that Houttuynia cordata thunberg will be a promising agent for use in therapeutics agents against human uterine endometrial cancer.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.250-252
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• 2010

Vascular leiomyomas are benign tumors of smooth muscle origin arising from the muscularis layer of blood vessel walls. They can occur anywhere in the body where smooth muscle is found and usually occur in the lower extremity as a slow-growing, firm, occasionally painful mass. However they are rare in the head and neck and very rare in hard palate. Here we report a case of a vascular leiomyoma presenting as a soft mass of the hard palate and review the literatures.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 1974

The benign tumor of smooth muscle, the leiomyoma, may arise anywhere in the body, in such tissues as the muscularis of the gut and the media of blood vessels, although by far its most common location is the uterus. Indeed, the mediastinal leiomyomas are extremely rare, especially when one excludes those arising in the esophagus. No dogmatic statements can be made with regard to age, sex distribution, symptoms, or clinical course because of the extreme paucity of cases available for evaluation. Although the majority of the reported cases are in the posterior mediastinum, thus suggesting esophageal origin. We have experienced a right inferior mediastinal leiomyoma in 36 years old housewife. She complained hemoptysis and right lower chest pain associated with intermittent low-graded fever and chillness. Routine X-ray film revealed a large irregular cystic mass density in the right lower thoracic cavity. On exploratory thoracotomy, a huge round yellow-gray colored solid mass, measured about 2.5kg in weight, was located in the right inferior mediastinum just above right hemidiaphragm, medially. The tumor mass was removed, being proved to be leiomyoma on histopathologic examination. Her postoperative course was uneventful and discharged without complication.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1444-1447
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• 1992

Leiomyoma, one of the primry benign tumors of the lung, is extremely rare. Few cases reported in the literature suggest that this tumor occurs most commoly in the fourth decade and that over 90 percent of the pulmonary parenchymal leiomyomas occur in women and almost all lesions are found incidentally on chest radiographs. Treatment has been conservative surgery and 65 percent of the reported cases have been managed by lobectomy or pneumonectomy for advanced irreversible lung diseases or unw-areness of the benign nature of the lesion. This report is a case of pulmonary parenchymal leiomyoma in a 46-year-old female patient. She underwent surgical resection and the postoperative result was good.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.158-164
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• 2007

Uterine leiomyoma is the most common tumor in the female genital tract. Although the tumor is benign, it is a matter of paramount importance since it often causes profuse menstrual bleeding, pressure symptoms and infertility. Nevertheless, the etiology and pathophysiology of this abnormality remain poorly understood. The traditional definitive treatment for uterine leiomyomas is hysterectomy and, even today, symptomatic leiomyomas are the leading cause of hysterectomy in Korea. Clearly, the development of a safe, effective, and nonsurgical method of treatment for leiomyoma would be of great benefit to many women. This study demonstrated growth inhibition of uterine leiomyoma cells using Haeohyultang (HT). When human leiomyoma cells were treated with Haeohyultang, cells showed dose-dependent growth inhibitory effect. Cell growth was inhibited by over 40% as determined by both cell counts and MTS assay. Reduction of cellular viability as a consequence of exposure to Haeohyultang resulted from induction of apoptosis, as assessed by DNA fragmentation, PARP cleavage, caspase 9 and caspase 3 assay. Flow cytometry analysis with uterine leiomyoma cells demonstrated sub G1 cell cycle arrest after treatment with drug Haeohyultang. But, the expression levels of p27 and p21 were not changed in Haeohyultang treated cells compared with control. However, the expression levels of clAP1 were reduced by Haeohyultang compared with control. This reduction of clAP1 data means activation of the caspase family, and then induction of PARP cleavage and apoptosis. These results suggest that Haeohyultang may be potential therapeutic approach in the clinical management of uterine leiomyoma.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.104-109
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• 2008

Purpose: To investigate the clinicopathlogical characteristics and the surgical methods for gastric submucosal tumors in Korea, the Information Committee of the Korean Gastric Cancer Association performed a nationwide survey. Materials and Methods: Data on 878 patients who underwent resection from 2005 to 2006 were collected from medical records obtained from 47 institutes. Diagnosis, demographics, symptoms, tumor factors (location, size, degree of malignancy) and operative factors (surgicalmethod and approach, mortality) were analyzed. Results: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) were the most common cancers (n=586, 66.8%), followed by leiomyomas (n=97, 11.1%), schwannomas (n=70, 8.0%), ectopic pancreas (n=67, 7.8%) and carcinoids (n=16, 1.8%). The mean age of patients was 56.0 years and the male to female ratio was 1:1.18. Only 40.9% of the patients had symptoms at the time of diagnosis, such as abdominal pain, dyspepsia and bleeding. Gastric submucosal tumors were most frequently located in the upper third of the stomach and 55.4% of the GISTs (n=319) and 84.5% of the leiomyomas (n=84.5%) were located in the upper third of the stomach. Wedge resection (n=726, 82.8%) was the most common operative method, and laparoscopic surgery was performed in 388 patients (44.2%). Only one patient (0.1%) died within 30 days of surgery. A total of 115 patients withGISTs (21.1%, 115/544) had a high risk of malignancy and 41 patients (8.3%, 45/495) received adjuvant imatinib mesylate therapy. Conclusion: The survey showed that about two-thirds of the patients with a gastric submuscoal tumor (SMT) had a GIST, and about one-half of the patients underwent laparoscopic resection. These data presented in the nationwide survey could be used as a fundamental resource for gastric submucosal tumors in Korea.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.355-359
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• 1997

Leiomyomas, which are the commonest pelvic tumors in women, are originated from myometrial cells. Although the exact initial pathophysiologic event of the leiomyoma is not known, recent evidences suggested that the effects of sex steroid hormones in the process of tumor growth are mediated by local production of growth factors including epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II). If we look at the effects of other cytokines, it was suggested that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) may stimulate the proliferation of myometrial and leiomyomas cells. And it was reported that interferon-${\alpha}$ inhibit the action of bFGF. Therefore, we examined the effect of bFGF and interferon-${\alpha}$ on the proliferation of leiomyoma and myometrial cells. bFGF stimulated the myometrial and leiomyoma cells significantly at the concentration of 1ng/ml (p<0.05) and 5ng/ml (p<0.05). However, Interferon-${\alpha}$ inhibited the cell proliferation of myometrial and leiomyoma cells significantly at the concentration of 100U/ml (p<0.05) and 1000U/ml (p<0.05). And the stimulated effects of bFGF with the various concentration on the myometrial and leiomyoma cells ware inhibited by interferon-${\alpha}$ with 100U/ml. Therefore, we concluded that bFGF may stimulate the myometrial and leiomyoma cell proliferation and interferon-${\alpha}$ may inhibit the myometrial and leiomyoma cell proliferation through blocking the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.621-625
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• 2002

Though leiomyoma is the most common tumor of esophagus, it accounts for only 1% of all esophageal tumors. Most of the leiomyomas are intramural type originating from the muscularis propria and only l% of them is intraluminal pedunculated type originating from muscularis mucosae. Recently, a 30-year-old male was admitted to our hospital because of dysphagia. Radiologic examination showed that intraluminal tumor 5cm in diameter was found at the cervical esophagus. Endoscopic examination showed that the tumor was covered with normal mucosa. The patient underwent surgical excision through the left cervical approach. After full, longitudinal esophagotomy, the intraluminal pedunculated tumor was successfully enucleated. Esophageal leiomyoma was confirmed histopathologically. Postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was relieved from dysphagia.

• Korean Journal of Bronchoesophagology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.87-91
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• 2003

Currently gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors are divided into three major categories: myogenic tumors(leiomyoma, leiomyosarcoma), neurogenic tumors (schwannomas) and neoplasms that belong to neither group, which are known by GIST(gastrointestinal stromal tumors). The stromal tumors are hetrogenous, so that they may show myogenic or neurogenic differentiation or both, or no differentiation at all in some patients. The best defining feature for GIST is their expression of KIT-protein(CD117). Leiomyomas are the most common mesenchymal tumor in esophagus. Esophageal GISTS are very rare in comparision to those of the stomach and intestine. Recently we experieneced one case of the esophageal GIST, so that we describe an esophageal GIST on immunohistochemical analysis. A 70 years old woman complained of dysphagia and nausea for 3 days. FGS showed a huge elevated lesion in lower esophagus 33cm distal to incisor, which was covered with normal mucosa. CT and UGI showed the intramural tumor of lower third of the esophagus. The distal esophagectomy and esophago-gastrostomy were performed. The tumor was located in lower third of esophagus and measured as $6{\times}3.7$cm in size. Immunohistochemically, it showed weakly positive CD117 and diffusely positive S-100. SMA, desmin, NES and chromogranin showed negative immune-reaction. The patient was followed for 15 month after operation. There was no recurrence.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.189-196
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• 1991

Long-term administration of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone(LHRH) agonists, through a process of pituitary desensitization and down-regulation of receptors, inhibits the secretion of gonadotropin and sex-steroids and induces a reversible suppression of gonadal activity. This approach can be used as an effective endocrine therapy for some hormone-dependent tumors. We have used D-Trp6-LHRH, a long acting LHRH agonist, for the treatment of eleven patients with uterine leiomyomas, thereafter myomectomy was performed in seven cases and observed the ultrastructural changes of leiomyoma with an electron microscope. The use of LHRH agonist may be effective in reducing the size of a myoma considerably by primarily inducing medical hypophysectomy and would allow easier surgical removal. Electron microscopic findings of myoma cells after the use of LHRH agonist included the following: loss of cristae and swelling nuclear chromatin, perinuclear vacuolation in cytoplasm. Bone mineral density was slightly decreased, however, the difference was not statistically significant.