• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1381-1387
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• 2001

Objective : Endodermal sinus tumor or yolk sac tumor is an uncommon malignant germ-cell neoplasm. This tumor was originally described as a germ cell tumor of the ovary or the testis. Intracranial endodermal sinus tumor is extremely rare and usually develop in the pineal or suprasellar regions. The authors evaluated the effect of adjuvant therapy(chemotherapy combined with radiotherapy) and radical removal of intracranial endodermal sinus tumors. Material and Methods : Between 1996 and 2001, four patients of intracranial endodermal sinus tumor were diagnosed with tumor marker(AFP) and biopsy. Three patients were treated with surgical removal and chemotherapy with cisplatin($20mg/m^2$), etoposide($100mg/m^2$) and bleomycin($15mg/m^2$) as well as external beam radiation therapy. We compared the management problems for these tumors. Result : In all three patients the tumor size and the level of tumor marker decresed during initial adjuvant therapy. However, Tumors showed regrowth with elevated AFP of serum and CSF possibly related to delayed chemotherapeutic treatment or inadequate administration of chemotherapeutic drugs due to severe bone marrow suppression. An additional chemotherapy and external radiation therapy were given, but tumors could not be controlled with leptomeningeal seeding. Conclusion : Radiotherapy is considered to be less effective. The combination chemotherapy with PVB(cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycine) or PE(cisplatin, etoposide) is considered to be value in prolongation of the survival rate. But the role of chemotherapy in this tumor has not yet been clarified due to bone marrow suppression and drug resistance. Further study with large series of this tumor is necessary to establish the optimal management.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.198-204
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• 2004

Tumor cell proliferation is considered to be a useful prognostic indicator of tumor aggressiveness and tumor response to therapy but in vitro measurement of individual proliferation is complex and tedious work. PET imaging provides a noninvasive approach to measure tumor growth rate in situ. Early approaches have used $^{18}F$-FDG or methionine to monitor proliferation status. These 2 tracers detect changes in glucose and amino acid metabolism, respectively, and therefore provide only an indirect measure of proliferation status. More recent studies have focused on DNA synthesis itself as a marker of cell proliferation. Cell lines and tissues with a high proliferation rate require high rates of DNA synthesis. $[^{11}C]Thymidine$ was the first radiotracer for noninvasive imaging of tumor proliferation. The short half-life of $^{11}C$ and rapid metabolism of $[^{11}C]Thymidine$ in vivo make the radiotracer less suitable for routing use. Halogenated thymidine analogs such as 5-iodo-2-deoxyuridine (IUdR) can be successfully used as cell proliferation markers for in vitro studies because these compounds are rapidly incorporated into newly synthesized DNA. IUdR has been evaluated as a potential in vivo tracer in nuclear medicing but the image qualify and the calculation of proliferation rates are impaired by its rapid in vivo degradation. Hence, the thymidine analog $3'-deoxy-3'-^{18}F-fluorothymidine$ (FLT) was recently introduced as a stable proliferation marker with a suitable nuclide half-life and stable in vivo. $[^{18}F]FLT$ is phosphorylated to 3-fluorothymidine monophosphate by thymidine kinase 1 and reflects thymidine kinase 1 activity in proliferating cell. $[^{18}F]FLT$ PET is feasible in clincal use and well correlates with cellular proliferation. Choline is a precursor for the biosynthesis of phospholipids (in particular, phosphatidylcholine), which is the essential component of all eukaryotic cell membranes and $[^{11}C]choline$, which is a new marker for cellular proliferation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5731-5734
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• 2013

Background: The object of this study was to examine whether a new protocol including step-sectioning and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining of axillary sentinel nodes (SN) would lead to detection of more metastases in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Sixty-nine tumor free sentinel lymph nodes were examined. Step frozen sectioning was performed on formalin fixed SN and stained both by hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) and cytokeratin markers using IHC. Any tumoral cell in IHC stained slides were considered as a positive result. Metastases up to 0.2 mm were considered as isolated tumor cells and 0.2 up to 2 mm as micrometastasis. Results: Mean age of the patients was $48.7{\pm}12.2$ years. Step sectioning of the SN revealed 11 involved by metastasis which was statistically significant (p<0.001). Furthermore, 15 (21.7%) of the patients revealed positive results in IHC staining for pan-CK marker and this was also statistically significant (p=0.001). Ten patients had tumoral involvement in lymph nodes harvested from axillary dissection and 4 out of 15 lymph nodes with positive result for CK marker were isolated tumor cells. However, 4 of 10 patients with tumor positive lymph nodes in axillary dissection were negative for CK marker and in contrast 6 of the pan-CK positive SN were in patients with tumor-free axillary lymph nodes. Conclusions: Both IHC and step sectioning improve the detection rate of metastases. Considering the similar power of these two methods, we recommend using either IHC staining or step sectioning for better evaluation of harvested SNs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2781-2785
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• 2016

Background: Matric metalloproteinase (MMP) 13 gene expression is increased in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCCs) and associated with increasing tumor invasion, lymph node involvement and decreased survival rates. Levels of the circulating enzyme may be elevated and used as a marker of tumor progression. In this study, clinical application of MMP-13 serum levels was evaluated for early detection, prediction of prognosis and survival time of ESCC patients. Materials and Methods: Serum levels of MMP13 were determined by ELISA in 66 ESCC patients prior of any treatment and 54 healthy controls for comparison with clinicopathological data through statistical analysis with Man Whitney U and Log-Rank tests. In addition, clinical value of MMP13 levels for diagnosis was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test. Results: The serum level of MMP-13 in patients (>250 pg/ml) was significantly higher than in the control group (<100 pg/ml) (p value=0.004). Also the results showed a significant correlation between MMP-13 serum levels with tumor stage (p value = 0.003), depth of tumor invasion (p value=0.008), involvement of lymph nodes (p value = 0.011), tumor size (p value = 0.018) and survival time. While there were no significant correlation with grade and location of tumors. ROC analysis showed that MMP-13 level is an accurate diagnostic marker especially to differentiate pre-invasive/ invasive lesions from normal controls (sensitivity and specificity: 100%). Conclusions: These findings indicate a potential clinical significance of serum MMP13 measurement for early detection and prognostic assessment in ESCC patients.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.260-265
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• 2001

Transforming growth $factor-{\beta}1$ ($TGF-{\beta}1$) is a multipotent growth factor affecting development, homeostasis and tissue repair. Many kinds of malignant tissues were reported to overexpress transforming growth $factor-{\beta}1$ ($TGF-{\beta}1$) gene. However, a little work has been done on the circulating $TGF-{\beta}1$ and the association of $TGF-{\beta}1$ with progression in patients with malignant tumors. In this study, we measured the plasma level of $TGF-{\beta}1$ in gastric cancer and prostate cancer patients and evaluated the utility of plasma $TGF-{\beta}1$ as a possible tumor marker. We used Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system in order to measure plasma $TGF-{\beta}1$ level in 134 gastric cancer patients, 50 prostate cancer patients and 290 normal controls. And the tumor marker, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), was compared with $TGF-{\beta}1$ in the aspects of sensitivity and specificity. The mean plasma $TGF-{\beta}1$ levels were $1.219{\pm}0.834$ (0.272-5.772) ng/mL in normal controls, $5.964{\pm}3.218$ (0.845-18.124) ng/mL in gastric cancer and $4.140{\pm}2.345$ (1.108-13.302) ng/mL in prostate cancer. In gastric cancer patients difference in plasma $TGF-{\beta}1$ level was not detected according to cancer stage. In comparison with other tumor marker (CEA, PSA) $TGF-{\beta}1$ is more potent in sensitivity. These results indicate that the plasma $TGF-{\beta}1$ level can be a potent tumor marker in gastric cancer and prostate cancer.

• 대한두경부종양학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.81-85
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• 2005

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.124-129
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• 2005

Background: CM1 (centrocyte/-blast marker 1) is originally defined as a germinal center B cell marker. It is known that CM1 plays a critical role on B cell development in germinal center. In addition, we have found that CM1 is expressed on lymphoma cell lines, such as Raji, Ramos and IM-9. This means that CM1 might be served as a tumor marker as well. In the present study, we examined the expression of CM1 on the surface of the other tumors and the possibility of the development of tumor screening ELISA kit by using CM1. Methods: First, we have examined the expression of CM1 on stomach cancer and hepatoma, which are predominantly (discovered) occurred in Korean, by flow cytometry analysis. After purifying of CM1 antigen from Raji and Ramos, the optimal ELISA condition was determined. And then we compared the level of CM1 between normal individuals and cancer patients by ELISA. To decrease the non-specific binding of anti-CM1 mAb with serum components except CM1 and to enhance the diagnostic accuracy, albumin depletion spin column was used. Results: CM1 was highly expressed on stomach cancer and hepatoma cell lines. In addition, we have also confirmed the increased CM1 expression on cancer patients. The difference of CM1 expression between normal individuals and cancer patients were more clearly observed, after deletion of serum albumin by using albumin depletion spin column. Conclusion: Based on the results from this study, CM1 might be a useful molecule for the early diagnosis of cancer. In addition, further studies for the increase of ELISA sensitivity and appropriate albumin depletion methods should be needed.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.11
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• pp.847-854
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• 2017

Recent studies on molecular carcinogenesis suggest that the chemo-resistance of some cancers is largely due to presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which affect the chemotherapy outcome for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, currently no consensus on a CSC phenotype in HCC has been obtained. Here, we examined Sox12 as a novel CSC marker in HCC. Sox12+ versus Sox12- cells were purified from HCC cell lines. The Sox12+ cells were compared with Sox12- HCC cells for tumor sphere formation, chemo-resistance, tumor formation after serial adoptive transplantations in nude mice, and the frequency of developing distal metastasis. We found that compared to Sox12- HCC cells, Sox12+ HCC cells generated significantly more tumor spheres in culture, were more chemo-resistant to cisplatin, were detected in circulation more frequently, and formed distal tumor more frequently. Moreover, Sox12 appeared to functionally contribute to the stemness of HCC cells. Thus, we conclude that Sox12 may be a novel marker for enriching CSCs in HCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.8
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• pp.4539-4543
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• 2013

Background: Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) is the most predominant type of urinary bladder tumor. As cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 is recently introduced as an attractive target molecule in bladder TCC, we evaluated the immunohistochemical expression of this marker and its association with several clinicopathological characteristics. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in the Pathology department of Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2006-2011. Ninety-two paraffin embedded blocks were selected from patients with urinary bladder TCC who underwent cystectomy or transurethral resection (TUR). Then, we assessed COX-2 expression by immunohistochemical staining using antibody against COX-2. Staining in more than 5% of tumor cells was considered as positive expression. Results: COX-2 was expressed in 50 % of our patients. This marker was markedly expressed in high grade bladder TCC (62.1%) versus other grades and there was statistically a significant difference in COX-2 expression between various grades (p=0.008). In addition, patients' age, lymphatic and perineurial invasion were associated with the expression of COX-2 (p=0.001, 0.015 and 0.039, respectively). However, other parameters such as stage, tumor size, venous invasion and lymph node metastasis did not show any significant relationship with this marker (all, p>0.05). Conclusions: COX-2 was expressed in urinary bladder TCC especially in high grade forms, advocating its probable role in the differentiation of this tumor. Accordingly, COX-2 could be a valuable biological target molecule in the evaluation and treatment of patients with bladder TCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.7039-7044
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• 2015

Background: Many functional molecules controlling diverse cellular function are included in low-molecular weight proteins and peptides. Materials and Methods: To identify proteins controlling function in lung adenocarcinomas (AC), we performed two-dimensional gel electrophoresis employing tricine-SDS polyacrylamide in the second dimension (tricine 2-DE). This system was able to detect proteins under 1 kDa even with post-translational modifications. To confirm the utility of detected proteins as novel tumor markers for AC, we performed immunohistochemical analysis using 170 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded lung AC tissues. Results: Tricine 2-DE revealed that five proteins including S100A16 were overexpressed in lung AC-derived cells compared with lung squamous cell carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma-derived cells. Immunohistochemically, S100A16 showed various subcellular localization in lung cancer tissues and a membranous staining status was correlated with the T-factor (P=0.0008), pathological stage (P=0.0015), differentiation extent (P=0.0001), lymphatic invasion (P=0.0007), vascular invasion (P=0.0001), pleural invasion (P=0.0087), and gender (P=0.039), but not with the age or smoking history. More importantly, membranous staining of S100A16 was significantly correlated with a poorer overall survival of either stage I (P=0.0088) or stage II / III (P=0.0003) lung AC patients, and multivariate analysis confirmed that membranous expression of S100A16 was an independent adverse prognostic indicator (P=0.0001). Conclusions: The present results suggest that S100A16 protein is a novel prognostic marker for lung AC.