Aim
Recent studies have indicated that hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) is a heterogenous group of benign tumors with various genetic and clinicopathological characteristics. We delineated the ...clinicopathological characteristics of HCA subtypes and evaluated the expression of transporter protein OATP1B3 in HCA.
Methods
HCA in 34 Japanese patients were investigated immunohistochemically and classified into four subtypes (HNF1α‐inactivated type, H‐HCA; β‐catenin‐activated type, b‐HCA; inflammatory type, I‐HCA; unclassified type, u‐HCA). Immunostaining of OATP1B3 protein in HCA tissue sections was performed to determine the association between OATP1B3 expression and HCA subtypes.
Results
HCA was categorized into the following four subtypes and two combined subtypes: 10 H‐HCA (29%), 10 I‐HCA (29%), seven b‐HCA (21%), two b‐HCA/H‐HCA (6%), two b‐HCA/I‐HCA (6%) and three u‐HCA (9%). The male‐to‐female ratio was 18:16. Oral contraceptive use was rare but seven HCA were found in patients with glycogen storage disease, congenital absence of the portal vein and idiopathic portal hypertension. OATP1B3 expression was decreased in 24 HCA but was preserved or increased in 10 HCA. All nine HCA with nuclear staining for β‐catenin showed preserved or enhanced OATP1B3 expression, indicating a significant association between nuclear β‐catenin accumulation and OATP1B3 expression in HCA.
Conclusion
HCA subtype classification was validated in 91% of our Japanese subjects although their clinical backgrounds including rare contraceptive use were different from European subjects. A close association between preserved or enhanced OATP1B3 expression and b‐HCA subtype indicated important modalities for clinical decisions in the treatment and follow up of patients with HCA.
Background
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether ordinary hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) show positivity of stem/progenitor cell markers and cholangiocyte markers during the process ...of tumor progression.
Methods
Ninety‐four HCC lesions no larger than 8 cm from 94 patients were immuno‐histochemically studied using two hepatocyte markers (Hep par 1 and α‐fetoprotein), five cholangiocyte markers (cytokeratin CK7, CK19, Muc1, epithelial membrane antigen and carcinoembryonic antigen) and three hepatic stem/progenitor cell markers (CD56, c‐Kit and EpCAM). The tumors were classified into three groups by tumor size: S1, < 2.0 cm; S2, 2.0–5.0 cm; S3, 5.0–8.0 cm. The tumors were also classified according to tumor differentiation: well, moderately and poorly differentiated. The relationship between the positive ratios of these markers, tumor size and tumor differentiation was examined.
Results
The positive ratios of cholangiocyte markers tended to be higher in larger sized and more poorly differentiated tumors (except for CK7). The positive ratios of stem/progenitor cell markers tended to be higher in larger sized and more poorly differentiated tumors (except for c‐Kit).
Conclusion
Ordinary HCC can acquire the characteristic of positivity of cholangiocyte and stem/progenitor cell markers during the process of tumor progression.
Highlight
Kumagai and colleagues showed that the positive ratios of cholangiocyte and stem/progenitor cell markers tended to be higher in larger sized and less differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma, indicating that ordinary hepatocellular carcinoma can acquire the characteristics of positivity of cholangiocyte and stem/progenitor cell markers during the process of tumor progression.
Purpose:This study aimed to provide the data to establish the national cervical cancer prevention program by studying the knowledge and attitude regarding cervical cancer and its prevention among Lao ...female workers in Vientiane, capital city of Laos.Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted among 356 female workers in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. They were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed and compared between the medical worker (MW) group, office worker (OW) group, and factory worker and cleaner (FWC) group.Results:Participants who had heard of cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV), and HPV vaccine comprised 89.9%, 34.0%, and 27.8%, respectively. The average knowledge score of FWC was lower than that of the MW or OW group. Only 3.4% of the participants knew that HPV infection was the cause of cervical cancer. Among the 175 womenwho felt at a risk of cervical cancer, 84 had never undergone a Pap smear. The main reasons for not undergoing a Pap smear were the absence of symptoms (28.8%) and the feeling of shame or embarrassment (24.6%).Conclusions:Female workers, especially in the FWC group, had little knowledge regarding cervical cancer and its prevention. Thus, cervical cancer education for female workers and the cultivation of health professionals are most efficient steps to overcome this situation.
Aim
The aim of this study was to evaluate integrin expression and immunolocalization of the extracellular matrix proteins in cholangiolocellular carcinoma (CoCC).
Methods
Tissue specimens of 23 CoCC, ...28 cholangiocarcinomas (CCC), 42 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and 11 classical type combined hepatocellular cholangiocarcinomas (CHC) were immunostained for β6, β4 and α3 integrins, fibronectin and laminin. ITGB6, B4 and A3 mRNA levels in six HCC cell lines, five CCC cell lines and two CHC cell lines were quantified by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.
Results
Little or no positivity for β6, β4 and α3 integrins was shown in 91%, 91% and 52% of CoCC and 100%, 98% and 81% of HCC, respectively, according to immunostaining, whereas intense positive staining for these integrins was demonstrated in 64%, 96% and 75% of CCC, respectively. There was a close correlation between β4 and α3 integrin expression and intracytoplasmic laminin in CoCC, CCC and HCC, but not between β6 expression and its ligand, fibronectin. Integrin mRNA levels were increased in four of five CCC cell lines, but nearly undetectable in five of six HCC cell lines and one CHC cell line. Tubular differentiation of a CHC cell line cultured in collagen gel matrix induced upregulation of these integrins.
Conclusion
Our results first indicated downregulation of αvβ6, α6β4 and α3β1 integrins in CoCC, in contrast to its high expression in CCC, suggesting a diagnostic value of integrins in the differential diagnosis of CoCC and CCC, as well as a useful inducible marker of the intermediate features of CoCC.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a liver disease associated with metabolic syndrome. The aim of this work was to examine whether eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) leaf extract (ELE) and banaba ...(Lagerstroemia speciosa L.) leaf extract (BLE) inhibited NASH induced by excessive ingestion of fructose in rats. Wistar rats were divided into four groups according to four distinct diets: starch diet (ST), high-fructose/high-glucose diet (FG), FG diet supplemented with ELE, or FG diet supplemented with BLE. All rats were killed after 5 weeks of treatment. Serum alanine aminotransferase and total cholesterol levels were significantly lower in the BLE group than in the FG group. Liver histopathology, including steatosis, lipogranulomas, and perisinusoidal fibrosis, was significantly attenuated in the ELE and BLE groups compared with the FG group. Levels of 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), which reflect oxidative injury to the liver, were significantly suppressed by ELE and BLE. Western blotting analysis indicated that interleukin-6 expression levels were significantly lower in the ELE and BLE groups than in the FG group. These results suggest that ELE and BLE reduced lipogenesis, oxidative stress, and inflammatory cytokine expression and thus inhibited NASH induced by excessive ingestion of fructose in rats.
Background
Gastric cancer (GC) is a common cancer globally. miRNA‐21 (miR‐21) appears to be important in the tumourigenesis of almost all types of human cancer. However its precise localization in GC ...has yet to be clarified. We thus examined miR‐21 localization in GC and revealed its clinicopathological importance.
Methods
Tissue arrays of 469 GCs from 454 patients were examined for miR‐21 using in situ hybridization (ISH). The positivity was evaluated separately in tumour cells and stromal cells. Conventional sections of 10 GCs were also stained. Eight cases were examined by quantitative RT‐PCR (qRT‐PCR).
Results
miR‐21 was highly expressed in tumour cells of 44% of cases and in cancer stroma of 51% of cases. miR‐21 of tumour cells was not related to clinicopathological factors, whereas stromal miR‐21 was related to many factors including tumour stage, size, and nodal metastasis. Stromal miR‐21 gradually increased during tumour progression. ISH of whole sections showed stronger stromal positivity in invasive areas with desmoplastic reaction. Cancer stroma also showed higher miR‐21 expression than tumour and non‐tumourous tissue in the qRT‐PCR study.
Conclusion
Stromal miR‐21 is closely related to tumour progression in GC. Stromal miR‐21 of tumours might be a target of treatment.
Objectives:
The round window membrane (RWM) is small in size, making it difficult to clarify its shape and structure. The authors examined a 40x magnified 3-dimensional model of the human RWM to ...clarify its morphologic aspects and characteristics.
Methods:
An RWM specimen was obtained from an archival, formalin-fixed, decalcified, left temporal bone of an 84-year-old female cadaver. The data obtained by laser scanning microscopy were input into a 3-dimensional printer. After a model of the RWM was created, the following features were examined: striae on the surfaces, curvatures, thickness, and areas. Cross sections of the original specimen were made for histological observations.
Results:
The contour of this RWM model was approximately elliptic, with a saddle shape. When illuminated from the scala tympani side, the surface facing the fossula exhibited dark anterior and clear posterior portions. A borderline appeared where the 2 portions were bound along the short axis of the ellipse. This borderline was identified as the line of inflection. Collagen fibers were shown to run parallel to the borderline in the posterior portion but were fanned out in the anterior portion.
Conclusions:
The magnified 3-dimensional model clarified gross anatomy and characteristics of the RWM. It is good teaching material for small tissues, such as the RWM.
Thirty-five nodules of hepatocellular adenomas (HCA) were immunohistochemically classified into four subgroups of HNF1α inactivated HCA (H-HCA) (11 cases, 31%), β-catenin activated HCA (b-HCA) (7 ...cases, 20%), inflammatory HCA (I-HCA) (10 cases, 29%), and unclassified HCA (u-HCA) (7 cases, 20%). Decreased expression of OATP1B3 protein was shown in most cases of H-HCA, I-HCA, and u-HCA but not in all cases of b-HCA and nuclear beta-catenin positive cases. These results indicated the close association between OATP1B3 immunostain and nuclear beta-catenin accumulation in HCA and suggested a characteristic image on Gd-EOB-MRI for nuclear beta-catenin positive HCA cases as well as a risk of development of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Background: Anticancer drugs for targeted molecular therapies have been applied to the treatment of lung cancer. Since the effects of medicine for adenocarcinoma (ADC) or squamous cell carcinoma ...(SQCC) differ, the ability to discriminate these lesions is important. In the present study, we examined whether ADC and SQCC could be distinguished using low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy (LVSEM) to examine cytopathological specimens. Methods: Thirty-seven cases of bronchoscopic samples were retrospectively examined using LVSEM on the surface structures of the cancer cells. Results: Among the Pap-stained slides, 81.1% of the cases could be distinguished: 96.2% of the ADC cases were distinguishable, and 45.5% of the SQCC cases were distinguishable. Among the significant findings for ADC using LVSEM, a spherical shape (73.1%), long filaments (65.4%), dense filaments (80.8%), and depression (57.7%) were seen. Among the significant findings for SQCC as observed using LVSEM, however, a flat shape (81.8%), sparse filaments (72.7%), and non-filament (81.8%) were seen. The overall accuracy of diagnosis using LVSEM was 83.8%: 80.8% for ADC and 90.9% for SQCC. The accuracy of a combination of Pap-stained slides and LVSEM was 97.3%. Conclusions: The LVSEM method is useful as an ancillary examination for cytopathology after the classification of Pap-stained slides.
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