Regression of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in BCG-sensitized mice

Intraperitoneal inoculation of CF1 mice with Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) protected many of them against the ascites form of Ehrlich carcinoma; and, for those that developed cancer, complete regression occurred in up to 50% of the cases at an advanced state of the neoplastic disease. In contrast, when a booster dose of BCG was administered in admixture with tumor cells, the incidence of the tumor was lower and tumor regressions were very rarely observed in mice that developed cancer. Trypan blue, an inhibitor of lysosomal enzymes of macrophages, was found to markedly suppress the natural (innate) antitumor resistance of control mice as well as the acquired resistance and tumor regressions of BCG-sensitized mice. Moreover, a comparison of the cytotoxic activity of the adherent (macrophages) and nonadherent (predominantly lymphocytes) cells isolated from the peritoneal cavity of BCG-sensitized mice, as measured by the inhibition of DNA synthesis, revealed that the effector cells were amongst the macrophages. In contrast, spleen macrophages were devoid of cytotoxicity. The spleen lymphocytes from both BCG-sensitized and control mice possessed about the same significant cytotoxic activity. These results indicate that the activated peritoneal macrophages, induced by a local injection of BCG, could play an important role in the antitumor immunity against Ehrlich carcinoma.     

Risk factors for locoregional recurrence of scar carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) arising from scar tissue is rare and has a higher rate of recurrence than SCC arising in sunlight-damaged skin. The risk factors related to locoregional recurrence in scar carcinoma were analysed retrospectively. METHODS: Ninety-one patients with SCC arising from scar tissue treated from January 1980 to January 1992 were studied. The following factors were evaluated using univariate and multivariate methods for locoregional recurrence: patient age, sex, tumour size, anatomical location, histological differentiation, cause of scar and regional lymph node dissection. RESULTS: With a median follow-up of 30 months locoregional recurrence developed in 27 patients. The median interval to recurrence was 15 months. Sex (P = 0.0278), tumour size (P = 0.0491), and tumour grade (P = 0.0019) were found to be associated with recurrent disease by univariate analysis, but on multivariate analysis only sex and tumour grade were risk factors for recurrence. CONCLUSION: Careful follow-up after treatment is recommended especially for female patients and those with high-grade tumours.     

Advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy: distant metastasis and local recurrence

BACKGROUND: Resuscitation guidelines caution against extreme extension or flexion of an infant's head because tracheal obstruction may occur. No data support this recommendation. The authors therefore examined the dimensions of the tracheal lumen in neutral, extended, and flexed head positions in infants undergoing general endotracheal anesthesia for elective surgery. METHODS: Eighteen healthy full-term infants were studied. A flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope was passed through a previously inserted endotracheal tube and positioned above the cricoid cartilage. Video recordings were taken in each of three head positions. Recordings were analyzed by an investigator blinded to head position. A computer-digitized technique was used to measure anterior-posterior and lateral dimensions and cross-sectional area. Data were analyzed using paired t tests and sign tests. RESULTS: No significant differences in mean tracheal dimensions with changes in head position were found. No infant had complete tracheal obstruction. Infants were equally as likely to have a small increase as they were to have a small decrease in tracheal dimension with changes in head position. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the belief that infants and neonates have obstruction at the level of the trachea with extreme positions of the head, the authors were unable to demonstrate this phenomenon.     

The role of MMP-2 in the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

OBJECTIVES: To get insights into the role of MMP-2 in the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to find a method to judge the invasion and metastasis of HCC through MMP-2. METHODS: Zymograph and immunohistochemistry were used to study the content and types of positive cells of MMP-2 in the HCC, and statistical methods were used to analyse the association between the content of MMP-2 and the pathological indexes of HCC. RESULTS: MMP-2 was expressed by all the normal liver, HCC and surrounding liver parenchyma. The increase of MMP-2 and the presence of the active type of MMP-2 were related to the invasion and metastasis of HCC. The content of MMP-2 in HCC being higher than that in surrounding liver parenchyma was an important index to judge the invasion and metastasis of the HCC. The positive cells of MMP-2 found in immunohistochemistry were normal hepatocytes, cholangioepithelial cells, Ito cells, regenerated hepatocytes, new generated cholangioepithelial cells, and HCC cells. CONCLUSION: MMP-2 was related to the invasion and me astasis of HCC. The content of MMP-2 in HCC being higher than that in surrounding liver parenchyma could be bused as an important index to judge the invasion and metastasis of HCC.     

Significant risk factors of recurrence in muscularis proprial carcinoma of the stomach

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The aim of this study is to elucidate significant risk factors of recurrence in muscularis proprial gastric cancer (MPGC). METHODOLOGY: Seventy-three patients who underwent curative gastrectomy for MPGC were divided into 14 patients with postoperative recurrence (Group 1) and 59 patients without recurrence (Group 2). A retrospective study of Group 1 compared the clinicopathological features with Group 2. RESULTS: There were no significant differences of age, gender and operative method including frequency of lymph node dissection between Group 1 and Group 2. Although tumor size, gastric location and histological type did not significantly differ between the two groups, the rate of Borrman type in Group 1 (71.4%) was significantly higher than in Group 2 (42.4%). Significant risk factors of recurrence in pathological findings were the presence of secondary lymph node metastasis or more, lymphatic and venous involvement. Median survival in Group 1 (28.8 months) was significantly worse than in Group 2 (59.0 months). The 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates between Group 1 versus Group 2 were 71.4% versus 98.3% (p<0.01), 28.6% versus 96.7% (p<0.01), and 7. 1% versus 95.0 (p<0.01), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Prognosis of the postoperative recurrence in MPGC was very poor. More careful prophylactic treatment against recurrence of MPGC should therefore, be prescribed in patients with the aforementioned risk factors of recurrence.     

The role of glutamine, serum and energy factors in growth of enterocyte-like cell lines

BACKGROUND: Glutamine is routinely added to most cell cultures. Glutamine has been found to be the preferential nutrient to the rapidly replicating intestinal mucosa, but whether this is a metabolic effect or due to other properties of this amino acid is not determined. To study the importance of glutamine on the growth of two enterocyte-like cell lines, the effects of depriving the media or supplementing it with glutamine were assessed in media with different serum and energy supplements. METHODS: CaCo-2 and HT-29 cells were grown in serum-free medium, with fetal bovine or synthetic serum, and with or without glucose or galactose. The glutamine content was varied between 0 and 4 mM. All growth assays were performed in triplicate by counting in a hemocytometer. RESULTS: Both cell lines were dependent of serum factors for growth, but displayed distinct requirements on glutamine supplementation. Glutamine was an obligate supplement with dose-dependent correlation to growth (r = 0.87, p < 0.01) for CaCo-2 cells cultured in synthetic, but not in fetal bovine serum. In HT-29 cells, the correlation between glutamine and growth was significant (r = 0.68, p < 0.05) only in fetal bovine serum in the absence of galactose. CONCLUSION: This study shows that glutamine has different growth stimulating effects on two enterocyte-like cell lines studied. This could reflect different modes of action of glutamine on proliferation and differentiation in an enterocyte cell population.     

Prognostic factors of cervical lymph node metastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The metastatic spread of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) to the cervical lymph nodes is a negative prognostic factor in terms of survival. We have used multivariate analysis to identify the possible prognostic significance of a number of clinical and pathological characteristics in relation to possible involvement of the cervical lymph nodes in a series of 396 patients. METHOD: 396 patients with SCCHN were studied. Variables regarding the patient, the carcinoma and histology were analysed by multivariate analysis using BMDP's PLR programme. RESULTS: Some variables appear to represent predisposing factors for tumor spread to the lymph nodes: tumor site (supraglottic larynx: P = 0.005; base of the tongue: P = 0.02; hypopharynx: P = 0.02), grading (P = 0.001), and a number of histological parameters (lower degree of histological differentiation: P = 0.001; vascular permeation: P = 0.04; perineural invasion: P < 0.05; prevalently plasmocytic infiltrate: P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The identification of cases at risk for metastasis can be improved by the assessment of prognostic factors, with a consequent improvement in treatment strategies.     

The role of performance factors in the active avoidance-conditioning deficit in autoimmune mice.

Prior studies with autoimmune mice demonstrated deficits in 2-way active avoidance conditioning that correlated with the degree of autoimmunity. In this study, autoimmune female NZB?×?NZW F1 hybrid (B/W) mice were tested in shock-motivated discrimination learning, 1-way avoidance conditioning, and a modified 2-way avoidance task and compared to nonautoimmune female NZW mice. The discrimination and 1-way conditioning results indicated that B/W mice can learn shock-motivated tasks that involve minimal fatigue and no conflict. B/W mice were also able to learn the 2-way avoidance task when it was made easier by increasing conditioned-stimulus cue salience, clarifying contingencies, and increasing trial spacing to decrease possible cognitive, emotional, and physical fatigue. Thus, poor performance in 2-way avoidance appears to be a consequence of altered attention, motivation, or emotionality and can be overcome by altering task parameters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prognostic factors that predict pelvic lymph node metastasis from endometrial carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Recent reports indicate that certain pre- and intraoperatively determined risk factors are predictive of pelvic lymph node metastases from endometrial cancer, allowing selective pelvic lymph node dissection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of pre-, pre-/intra- and postoperatively determined tumor characteristics. METHODS: The study is based on 100 patients treated from 1987-1991 with total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. In all patients thorough pelvic lymphadenectomies were performed (no sampling). These patients were evaluated according to different macroscopic and histologic tumor characteristics retrospectively in a blind fashion (the lymph node status was later determined separately). Multivariate analysis was applied and the results were compared using receiver operator characteristic curves. In 15 of 100 patients, pelvic lymph node metastases could be histologically demonstrated. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis of 22 tumor characteristics identified the following as being independent in relation to pelvic lymph node metastases: preoperatively determined characteristics: serous papillary tumor type, invasion of myometrium, and histologic grade (Christopherson); pre-/intraoperatively: serous papillary type, histologic grade (Christopherson), and cervical involvement; and postoperatively: lymphangiosis carcinomatosa and hemangiosis carcinomatosa. Receiver operator characteristic curves show that for pelvic node metastases the postoperatively determined histologic findings are more predictive than all other factors that can be evaluated pre- and/or intraoperatively. CONCLUSION: Pre- and intraoperative tumor characteristics can determine the individual risk for pelvic lymph node involvement, but additional studies addressing the therapeutic value of pelvic lymphadenectomy would be necessary to define a probability threshold for lymphadenectomy in a decision analysis.     

Distribution pattern and risk factors of pelvic and para-aortic lymph node metastasis in epithelial ovarian carcinoma

The distribution of lymph node metastasis and the clinicopathologic risk factors for nodal involvement in ovarian carcinoma need to be clarified based on systematic lymph node dissection. We studied 115 patients with ovarian carcinoma who underwent systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection between 1987 and 1997. The incidence and distribution of lymph node metastasis are described and the clinico-pathologic risk factors for nodal involvement are investigated. Based on the occurrence of lymph node metastasis in the early stages, the incidence of solitary node involvement and the distribution of lymph node metastasis, we conclude that the primary site of nodal involvement in ovarian carcinoma is the para-aortic node (PAN), especially PAN superior to the inferior mesenteric artery (IMA). By univariate analysis, clinical stage, histologic type (mucinous vs. others), grade, multiple peritoneal metastases, peritoneal cytology, volume of ascites and serum CA125 level were correlated with overall incidence of lymph node metastasis. By performing a multivariate analysis with the clinical stage excluded, it was revealed that grade and peritoneal cytology were independent factors for PAN metastasis (p < 0.0025 and < 0.001, respectively) and that multiple peritoneal metastases and PAN metastasis were significant predictors of pelvic node metastasis (p < 0.01 and < 0.005, respectively). In conclusion, the PANs superior and inferior to IMA should be explored in staging of ovarian carcinoma that appears to be confined to the ovaries. To determine accurately the extent of disease, both the para-aortic and pelvic areas may need to be sampled or dissected in the case of ovarian carcinoma involving the peritoneal surfaces.     

The role of iodine-131 and thallium-201 imaging and serum thyroglobulin in the management of differentiated thyroid carcinoma

BACKGROUND: A prospective study was conducted to evaluate the use of iodine-131 sodium scintigraphy, thallium-201 chloride scintigraphy, and quantitative serum thyroglobulin estimation in the detection of differentiated thyroid carcinoma after thyroidectomy and iodine-131 sodium ablative therapy. METHODS: Thirty-one patients with a median age of 45.6 years (range, 20-73 years) were included in the study. After optimal endogenous thyroid-stimulating hormone stimulation (> 50 mU/ml), 53 pairs of iodine-131 and thallium-201 scans were performed. Concomitant serum thyroglobulin levels were available for 32 pairs of scans. The presence or absence of thyroid cancer was established by clinical, radiologic, and/or biopsy findings. RESULTS: The concordance between iodine-131 and thallium-201 scan findings in the presence of disease (25 scan sets) was 36%. The concordance in the absence of disease (28 scan sets) was 82%. Iodine-131 scanning was found to be significantly better (P < 0.05) than thallium-201 scanning, in terms of sensitivity (0.8 versus 0.6), specificity (0.96 versus 0.82), accuracy (0.89 versus 0.72), and the predictive value of a positive test (0.95 versus 0.75). The measurement of serum thyroglobulin had a low sensitivity (0.3) in the study but had a specificity of 1.0. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that iodine-131 sodium scintigraphy is superior to thallium-201 scintigraphy and serum thyroglobulin estimation for the detection of residual or metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma. However, the use of combined modalities provides a higher diagnostic yield. Thallium-201 scintigraphy was especially useful in cases in which iodine-131 scintigraphy was negative and quantitative thyroglobulin levels were elevated.     

Cerebral metastasis in bronchial carcinoma

A prospective study of 61 consecutive cases of bronchial carcinoma was done to detect cerebral metastasis and study their clinical presentations. Computerised tomography (CT Scan) was utilised as a screening procedure in 36 cases along with electroencephalography to detect cerebral secondaries. Of the cases studied with CT Scan and autopsy, 55% had brain secondaries. 18% of these cases had silent cerebral secondaries. 30% of the 61 cases studied has signs and symptoms referable to brain secondaries. An interesting clinical presentation was a dysequilibrium which in many of them was an extreme truncal ataxia, confining them helplessly to bed and relieved to some extent by a shunt operation.     

Dysregulation of the humoral immune response in old mice

The increase in autoantibodies with age of both experimental animals and humans has been thought to reflect a shift in the antibody repertoire from foreign to self antigens. In mice, before immunization, the age-associated increase in antibodies reactive with a prototypic autoantigen, bromelain-treated autologous erythrocytes (BrMRBC), reflected a 3-fold increase in serum IgM and the number of IgM-secreting spleen cells in old compared with young mice. However, the percentage of the IgM-secreting spleen cell repertoire reactive with BrMRBC in old mice was actually approximately 50% that in young mice. In contrast, after immunization with sheep erythrocytes (SRBC), old mice showed a 5-fold increase in the percentage of IgM-secreting cells reactive with BrMRBC while young mice showed no significant increase. The converse is true for the percentage of IgM-secreting spleen cells in old mice specific for SBRC, which is 10% the number generated by young mice. The increased autoantibody response of old mice is not, however, linked to their poor response to the nominal antigen. Thus, immunization with phosphorylcholine (PC) conjugated keyhole limpet hemocyanin, an antigen that induces a comparable anti-PC response in old and young mice, also induced more autoantibody forming cells in old than young mice. The increased autoantibody response of old mice after immunization can be accounted for by both an increased number of Ig-secreting spleen cells as well as an increased percentage of the expressed repertoire of IgM-secreting spleen cells that react with autoantigens.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Stress-induced alteration of T-lymphocyte subsets and humoral immunity in mice.

Effects of acute rotational stress on the tissue distribution of lymphocyte subpopulations, and the capacity to mount a humoral immune response were examined in normal and adrenalectomized mice. The splenic lymphocyte population showed a significant alteration in its content of T lymphocytes in normal, but not adrenalectomized animals subjected to rotational stress. Thus adrenal steroids may influence lymphocyte subpopulations in animals responding to stress. Humoral immune responsiveness of splenic lymphocytes was assessed by a direct lymphocyte plaque forming cell assay following immunization with sheep erythrocytes. The peak number of lymphocytes forming antibody to sheep erythrocytes found in spleens of animals subjected to stress begun 24 hours after antigen inoculation was 50% of the number observed in animals immunized and stressed simultaneously (p?     

Altered erythrocyte osmotic fragility in mice with Ehrlich ascites tumor

The osmotic fragility of erythrocytes from mice with Ehrlich ascites tumor was compared with that of erythrocytes from normal control animals. Erythrocytes collected from mice 15 days after the ip injection of tumor cells exhibited a uniform pattern of abnormal resistance to hemolysis in hypotonic saline, with 50% hemolysis occurring at an average saline concentration of 0.44% compared to an average of 0.49% for 11 controls a significant difference (P less than 0.0001). Erythrocytes from mice with this tumor apparently undergo an alteration in some component of the cell membrane that regulates either permeability to cations and water or distensibility of the cell.