Syringoid eccrine carcinoma with apparently aggressive transformation: case report and review of the literature.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Naoya Yamazaki.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is common skin malignancy arising from malignant proliferation of the keratinocytes of the epidermis. Chronic exposure to ultraviolet radiation in sunlight is the most important risk factor for squamous cell carcinoma. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment provide the best opportunity to cure cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas. Although it is locally invasive, squamous cell carcinomas usually remain localized and can be cured by a variety of techniques. Surgical excision is the most broadly used treatment for high-risk squamous cell carcinoma. It is well-tolerated, extremely effective, and the completeness of the procedure can be evaluated through histologic assessment of the specimen's margins. About 10 percent of squamous cell carcinomas in Japan spread to regional lymph nodes or more distant sites with a relatively poor outcome. Five-year cure rates are reported to be 85 to 80 percent for Japanese patients with squamous cell carcinomas, respectively. Recommendations for surgical margins vary depending upon the risk of local recurrence, especially; squamous cell carcinomas with perineural extension also need more extensive procedures. Patients with clinically enlarged lymph nodes may require radiographic imaging, fine needle aspiration, or lymph node biopsy. Depending upon the results of these tests, regional lymph node dissection may be done. Recently the sentinel lymph node biopsy technique is being evaluated for its ability to detect microscopic involvement in patients with high-risk patients who have no clinical evidence of lymph node metastasis. The occurrence of regional lymph node metastases places the patient at increased risk for the subsequent development of distant metastases. Distant metastases are associated with a markedly increased risk of disease-related mortality. Systemic chemotherapy has been to limited benefit in patients with disseminated squamous cell carcinoma patients. In Japanese patients with distant metastases, the five-year survival rate is about 10 percent. The ability of current chemotherapy protocols to increase the cure ratio in squamous cell carcinoma is still controversial.
BACKGROUND: The E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion system is frequently inactivated by multiple mechanisms and is involved in tumor progression in many types of cancer. Recently, the authors reported a novel cell membrane glycoprotein, dysadherin, which has an anti-cell-cell adhesion function and down-regulates E-cadherin. METHODS: Expression of both dysadherin and E-cadherin was investigated immunohistochemically in 115 patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma to determine the correlation between the 2 molecules and their associations with both patient survival and the clinicopathologic features of the tumors. RESULTS: Dysadherin and E-cadherin were expressed at the cell membranes of melanoma cells. Fifty-two percent of the tumors showed dysadherin immunopositivity, and 91% of the tumors showed reduced E-cadherin immunopositivity. There was no significant inverse correlation between dysadherin expression and E-cadherin expression. Increased dysadherin expression was significantly correlated with nodular subtype (P = 0.042), Clark level (P < 0.001), tumor thickness (P < 0.001), ulceration (P = 0.008), lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001), high TNM classification (P < 0.001), and poor patient survival (P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis of patient survival revealed that increased dysadherin expression was a significant predictor of poor survival (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Thus, increased expression of dysadherin was a significant indicator of poor prognosis in patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma.
BACKGROUND: Metastatic, chemotherapy-resistant melanoma is an intractable cancer with a very poor prognosis. As to immunotherapy targeting metastatic melanoma, HLA-A2+ patients were mainly enrolled in the study in Western countries. However, HLA-A24+ melanoma patients-oriented immunotherapy has not been fully investigated. In the present study, we investigated the effect of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy on metastatic melanoma patients with HLA-A2 or A24 genotype. METHODS: Nine cases of metastatic melanoma were enrolled into a phase I study of monocyte-derived dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy. HLA-genotype analysis revealed 4 cases of HLA-A*0201, 1 of A*0206 and 4 of A*2402. Enriched monocytes were obtained using OptiPreptrade mark from leukapheresis products, and then incubated with GM-CSF and IL-4 in a closed serum-free system. After pulsing with a cocktail of 5 melanoma-associated synthetic peptides (gp100, tyrosinase, MAGE-2, MAGE-3 and MART-1 or MAGE-1) restricted to HLA-A2 or A24 and KLH, cells were cryopreserved until used. Finally, thawed DCs were washed and injected subcutaneously (s.c.) into the inguinal region in a dose-escalation manner. RESULTS: The mean percentage of DCs rated as lin-HLA-DR+ in melanoma patients was 46.4 +/- 15.6 %. Most of DCs expressed high level of co-stimulatory molecules and type1 phenotype (CD11c+HLA-DR+), while a moderate number of mature DCs with CD83 and CCR7 positive were contained in DC products. DC injections were well tolerated except for transient liver dysfunction (elevation of transaminases, Grade I-II). All 6 evaluable cases except for early PD showed positive immunological responses to more than 2 melanoma peptides in an ELISPOT assay. Two representative responders demonstrated strong HLA-class I protein expression in the tumor and very high scores of ELISPOT that might correlate to the regression of metastatic tumors. Clinical response through DC injections was as follows : 1CR, 1 PR, 1SD and 6 PD. All 59 DC injections in the phase I study were tolerable in terms of safety, however, the maximal tolerable dose of DCs was not determined. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that peptide cocktail-treated DC-based immunotherapy had the potential for utilizing as one of therapeutic tools against metastatic melanoma in Japan.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to summarize the CT features of pulmonary metastases in angiosarcoma in 24 patients. CONCLUSION: A variety of CT features were associated with metastatic angiosarcoma of the lung. The common CT manifestations of metastatic angiosarcoma were multiple solid nodular lesions and multiple thin-walled cysts that were often accompanied by hemorrhagic change.
Many human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-class I (mainly A*0201)-restricted peptide-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) have been derived from peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) of melanoma patients. However, few studies regarding HLA-A*2402-restricted melanoma-associated peptides have been performed, because HLA-A24 is not a common allele in Caucasians. In this study, we investigated the specific CTL-inducing activity of 5 HLA-A*2402-restricted peptides derived from gp100, tyrosinase, MAGE1, MAGE2 and MAGE3. A CTL induction culture was performed using PBLs and cultured dendritic cell (DC) pulsed with HLA-A*2402-restricted melanoma peptide cocktail. The CTLs derived from volunteers killed the A24 peptide-pulsed TISI cells and even HLA-A*2402-positive melanoma cells, but not HLA-A*0201-positive cells. IFN-gamma levels produced by the melanoma patients' CTLs were obviously low in each peptide group compared with those produced by the volunteers' CTLs, which indicated the presence of immunosuppressive factors in metastatic melanoma. These results suggested that polyvalent immunotherapy using multiple epitopes from melanoma antigens might be a better way of improving the efficacy of treatment.