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Biomedical subjects

Yosuke Yamakawa

Publications and source records attributed to Yosuke Yamakawa.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

Endobronchial neodymium:yttrium-aluminum garnet laser for noninvasive closure of small proximal bronchopleural fistula after lung resection.

BACKGROUND: Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is a serious complication of lung resection. The management of persistent BPF is one of the most complex challenges encountered by thoracic surgeons. METHODS: We used neodymium:yttrium-aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser in 8 patients with BPF who were treated at our hospital, between January 1991 and December 1997. Through the flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope, Nd:YAG laser beam was directed to the bronchial mucosa surrounding the BPF. One-half-second energy pulses of 8 to 20 W were used. Close follow-up of successful patients showed complete closure of the BPF without further treatment. RESULTS: The procedure was successful in 4 of 5 patients who had no infection or tumor at the bronchial stump. However, the procedure failed in 3 other patients, who had residual tumor or infection by aspergillus at the stump. CONCLUSIONS: Closure of small BPF by laser seems to be due to edema and to an inflammatory reaction of the bronchial mucosa surrounding the BPF. If the diagnosis of small proximal BPF is made in the absence of tumor or infection, Nd:YAG laser offers an option for endobronchial treatment of small (<2 mm) BPF. If this technique is successful, it avoids the morbidity associated with more invasive surgical procedures.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Diagnosis of visceral pleural invasion by lung cancer using intraoperative touch cytology.

BACKGROUND: Invasion to the visceral pleura is an important component of lung cancer staging and an independent prognostic factor. However, the accuracy of pathologic examination depends on how the sections are made, and the pathologist may miss the most invaded part of the pleura. Therefore, we have designed "touch" cytology in an effort to more accurately diagnose the pleural invasion by lung cancer. METHODS: Immediately after thoracotomy, the surface of the visceral pleura just above the tumor was gently touched by a glass slide without scrubbing in 100 patients who simultaneously underwent pleural lavage cytology or cytology of the subclinical pleural effusion. RESULTS: Seventeen percent of the tumors were diagnosed as invading the visceral pleura by touch cytology. Lavage cytology was found to be positive in 7%. In reference to the pathologic examination of the tumor specimen, touch cytology was found to be positive in all of p3, 5 out of 6 of p2, 5 out of 30 of p1, and 5 out of 62 of p0 cases. Touch cytology correctly diagnosed all the positive cases detected by lavage or effusion cytology. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that our method is useful in detecting the visceral pleural invasion and raises a possibility that pathologic p0 and p1 lung cancers include a subset of patients with tumor cells exposed on the pleural surface.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2002

Expression of the MTA1 mRNA in advanced lung cancer.

The MTA1 gene is a recently identified metastasis-associated gene which has been implicated in the signal transduction or regulation of gene expression. We examined the mRNA expression levels of the MTA1, the human homologue of the rat mta1 gene in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Expression of MTA1 messenger RNA was evaluated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 74 non-small cell lung carcinoma samples using LightCycler. The data was analyzed in reference to clinicopathological data. There was no relationship between MTA1 gene expression and age and gender. MTA1/GAPDH mRNA level in stage II-IV NSCLC (3.465+/-3.675) was significantly higher than the level in stage I NSCLC (1.614+/-2.434, P=0.0153). MTA1/GAPDH mRNA levels in T4 NSCLC (4.377+/-4.169) was significantly higher than the level in T1 NSCLC (1.966+/-2.148, P=0.0351) and in T2 NSCLC (2.048+/-1.899, P=0.0269), respectively. MTA1/GAPDH mRNA level in NSCLC with lymph node metastasis (4.242+/-3.758) was significantly higher in NSCLC without lymph node metastasis (P=0.0169). Our results show that the expression of the MTA1 gene is closely related to invasiveness and metastasis in NSCLC. The gene MTA1 could thus potentially provide information on the mechanism of cancer invasion and metastasis.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2002

Decreased perioxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma gene expression was correlated with poor prognosis in patients with lung cancer.

Activation of the nuclear hormone receptor perioxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis in several human cancers. We have hypothesized that PPARgamma mRNA levels could be predictors of the differentiation and survival of lung cancer. The study included 77 lung cancer cases. The mRNA levels were quantified by real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using LightCycler. The PPARgamma mRNA levels were decreased in tumor tissues from lung cancer (0.579 +/- 1.255) compared to the normal adjacent lung tissues (4.191 +/- 2.868) (P = 0.0001). No significant difference in PPARgamma mRNA levels was found among gender, age, and pathological subtype. The PPARgamma mRNA levels were higher in tumor tissues from higher differentiated lung cancer. The NSCLC patients with low PPARgamma mRNA expression (< 0.5) had significantly worse survival than the patients without low PPARgamma mRNA levels (P = 0.0438, Breslow-Gehan-Wilcoxon test; P = 0.0168, Cox's proportional-Hazards regression model). Thus, PPARgamma mRNA levels may serve as a prognostic marker in lung cancer. Using the LightCycler RT-PCR assay, the determination of PPARgamma mRNA levels might provide a potential marker for treatment of lung cancer by PPARgamma agonist. However, further studies and a longer follow up are needed to confirm the impact of PPARgamma in the biological behavior of the tumor.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2002

Developmentally regulated expression of survivin in the human thymus.

Survivin is a member of the inhibitor-of-apoptosis (IAP) family. It has been reported to be expressed during development, but not in differentiated normal tissue. However, its expression has been reported to be high in the thymus. To assess the role of survivin in human thymocyte development, we investigated the expression of survivin using reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry, and immunohistochemistry in freshly isolated human thymocytes. Survivin was expressed in all thymocyte subsets but its expression level was developmentally regulated. Its expression was low in the double negative (DN) thymocytes, upregulated in double positive (DP) thymocytes, and was highest in the T-cell receptor(high), late DP thymocytes; it was then downregulated in the single positive thymocytes and negative in the peripheral blood T cells. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the expression of survivin and that of CD69 and Bcl-2 in DP thymocytes. These results suggest that survivin may play an important role in the T-cell development in the human thymus.

Antigens, CD↗
PubMed2002

Expression of the periostin mRNA level in neuroblastoma.

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is the most common malignant solid tumor in early childhood. Whether neuroblastoma is diagnosed by mass screening or by clinical symptom, it has been reported to be correlated with prognosis of the disease. The periostin protein shares structural and sequence homology with fasciclin I, which is an insect adhesion molecule. METHODS: Expression of periostin messenger RNAs were evaluated by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay in 24 tumor samples from neuroblastoma using LightCycler. The data were analyzed in reference to clinicopathologic factors. RESULTS: There was a tendency for higher periostin transcripts levels in the tumor samples from stage IV when compared with the stage I (P =.0845). The periostin mRNA level was higher in the group with disease diagnosed by symptom than in the group with disease diagnosed by mass screening (P =.0266). The periostin mRNA level also was higher in the group with disease diagnosed after 1 year of age than in the group with disease diagnosed before 1 year of age (P =.0059). CONCLUSION: Because the groups with disease diagnosed by symptom or after 1 year of age were reported to be the worse prognosis, the periostin mRNA expression levels were correlated with tumor progression or prognosis of neuroblastoma.

Cell Adhesion Molecules↗
PubMed2002

Beta IGH3, a TGF-beta inducible gene, is overexpressed in lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) is capable of affecting the proliferation of many cell types. beta IGH3, TGF-beta inducible gene, was originally isolated from lung adenocarcinoma cell line (A549). We have hypothesized that beta IGH3 mRNA levels could be predictors of the development and invasion of lung cancer. METHODS: The study included 71 lung cancer cases. The beta IGH3 mRNA levels were quantified by real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using LightCycler. RESULTS: The beta IGH3 mRNA levels were elevated in tumor tissues from lung cancer (1.058 +/- 1.212) compared with non-malignant lung tissues (0.304 +/- 0.159) (p = 0.0001). No significant difference in beta IGH3 mRNA levels was found among gender, age, pathological subtype and lymph node metastasis. The beta IGH3 mRNA levels were elevated in tumor tissues from T4 lung cancer (1.425 +/- 1.470) compared with those from T1 lung cancer (0.702 +/- 0.655) (p = 0.05) and T2 lung cancer (0.736 +/- 0.734) (p = 0.044). CONCLUSION: Using the LightCycler RT-PCR assay, the determination of beta IGH3 mRNA level might provide a potential marker for the aggressiveness of lung cancer. However, further studies and a longer follow-up are needed to confirm the impact of beta IGH3 on the biological behavior of the tumor.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Ratio of expression of p16INK4a to p14ARF correlates with the progression of non-small cell lung cancer.

The CDKN2 gene is located on the short arm of chromosome 9p and encodes two unrelated proteins, p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF), through the use of independent first exons and shared exons 2 and 3. p16(INK4a) is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, whereas p14(ARF) regulates the cell cycle through a p53 and MDM2-dependent pathway. We have examined the expression of p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF) using competitive RT-PCR in 60 non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and matching normal lung tissues. The intensities of bands for p16(INK4a) and p14(ARF) were nearly equal or the intensity of the p16(INK4a) band slightly exceeded that of p14(ARF) in the normal lung tissues (n = 60). In 38 tumors the intensity of the p16(INK4a) band was similar to or slightly weaker than that of p14(ARF). In 6 tumors the intensity of the p16(INK4a) band was weaker than that of p14(ARF). In 15 tumors the intensity of the p14(ARF) band was very strong and the p16(INK4a) band was barely visible. In only one tumor was the intensity of the p16(INK4a) band very strong, while the band of p14(ARF) was barely visible. The ratio of the intensity of p16(INK4a) to p14(ARF) had an interesting correlation with the tumor's clinicopathological characteristics. The p stage II - IV tumors had significantly lower p16(INK4a) to p14(ARF) ratios than the p stage I tumors (P = 0.036). The T2 - 4 tumors had significantly lower p16(INK4a) to p14(ARF) ratios than the T1 tumors (P = 0.005). The N1 - 3 tumors had significantly lower p16(INK4a) to p14(ARF) ratios than the N0 tumors (P = 0.014). Our results suggest that the ratio of expression of p16(INK4a) to p14(ARF) tends to decrease during the progression of NSCLC.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

p185(HER-2/neu) and p21(CIP1/WAF1) expression in primary tumors and lymph node metastases in non-small cell lung cancer.

p185(HER-2/neu), a tyrosine kinase receptor, is one of the target molecules for cancer therapy, and its expression may reduce the sensitivity of tumor cells to anti-cancer drugs. p21(CIP1/WAF1) is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, and its expression may also be involved in chemoresistance. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a potentially systemic disease, and systemic therapies play an important role in its treatment. However, there have been no studies comparing the expression of these molecules between primary and metastatic tumors. We investigated the expression of p185(HER-2/neu) and p21(CIP1/WAF1) in 57 paired samples of primary NSCLC tumors and corresponding lymph node metastases by immunohistochemistry. Expression of each of p185(HER-2/neu) and p21(CIP1/WAF1) was highly correlated between primary tumors and lymph node metastases, and similar correlations were also obtained when adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma cases were analyzed individually. However we failed to detect any correlation between p185(HER-2/neu) and p21(CIP1/WAF1) expression. Our results suggested that expression of both p185(HER-2/neu) and p21(CIP1/WAF1) is concordant between primary and metastatic tumors.

Adult↗