Jiro Miyajima

Primary carcinoid of the testis associated with carcinoid syndrome

Abstract Testicular carcinoid is a rare disease accounting for less than 1% of all testicular neoplasms. It rarely manifests symptoms of carcinoid syndrome. Recent reports have noted that only 1.1–3.1% of testicular carcinoid tumors are complicated by carcinoid syndrome. In general, large tumor size and the presence of carcinoid syndrome are features associated with a malignant course. In the present case, pathological findings revealed pure carcinoid of the testis without metastasis. Moreover, watery diarrhea due to carcinoid syndrome disappeared and the serum serotonin level normalized following orchiectomy. The patient was followed up for 12 months with whole body computed tomography scan and assessment of serotonin levels. To date, there is no evidence of tumor recurrence. These findings suggest that monitoring serum serotonin levels may be useful as a marker during follow up of this type of tumor.

Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients with Prostate Cancer Using Prostate Specific Membrane‐Derived Primers in the Polymerase Chain Reaction

Background: Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSM) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that has been described as human prostate specific. It is possible that PSM could be used as a biomarker for staging prostate cancer.

EXPRESSION OF HEPARAN SULFATE PROTEOGLYCAN MRNA IN RAT KIDNEYS DURING CALCIUM OXALATE NEPHROLITHIASIS

This study used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to examine heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HS-PG) mRNA expression levels during stone formation in the rat kidney. Total RNA in kidneys was extracted and converted to cDNA. PCR products were resolved by electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose gel and visualized with ethidium bromide. Fragment intensity and area were measured using an image analyzer. Control cyclophilin and HS-PG mRNAs were expressed in all samples examined as 235 by and 506 bp bands, respectively. Cyclophilin expression in the normal group was not significantly different from expression in the group that formed stones. However, the level of HS-PG mRNA expression apparently increased in calcium oxalate (CaOx) microlith. The findings suggest an association between CaOx nephrolithiasis and expression of HS-PG in the rat kidney.

Higher susceptibility of erythropoietin-producing renal cell carcinomas to lysis by lymphokine-activated killer cells

Erythropoietin production by renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is reported to be a potential marker for interleukin-2/interferon-alpha-responding tumor. We have investigated whether erythropoietin of RCC cells is involved in the immune recognition by lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. Cells from primary culture of RCC cells expressing erythropoietin-mRNA or producing erythropoietin were more susceptible to lysis by LAK cells than those not expressing or producing it, respectively. RCC cells transfected with erythropoietin-cDNA became more susceptible to lysis by LAK cells than their erythropoietin-negative parental cells. These results indicate higher susceptibility of erythropoietin-producing RCC cells to lysis by LAK cells, suggesting that erythropoietin of RCC cells is involved in the immune recognition by LAK cells.

T-Lymphocyte Response in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Several important immunological properties of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from renal cell carcinoma (RCC) have been reported: (a) the magnitude of lymphocyte infiltration in RCC was higher than that in the other cancers (1); (b) the autologous tumor cell lysis in IL-2-activated TIL from RCC was higher than that in the other cancers except metastatic melanoma (1–4); (c) non-T cells, including CD3-CD56 + or CD3-CD16+ natural killer cells, were primarily responsible for autologous tumor cell lysis (1–5); (d) T cells were enriched with memory T cell markers (6); and (e) IL-2-activated TIL showed oligoclonal expansion (7–9). Therefore, TIL in RCC appeared to be more involved in host tumor-interaction than PBMC. However, there are few findings, to our knowledge, supporting the idea that RCC-specific T cells exist in TIL, PBMC, or the other immune organs in RCC patients. (10) Neither RCC TIL nor PBMC cultured with IL-2 alone displayed tumor-specific cytotoxicity. (1–8) These results suggest that RCC TIL have little or no CTL precursors, possibly because of the lower immunogeneity of untreated RCC cells. Poorly immunogenic animal tumor cells can be converted into highly immunogenic tumors by several techniques: (a) viral infection of tumor cells (11,12), (b) treatment of tumor cells with mutagenic agents such as 1-methyl-3-nitro-l-nitrosoguanidine (13, 14), (c) treatment of tumor cells with ultraviolet-B (UV) radiation or the others (15–19), (d) transfection of tumor cells with MHC class I antigens (20,21), and (e) transfection of tumor cells with cytokine genes (22, 23).