Mika Morita

Cutaneous and colonic metastases after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy that is responsible for more than 250,000 deaths worldwide each year [1]. HCC frequently metastasizes to extrahepatic organs, such as the lungs, bones, and brain, whereas metastasis to the skin or gastrointestinal tract is uncommon [2]. Cutaneous seeding of tumor cells along the abdominal drain track or within the surgical wound has been reported after resection of different types of abdominal tumors [3–6], while metastasis of HCC to the gastrointestinal tract usually involves direct infiltration of the stomach or large bowel [7, 8]. Occurrence of both cutaneous and colonic metastases in the same patient after resection of HCC has not been described previously to our knowledge. In this article we report the case of a patient with cutaneous and colonic metastases after surgical resection of HCC.

HLA-DR Expression on Cancer Cells and T Cell Reaction in Colorectal Carcinoma

60 cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma were immunohistochemically examined to clarify the relationship between HLA - DR expression on tumor cells and T cell infiltration. The more HLA-DR+ cancer cells in the carcinoma tissue increased, the more T cells tended to aggregate in both the infiltrating front of cancer tissue and the intracarcinomatuos stroma. We speculate that HLA - DR antigen on cancer cells might be immunoreactive and seems to be closely related with the cellular immunity in colorectal carcinoma.

Immunohistochemical Study of the Expression of HLA-DR Antigen and Lymphocyte Infiltration in Human Esophageal Carcinoma

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II antigen HLA-DR is known to be present on many types of immunocompetent cells, involved in a variety of immune functions, and can be found in various kinds of cancer cells of the gastrointestinal tract. It is also reported that HLA-DR is associated with tumor invasion, tumor metastasis, and patient survival [1].