Takahiro Fujimori

Minute flat depressed neoplastic lesions of the colon detected by contrast chromoscopy using an indigo carmine capsule

Thirty-seven diminutive flat depressed neoplastic lesions of the colon, smaller than 5 mm, were detected by contrast chromoscopy using an indigo carmine capsule and subsequently removed by endoscopic mucosal resection. We investigated the endoscopic, macroscopic, and histologic characteristics of these lesions and also evaluated the usefulness of chromoscopy and the magnifying endoscope for detecting this type of lesion. The lesions were classified into two types according to the measured height of the histologic sections: 28 lesions were truly flat depressed and the remaining 9 lesions were flat elevated. Of the 37 lesions, 18 were adenomas with mild atypia, 14 with moderate atypia, and 5 with severe atypia. The flat depressed lesions included 12 with mild atypia, 11 with moderate atypia, and 5 with severe atypia. No invasive carcinoma was present in either type, and no adenoma with severe atypia was identified in any of the flat elevated lesions. The overall rate of severe atypia was 13.5%; the rate of severe atypia for the flat depressed type was 17.9%, which is approximately 14-fold greater than that of ordinary diminutive polypoid adenomas (1.3%). The detection of these lesions was facilitated by the use of indigo carmine dye, which clearly demonstrated the mucosal irregularities. The frequency of detection of these lesions was increased four to five times with a magnifying endoscope, as occurred in nearly 10% of all of the patients examined. These data suggest that the finding of endoscopically minute flat depressed neoplastic lesions is not at all uncommon when examination is meticulously performed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The role ofras mutation in pancreatic cancer, precancerous lesions, and chronic pancreatitis

SummaryPoint mutations in K-ras codon 12 were detected in 7 of 10 specimens (70%) of frozen tissues. To determine when point mutations appear in the oncogenic stage, paraffin-embedded tissues of pancreatic cancer, hyperplastic ductal lesions in pancreatic cancer and in chronic pancreatitis were used. DNA extracted from the paraffin-embedded tissues classified as cancer, atypical and nonatypical hyperplasia of the pancreatic duct epithelium, and normal tissue from pancreatic cancer patients and those classified as atypical hyperplasia of the pancreatic duct epithelium and normal tissue from chronic pancreatitis patients were amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Point mutations were detected in 8 of 17 cancer cases (47.0%). In 5 of 8 point mutation positive cases, atypical hyperplasias were found in the surrounding tissues. In all 5 of these atypical hyperplasia, point mutations, that is, GGT-GTT (Gly-Val) and GGT-GAT (Gly-Asp), were detected. The same transitions were observed in the cancer of these 5 cases. These results suggest a strong relationship between cancer and atypical hyperplasia surrounding cancer. Although atypical hyperplasia around cancer was histologically very similar to that found in chronic pancreatitis, all 5 atypical and 5 nonatypical hyperplasias in chronic pancreatitis were negative forras point mutation. Thus, the result argues against an association between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

K-ras gene mutation in gall bladder carcinomas and dysplasia.

Epithelial dysplasia of gall bladder is an important precancerous lesion of gall bladder carcinogenesis. To investigate the frequency of K-ras gene mutation in gall bladder carcinoma and dysplasia, K-ras codon 12 mutations were investigated by the polymerase chain reaction/restriction enzyme based method following direct sequencing. Mutation was detected in 59% (30 of 51) of gall bladder carcinomas, in 73% (8 of 11) of gall bladder dysplasia in gall stone cases, and in 0% of the normal gall bladder epithelium. There was, however, no correlation between K-ras mutation and clinicopathological factors of gall bladder carcinoma. K-ras gene mutation occurs even in gall bladder dysplasia at an incidence similar to that in carcinomas, suggesting that testing for K-ras gene mutation may prove useful as an adjunct to bile cytological or biopsy analysis.

Immunohistochemical study of epidermal growth factor and transforming growth factor-β in the penetrating type of early gastric cancer

We report that the penetrating type of early gastric cancer (PEN) is a specific type of early gastric cancer and that the poorly differentiated PEN type could be considered an initial lesion of linitis plastica-type cancer. We performed an immunohistochemical study to clarify the role of growth factors (epidermal growth factor [EGF] and transforming growth factor-beta [TGF-beta]) in the PEN type of early gastric cancer. The results indicated that the PEN type of early gastric cancer has a high growth capacity. Moreover, it was suggested that EGF was involved in its specific infiltrative growth and that both EGF and TGF-beta were involved in its specific scirrhous growth. From these findings, it was assumed that the immunohistochemical staining of EGF and TGF-beta in endoscopic biopsy specimens was useful for the diagnosis of the PEN type of gastric cancer and also for the diagnosis of the initial lesion of linitis plastica-type gastric cancer.

Expression of oncogene products and growth factors in early gallbladder cancer, advanced gallbladder cancer, and chronic cholecystitis.

The expression of oncogene products and growth factors (epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-beta, erbB-2, ras p 21, and c-myc) in gallbladder cancer and chronic cholecystitis was measured by immunohistochemical staining on paraffin-embedded serial sections. Expression of these products was graded according to staining intensity in an area of positively stained cells. This study reports the detection of oncogene products and growth factors in cholecystitis as well as in early and late gallbladder cancer. The multiexpression of oncogene products and growth factors was greater for both gallbladder cancer groups as compared with the cholecystitis group. The percentage of epidermal growth factor positivity diminished with increased proportion of interstitial tissue and, conversely, the percentage of transforming growth factor positivity increased with increased proportion of interstitial tissue. The proportion of ras positivity was significantly greater in both early and advanced cholecystic cancer as compared with cholecystitis, but also was considerable even for cholecystitis. These results suggest that various oncogenes may have significant roles in gallbladder cancer and that collagen synthesis is reduced by epidermal growth factor and enhanced by transforming growth factor-beta.

ECTOPIC PITUITARY ADENOMA IN THE SUPRASELLAR CISTERN : CASE REPORT

The case of a 56-year-old man with an ectopic pituitary adenoma is reported. Neurological examinations, neurodiagnostic imaging, surgical observation, endocrinological evaluation, histological examination, and immunohistological study demonstrated evidence of ectopic prolactinoma in the suprasellar cistern and the presence of a normal pituitary in the sella turcica. The patient underwent total removal of the suprasellar mass by a pterional approach, leading to a surgical and endocrinological cure.

Immunohistochemical localization of cathepsin D in colorectal tumors

PURPOSE: Although it has been suggested that cathepsin D, a lysosomal protease, is involved in tumor invasion and metastasis in human colorectal cancers, conflicting studies have also been reported recently. In addition, this issue has been only rarely studied in human colorectal tumors by use of immunohistochemical methods. The aim of the study presented here was to clarify not only the correlation between cathepsin D expression and tumor invasion or metastasis but also the correlation between the intracellular immunostaining pattern of cathepsin D and tumor invasion and metastasis in human colorectal tumors. METHODS: Thirty-four primary colorectal adenocarcinomas and 24 adenomas were immunostained by use of an anticathepsin D antibody. Both the incidence and the immunostaining patterns of cathepsin D were investigated in all tissue samples. RESULTS: Three different immunostaining patterns,i.e., supranuclear, basal, and diffuse, were observed in samples containing cathepsin D. Although the incidence of cathepsin D-positive carcinomas was not correlated with tumor progression, invasion, or metastasis, the immunostaining pattern was significantly correlated with lymphatic invasion. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that abnormal cathepsin D immunostaining patterns (basal or diffuse) can be used to predict a potential for lymphatic invasion in colorectal carcinoma.

K-ras Gene Mutation Related to Histological Atypias in Human Colorectal Adenomas

To investigate the relationship of oncogene analysis to morphology, we analyzed K-ras gene mutations by dot-blot hybridization with and without consideration of histological atypias in individual colorectal adenomas. Each of 54 colon polyps were divided into two parts after fixation. One part was used as a mass to assess point mutations; the remaining portion of each polyp was paraffin-embedded, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined for point mutations related to histological atypias. In the first part of our study, K-ras gene mutations at codon 12 were detected in 13 cases (24%). In the second part of our study, 12 cases had distinctly different histological atypias. From each of these 12 cases, two areas, one with higher or one with lower grade atypia in the same polyp were excised to analyze for K-ras gene mutation. Two of these 12 cases (17%) had the mutation in different areas of the same tumor. These two cases contained the mutation only in the areas with higher grade atypia, and only one case added information regarding ras mutation upon microdissection when compared to the entire biopsy. These results suggest that oligonucleotide hybridization can identify the majority of cases containing ras mutations despite regional morphologic variation. Individual cases, however, may contain clonal subpopulations within adenomas with different ras sequences from other regions within the same adenoma.

P53 MUTATIONS IN FLAT- AND POLYPOID-TYPE COLORECTAL TUMORS DETECTED BY TEMPERATURE-GRADIENT GEL ELECTROPHORESIS

Reports of cases of flat-type colorectal tumors are increasing in Japan, but almost nothing has been elucidated about the genetic abnormalities of these tumors. In this study, we have examined p53 mutations in six cases of colon cancer cell lines, 22 cases of flat-type colorectal tumors, and 27 cases of polypoid-type colorectal tumors using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and temperature-gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE); the latter has recently been developed as a screening method for gene mutations. p53 mutations were observed in four colon cancer cell lines, six flat-type colorectal tumors, and three polypoid-type colorectal tumors, all of which were analyzed by direct sequencing. These mutations were observed only in adenomas with high-grade dysplasia and in colorectal cancers but not in adenomas with low-grade dysplasia. These observations suggest that p53 gene mutations are involved in flat-type as well as polypoid-type colorectal tumors at relatively later stages of carcinogenesis and that TGGE seems to be useful as one of the rapid screening methods.

Expression of p53 protein related to human papillomavirus and DNA ploidy in superficial esophageal carcinoma

We examined the p53 protein and human papilloma virus (HPV) by immunohistochemistry and DNA ploidy by cytofluorometry in paraffin-embedded esophageal carcinoma tissue specimens. Sixty-one patients with superficial esophageal carcinoma were operated on between 1983 and 1991 without any prior treatment. Immunostaining of the anti-p53 protein antibody (CM1) was positive in 32 carcinomas (52%). Patients with p53-positive tumors had a poorer outcome than those with p53-negative tumors (P<0.05). In addition, patients with p53-positive tumors did not have any characteristic site of relapse. Only 5 of the 61 patients (8.2%) had HPV-positive tumors. One of these 5 carcinomas expressed both p53 protein and HPV. Three patients with HPV-positive tumors which had invaded the submucosal layer died of relapse. A determination of DNA ploidy revealed 30 patients with aneuploid tumors, 13 with polyploid tumors and 18 with diploid tumors. The outcome of the patients with aneuploid tumors was worse than that of the patients with diploid tumor (P<0.05). p53 protein expression was not associated with DNA ploidy; however, the 16 patients who had both p53-positive and aneuploid tumors had a worse prognosis than patients with p53-negative and aneuploid tumors (P<0.01). These findings suggest that p53 protein expression in conjunction with DNA ploidy may be a useful indicator in evaluating the prognosis of patients with superficial esophageal carcinoma.