Yoon Seok Hur

Extended gastritis cystica profunda associated with Epstein‐Barr virus‐positive dysplasia and carcinoma with lymphoid stroma

We report a case of gastritis cystica porfunda (GCP) associated with gastric carcinoma with lymphoid stroma (CLS). There was dysplastic change in the transitional area between GCP and CLS. Epstein‐Barr virus (EBV) in situ hybridization (ISH) revealed positive reaction at the dysplastic area as well as at the CLS area. Immunohistochemical staining disclosed that dysplastic epithelium was similar to GCP in CK 20, MUC5AC, and E‐cadherin expression, but similar to CLS in MUC6, CEA, p53, c‐erb‐B2, and EBV‐ISH expression. Results of the EBV‐ISH suggested that EBV infection may play a role in dysplastic change.

Clinical significance of clusterin expression in pancreatic adenocarcinoma

BackgroundClusterin is known to be expressed in many human neoplasms, and is believed to participate in the regeneration, migration, and anti-apoptosis of tumor cells. However, few reports have addressed the relationship between the manifestation of clusterin and clinicopathologic parameters in pancreas cancer patients. In the present study, the authors investigated the expression of clusterin and its clinical significance in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.MethodsImmunohistochemical staining was performed for clusterin in tumor tissues obtained from patients who received pancreatic resection with radical intent, and the associations of clusterin expression with various clinicopathologic parameters were analyzed in addition to the relation between its expression and survival.ResultsImmunoreactivity for clusterin was observed in 17 of the 52 (33%) pancreatic adenocarcinomas examined. In addition, clusterin positivity was found to be associated with preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen level, perineural invasion, and, most strongly, lymph node metastasis. The survival analysis identified tumor differentiation and lymph node metastasis as the only significant prognostic factors.ConclusionAlthough not an independent prognostic factor, clusterin immunoreactivity can be used in conjunction with lymph node metastasis to predict survival in cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Three-Weekly S-1 Monotherapy as First-Line Treatment in Elderly Patients with Recurrent or Metastatic Gastric Cancer

BACKGROUND/AIMSnElderly patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC) have generally been excluded from clinical trials, and there are few data available on the treatment of these patients. The efficacy of palliative S-1 monotherapy as a first-line treatment regimen for elderly patients has not been well elucidated.nnnMETHODSnFor this study, 25 AGC patients were enrolled between January 1, 2007 and March 31, 2009; 4 cases were recurrent AGC and 21 cases were metastatic AGC at the time of diagnosis. These patients received S-1 therapy at a dose of 40 mg/m(2) twice daily for 14 days every 3 weeks. All of the patients were older than 70 years.nnnRESULTSnThe median follow-up duration, the median progression-free survival, and the overall survival time were 8.7 months (range, 4.9 to 12.5 months), 4.9 months (range, 3.5 to 6.3 months), and 10.8 months (range, 6.6 to 15.0 months), respectively. Grade 3/4 nonhematologic toxicities were rare. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was noted in two patients. The partial response rate was 21.7% and stable disease was observed in 34.8% of the patients. Two patients (8%) died due to chemotherapy-associated toxicity during treatment (septic shock/intracranial hemorrhage).nnnCONCLUSIONSnOral S-1 chemotherapy seems to be effective as a first-line treatment regimen for elderly patients with metastatic or recurrent AGC. However, elderly patients receiving S-1 treatment should undergo continuous toxicity monitoring, since they are highly susceptible to adverse effects.