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Background: The therapeutic value of systematic lymphadenectomy for early-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is controversial. This study evaluates the survival impact and adverse events of systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy in patients with pT1 and pT2 EOC. Methods: A retrospective investigation was performed using data from patients with pT1 and pT2 EOC at multi-institutions belonging to the Sankai Gynecologic Study Group (SGSG). We selected patients who had undergone systematic pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy (Group LA) ( n = 284) and patients who had not undergone lymph node resection (Group no-LA) ( n = 138). Outcomes for patients and peri-operative adverse events were compared between the two groups. Results: The median operation time was significantly longer in Group LA (288 min) than in Group no-LA (128 min) ( P < 0.0001). Total blood loss was significantly higher in Group LA, 43.7 % of patients receiving blood transfusions. There were no significant differences between the treatment groups for progression-free survival (PFS) or overall survival (OS). However, for patients with pT2, PFS was significantly longer in Group LA than in Group no-LA ( P = 0.0150). Lymph node metastases were detected in 23 cases (8.1 %) and these patients had significantly shorter PFS than those without metastasis ( P = 0.0409). The outcome for patients who underwent chemotherapy after surgery was significantly improved in the Group no-LA, but no improvement was observed in Group LA. Conclusions: Systematic lymphadenectomy may improve outcomes only in pT2 EOC patients with acceptable peri-operative events. Furthermore, accurate surgical staging may avoid unnecessary adjuvant chemotherapy in selected early-stage cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pregnant woman at 32 weeks of gestation was referred because of untypical visualization of a three-vessel tracheal view. Detailed ultrasound examination demonstrated an abnormal position of descending aorta, positioned at the right-front side of the spine at the level of four-chamber view. The descending aorta was connected with left pulmonary artery through ductus arteriosus, which configured a vascular ring. Right aortic arch with mirror-image branching without any associated anomaly was suspected prenatally. Amniocentesis showed no chromosomal abnormality. A male, 2440-g infant was delivered vaginally at 37 weeks and 4 days of gestation. Echocardiography confirmed no associated congenital heart defect. Three-dimensional reconstruction using 64-slice spiral computed tomography angiography at 2-months old confirmed the diagnosis of right aortic arch with mirror-image branching. The infant is now 1 year old and well developed without any symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic abnormalities were detected by comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) in 12 ovarian clear cell adenocarcinomas. DNA sequence copy number abnormalities (CNAs) occurring in more than 20% of the cancers included increased copy numbers of 8q11-q13, 8q21-q22, 8q23, 8q24-qter, 17q25-qter, 20q13-qter and 21q22-qter and reduced copy numbers of 19p. Increases in copy numbers of 8q11-q13, 8q21-q22, 8q23 and 8q24-qter occurred more frequently in disease-free patients than in recurrent/non-surviving patients (p < 0.05). However, increases in copy numbers of 17q25-qter and 20q13-qter occurred more frequently in recurrent/non-surviving patients than in disease-free patients (p < 0.05). Furthermore, increases in copy numbers of 17q25-qter and 20q13-qter occurred together (p < 0.05). Additionally, there were negative correlations between increases in copy numbers of 8q21-q22 and 17q25-qter, and between 8q21-q22 and 20q13-qter (p < 0.05). It appears that ovarian clear cell adenocarcinomas can be classified into two subtypes, one being cancer with an increase in copy numbers of 8q and the other being cancer with increases in copy numbers of 17q25-qter and 20q13-qter.Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCCA) is expressed in normal squamous epithelia and malignant squamous cell tissues. The serum level of SCCA has been used to evaluate treatment efficacy, clinical course of disease, and recurrence. SCCA is produced by at least two genes (SCCA1 and SCCA2); both of them have been located on chromosome 18q21.3. It has been difficult to examine the expression levels of SCCA1 and SCCA2 mRNAs separately because of their high homology at nucleotide level. In the present study, asymmetric semi-nested reverse transcription PCR, based on the principle of fluorescence energy transfer, enabled to quantitate the copy numbers of both SCCA1 and SCCA2 mRNAs. Using this method, the expression levels of these mRNAs were evaluated in normal and malignant squamous tissues. The copy number of SCCA2 mRNA was higher in malignant tissues than in normal tissues, while those of SCCA1 mRNA did not significantly differ between normal and malignant tissues. These data indicate that specific quantitation of the expression level of SCCA2 mRNA may be useful for the diagnosis and management of patients with squamous cell carcinoma. Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of metastasis involves a series of sequential steps in which malignant cells are released from the primary tumor and metastasize to distant sites. Syndecan-1 is a cell surface proteoglycan that mediates cell adhesion and undergoes changes upon cell transformation of some cells that may contribute to the process of metastasis. To investigate the possible role of syndecan-1 in cell proliferation and metastatic potential, we employed a highly metastatic cell line (KLN 205) derived from mouse lung squamous cell carcinoma that expressed moderate amounts of syndecan-1. At first, endogenous syndecan-1 production was inhibited by an antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs). Since antisense ODNs of syndecan-1 inhibited cell growth, we established stable transfectants of syndecan-1 in this cell line to examine a proliferative advantage with the level of syndecan-1 expression. Overexpresser cells grew at a significantly faster rate than the vector-transfected control and showed greater incidence of tumor formation when injected subcutaneously into nude mice. Surprisingly, overexpresser cells enhanced pulmonary metastasis when injected intravenously. These results indicate that syndecan-1 expression plays a role in the control of cell proliferation and suggest that syndecan-1 expression may be involved in facilitating distant metastasis of tumor cells once they managed to enter the bloodstream (after intravasation steps). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen, a tumor marker of squamous cell carcinoma, is also increased in several nonmalignant skin lesions, e.g. pemphigus. The aim of the present investigation was to determine if tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), one of the important environmental factors, stimulated the production of SCC antigen in the normal squamous cells. The exposure of normal human epidermal keratinocytes to TNF-α (100 IU/ml) for 72 h greatly increased the SCC antigen production. The stimulatory effect of TNF-α (1,000 IU/ ml) on the production of SCC antigen was also observed in the normal squamous epithelium tissue. These results would be helpful for understanding the increase of SCC antigen in several nonmalignant skin disorders. Copyright © 1996 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]