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Bronchogenic cancer in the pediatric age group is extremely rare and less than 100 cases have been reported in the world literature. We report a 13-year-old girl with simultaneous occurrence of lung adenocarcinoma and osteosarcoma. The patient was admitted with lower leg pain, and an abnormal shadow in the right fibula was noted on X-ray examination. Further examination of the fibular lesion including tumor biopsy revealed an osteosarcoma. Following completion of the first course of preoperative chemotherapy, multiple lung shadows were found on chest X-ray films. After five courses of preoperative chemotherapy, however, all lung shadows except one in the right lower lobe disappeared. The fibular tumor was then resected. Postoperatively, an additional six courses of chemotherapy was given. However, the lung shadow in the right lower lobe was still present. Exploratory thoracotomy was performed. Pathologically, the lung tumor measured 0.8 cm in diameter with an ill-defined border, and histological examination revealed a well differentiated papillary adenocarcinoma. To our knowledge, only a few cases of pediatric lung cancers have been reported to be associated with congenital cystic malformation of the lung. However, this combination of pediatric lung adenocarcinoma and osteosarcoma has not been previously reported.

Hepatocyte-like cells have been observed in the pancreas of the rat. We examined the bile acid biosynthetic function of these cells to determine whether they were real hepatocytes. This study investigated the existence of two liver-specific enzymes involved in bile acid biosynthesis (cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase and delta(4)-3-ketosteroid 5beta-reductase) in the hepatocyte-like cells. We could demonstrate cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase activity and its circadian rhythm in the hepatocyte-like cells. Northern blot analysis demonstrated the expression of messenger RNA for the 7alpha-hydroxylase and delta(4)-3-ketosteroid 5beta-reductase in the pancreatic hepatocyte-like cells. To measure the amount of the messenger RNA, we used the competitive polymerase chain reaction method for the 7alpha-hydroxylase. This quantitation revealed the existence of a circadian rhythm of cholesterol 7alpha-hydroxylase messenger RNA in the hepatocyte-like cells. These results indicated that bile acid biosynthesis was performed in the pancreatic hepatocyte-like cells as noted as in the liver parenchymal cells.