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Primary penile cancer is a rare disease. Higher incidence rates occur in underdeveloped countries. Many studies have suggested an association between human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and penile cancer. Although HPV can affect the squamous epithelium of the male genitalia similarly to the female genital tract, the association between penile cancer and HPV remains unclear. In the present study, the HPV gene expression was examined in penile cancer tissue using in situ hybridization (ISH). The present study included 41 cases in which penectomy was performed and 3 cases in which tumor resection was performed to treat pathologically-diagnosed penile cancer at Yokohama City University Medical Center, and its 7 affiliated hospitals between April 1990 and March 2010. The penile cancer tissue was subjected to an ISH analysis, and the clinicopathological features and prognosis were investigated. A total of 5/44 cases (11.4%) showed the expression of high-risk HPV. None of the patients showed the expression of low-risk HPV. The associations between the expression of high-risk HPV, and age, tumor location, tumor size, T stage, pathological differentiation, nuclear grade, Broder's classification, pattern of invasion, Y-K grade, vascular invasion, lymphoid invasion, koilocytosis and lymph-node metastasis were then examined. Patients with a well-differentiated status (P=0.044) and Broder's Grade 1 (P=0.019) showed a signifi- cantly lower rate of HPV positivity. The HPV expression was not significantly associated with cancer specific survival (P=0.932). ISH using INFORM HPV III does not detect the HPV genotype, this method is easy to employ and may be useful for the diagnosis of penile cancer tissue, similarly to cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aging population is becoming a primary global problem. The most important alteration that occurs in the body with age, is the loss of skeletal muscle. Previously, sarcopenia, which is associated with the loss of skeletal muscle, has been reported to be associated with the prognosis of cancer and complications. The present study investigated the importance of sarcopenia with regard to the prognosis or postoperative complications of upper urothelial cancer patients who underwent nephro-ureterectomy. A total of sixty patients (male, n=44; female, n=16) underwent nephro-ureterectomy for upper urothelial carcinoma. The psoas muscle volume was calculated at the level of the umbilicus using axial computed tomography images obtained prior to nephro-ureterectomy. The psoas muscle index (PMI) was calculated by the following formula: (right side psoas muscle area at the level of the umbilicus mm2)/(body height m)2. The median and mean (± standard deviation) ages of the 44 patients were 71 and 68.0 years (± 12.2 years). The lower PMI group demonstrated a significantly poorer recurrence-free survival compared with the higher PMI group (634 vs. 2,317 days, P=0.005). In terms of the duration of postoperative admission, the long-admission group (≥13 days) demonstrated a significantly lower PMI compared with the short-admission group (≤12 days) (383.0 vs. 433.1, P=0.039). Although the overall survival of the two groups did not differ significantly, the lower PMI group tended to have a shorter survival period compared with the higher PMI group (P=0.080). Of the patients with upper urothelial carcinoma, the lower PMI group exhibited a longer postoperative admission period and poorer recurrence-free survival compared with the higher PMI group. The present findings suggest that sarcopenia is a meaningful factor that should be considered when selecting therapy for upper urothelial carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have shown that several inflammatory markers, including the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), lymphocyte-to-platelet ratio (LPR), De Retis and prognostic nutritional index (PNI), can function as useful prognostic factors in a number of malignancies. The present study aimed to assess the most reliable inflammatory tumor marker in patients with bladder cancer who have undergone radical cystectomy. A total of 161 cases underwent radical cystectomy between 1994 and 2014 at Yokohama City University Medical Center (Yokohama, Japan). Of these patients, the 107 who had data for the NLR, MLR, LPR, De Retis and PNI were enrolled in the present study. The correlation between recurrence-free survival (RFS) or overall survival (OS) and inflammatory tumor markers were examined. Regarding the RFS, the only noteworthy finding was that a lower PNI was associated with a significantly poorer RFS compared with higher PNI (P=0.028). Regarding the OS, lower LPR and PNI were associated with a significantly poorer OS compared with higher values (P=0.048 and P=0.036, respectively). The present study revealed that a low PNI more accurately predicts a worse RFS and OS compared with other systemic inflammatory risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidative stress is a primary cause of vascular endothelial damage. In the prostate, ischemia increases the levels of reactive oxygen species, growth factors and cytokines, and induces the development of angiogenesis, which results in cancer progression. The expression levels of an oxidative stress marker, 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHdG), were compared between prostate cancer and non-neoplastic prostate tissues. A prostate tissue microarray composed of 10 cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma and 70 cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia was immunohistochemically stained for 8-OHdG. All cases expressed 8-OHdG. The levels of 8-OHdG expression in prostatic cancer (30.0% moderate and 70.0% strong) were significantly higher than those in benign prostatic hyperplasia (71.4% moderate and 28.6% strong; (p<0.01). Notably, 8-OHdG is expressed more highly in prostate cancer tissues in comparison to benign prostate tissues.