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Introduction: The present study collected 1-year follow-up patient-reported outcome data from Japanese women with dysmenorrhea and/or heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) who underwent insertion of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) 52 mg. We aimed to evaluate the quality of life (QOL) of Japanese women over the course of the investigational period. Methods: This was a multicenter, non-interventional, prospective, single-cohort, post-marketing surveillance study (J-MIRAI). The primary outcome was the median change in the Menstrual Distress Questionnaire (MDQ) and Menorrhagia Multi-Attribute Scale (MMAS) scores from baseline to 3 and 12 months after LNG-IUS insertion, with decreasing and increasing scores, respectively, indicating improvement. The secondary outcomes were the statistical relationships between the MDQ and menstrual pain (measured by a visual analog scale, VAS), and between the MMAS and pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBAC) scores by regression analysis. Results: In total, 593 patients were evaluated; 376, 467, and 250 patients were diagnosed with dysmenorrhea, HMB, or both, respectively. The median MDQ score decreased significantly at 3 and 12 months after LNG-IUS insertion in both the premenstrual and menstrual periods (both p < 0.001 vs baseline), and the median MMAS score showed a similar improvement during the menstrual period. Changes in median MDQ and MMAS scores were observed regardless of patient background. Correlations between MDQ and menstrual pain (VAS) and between MMAS and PBAC scores were found (estimated regression coefficients 0.29 and − 0.15, respectively). Conclusion: The LNG-IUS contributed to improvements in the QOL of patients with dysmenorrhea, HMB, and both, regardless of patient background characteristics. Trial Registration: Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02475356) on 18 June 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are membrane proteins that efflux various compounds from cells, including chemotherapeutic agents, and are known to affect multidrug resistance. Recent reports disagree on whether ABCC11 is a risk factor for breast tumorigenesis, but its expression in breast cancer is poorly investigated. We hypothesized that both frequency and expression levels of ABC transporters in breast tumors would vary by cancer subtype, and be associated with prognosis. Here, we constructed a tissue microarray breast tumor samples from 281 patients, and analyzed expressions of ABCB1, ABCC1, ABCC11, and ABCG2 immunohistochemically. Breast cancer subtypes were determined by immunohistochemistry of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Protein expression was correlated to clinicopathological characteristics, clinical follow-up, and pathological complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The tissue microarray comprised 191 luminal A (68.0 %), 17 luminal B (6.0 %), 27 HER2 (9.6 %), and 46 triple-negative (16.4 %) samples. ABCC1 and ABCC11 expressions were associated with significantly shorter disease-free survival ( P = 0.027 and P = 0.003, respectively). ABCC1, ABCC11, and ABCG2, but not ABCB1, were expressed significantly more, and more frequently, in aggressive subtypes. Patients with HER2+ and triple-negative tumor subtypes that expressed high levels of ABCC11 had significantly worse disease-free survival ( P = 0.017 and P < 0.001, respectively). We have shown, for the first time, that ABCC1, ABCC11, and ABCG2 are highly expressed in aggressive breast cancer subtypes, and that tumor ABCC11 expression is associated with poor prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Follow-up colonoscopy of a 25-year-old Japanese man with ulcerative colitis (UC) who had undergone endoscopic mucosal resection twice for early colon cancers revealed the presence of a new 1.5-cm-diameter tumor in the sigmoid colon. It was diagnosed by preoperative biopsy as a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Sigmoidectomy was performed, and the pathological findings revealed lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LEC). In situ hybridization to detect Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded small RNAs showed positive signals in stromal lymphocytes, but weak signals in the tumor cells. The association between EBV and LEC was obscure in this case. Unlike typical UC-mediated colon cancers, the lesion was poorly differentiated, and negative for p53 signals immunohistochemically. These findings may hint at a novel mechanism of carcinogenesis in UC-mediated colorectal cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]