Search

Tryptanthrin is a bioactive component of indigo plants such as Polygonum tinctrorium and known to have an anti-inflammatory activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of tryptanthrin on Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)-mediated cytokine and chemokine expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Herein, we found that tryptanthrin suppressed the expression of CXCL10 in HUVEC upon stimulation with a TLR3 ligand polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly IC). Tryptanthrin did not inhibit poly IC-induced activation of interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) or the mRNA expression of interferon (IFN)-β, while it significantly suppressed the expression of RIG-I, MDA5, and classical IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). Tryptanthrin attenuated the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of STAT1 in HUVEC stimulated with not only poly IC but also recombinant IFN-β. These results suggested that tryptanthrin inhibited poly IC-induced expression of CXCL10 and ISGs via suppressing the activation of STAT1 in HUVEC. Our findings indicate that tryptanthrin may be useful for regulating TLR3-mediated vascular inflammation.

We report a case of vimentin-positive early gastric adenocarcinoma arising in a hyperplastic polyp (HP). A 72-year-old Japanese man was admitted for the detailed examination of a gastric polyp. He had a subtotal gastrectomy due to acute abdomen 12 years ago. Upper endoscopy revealed a pedunculated polyp measuring approximately 2 cm on the greater curvature of upper body of the remnant stomach. Magnifying endoscopy revealed that the microsurface pattern was irregular and partially absent accompanied with irregular microvessels at the upper end of the polyp. We speculated that the lesion was an adenocarcinoma arising in the HP. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was performed. Histological examination of the ESD specimen revealed that the lesion consisted of well- to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma at the protruding lesion and foveolar hyperplastic epithelia at the base of the polyp. Immunohistochemically, most of tumor cells that comprised poorly-differentiated adenocarcinoma were positive for both cytokeratin and vimentin. Although carcinomas have occasionally been found in HPs, the histological features of the present case are considered extremely unusual. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of vimentin-positive early gastric carcinoma arising in a HP.