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Background & Aims Patients with colorectal tumors with microsatellite instability (MSI) have better prognoses than patients with tumors without MSI, but have a poor response to 5-fluorouracil–based chemotherapy. A dominant-negative form of heat shock protein (HSP)110 (HSP110DE9) expressed by cancer cells with MSI, via exon skipping caused by somatic deletions in the T 17 intron repeat, sensitizes the cells to 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin. We investigated whether HSP110 T 17 could be used to identify patients with colorectal cancer who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and oxaliplatin. Methods We characterized the interaction between HSP110 and HSP110DE9 using surface plasmon resonance. By using polymerase chain reaction and fragment analysis, we examined how the size of somatic allelic deletions in HSP110 T 17 affected the HSP110 protein expressed by tumor cells. We screened 329 consecutive patients with stage II–III colorectal tumors with MSI who underwent surgical resection at tertiary medical centers for HSP110 T 17 . Results HSP110 and HSP110DE9 interacted in a 1:1 ratio. Tumor cells with large deletions in T 17 had increased ratios of HSP110DE9:HSP110, owing to the loss of expression of full-length HSP110. Deletions in HSP110 T 17 were mostly biallelic in primary tumor samples with MSI. Patients with stage II–III cancer who received chemotherapy and had large HSP110 T 17 deletions (≥5 bp; 18 of 77 patients, 23.4%) had longer times of relapse-free survival than patients with small or no deletions (≤4 bp; 59 of 77 patients, 76.6%) in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio, 0.16; 95% confidence interval, 0.012–0.8; P = .03). We found a significant interaction between chemotherapy and T 17 deletion ( P = .009). Conclusions About 25% of patients with stages II–III colorectal tumors with MSI have an excellent response to chemotherapy, due to large, biallelic deletions in the T 17 intron repeat of HSP110 in tumor DNA.

It has been suggested that activity of pancreatic enzymes and concentrations of tumoral markers in cyst fluid may help to distinguish pseudocyst, serous, and mucinous cystadenomas. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the reliability of preoperative biochemical and tumor marker analysis in cyst fluids obtained by fine-needle aspiration for pathological diagnosis.Cyst fluid was obtained preoperatively by fine-needle aspiration, and biochemical and tumoral marker values were measured. The diagnosis of cystic tumors (7 serous cystadenomas and 12 mucinous tumors) was established by surgical specimen analysis. Thirty-one pancreatic pseudocysts complicating well-documented chronic pancreatitis were also studied.Carbohydrate antigen 19.9 levels of50,000 U/mL had a 75% sensitivity and a 90% specificity for distinguishing mucinous tumors from other cystic lesions. Carcinoembryonic antigen levels of5 ng/mL had a 100% sensitivity and an 86% specificity for distinguishing serous cystadenomas from other cystic lesions. Amylase levels of5000 U/mL had a 94% sensitivity and a 74% specificity for distinguishing pseudocysts from other cystic lesions.High carbohydrate antigen 19.9, low carcinoembryonic antigen, and high amylase levels in cyst fluid are very indicative of mucinous tumors, serous cystadenomas, and pseudocysts, respectively.

We report a series of five patients with nonalcoholic chronic pancreatitis who underwent abdominal radiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease (n = 4) or seminoma (n = 1) at doses ranging from 3600 to 4050 rads, 6 to 20 years (median, 7 years) before the onset of pancreatitis. Patients were in complete remission for their malignant disease. Other causes of chronic pancreatitis were excluded. The manifestations of chronic pancreatitis (median follow-up after the diagnosis of pancreatitis, 5 years) were pancreatic pain (n = 5), acute pancreatitis (n = 3), pseudocysts (n = 3), common bile duct stenosis (n = 2), duodenal stenosis (n = 1), splenic vein obstruction (n = 1), diabetes mellitus (n = 4), steatorrhea (n = 4), and pancreatic calcifications (n = 1). Other abdominal radiation injuries were severe chronic ulcer of the genu superius (n = 1), stenosis at the junction of the right and left hepatic ducts (n = 1), and splenic and left renal atrophy (n = 1). In one patient, pathological examination of the pancreas showed signs of chronic pancreatitis, severe fibrous endarteritis, and lack of inflammation. Abdominal radiotherapy should be added to the list of causes of chronic pancreatitis. We suggest that the physiopathology of postradiotherapy chronic pancreatitis is a vascular process.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Cadherins and their associated molecules, such as alpha-catenin, have been shown recently to play a pivotal role in epithelial carcinogenesis. METHODS: The expression of E-cadherin, N- cadherin, and alpha-catenin in 10 normal samples, 28 focal nodular hyperplasias, 9 liver cell adenomas, 65 hepatocellular carcinomas, and 9 cholangiocarcinomas was studied by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting. RESULTS: In the normal liver, hepatocytes expressed E- cadherin and a 129-kilodalton cadherin identified by the anti-N- cadherin antibody GC4. The expression level of alpha-catenin was low. Bile duct cells expressed only E-cadherin and showed high levels of alpha-catenin. The expression of cadherins and alpha-catenin was preserved in focal nodular hyperplasia. In liver cell adenomas, cadherins and alpha-catenin were heterogeneously expressed. In hepatocellular carcinomas, cadherin and alpha-catenin expression was frequently reduced or absent. Alterations in cadherin expression correlated with large tumor size, low grade of histological differentiation, and occurrence of capsular and vascular invasion. In cholangiocarcinomas, neoplastic cells inconstantly expressed E-cadherin and alpha-catenin. CONCLUSIONS: Alterations of cadherin and alpha- catenin expression are frequent in liver cell adenomas and primary liver carcinomas. Their incidence in hepatocellular carcinomas is of prognostic significance. (Gastroenterology 1996 Apr;110(4):1137-49)

Background & Aims: Recent studies have suggested that esophageal human papillomavirus infection could be a risk factor for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of human papillomavirus DNA sequences in the esophagus of French patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: Multiplex polymerase chain reactions with consensus primers directed to the L1 gene or specific primers for human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, and 33 directed to E6 gene (40 cycles followed by restriction mapping of the amplified products) were used to determine the presence of human papillomavirus DNA sequences in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (n = 75), normal adjacent mucosa (n = 49), and metastatic lymphadenopathies (n = 5). As an internal control, a target located in the embryonic myosin heavy-chain gene was used in each reaction. Results: Human papillomavirus DNA sequences could not be detected in any of the tumoral samples, the normal adjacent mucosa, or the metastatic lymphadenopathies. Conclusions: Human papillomavirus seems not to be implicated in esophageal carcinogenesis, at least in French patients, because the viral genomes are not associated with esophageal squamous cell carcinomas.

7-3589). There was no impact of years of 5ASA use on outcomes. Conclusion In study I we could not find evidence that 1 or 5 years of consecutive 5-ASA use was chemoprophylactic in IBD (in fact it tended to increase the risk). We could not discount that longer use might have been chemoprophylactic. In Study II with a longer duration of follow up and more CRC cases we could not discern that 5-ASA was chemoprophylactic. Overall, our results support the majority of studies to date that 5-ASA is not chemoprophylactic in IBD for CRC.

Primary gastric low-grade B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue may regress with conservative treatment such as anti-Helicobacterpylori therapy or monochemotherapy. The aims of the present study were to analyze the predictive factors of response to anti-H. pylori treatment, to assess the effects of an adjuvant therapy in responding patients, and to evaluate an alternative therapy in nonresponding patients.From 1995 to 2000, 48 H. pylori-infected patients with localized primary gastric low-grade B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue were treated with anti-H. pylori therapy. Endoscopic and endoscopic ultrasonography features and histological grading of large cells' proportion were analyzed. Eradication of H. pylori and tumoral response were assessed at 2 and 6 months, respectively. From 1996, patients in remission at 6 months were randomized to receive either chlorambucil p.o. for 6 months or no treatment. Patients who did not respond to H. pylori eradication received chlorambucil p.o. for 1 yr.Among the 48 treated patients, 33 (69%) were in complete (n = 28) or in partial (n = 5) remission, and 15 (31%) were in treatment failure at 6 months. H. pylori was eradicated in 47 patients. The response was not correlated with the endoscopic features or with the histological grade. In contrast, it was related to ultrasonographic features: remission was achieved in 76% of patients when no perigastric lymph node was detected versus only 33% when endoscopic ultrasonography showed presence of lymph nodes (p = 0.025). All responding patients remained in remission (median 34 months) whatever the treatment they received (no treatment or chlorambucil). Remission could be achieved with chlorambucil in 58% of the nonresponding patients to anti-H. pylori treatment.The major negative predictive factor of the tumoral response to anti-H. pylori treatment in patients with primary gastric low-grade B-cell lymphoma of mucosaassociated lymphoid tissue was the presence of perigastric lymph nodes on endoscopic ultrasonography. In responding patients, remission remained stable, suggesting that adjuvant chemotherapy was not useful. In patients who failed to respond to H. pylori eradication, monochemotherapy with chlorambucil proved to be efficient, but new therapeutic modalities should be evaluated to improve the control of the tumoral process.

From 1979 to 1984, we followed the cases of 3 men (aged 13, 31, and 75 yr) and 2 women (aged 38 and 45 yr who had never used oral contraceptives) suffering from liver adenomatosis, an uncommon lesion consisting of numerous benign adenomas in an otherwise normal hepatic parenchyma. During the same period, we observed 20 cases of liver adenoma (one tumor in 18 patients and two tumors in 2 patients). From these cases and the review of previously reported cases of liver adenomatosis and series of liver adenoma, the following distinctive characteristics of these two benign conditions of the liver can be outlined: (a) liver adenomatosis affects men and women, whereas liver adenoma predominantly affects women; (b) liver adenomatosis is unrelated, whereas liver adenoma is closely related, to oral contraceptive use; (c) increases in serum alkaline phosphatase and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase are common in liver adenomatosis, but are uncommon in liver adenoma.