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Thirty-four untreated hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) with known growth rates were classified into 5 groups on a tumor profile chart based on their doubling time (DT), Ki-67-positive index (Ki-67-PI), apoptotic index (Apo-I), and histologic grade. The slow-growing HCCs (DT > 100 days) consisted of well-differentiated tumors with slight cell kinetic imbalance and were divided into groups A and B. Group A had Apo-I values

Objective Since most chondrocytes in articular cartilage are in the resting phase (G0) of the cell cycle, it has been difficult to investigate their cell kinetics using 3H-thymidine autoradiography, or immunohistochemistry. In the present study, DNA cytofluorometry, which is useful to analyse the cell kinetics even for such inactive cell populations as in the G0 phase, was applied to human chondrocytes of the articular cartilages under normal aging and pathologic conditions such as osteoarthritis (OA), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and aseptic necrosis (AN). Design The human articular cartilages for the study were obtained from autopsy and surgical materials. Fifty joints were used for the study of aging, 54 for the study of OA, 20 for studying RA, and 10 for AN study. The isolated chondrocytes were quickly prepared from fresh articular cartilages, using a combination method of enzymatic digestion with papain and collagenase, followed by mechanical cell separation by churning and homogenization. Results The DNA histograms obtained by cytofluorometry with propidium-iodide staining showed that most chondrocytes had diploid DNA content (2c) in all cartilages studied, suggesting that they were in the G0 phase. However, there were a few chondrocytes having tetraploid DNA content (4c) in the normally aged articular cartilages, and there were some cells having DNA content between 2c and 4c in the diseased cartilages. The former cells were considered to be G0-phase cells of the 4c chondrocytes, while the latter cells were considered to be in the DNA synthetic (S) phase or G2-phase of the 2c chondrocytes. The frequency of 4c chondrocytes in aged cartilage was significantly increased, compared to that in the young cartilage. In contrast to the normal cartilage, the frequency of S- and G2-phase cells, which was expressed as the S– G2 index, in diseased cartilages (OA, RA and AN) was significantly high ( P 0.0001). In OA cartilage, the S–G2 index was much higher in the severe or moderate stage than in the mild stage, suggesting that the chondrocytes in clusters may actively proliferate. Conclusion These results showed that in normal articular cartilages most chondrocytes are in the G0 phase, while some became 4c polyploid cells, and that these G0-phase chondrocytes had a potential to proliferate under diseased conditions.

A long-term survival case of multiple hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with metachronous metastasis to a lymph node is reported. The patient, a 66-year-old woman, had two primary HCC nodules, one each in the left and right hepatic lobes, which were resected. She developed a lymph node lesion and a secondary HCC 45 and 62 months after the first operation, respectively. She has been well for the 7 years since the first operation despite undergoing hepatic resection for HCC twice as well as lymph node resection. Clonal analysis, based on the methylation pattern of the X chromosome-linked androgen receptor gene, suggested that the two primary tumors were multicentric and that the lymph node lesion had arisen by metastasis from the primary tumor in the right hepatic lobe.

We analyzed the DNA ploidy alterations after preoperative chemotherapy in 30 patients with non-metastatic osteosarcomas of the extremities. All of the patients received intensive chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cisplatin and methotrexate as well as wide tumor resection. DNA ploidy was determined by DNA cytofluorometry using isolated and smeared cells from biopsied and resected tumors after preoperative chemotherapy. The results showed that 12 diploid and nine non-diploid osteosarcomas did not change their ploidy pattern, but nine non-diploid tumors changed to a diploid pattern with the disappearance of the aneuploid cells. The nine patients with altered ploidy tumors had a better histologic response to chemotherapy and a better prognosis than the patients with non-altered tumors especially diploid tumors (P = 0.0138). Therefore, we conclude that a decrease in aneuploid cells after chemotherapy is closely correlated with a good prognosis in half of the cases of aneuploid osteosarcoma. These results also suggest that aneuploid cells are more chemosensitive than diploid cells in human osteosarcomas.

An analysis of the chromosomal aberrations and DNA ploidy in the interphase nuclei of seven human osteosacomas was preformed by double-target fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and DNA cytofluorometry. The FISH study of the numerical aberrations in chromosomes 1 and 17 or the structural aberrations in chromosome arm 1p or 17p was carried out by using four locus specific DNA markers, with one pair consisting of 1q12 and 1p36 and the other pair consisting of the 17 cemtromere and 17p13.3. There was no significant differences in the percentage of deletions in chromosome 1 and 17 between osteosarcomas and normal tissues. However, all seven tumors studied had extra copies. Cells with more than three probe signals were regarded as having chromosome polysomy. The percentage of polysomy of chromosome 1 was 20.0-64.0%, and chromosome 17 was 28.0-60.0%. The DNA ploidy patterns of hyperdiploid cells showing a greater DNA content than diploid cells were obtained by DNA cytoflurometry. Five of the seven tumors were non-diploid, and the remaining two were diploid. The percentage of polysomy was correlated with the percentage of hyperdiploid cells in each tumor. Thus, these findings indicated that the DNA ploidy changes were closely correlated with aberrations in the chromosome copy number in osteosarcomas.

DNA ploidy analysis by DNA cytofluorometry was performed on 41 tumors obtained from 37 patients with primary giant cell tumor of bone (GCT). Histologically, 26 of the tumors from primary or recurrent lesions were evaluated as grade I, and 13 tumors as grade II. Among the 33 primary GCT patients, 4 patients had local recurrence or pulmonary metastasis. The DNA ploidy pattern and the percentage of hyperdiploid cells showing a greater DNA content than diploid cells, were obtained from DNA cytofluorometry. All of the 33 primary tumors were diploid. Of 6 recurrent tumors, 4 were diploid and 2 were euploid-polyploid. One of the two pulmonary metastatic tumors was diploid, but another that demonstrated a malignant transformation to malignant fibrous histiocytoma was aneuploid. The percentage of hyperdiploid cells was significantly different between primary and recurrent tumors (P = 0.0188) and between grade I and grade II tumors (P = 0.0052), while there was no difference between primary tumors in the cases that recurred or metastasized and those that did not. Thus, these data indicate that cell proliferative activity is closely correlated with biological aggressiveness and histological grading, although DNA ploidy is not useful for predicting prognosis.

In this study, we analysed the DNA ploidy of osteosarcomas at biopsy and attempted to clarify the relationship between DNA ploidy pattern and prognosis. Thirty patients with non-metastatic osteosarcoma of an extremity were studied. All underwent intensive chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cisplatin and methotrexate, in addition to wide tumor resection. DNA ploidy was detected by DNA cytofluorometry, using isolated and smeared cells of biopsied tumor tissue. Twelve tumors showed a diploid ploidy pattern and 18 showed a non-diploid pattern such as aneuploidy (15 tumors) and euploid-polyploidy (3 tumors). The event-free survival rate at 9 years was 63.5% in non-diploid osteosarcoma patients and 13.3% in diploid osteosarcoma patients. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.0278). These results lead us to conclude that a non-diploid osteosarcoma may be more sensitive to chemotherapy than a diploid tumor.

The growth rate of tumors should be assessed in terms of both tumor cell proliferation and death. The former is considered to be determined by growth fraction and cell-cycle time, whereas the latter is mainly determined by apoptosis, especially in tumors with a low level of necrosis. While most hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) in a relatively early stage contain only a small amount of necrosis, the growth rate supposedly depends mainly on growth fraction, cell-cycle time, and apoptosis. However, their quantitative relationship remains unknown. We have derived a novel theoretical formula for determining this relationship in nonnecrotic HCC, using Ki-67-positive index, apoptotic score, and a correction factor, all calculable by histological assessment without injecting labeling agents. Furthermore, we confirmed the reliability of this formula, using a xenograft model of human HCC with less than 15% necrosis. In this model the values of cell-cycle time calculated from the formula were very close to those estimated by a conventional double-labeling method and showed high correlations. Since our novel formula can clarify the cell kinetics without cumbersome labeling procedures, it is expected to be clinically applicable to HCC with a small portion of necrosis, using the radiographically measured growth rate and the histologically assessed cell kinetic parameters.

Analysis of six human osteosarcoma cell lines was performed by using double-target fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). FISH was applied to interphase nuclei, not to metaphase chromosomes. In this study, numerical aberrations of chromosomes 1 and 17 or structural chromosomal aberrations of chromosome arm 1p or 17p, in which it has been suggested that there are one or more tumor suppressor genes in various malignant tumors, were examined with this technique. All six of the human osteosarcoma cell lines studied had extra copies of chromosomes 1 and 17. A high frequency of deletions (>60%) in chromosome 1 was found in two cell lines and deletions of chromosome 17 were found in one cell line.

To prove the relationship between chromosomal aberration and DNA ploidy in human malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and DNA cytofluorometry were performed in this study. For FISH study, the nucleus of each tumor cell was isolated from paraffin-embedded tissue of nine MFHs. Five chromosome-specific DNA probes (1p36, 1q12, 8q21.3, 11 centromere, and 17 centromere) were hybridized on cell nuclei. Cells with more than three probe signals were regarded as chromosome polysomy. All of the tumors analyzed by FISH had extra copies. The average percentage of polysomy in all tumors was high, ranging from 10.2% to 49.2%. The DNA ploidy patterns, and the percentage of hyperdiploid cells showing a greater DNA content than diploid cells, were obtained from DNA cytofluorometry. Three of nine were diploid patterns and six were non-diploid patterns, and the percentage of hyperdiploid cells in all tumors was high, ranging from 9.1% to 61.9%. The percentage of polysomy could be correlated with the percentage of hyperdiploid cells in each cell. In this study, we found that the DNA ploidy change was closely correlated with aberrations of chromosome copy number in MFH. In addition, the alterations of specific chromosome copy number could be detected in MFH showing diploid cells. Thus, these data indicate that FISH and DNA cytofluorometry are available as a cytogenetic tool for the analysis of interphase nuclei of bone and soft tissue tumors including MFH.

To analyze EGF binding activity in liver regeneration at cell cycle level, we performed the double measurement of nuclear DNA content and cellular bound EGF content in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes from normal and regenerating liver after 67% hepatectomy using autostaging cytofluorometry. The data demonstrated that the bound EGF content of resting cells increased in proportion to their DNA content, while cycling cells had significantly consistently lower bound hEGF throughout cell cycle. These changes are supposed to reflect ‘down-regulation’ of EGF receptor at the cell cycle level, and the data suggested a major role of endogenous EGF in cell proliferation during liver regeneration.

We investigated the expression of fos oncogene proteins in lymphoproliferative disorders, using a monoclonal antibody (FO-120) that was prepared against a synthetic oligopeptide of fos protein (amino acid sequence from 127 to 152). Although peripheral blood leukocytes were rarely positive for FO-120, they were transiently stained after lectin (PHA) stimulation. After culture with IL-2 for 1 or 2 weeks, less than 40% of the lymphocytes weakly reacted with FO-120, whereas strongly positive cells were detected in more than 70% of cells in half the T-cell lines established from preleukemic state of adult T-cell leukemia (pre-ATL) and all of ATL derived T-cell lines. All in vivo specimens of non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphomas, except for one case of T-cell lymphoma were also strongly positive. In addition, the extent of the antibody reactivity correlated with the histopathological grade of malignancy in B-cell lymphoma. The reactivity to most AILD-IBL lesions overlapped with that to T-lymphomas, and could be distinguished from that to reactive lesions. FO-120 appears to be a useful tool for detecting early neoplastic changes in lymphoproliferative disorders.