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Malignant mesotheliomas develop commonly in the pleural cavity and rarely arise in the peritoneal cavity. It is well established that asbestos exposure is related to malignant pleural mesothelioma, but the asbestos burden in the abdominal cavity in patients with malignant peritoneal mesothelioma has not been well studied. The purpose of the present study was therefore to report on an autopsy case of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma with quantitative analysis of the asbestos burden in tissues from the pleura and organs in the abdominal cavity. The patient was a 67-year-old man with a history of asbestos exposure. The peritoneum was thickened with diffuse tumor proliferation. This patient was diagnosed as having malignant peritoneal epithelioid mesothelioma. The number of asbestos fibers was >10,000/g dry tissue in all samples examined except in the small intestine. The number of asbestos fibers in the stomach was 53,000/g, which was higher than that in a control asbestosis subject. The existence of numerous asbestos fibers found in the abdominal cavity suggests that asbestos stimuli are related to the tumorigenesis of malignant peritoneal mesothelioma.

MUC1 is a transmembrane molecule characterized by a repeated sequence of 20 amino acid (TAP PAHGVTSAPDTRPAPGS). Abnormal overexpression of MUC1 in cancer cells is thought to contribute to their aggressive growth, but molecular mechanisms associated with this effect are still unclear. Our current study aimed to clarify whether MUC1 expression as recognized by VU-3C6 anti-MUC1 mouse IgG monoclonal antibody (MAb) with a dominant epitope of 12 amino acids: GVTSAPDTRPAP, correlated with aggressive properties of human breast cancer. Immunohistochemical studies of 309 samples of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded materials showed no statistical correlation between MUC1 expression and clinicopathological parameters, as well as several breast cancer aggressiveness-related markers. Expression or nonexpression of MUC1 in 50 frozen samples, as determined by Western blotting, demonstrated no correlation with aggressive properties of breast cancer. However, samples with one MUC1-positive band more often had lymphatic vessel invasion and lymph node metastasis than those with more than two or three MUC1-positive bands (p0.014 and p0.043, respectively). Because VU-3C6 MAb recognizes MUC1 with short branches of O-glycosylated core carbohydrates, we used immunohistological methods to examine Tn antigen (precursor antigen: GalNAcalpha-O-Ser/Thr), Thomsen-Friedenreich (T) antigen, and sialyl-Tn antigen (STn) antigen. We found a strong correlation between expression of MUC1 and Tn antigen (p0.0006), and samples with Tn antigen expression had more lymphatic metastasis than those with no such expression (p0.08). We concluded that the lack of polymorphic MUC1 expression with Tn antigen is one characteristic related to aggressive breast cancer.

61才女子, 胃癌を合併した皮膚筋炎の1例を報告した。日光照射部の紅斑浮腫性変化と筋力低下に加えて, Borrmann 2型胃癌を認めた。ステロイドの使用, 癌腫の摘出により皮疹は軽快し, CPKも正常範囲内となつたが, 筋力の改善はなかつた。約7ヵ月後, 癌の再発および広範な転移により死亡した。しかしこのときもとくに皮疹に増悪はなかつた。また, 日本病理剖検輯報(1975年∼1986年)に記載された皮膚筋炎·多発性筋炎症例における悪性腫瘍合併につき検討した。集め得た615例中悪性腫瘍合併は163例(26.5%), そのうち男性の合併率は35.1%, 女性20.6%で男性に合併が多くみられた。皮膚筋炎383例のうち悪性腫瘍合併は117例(合併率30.5%), 多発性筋炎232例中合併は46例(同19.8%)であつた。合併腫瘍としては胃癌が49例と最も多く, 全体の27.8%であつた。しかし, この値は既報告値に比し低く, 一方肺癌, 甲状腺癌, 卵巣癌の合併が増加している傾向がみられた。

Aberrant carbohydrate expression frequently occurs in breast cancer and may endow cells with metastatic potential. Here we first studied the relationship between expression of Vicia villosa agglutinin (lectin) (VVA)-binding carbohydrates and aggressive breast cancer. We then investigated the molecular characteristics of these glycoproteins and compared them with those of glycoproteins recognized by the mouse anti-Tn monoclonal antibody (MAb) HB-Tn1. Histochemical studies of samples from 322 cases of invasive ductal carcinoma demonstrated that VVA-binding carbohydrate expression correlated with tumor stage, lymphatic invasion, and lymph node metastasis (p=0.0385, p=0.0019, and p=0.0430. respectively). Western blotting analysis of frozen materials from 39 cases, under denaturing and reducing conditions, revealed that the major cancer cell-specific VVA-binding proteins were molecules of about 30, 33, and200 kDa. Cases expressing the approximately 33 kDa molecule had significant lymphatic invasion more frequently than did cases not expressing this molecule (p=0.0076). Binding of VVA to the approximately 30 and approximately 33 kDa molecules was completely lost by preincubation of VVA with 1 mM Tn antigen (N-acetylgalactosamine alpha1-O-serine). The VVA-binding molecules appeared to react with VU-3C6 anti-MUC1 MAb. Expression of HB-Tn1 in breast cancer cells showed significant correlation with expression of VVA-binding carbohydrate(s) (p0.0001) but HB-Tn1 reactivity was not clearly related to breast cancer aggressiveness. Because anti-Tn MAbs bound to Tn antigen clusters, we concluded that atypical MUC1 bearing the noncluster form of Tn antigen is implicated in aggressive growth of primary breast cancer cells, particularly in lymphatic metastasis.

The correlation between angiographic tumor blushing and underlying pathologic factors was studied. Twenty female patients with breast cancer were divided into three groups according to the degree of tumor blushing. Primary tumors were divided into three areas: marginal, central and intermediate areas. In each area, the number of blood vessels per 10(4) mu 2 was randomly counted in 10 fields and a mean value of vessels was compared among the three groups. It was found that the following pathologic findings were significantly related to strong angiographic staining: (i) well-circumscribed border; (ii) large tumor nest; (iii) severe inflammatory cell infiltration; (iv) mild stromal fibrosis; and (v) absence of lymph node metastasis. The mean value of blood vessels in the strongly positive group was significantly increased in the overall and the intermediate areas. The density of the vessels in the intermediate area was thus thought to be responsible for the tumor blushing.

A case is examined of an adult with intussusception due to Ancylostoma dubini. Ancylostoma dubini is not listed in the dictionary, but if it exists, rules of nomenclature would prescribe its written form as shown above. The patient is a 35-year-old female with lower abdominal pain of 6 month's duration. On 28 May 1986, she complained of severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. A moving mass was palpable in the left side abdominal region. Plain X-ray of the abdomen revealed specific niveau. An emergency operation was performed for suspected intussusception of the small intestine. A jejuno-jejunal intussusception, 9 cm in length, was found about 50 cm from the Treitz ligament. It was not reducible and rejection was performed. A tumor, 1cm in size, was found 20 cm distally. It was also rejected. An Ancylostoma dubini had bit into the mucous membrane of the tumor and there was a granuration change with bleeding. Although an Ancylostoma dubini wasn't found at the apex of the intussusception which was in necrosis, the granuration change due to the ancylostoma was considered to be the cause of intussusception. Reports of intussusception in adults due to parasites is rare, especially one caused by Ancylostoma dubini.

In a series of 94 autopsy cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 8 cases of minute HCC (less than 3.5 cm in diameter) were included. These cases had some additional nodular foci that revealed a possible histogenesis of HCC. The lesion was first noted as a group of basophilic liver cell cords in a limited area of a hyperplastic nodule. The cords showed acinar formation, bile congestion, and increase of stromal fibers with disappearance of sinusoids. When certain numbers of lobules were occupied by the basophilic liver cells, a dysplastic nodule was produced wherein the portal triads tended to disappear. Despite marked necrotic tendency, the liver cells proliferated actively and replaced the adjacent cirrhotic lobules. The process might be induced and enhanced by repeated episodes of necrosis and regeneration occurring in cirrhotic livers. Some minute HCC nodules had common features with those seen in the dysplastic nodule. Histologic findings of minute HCC nodules were also described and discussed in terms of their growth pattern.

In-situ hybridization experiments have been performed using isoactin (beta and gamma)-specific riboprobes in various tissues of the rat and mouse. Distribution of the grains of actin mRNAs for both beta and gamma types was similar throughout sections of the rat testis. Although both mRNAs were evenly distributed in the seminiferous tubule, extremely heavy labeling was observed in about 10% of the seminiferous tubules that could be identified as stage XII of spermatogenesis. At high magnification, grains of the mRNA were found in the cytoplasm of elongating spermatids and in the Sertoli cell cytoplasm at the adluminal side. Much higher density of the grains of mRNA was observed in the neck region of the spermatids at stage XII. Thus, the dense distribution of cytoskeletal actin mRNAs is stage-specific in the tubule during spermatogenesis in the rat. The high expression of both beta and gamma actin mRNAs was also observed in the epithelial cells of the intestinal crypts.