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Biomedical subjects

S Okamura

Publications and source records attributed to S Okamura.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Clinicopathological features of well-differentiated cervical adenocarcinoma with abundant mucus secretion.

Fourteen patients who had cervical adenocarcinoma with abundant mucus secretion (stages Ib: 4, IIb: 8, IIIb: 2) were reviewed. Their tumors were clearly distinguishable from the majority of cervical adenocarcinomas without abundant mucin on the basis of the clinicopathological features. The portio vaginalis featured large induration and swelling as well as showing rubber ball-like resilience. The surface of tumors showed no ulceration, necrosis, or bleeding, even in advanced cases. Colposcopy revealed large glandular openings filled with mucus. The initial smear test was negative or suspicious in 11 cases due to the abundance of mucus or slight cellular atypia. Even on biopsy findings, five cases were diagnosed as normal cervical glands. The diagnosis of cancer had been overlooked for six months to one year or more because of negative smears in six cases. The final histologic diagnosis was well-differentiated adenocarcinoma (endocervical type), including adenoma malignum and mucinous adenocarcinoma. Patients with this type of adenocarcinoma had a poor prognosis. It is important to keep in mind the distinctive clinical features of adenocarcinoma with abundant mucus secretion in order not to miss the diagnosis.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1994

The Urinary Excretion of Pyridinium Cross-links as Markers of Bone Meta stasisin Breast Cancer.

The collagen cross-links, pyridinoline (Pyr) and deoxypyridinoline (D-Pyr) excreted in urine have recently been suggested as new markers of bone metastasis. In a pilot study we measured Pyr and D-Pyr in 61 patients with breast cancer, 16 with known bone metastasis and 45 with no recognized metastasis in bone. Twenty healthy female subjects were also measured as controls. The mean values (+/-SD) of Pyr and D-Pyr in the group with bone metastasis were significantly higher (Pyr: p<0.01, D-Pyr: p <0.05) than those in the group without bone metastasis and in the control group. The mean (+/-SD) values of postmenopausal women were significantly higher than those of premenopausal in the group without bone metastasis (p<0.05) and in the control group (p<0.01). Therefore, the effect of menopause should be taken into account in the diagnosis of bone metastasis by assays of Pyr and D-Pyr. Setting the cut-off values (mean + 2SD of the values of control) for pre and postmenopausal patients, the accuracy for Pyr was 71.4% in premenopausal and 75.8% in postmenopausal patients; and for D-Pyr it was 71.4% and 78.8% respectively. We consider that measurement of urinary collagen cross-links assays can contribute to the early detection of metastatic spread to bone in breast cancer.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Intratumoral injection of a streptococcal preparation, OK-432, before surgery for gastric cancer. A randomized trial. Cooperative Study Group of Preoperative Intratumoral Immunotherapy for Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The preoperative intratumoral injection with OK-432 (Picibanil, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Tokyo, Japan), an immunomodulatory agent prepared from an attenuated strain of streptococcus pyogenes, activates the regional immune system and causes degeneration of cancer tissue in carcinoma of the stomach. METHODS: A multi-institutional randomized trial of OK-432 to determine its clinical usefulness was conducted. Three hundred and ninety-five patients with gastric cancer were assigned randomly either to receive or not to receive a preoperative intratumoral injection of OK-432. Among them, 277 patients with advanced cancer were treated by common postoperative chemoimmunotherapy consisting of mitomycin C, tegafur, and OK-432. All patients were followed for at least 5 years. RESULTS: The adverse effects of OK-432 injected intratumorally predominantly were mild fever, anorexia, and abdominal pain, however, no treatment was required for these symptoms. Overall, there were no differences in outcome between the OK-432 and control groups. However, analysis based on stage showed that a preoperative intratumoral injection of OK-432 significantly improved the 5-year survival rate of patients with Stage III cancer (P = 0.0229), at 47.7% for the OK-432 group and 27.5% for the control group. In subset analysis, when the 5-year survival of patients with and without tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) was compared, OK-432 injected intratumorally had a significant positive effect on the group showing a moderate to marked number of TIL (P = 0.0438). CONCLUSION: These results showed that the intratumoral injection of OK-432 may improve survival of patients with Stage III gastric cancer. Cancer 1994;3097-3103.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1994

Purification and characterization of phosphatidylcholine phospholipase D from pig lung.

Phospholipase D, which mediates phosphatidylcholine hydrolysis in response to agonist stimulation, is an important component of signal transduction. We now report the purification of this enzyme to homogeneity from pig lung microsomes. The enzyme was solubilized with heptylthioglucoside and purified 2,200-fold by successive chromatography on sulfate-Cellulofine, ether-Toyopearl, chelate-Toyopearl, Q-Sepharose, heparin-Toyopearl, and hydroxyapatite. The final enzyme preparation gave a single protein band of M(r) = 190,000 on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme hydrolyzed phosphatidylcholine but not lysophosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylinositol. Optimum pH was 6.6. Half-maximal activity was obtained at 0.8 mM dipalmitoylglycerophosphocholine. The products were identified as phosphatidic acid and choline, but in the presence of ethanol, phosphatidylethanol was produced at the expense of phosphatidic acid. Ethanolamine and serine were not utilized as the phosphatidyl acceptor. Although not obligatory, Ca2+ and Mg2+ were stimulatory at high concentrations. The enzyme was markedly stimulated by unsaturated fatty acids in the presence of Mg2+ but not in its absence or by saturated fatty acids. N-Ethylmaleimide and detergents were inhibitory. Sucrose monolaurate had an aberrant effect on enzyme activity.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

G-CSF induces tyrosine phosphorylation of the JAK2 protein in the human myeloid G-CSF responsive and proliferative cells, but not in mature neutrophils.

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) stimulates a rapid phosphorylation on tyrosines of several proteins of Mr. 130, 100, 90, 70, 44 kd in human myeloid leukemia cell line cells, Kasumi-1, which respond to G-CSF to proliferate in vitro. In HL60 cells, only a 100 kd protein was phosphorylated, and no detectable phosphorylated proteins were observed in neutrophils by the stimulation of G-CSF. Among these proteins, the 130 kd protein was immunoprecipitated by anti- JAK2 serum. While JAK2 is a non receptor tyrosine kinase and is reported to be involved in the signal transduction by various cytokines including growth hormone, erythropoietin, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor/interleukin-3, it is strongly suggested that a signaling pathway that relates to the cell proliferation triggered by G-CSF in immature hematopoietic cells also involves JAK2.

Cell Division↗
PubMed1994

A Case of Stromal Sarcoma of the Breast Coexisting with Noninvasive Ductal Carcinoma.

This paper describes a very rare case of stromal sarcoma of the breast coexisting with simultaneous noninvasive ductal carcinoma in the same breast. A 75-year-old female was seen at our hospital for a lump in the right breast. On physical examination, a 10 x 8 cm well-difined and movable hard mass with a smooth surface was palpated in the upper outer quadrant of the breast. Aspiration cytology suggested a non-epithelial tumor with marked dysplasia (class 3b). Drill biopsy revealed probable stromal sarcoma. Simple mastectomy and axillary lymphonode sampling was performed. Histologically, the tumor was stromal sarcoma in the upper outer quadrant of the breast. In addition, noninvasive ductal carcinoma was simultaneously detected in the upper inner quadrant of the breast as an independent lesion. No positive axillary nodes were found. To date, as far as we could investigate, there was no preceding case report of both stromal sarcoma and carcinoma in the single patient at the same time.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Correlation of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen levels and prognosis of gastric cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic significance of preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) determination in patients with gastric cancer has been controversial. METHODS: The correlation between preoperative serum CEA levels and clinicopathologic factors was evaluated in 865 patients with gastric cancer who underwent gastrectomy between 1980 and 1990. The authors also investigated whether preoperative CEA levels represented a prognostic parameter using Cox's proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Of the 865 patients, 249 (28.8%) were positive for CEA. The positivity rate was higher in the elderly, in male patients whose tumors were located in the lower third of the stomach, and in those with Borrmann types 2 and 3. It was also significantly correlated with tumor size, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, peritoneal and liver metastases, and cancer stage. The higher the serum CEA level, the more advanced the cancer stage, and the rate of curative resection also decreased as CEA levels were elevated. There was a significant difference between patients with CEA levels below 10 ng/ml and those with levels exceeding 10 ng/ml with regard to tumor progression and curability. Multivariate analysis showed a strong and highly significant association between preoperative serum CEA level and survival time. The prognosis was also significantly poorer when the CEA level was above 10 ng/ml, even in patients in the same stage (Stages 1, 2, and 3). CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative serum CEA determination in patients with gastric cancer valuable for predicting tumor progression and prognosis. Further, in patients in Stages 1, 2, and 3, CEA levels exceeding 10 ng/ml are clinically significant and provide more prognostic information than that obtained by conventional staging methods.

Carcinoembryonic Antigen↗
PubMed1994

Surface phenotype and Ig heavy-chain gene usage in chronic B-cell leukemias: expression of myelomonocytic surface markers in CD5- chronic B-cell leukemia.

We investigated the surface expression of leukocyte differentiation antigens and the Ig heavy-chain variable region (VH) gene family use in leukemic cells from 26 Japanese patients with chronic B-cell leukemias with special reference to CD5 antigen expression. CD5 was expressed on leukemic cells in 21 of 26 cases (CD5+) but not in 5 cases (CD5-). Myelomonocytic marker, CD13 antigen was expressed on the leukemic cells in all 5 CD5- cases but in none of CD5+ cases. Leukemic cells in CD5- cases also expressed CD11b antigen more frequently than those in CD5+ cases (80% v 11%; P < .01). Another myeloid marker, CD33, was expressed neither on CD5+ nor CD5- leukemic cells. CD22, a restricted B-cell marker, was expressed more frequently on CD5- leukemic cells than on CD5+ leukemic cells (80% v 33%; P < .05). Another restricted B-cell activation marker, CD23, was expressed at similar frequency in both the CD5+ and CD5- groups (67% v 60%). Although CD45RA was expressed on the majority of leukemic B cells, the CD45RA expression level was significantly higher among CD5- cases than CD5+ cases (P < .01). In the analysis of VH gene expressed in chronic B-cell leukemias by polymerase chain reaction amplification, CD5+ cases preferentially used VH4 family members (48%; 10 of 21). CD5- cases, on the other hand, mainly used VH3 family (80%; 4 of 5). Thus, from our present observation of an albeit limited patient population, we have found an association between VH gene family use and CD5 antigen expression in chronic B-cell leukemias. We have also shown the differential expression of myelomonocytic markers in the CD5+ and CD5- chronic B-cell leukemias. These result are in agreement with previous suggestions that CD5 positivity is the hallmark for distinct clinical entity commonly referred to in the literature as chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Analysis of acute myeloid leukemia cells by flow cytometry, introducing a new light-scattering classification.

A combined flow-cytometric evaluation of light scattering and the immunophenotype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells from 71 newly diagnosed consecutive patients was conducted. Light-scattering characteristic of AML cells examined by flow cytometry and multiple surface markers were also analyzed using the same samples, to enable a comparison with the French-American-British (FAB) classification. Our AML cases could be classified into three light-scattering classification (LSC) types according to their physical properties on flow cytometry. These were type A, where forward light scattering (FSC) of the leukemic cell population was larger than that of lymphocytes, while side light scattering (SSC) was the same or larger than that of lymphocytes but smaller than that of monocytes; type B, where FSC of the leukemic cell population was larger than that of lymphocytes and SSC spread toward that of monocytes; and type C, where both FSC and SSC of the leukemic cell population spread beyond those of monocytes. Although a clear relationship between the FAB classification and LSC classification by the light-scattering profile of AML was not established, we observed the following findings. The majority of cases were classified as type A (58%), while type B comprised 25% and type C comprised 17%. While CD7 expression on AML cells is considered to be an immature characteristic, CD7 was expressed more frequently among LSC type A cases. Furthermore, all but one of the FAB M1 cases were classified as type A. On the other hand, CD7 was not expressed on type C leukemic cells. The percentage of cases in which more than 60% of leukemic cells possessed another immature surface antigen, CD 34ö, was 13/18 (72%) among FAB M1 cases, much higher than among FAB M2 (35%) or FAB M4 (27%) cases. A negative correlation was observed between mature antigen CD33 and CD34 among the FAB M2 cases. The frequency of CD7 expression was 25% among the total cases, and CD7-positive cases were frequent among FAB M1 and M2, but not among FAB M3 cases. These findings concerning LSC and immunophenotyping indicate that the scattergram pattern analysis may contribute towards more precise immunophenotyping, in that it reflects the maturation stage of each AML case.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1994

Predominance of myeloid antigens in CD34-positive peripheral blood stem cells over those in bone marrow after administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor.

We analyzed the surface phenotype of CD34-positive (CD34+) cells in peripheral blood (PB) during the period of hematopoietic recovery following myelosuppressive chemotherapy. A significantly higher proportion of PB CD34+ cells coexpressed the CD13 and CD33 myeloid antigens (80.8%, 78.1%, respectively) than did BM CD34+ cells (45.8%, 37.8%, respectively) (both p < 0.01). In particular, the CD13 positivity of PB CD34+ cells harvested with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was significantly higher than that of those without G-CSF. Most of the PB CD34+ cells possessed the HLA-DR antigen, and less than 10% of the CD34+ cells coexpressed a mature cell antigen, such as CD14, GPA or Plt-1. The administration of G-CSF enhanced the appearance of significantly larger amounts of CD13+ 34+ and CD33+ 34+ cells (both p < 0.01). This G-CSF mobilization also resulted in an increased number of CD13- 34+ and CD33- 34+ cells and all types of colony-forming cells. On the other hand, macrophage colony-stimulating factor administration exerted little influence on the mobilization of PB CD34+ cells. Thus, G-CSF seemed to induce not only an expansion of circulating hematopoietic stem cells but also the myeloid differentiation of stem cells.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The c-kit molecule and the surface immunophenotype of human acute leukemia.

The proto-oncogene c-kit encodes the receptor for a stem cell factor (c-kit molecule). Expression of the c-kit molecule on the gated leukemic blast cells from newly diagnosed patients with leukemia was analysed by flow cytometry using the monoclonal antibody (17F11). Among 35 myeloid leukemia cases examined, significant c-kit-positive blast cells were detected in 24 cases (69%), even though the percentage of positive cells was widely variable. The correlation between the percentage of cells positive for the c-kit molecule and the percentage of cells positive for CD34 was found to be statistically significant (rs = 0.36, p < 0.05). Fifteen cases of myeloid leukemia were positive for lymphoid markers. The mean percentage of the cells expressing c-kit molecule among the lymphoid marker-positive cases was significantly larger than that among the lymphoid marker-negative cases (p < 0.05). All 19 lymphoid leukemia cases were c-kit-negative, including 8 cases which were positive for some myeloid markers. Stem cell factor enhanced the colony growth in five out of six acute myeloblastic leukemia cases expressing the c-kit molecule. On the other hand, SCF did not stimulate colony growth in any of the four cases which were not positive for the c-kit molecule. These findings indicated that the distribution of flow cytometrically detectable c-kit molecules on leukemic cells is related to the morphologic and immunologic classification of these leukemic cells and to the expression of the CD34 cell surface molecule on some myeloid leukemic cells. On such cells, expression of the c-kit molecule may have a functional role and be related to the maturation process.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[CD7 positive acute myelogenous leukemia exhibiting pleural involvement as an initial manifestation].

A 51-year-old man had suffered from massive pleural effusion due to invasion of malignant cells. The analysis of bone marrow aspiration showed the proliferation of myeloperoxidase-positive blasts. The surface marker analysis of the blasts revealed the positivities for CD7 and CD19 as well as CD13, CD33 and CD34, while the karyotypes of 20 cells were normal. Therefore, CD7 positive AML was diagnosed. The patient was treated with araC and daunorubicin as a remission induction therapy. Peripheral blood stem cells were harvested by leukapheresis after first and second consolidation therapies. Then, 3 x 10(4) cells/kg of CFU-GM were infused. Complete remission has been maintained for 8 months after autologous blood stem cell transplantation. Pleural involvement as an initial manifestation is rare in AML. Extramedullary growth of AML cells may be related to their immaturity, indicated by the expression of the cell surface antigens.

Antigens, CD↗
PubMed1994

Myasthenia gravis after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

A 37-year-old Japanese man with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) developed myasthenia gravis 29 months after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from an HLA one locus-mismatched brother. Proximal muscle weakness and bilateral ptosis occurred along with the exacerbation of chronic GVHD shortly after sudden cessation of cyclosporine (CYA) and prednisolone. The diagnosis of myasthenia gravis was made based on clinical symptoms and elevation of an anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody titer and all symptoms related to myasthenia gravis promptly diminished with the start of treatment for chronic GVHD. In most previously reported cases, the underlying disease was aplastic anemia (6 of 7 cases) and donors were of the opposite sex (6 of 7 cases). The haplotypes HLA B7 (3 of 5 cases), B35 (3 of 5 cases), and DR2 (3 of 3 cases) were common. All cases suffered from chronic GVHD. The present case had only chronic GVHD and HLA B7 as a background for myasthenia gravis after BMT. The abrupt cessation of immunosuppressive therapy may also be related to the development of myasthenia gravis after BMT.

Adult↗