Background/Aim: RAB27A and RAB27B are involved in exosome secretion. To date, there have been many attempts to elucidate the roles of RAB27A and RAB27B in the prognosis of various cancer types. The association of RAB27A and RAB27B expression with the clinical and pathological features was evaluated in patients with stomach cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 360 patients who had undergone surgery for stomach cancer between January 1999 and December 2007 at Gyeongsang National University were enrolled in the study. Disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) were compared according to immunohistochemistry of tumor samples. RAB27A and RAB27B mRNA and protein were also extracted from four stomach cancer cell lines using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Results: Strong nuclear RAB27A expression in tumor samples was statistically significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis. Cytoplasmic RAB27B expression was related to poor disease-free survival and its combined cytoplasmic and membranous expression was related to disease-specific survival of patients with different histopathological types of stomach cancer. High RAB27A expression and high RAB27B expression was found in four stomach cancer cell blocks. Among the four cell lines, NCI-N87 exhibited the lowest relative mRNA density and HS746T exhibited the highest relative protein density for both RAB27A and RAB27B. Conclusion: RAB27A and RAB27B expression may help predict lymph node metastasis and survival of patients with gastric cancer.

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Background/Aim: We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of gastric carcinoma with high excision repair cross complementing 1 (ERCC1) expression and the prognostic value of ERCC1 expression. Materials and Methods: ERCC1 expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 309 surgically resected gastric carcinoma specimens using a tissue microarray. Cancerrelated survival was analysed using competing risk analysis. Results: Compared to ERCC1-low gastric carcinomas, ERCC1-high gastric carcinomas showed less local invasion (p=0.0013), lower N stage (p=0.0302), earlier pTNM stage (p=0.0003), and less frequent recurrence (p=0002). Patients with ERCC1-high gastric carcinoma showed lower cumulative incidence function estimate of cancer-related death [3.37;] than did those with ERCC1-low gastric carcinoma (17.12;. Adjusted proportional sub-distribution hazard ratio for cancer-related death in the patients with ERCC1-high tumour was 0.272 (95% CI=0. 084-0.878; p=0.0295). Conclusion: High ERCC1 expression may be an independent positive prognostic marker for gastric carcinoma.

Background/Aim: Core needle biopsy (CNB) has been widely used as an alternative method to ultrasoundguided fine-needle aspiration cytology for histological diagnosis of thyroid specimens. However, nuclear artifactual vacuoles (NuVas) produced during tissue processing can be very difficult and sometimes impossible to distinguish from intranuclear inclusions (NuIns). P62 is an autophagy receptor that recognizes, targets, and eliminates toxic cellular materials during autophagy. Herein, we examined the utility of p62 immunohistochemical staining to detect NuIns in thyroid core needle biopsy specimens. Patients and Methods:Thirty-five thyroid CNB slides from 32 patients and corresponding resection specimens stained with hematoxylin and eosin were reviewed by two pathologists. The immunohistochemical staining pattern of p62 was used to differentiate NuIns from NuVas. The diameter of each nucleus (A) and NuIn (B) was measured, and the number of p62-expressing NuIn-positive (p62In) cells was counted using 1/2 (B/A) and 1/3 (B/A) criteria. The criterion of 1/3 includes NuIns larger than 1/3 and smaller than 1/2 of the nuclear diameter. The criteria of 1/2 includes NuIns larger than 1/2 of the nuclear diameter. Results: By applying the 1/2 criterion, there were no p62In cells in follicular adenoma (FA) samples. However, in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) samples, 22 of 25 specimens exhibited p62In cells. The sensitivity and specificity to distinguish FA from PTC using the 1/2 criterion were 0.88 and 1.00, respectively. By applying the 1/3 criterion, there was one p62In cell hit in FA samples. However, 23 of 25 PTC specimens showed p62In cells. The sensitivity and specificity to distinguish FA from PTC using the 1/3 criterion were 1.00 and 0.90, respectively. Conclusion: P62 is a useful marker for distinguishing FA and PTC based on CNB specimens. We suggest the 1/2 criteria for identifying p62In cells.Ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a common and useful method for diagnosing thyroid nodules (1). If FNAC fails or is inconclusive, patients should receive repeated FNAC or diagnostic surgery (2,3). Ultrasound-guided thyroid core needle biopsy (CNB) is widely used to diagnose lesions with inconclusive or atypia of undetermined significance FNAC results (3-6). CNB has the benefit of allowing for immunohistochemical staining (IHC) and observation of the features of stromal invasion. However, artifactual nuclear vacuoles (NuVas), intranuclear artifacts derived from the production of hematoxylin and eosin (HE)-stained slides, can be very difficult and sometimes impossible to distinguish from intranuclear inclusions (NuIns). NuIns are important pathological features for the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). In PTC, NuIns have more sharply delineated rims than NuVas, whereas NuVas are more irregular in shape and only lightly stained withHE (2). Schwertheim et al. (7) used IHC of several autophagy-associated proteins, including p62, to detect NuIns in PTC. Theyproved that NuIns are entirely 1...

Background/Aim: Programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and programmed death protein 1 (PD-1) expression levels in many tumors and their correlation with prognosis have been actively studied. However, studies on PD-1 expression and its prognostic value in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) are limited and controversial. In this study, we describe the expression of PD-1 and its prognostic significance and association with clinical features in patients with ccRCC. Materials and Methods: We obtained clinicopathological data from 166 patients with ccRCC who were treated

A cardiac calcified amorphous tumor (CAT) is a rare non-neoplastic mass of the heart with histological characteristics comprising calcification and amorphous fibrous material. Little is known regarding the incidence, symptoms, and therapeutic strategies for CAT. Echocardiography and computed tomography were performed on a 48-year-old man who had a cardiac mass that was accidentally discovered on admission to a local hospital for a fracture related to a trauma that occurred 1 month prior. After surgery, a histological examination resulted in the diagnosis of a cardiac CAT. The patient was discharged without postoperative complications on the 12th day after surgery.

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Background: Myoferlin is a multifunctional protein expressed in various normal and cancer cells, with novel oncogenic roles being newly discovered. Recently, correlations have been found between myoferlin expression and unfavorable prognosis in various carcinomas. This study investigated the prognostic role of myoferlin expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), specifically that associated with nodal metastasis. Methods: We collected clinicopathological data and PTC tissues from 116 patients who had been admitted to Gyeongsang National University Hospital in 2010. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on surgical specimen-derived tissue microarray blocks. Myoferlin expression was graded, and the relationship between expression level and pathological features of tumors based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system was evaluated. Results: Of the 116 patient samples, 100 cases exhibited positive myoferlin expression. Higher grade of myoferlin expression was correlated with lower T category group (p = .010). Presence of lymph node metastasis was determined to be significantly correlated with low-grade myoferlin expression (p = .019), with no significant difference between pN1a and pN1b tumors. Conclusions: Our study revealed an adverse correlation between myoferlin expression and pathological features of PTC, evidence of the potential prognostic role of myoferlin in PTC lymph node metastasis.