No abstract

Immunohistochemical examination of ER-beta1 in addition to ER-alpha and PR is clinically important in patients with breast cancer treated with tamoxifen monotherapy. Further studies are needed to confirm our findings.

We examined the effect of dietary oils with different fatty acid compositions on the growth of visceral adipose tissue in rats. Rats were fed for 4 mo starting at weaning a basal diet containing (12 g/100 g diet) perilla oil rich in (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), safflower oil rich in (n-6) PUFA, olive oil rich in monounsaturated fatty acid, or beef tallow rich in saturated fatty acids. The amount of food consumed and body weight gain did not differ among the four dietary groups. The weight of the epididymal fat pad and the serum triglyceride concentration in perilla oil-fed rats were significantly lower (P < 0.05) than those of olive oil- and beef tallow-fed groups. The product of [(volume of individual adipocytes) x (number of adipocytes in epididymal fat pad)], which presumably represents total adipocyte volume in the fat pad, was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in perilla oil-fed rats than in beef tallow- and olive oil-fed groups. Expression of the late genes of adipocyte differentiation, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, adipocyte P2 and adipsin, was significantly (P < 0. 05) down-regulated in epididymal fat tissue of rats that had been fed perilla oil rather than beef tallow or olive oil, whereas expression of the early gene, lipoprotein lipase, was not significantly affected. Greater levels (P < 0.05) of (n-3) PUFA in the membrane phospholipid fraction of the fat tissue were observed in perilla oil-fed rats than in the other dietary groups. These results suggest that perilla oil or (n-3) PUFA prevents excessive growth of adipose tissue in rats at least in part by suppressing the late phase of adipocyte differentiation.

Background. The clinicopathologic features of gastric carcinoma in elderly people have been reported previously. The present study examined the patterns and distribution of gastric carcinomas in the elderly, especially in patients aged 85 and older. Methods. A retrospective study of 994 consecutive Japanese patients aged 65 years or older was performed. In this group, a total of 1147 lesions were analyzed. Pathological findings in the very old group (older than 85 years; n ‫؍‬ 126) were compared with those in younger groups (65-74 years [young-old group]; n ‫؍‬ 356) and (75-84 years [middle-old group]; n ‫؍‬ 512). Results. While the male-to-female ratio significantly decreased with advancing age, the relative odds of gastric cancer in men were higher than those in women in all age groups. In the very old group, cancer of the lower third of the stomach tended to increase with advancing age, and accounted for 43.7% of cases. In the population overall, differentiated-type adenocarcinoma accounted for 89.6% in the early cancers and 50.3% in the advanced cancers. The proportion of cases involving differentiated-type carcinoma significantly increased with advancing age in early cancer and female advanced cancer cases, whereas no significant change was found in male advanced-cancer patients. In the very old group, lymph node metastasis was found in 5.4% of early cancers and 72.7% in advanced cancers. Multiple cancers significantly increased with advancing age (P < 0.05; 10.7% in the younger-old group, 12.7% in the middle-old group, and 19.0% in the very old group). Conclusion. These results indicate that, in the very old group, gastric cancers showed a distal shift with predominantly differentiated-type carcinoma in the early stages and increased undifferentiated-type carcinomas in advanced stages. These results suggest increased histologic diversity with tumor growth. These findings have important implications for the screening and diagnosis of gastric cancer in the elderly. Offprint requests to: T. Arai

To clarify the significance of hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation in the development of medullary-type poorly differentiated colorectal adenocarcinoma, we studied the status of promoter methylation and hMLH1 expression in 23 medullary-type and 12 pleomorphic-type carcinomas, as well as the pathology and microsatellite status. In medullary-type carcinomas, the percentages of cases with promoter methylation (83%) and an absence of hMLH1 expression (91%) were significantly higher than in pleomorphic-type carcinomas (14 and 17%), respectively. The rate of microsatellite instability in the medullary type was significantly higher than that of the pleomorphic type (87 vs 40%, Po0.01). Compared with pleomorphic-type carcinomas, medullary-type carcinomas were significantly associated with hMLH1 promoter methylation, absent expression of hMLH1 protein, microsatellite instability, as well as a proximal location, a Crohn's-like lymphoid reaction, a low incidence of lymph node metastasis, and a favorable outcome. Medullary-type carcinomas accumulated with advancing age, especially in the female. These results indicated that hMLH1 hypermethylation, concurrent with a lack of its protein expression, may play an important role in the development of medullary-type poorly differentiated colorectal adenocarcinomas in the elderly.

No abstract

GCDFP-15 positivity is transient and should not be considered a definitive marker of apocrine carcinomas. Cases which have apocrine features but lack GCDFP-15 expression should rather be considered as advanced apocrine carcinomas. ER/PR/bcl-2 negativity will sometimes be helpful to confirm the diagnosis of apocrine carcinoma, because it is more consistent than GCDFP-15/AR positivity.

Background Microsatellite instability (MSI) has been observed in 8-39 % of sporadic gastric cancers. However, despite numerous reports indicating a significant relationship between intestinal-type histology and MSI, detailed correlation between histological subtypes and MSI remains obscure. The purpose of the present study is to clarify the relationship between histological subtype and microsatellite status in gastric carcinomas. Methods Microsatellite status was examined for 464 consecutive gastric carcinomas from 420 patients as well as histological subtypes and other clinicopathological findings.Results MSI was observed in 82 carcinomas (17.7 %), and the greatest proportions were observed in solid-type, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (43.0 %) and papillary adenocarcinoma (32.5 %), both being significantly higher than those of other subtypes. The proportion increased with advancing age (0 % at 51-64 years, 8.5 % at 65-74 years, 18.4 % at 75-84 years, 35.3 % at 85-96 years). Compared with microsatellite-stable carcinomas, microsatellite-unstable carcinomas were significantly related with older age, female gender, antral location, and predominant papillary adenocarcinoma and solid-type, poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Poorly differentiated type carcinoma was significantly less frequent than differentiated type in microsatellite-unstable cancer at the early stage, whereas no significant difference existed at the advanced stage. Conclusions These results suggest that there are specific histological subtypes with highly frequent MSI and that gastric carcinoma with MSI originates from differentiatedtype carcinomas, indicating histological diversity during tumor growth.