No abstract

In order to find informative salivary biomarkers specific to oral cancer we examined expression of 4 kinds of cytokine in saliva. Levels of interleukins (IL-1␤, -6, -8) and osteopontin were measured by ELISA using whole saliva samples collected from 19 patients with oral cancer (9 men, 10 women; mean age, 60.9 years) and 20 healthy persons (15 men, 5 women; mean age, 32 years). Expression of the 4 cytokines was higher in patients with oral cancer than in healthy controls. The difference was significant in IL-6, in particular.The results suggest that saliva offers a potential target for a screening test aimed at detection of precancerous lesions.

Running title: murine model of bone invasion

Aberrant ectodermal tissues during the fetal period or acquired aberrant epithelial tissue due to trauma or surgery are thought to cause dermoid and epidermoid cysts. Their incidence is 7.0% in the head and neck region and only 1.6% in the oral cavity, where they mostly present in the floor of the mouth. On the other hand, they are extremely rare in the soft palate and uvula, and only six cases have been reported. Epidermoid cysts grow slowly and asymptomatically, and thus rarely cause oral dysfunction. However, cysts arising in the floor of the mouth can lead to developmental disorders due to impaired suckling and swallowing. This report describes a 4-week-old boy in whom an epidermoid cyst developed in the midline region of the soft palate close to the uvula. Decreased suckling ability led to a poor in body weight, so resection was performed at an early age. The histopathological diagnosis was epidermoid cyst.

The occurrence of accidental ingestion/aspiration and preventive measures were investigated at Tokyo Dental College Chiba Hospital. In addition, the characteristics of accidents at our hospital were analyzed by surveying the awareness of accidental ingestion/ aspiration to utilize the data for prevention. Accidental ingestion accounted for about 30% of accidents that occurred at our hospital in fiscal 2008, but all ingested items were naturally excreted, and no accidental aspiration occurred. Accidental ingestion most frequently occurred when dental restorations were removed. Inlays and crowns were most frequently ingested, and dentists with 5 to less than 10 years of clinical experience tended to be involved in these accidents. According to the results of the questionnaire, Clinical Report 95Bull Tokyo Dent Coll (2010) 51(2): 95-101 96

No abstract

We analyzed the mutational and methylation status of the spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) gene and both mRNA and protein levels in primary oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and OSCCderived cell lines and examined the function of the Syk gene in OSCC-derived cell lines in vitro. Using quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting and immunofluorescence on 7 OSCC-derived cell lines and normal oral keratinocytes (NOKs), Syk mRNA and protein expression were commonly downregulated in all cell lines compared to the NOKs. Although no sequence variation in the coding region of the Syk gene was identified in these cell lines, we found frequent hypermethylation in the CpG island region. Syk expression was restored by experimental demethylation. In addition, using a wound healing assay and in vitro invasion assay, we performed functional analysis using Syk transfected into the OSCC-derived cell lines, and they showed significant inhibition of motility and invasiveness. In clinical samples, high frequencies of Syk downregulation were detected by immunohistochemistry (33 of 53 [62%]). Furthermore, the Syk expression status was correlated significantly (p 5 0.047) with tumor metastasis to cervical lymph nodes. These results suggest that the Syk gene is frequently inactivated during oral carcinogenesis and that an epigenetic mechanism may regulate loss of expression possibly leading to metastasis.

We report the cloning, characterization and localization in the brain of a novel isoform termed mM-rdgBb1 (mouse type of mammalian retinal degeneration Bb1 protein) in comparison with the localization of three known mammalian homologs (M-rdgBb, M-rdgB1, M-rdgB2). mM-rdgBb1 cDNA contains a sequence of 119 bp as a form of insertion in the open reading frame of the known mM-rdgBb, and encodes a protein of 269 amino acids with a calculated molecular mass of 31.7 kDa, different from the molecular mass of 38.3 kDa of mM-rdgBb. It also contains a phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (PITP)-like domain similar to the known three homologs, as well as D-rdgB. The recombinant mM-rdgBb1 protein shows the specific binding activity to phosphatidylinositol but not to other phospholipids. This novel molecule is localized not only in the cytoplasm but also in the nucleus, different from the cytoplasmic localization of mM-rdgBb. In in situ hybridization analysis, the gene expression for mM-rdgBb1 in the brain, though weak, is rather confined to the embryonic stage, different from wider expression of mM-rdgBb in the gray matters of pre-and post-natal brains. Taken together, mM-rdgBb1 is suggested to play a role in the phosphoinositide-mediated signaling in the neural development.