Helicobacter pylori has been considered to be non-invasive and to rarely infiltrate the gastric mucosa, even though there is an active Th1 immune response in the lamina propria of the H. pylori-infected stomach. To elucidate whether H. pylori invades the lamina propria and translocates to the gastric lymph nodes, we examined H. pylori in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections of stomach and gastric lymph nodes obtained from 51 cancer patients using real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) with a novel anti-H. pylori monoclonal antibody that recognizes lipopolysaccharides. Fresh gastric lymph nodes were used to culture for H. pylori. In 46 patients with H. pylori in the stomach, the bacterium was found in the lymph nodes from 21 patients by culture, 37 patients by PCR, and 29 patients by IHC. H. pylori captured by macrophages was found in the lamina propria of 39 patients. In the lymph nodes, the bacterium was found in many macrophages and a few interdigitating dendritic cells at the paracortical areas. H. pylori was also found in the intracellular canaliculi of parietal cells in 21 patients, but intracytoplasmic invasion into gastric epithelial cells was not identified. When compared to the commercially available anti-H. pylori antibodies, the novel antibody showed the highest sensitivity to detect H. pylori-positive macrophages, whereas no difference was found for H. pylori in the mucous layer. The H. pylori-positive macrophages in the lamina propria correlated with chronic gastritis as well as translocation of such cells to the lymph nodes. These results suggest that H. pylori-induced gastric epithelial damage allows the bacteria to invade the lamina propria and translocate to the gastric lymph nodes, which may chronically stimulate the immune system. The bacteria captured by macrophages, whether remaining alive or not, may contribute to the induction and development of H. pylori-induced chronic gastritis.

The prognosis of H-CRP-positive patients was poorer compared with H-CRP-negative patients. This study confirmed that H-CRP, like CRP, is a marker of poor prognosis in HCC patients.

These results indicate that prophylactic lamivudine administration reduces HBV-DNA levels and prevents exacerbation of liver damage throughout the period of chemotherapy in HBe antigen positive patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Members of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family including survivin, are expressed in many tumors. However, age-related changes in their expression in cancer have not been clarified. Thus, we investigated the expression of mRNA-coding for IAP family proteins in colon cancer samples from young (<70 years of age) and elderly (>70 years) patients by real-time quantitative RT-PCR. Samples were collected from cases with well-differentiated adenocarcinoma or moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma and their adjacent normal epithelial tissue. Well-differentiated adenocarcinoma tended to express higher levels of survivin than normal mucosa, and expression in moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was significantly greater than in normal mucosa in samples from both groups of patients ( p<0.05, respectively). When samples were compared between the different age groups, the normal mucosa exhibited similar levels of survivin expression. However, samples from older patients showed a significantly higher level of expression than those from younger patients in well and moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas ( p<0.05, respectively). In contrast, the levels of expression of cIAP1, cIAP2, and NAIP in the cancerous tissues were lower than those found in normal mucosa regardless of age. As for age-related changes, the expression of cIAP2 in normal mucosa and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was stronger in the elderly group than the young group ( p<0.05, respectively), and NAIP expression in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma was higher in the young group than the elderly group ( p<0.05). XIAP expression was similar in normal and cancerous tissues in both the young and elderly groups. These results suggest that the expression of IAP family proteins, especially survivin, is associated with the age-related biological characteristics of colon cancer.

BACKGROUND Des‐γ‐carboxy prothrombin (DCP) has been reported to be an important prognostic factor in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Recently, a monoclonal antibody, 19B7, which recognizes the Gla domain of DCP, has been identified. The 19B7 antibody recognizes an epitope different from that recognized by MU‐3, which is another antibody against DCP. In this study, the authors investigated the measurement of DCP using the antibodies MU‐3 and 19B7, respectively, as a prognostic factor for patients with HCC who had solitary, small tumors and or Child Stage A HCC. METHODS One hundred four patients with HCC who had solitary, small tumors or Child Stage A tumors were enrolled in the study between 1991 and 2001. All patients were treated and were followed for a mean of 3.2 years. The authors analyzed the correlation between the DCP Index (DCP measured by MU‐3 and DCP measured by 19B7) and patient prognosis. The patients were classified into 3 groups based on their DCP Index: 1) DCP negative (DCP < 40 milli arbitrary unit (mAU)/mL)); 2) low DCP Index (DCP ≥ 40 mAU/mL; MU‐3:19B7 ratio, < 3.0; and 3) high DCP Index (DCP ≥ 40 mAU/mL; MU‐3:19B7 ratio, ≥ 3.0). RESULTS The survival rate for patients in the high DCP Index group was lower compared with the survival rate for patients in the DCP‐negative group and was significantly lower compared with the survival rate for patients in the low DCP Index group. In a univariate Cox proportional hazards model, the positive factors were high DCP Index and low DCP Index. Among the positive predictive factors that were analyzed using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model were age (hazard ratio, 3.27; P = 0.006), low DCP Index (hazard ratio, 2.87; P = 0.012), and high DCP Index (hazard ratio, 12.3; P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS The prognosis of patients who had a high DCP Index score was poorer compared with patients who had a low DCP Index score and patients who were classified as DCP negative. The authors concluded that the DCP Index is a prognostic indicator for patients with HCC. Cancer 2003;98:2671–7. © 2003 American Cancer Society.