BackgroundOvarian mature cystic teratomas comprise tissues derived from all three germ layers. In rare incidences, malignant tumors may arise from ovarian mature cystic teratoma, which occurs in 0.2–1.8% of cases. A variety of tumors can arise within mature cystic teratoma, among which malignant melanoma is exceedingly rare.Case presentationA 42-year-old woman presented with abdominal pain. Transvaginal ultrasonography showed mixed echogenic cystic masses in both ovaries. Her serum cancer antigen (CA19–9) level was elevated at 29,770 U/ml. Surgical excision was performed. Histologic examination showed infiltrating nests of pleomorphic cells with prominent nucleoli and black pigments in the background of a mature cystic teratoma. These pleomorphic cells showed strong immunoreactivity for Melan-A and HMB-45. The patient was re-evaluated and the possibility of a melanoma at any other site was ruled out. Based on these findings, we concluded that the malignant melanoma originated from the ovarian mature cystic teratoma.ConclusionWe report a rare case of primary malignant melanoma derived from an ovarian mature cystic teratoma.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is one of the most fatal cancers in humans and many factors are known to be related to its poor prognosis. Immunohistochemical (IHC) stainings were done on SCLC specimens in order to investigate the prognostic value of the apoptosis-related gene expression and the tumor proliferative maker, and the relationships among these IHC results and patients clinical characteristics, chemoresponsiveness, and survival were analyzed. The medical records of 107 patients were reviewed retrospectively. IHC stainings for p53, bcl-2 and Ki-67 expressions were performed in the 66 paraffin-embedded biopsy samples. Sixty-six out of the 107 patients were evaluable for response rate and survival. The overall response rate was 75% (95% Confidence Interval=74-76%) and the median survival time was 14 months. The median survival time of limited stage was 16 months and that of extensive stage was 10 months. The prevalence of p53, bcl-2 and Ki-67 expression was 62%, 70%, and 49%, respectively. There were no correlations among the immunoreactivities of p53, bcl-2 and Ki-67 with clinical stage, chemoresponsiveness or overall survival. The clinical stage was the only prognostic factor influencing survival. The expression rates of p53, bcl-2, and Ki-67 were relatively high in SCLC without any prognostic significance. The exact clinical role of these markers should be defined through further investigations.

According to several reports, the 10 year incidence of secondary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) after systemic chemotherapy is approximately 1.5%. The cumulative risk increases by 0.25--1% for the first 8 years after treatment. We have reported only 6 cases of hematological malignancies (0.3%) after breast cancer chemotherapy in our institute. We detected 2 cases of secondary AML and 1 case of MDS, 19, 52 and 12 months, respectively, after systemic chemotherapy for breast cancer. Published data on the occurrence of secondary hematological malignancies other than AML or MDS in this setting are scarce. We encountered diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic lymphoma and mantle cell lymphoma as secondary hematological malignancies after systemic chemotherapy for breast cancer.

SCRIB is a polarity protein important in maintaining cell junctions. However, recent reports have raised the possibility that SCRIB might have a role in human cancers. Thus, this study evaluated the roles of SCRIB in ovarian cancers. In 102 human ovarian carcinomas, nuclear expression of SCRIB predicted shorter survival of ovarian carcinoma patients, especially in the patients who received post-operative chemotherapy. In SKOV3 and SNU119 ovarian cancer cells, overexpression of SCRIB stimulated the proliferation and invasion of cells. Knockout of SCRIB inhibited in vivo tumor growth of SKOV3 cells and overexpression of SCRIB promoted tumor growth. Overexpression of SCRIB stimulated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition by increasing the expression of N-cadherin, snail, TGF-β1, and smad2/3, and decreasing the expression of E-cadherin; the converse was observed with inhibition of SCRIB. In conclusion, this study presents the nuclear expression of SCRIB as a prognostic marker of ovarian carcinomas and suggests that SCRIB is involved in the progression of ovarian carcinomas by stimulating proliferation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition-related invasiveness.