Phylogenetic Placement and Morphological Characterization of Sclerotium rolfsii (Teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) Associated with Blight Disease of Ipomoea batatas in Korea

In this study, we aimed to characterize fungal samples from necrotic lesions on collar regions observed in different sweetpotato growing regions during 2015 and 2016 in Korea. Sclerotia appeared on the root zone soil surface, and white dense mycelia were observed. At the later stages of infection, mother roots quickly rotted, and large areas of the plants were destroyed. The disease occurrence was monitored at 45 and 84 farms, and 11.8% and 6.8% of the land areas were found to be infected in 2015 and 2016, respectively. Fungi were isolated from disease samples, and 36 strains were preserved. Based on the cultural and morphological characteristics of colonies, the isolates resembled the reference strain of Sclerotium rolfsii. Representative strains were identified as S. rolfsii (teleomorph: Athelia rolfsii) based on phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer and large subunit genes along with morphological observations. To test the pathogenicity, sweetpotato storage roots were inoculated with different S. rolfsii strains. ‘Yulmi’ variety displayed the highest disease incidence, whereas ‘Pungwonmi’ resulted in the least. These findings suggested that morphological characteristics and molecular phylogenetic analysis were useful for identification of S. rolfsii.

Malignant Tumors of the Hand

PURPOSE: Malignant tumors of the hand occurred very rarely and optical surgical treatment and prognosis are not clearly established. We report the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of primary and metastatic bone and soft tissue tumors during last twenty years with a review of literatures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 20 cases of malignant tumors in the hand (7 cases of acrometastasis, 9 cases of malignant melanoma, 2 cases of chondrosarcoma and 2 cases of squamous cell carcinoma) retrospectively. RESULTS: Patients of early Clark stage (I to III) of malignant melanoma survived after wide resection or ray amputation. But patients with late Clark stage (IV to V) expired associated with distant metastasis. All seven patients with acrometastasis expired in 6.3 months after diagnosis of metastasis. Two patients with chondrosarcoma survived without recurrence. Among patients with squamous cell carcinoma, one patient is free of disease after wide resection, but the other was dead due to metastasis. CONCLUSION: Good results might be attained after surgical treatment of malignant tumors of the hand by proper surgical technique to minimize loss of hand function and systemic evaluation of metastasis.

p53 Protein Overexpression and p53 Mutations in Invasive Breast Carcinomas Comparison to lymph node status, DNA ploidy and histologic grade

Functional loss of the tumor suppressor gene p53 is one of the most frequently detected and diffusely distributed findings among human cancers. Their mutant protein products or point mutations can be detected through immunohistochemistry(IHC) or polymerase chain reaction and single stranded conformational polymorphism(PCR-SSCP). Evaluation of the DNA content of the tumor cell by flow cytometry(FCM) can provide indirect evidence of the functional loss of p53, because the spindle checkpoint in the mitotic phase depends on p53. To evaluate the correlation between p53 mutation and the status of lymph node metastasis or the histological grade of the tumor cell, IHC, SSCP, and FCM in the same tissue was performed from 43 patients of human breast cancer. The results obtained are as follows; 1. Functional loss of p53 was detected in 81.4% of the breast cancer cases by using triple tests and 58.1% at the cases by double test(IHC and SSCP). Positive rates by single test were 41.8% by IHC, 44.2% by SSCP, and 58.1% by FCM. 2. For breast carcinomas no correlation between lymph-node metastasis and the functional loss of p53 detected by IHC or SSCP. 3. The correlation between the functional loss of p53 detected by IHC or SSCP and the aneuploidy of the tumor cells was statistically significant. 4. The triple tests revealed a functional loss of p53 in all cases of grade III breast cancer.

TGF-beta-1 Expression and p53 Mutation in Non-small Cell Carcinomas of the Lung / 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: TGF-beta-1 is actually a major growth inhibitor for most cell types. We assumed that the loss of TGF-beta-1 would be occurred during carcinogenesis of the lung. Also, the mutation and expression of p53 have been known to be major moleclar change of non-small cell carcinoma of the lung. So, the relationship between the mutation of p53 and the expression of TGF-beta-1 in the non-small cell carcinomas were evaluated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 43 non-small cell carcinoma and normal tissue of the lung, their TGF-beta-1 mRNA were measured by RT-PCR and p53 was studied by SSCP and Western blotting assay. RESULTS: p53 mutation rate in non-small cell carcinomas of the lung (48.4%) was much more frequent than the normal control group (14.3%). The expression rate of TGF-beta-1 in lung carcinomas, especially squamous cell carcinoma (71.4%), was much higher than the normal control group (42.9%). p53 mutation and TGF-beta-1 mRNA in the lung carcinomas were not strongly correlated. CONCLUSION: It suggests that high expression rate of TGF-beta-1 and p53 mutation are associated with carcinogenesis of non-small cell carcinoma of the lung. High expression rate of TGF-beta-1 in the lung carcinomas can be partly explained by the fact that TGF-beta-1 have capacity to control the production of many components of the extracellular matrix and enhance angiogenesis in favor of tumor growth despite of their inhibitory effects of cell growth. However, additional research is required to determine the exact role of TGF-beta-1 in carcinogenesis of the lung.