Primary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma of the prostate: tumor relapse 7 years after local therapy.

Primary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma of the prostate is rare, and only five cases have been reported. Reported herein is a new case that has involved a 9 year follow up. A 79-year-old man was treated with transurethral resection (TUR) for a mass of the right prostatic lobe, and followed up under a diagnosis of benign prostatic hyperplasia with atypical lymphoid infiltration. Seven years later TUR was again performed for a right lobe mass. The lesion was diagnosed as a relapsed MALT lymphoma after detailed histological and immunoglobulin heavy chain gene analyses of the initial and relapsed lesions. Interestingly, lymphoepithelial lesions were observed only infrequently in this tumor. The API2-MALT1 fusion, a gene alteration specific to MALT lymphoma, was absent. The patient had stage IA disease at the time of tumor relapse, and has been alive and well for the 2 years after the second TUR. The present case suggests that despite tumor recurrence, prostatic MALT lymphoma is indolent, and function-preserving therapy is warranted.

[Clinical evaluation of ureteral endometriosis: report of 8 cases].

We report 8 cases of ureteral endometriosis. The mean age of the 8 patients was 42 years (range 29 to 60). In all patients, endometrial lesions were located in the lower third of the ureter and were unilateral. Six patients presented with flank pain and in one of the 6 cases the pain was associated with menses. One presented with gross hematuria. One had no symptoms. Seven out of 8 cases had gynecological diseases and 4 had had surgical treatment for the gynecological diseases. Four patients were treated with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn-RH) analogue for hydronephrosis of endometriosis. In 2 patients, the therapy was effective, but hydronephrosis recurred. Surgical therapy was done on all patients. We recommend surgical therapy for hydronephrosis with ureteral endometriosis.

Identification and characterization of Nek6 protein kinase, a potential human homolog of NIMA histone H3 kinase.

In Aspergillus nidulans, the kinase activity of NIMA (never in mitosis, gene A) is critical for the initiation of mitosis. NIMA regulates mitotic chromatin condensation through phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine 10. In the present study, we identified human Nek6 (hNek6), a member of the mammalian NIMA-related kinases. The predicted hNek6 protein is comprised of 338 amino acids. Northern blot analysis revealed that hNek6 transcripts are ubiquitously expressed with the highest expression found in the heart and skeletal muscle. Lower cell cycle-dependent expression of hNek6 transcripts was observed in the early G1 phase. GFP-fused hNek6 protein showed both nuclear and cytoplasmic localizations in HeLa cells. Fluorescence in situ hybridization using full-length hNek6 cDNA as a probe showed that the hNek6 gene is localized to human chromosome 9q33-34, a region at which the loss of heterozygosity is associated with transitional cell carcinomas. Importantly, recombinant hNek6 protein produced in insect cells effectively phosphorylated histones H1 and H3, but not casein. Thus, these results suggest that, unlike other mammalian NIMA-related kinases, Nek6 is a mitotic histone kinase which regulates chromatin condensation in mammalian cells.