Appendiceal atresia causing recurrent right lower quadrant pain without inflammation.

An 11-year-old girl presented with recurrent right lower quadrant (RLQ) pain. There was no evidence of inflammation and appendiceal swelling except at the initial onset. The repeated presence of a small amount of ascites at the time of abdominal pain triggered the performance of exploratory laparoscopy. Intraoperative examination revealed a non-inflamed, unswollen appendix with a cord-like atretic segment at the middle part and an appendectomy was performed. At 46 months follow-up, she remained asymptomatic. In patients with recurrent RLQ pain of unknown cause, it is necessary to consider diagnostic laparoscopy while keeping appendiceal atresia in mind as a differential diagnosis.

Polyphyllin D induces necroptosis in neuroblastoma cells (IMR-32 and LA-N-2) in mice.

BACKGROUND: We previously reported that polyphyllin D, the main component of the traditional herbal medicinal Paris polyphylla, exhibited anticancer effects in vitro against human neuroblastoma cells. The aim of this investigation was to examine in vivo antitumor effects of polyphyllin D. METHODS: Subcutaneous tumors were established in immune-deficient BALB/c nude mice using human neuroblastoma cell lines IMR-32 and LA-N-2. To evaluate the polyphyllin D activity, we used a mouse model of IMR-32 or LA-N-2 cell lines and analyzed subcutaneous tumors. RESULTS: Subcutaneous tumor models were successfully established in mice using two human neuroblastoma cell lines. In the subcutaneous tumor model, porphyrin D was found to suppress tumor volume. We found that polyphyllin D suppressed the number of foci by Ki-67 staining (IMR-32 and LA-N-2; p < 0.01, 0.02, respectively). We found that polyphyllin D induces the RIPK3 expression, while polyphyllin D phosphorylates Ser358 in IMR-32 and Ser358 and Tyr376 in LA-N-2. CONCLUSION: We developed a mouse model of subcutaneous tumors of neuroblastoma and demonstrated for the first time that polyphyllin D has an antitumor effect on neuroblastoma. Polyphyllin D can cause necroptosis depending on the cell type. The new drug can be expected by investigating a method to selectively induce cell death through the analysis of necroptosis.

Antitumor effect of polyphyllin D on liver metastases of neuroblastoma.

PURPOSE: We previously reported that polyphyllin D, a main component of the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Paris polyphylla, exhibited anticancer effects in vitro against human neuroblastoma cells. The aims of this investigation was to examine the presence or absence of in vivo anti-metastasis effects of polyphyllin D were to establish a liver metastasis model of neuroblastoma and to evaluate the anti-metastasis effects of polyphyllin D. METHODS: Subcutaneous and intraperitoneal tumors, and metastasis models were established in immune-deficient BALB/c nude and BALB/c Rag-2/Jak3 double-deficient (BRJ) mice using the human neuroblastoma cell lines IMR-32, LA-N-2, or NB-69. For evaluating polyphyllin D activity, we used a mouse model of liver metastasis with the IMR-32 cells line injected through the tail vein. We analyzed the livers number and area of liver tumors in of the phosphate buffer solution- and polyphyllin D-treated groups. RESULTS: Liver metastasis and intraperitoneal dissemination models were successfully established in immune-deficient BRJ mice using the three human neuroblastoma cell lines. In the liver metastasis, the model of IMR-32 cells, we found that polyphyllin D suppressed both the number and total area of metastatic foci the average number of metastatic foci, average focus areas, and number of cleaved caspase-3-positive cells were significantly lower in the polyphyllin D group (p = 0.016, 0.020, 0.043, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: We developed a mouse models of neuroblastoma metastasis and demonstrated for the first time that polyphyllin D has an antitumor effect on neuroblastoma liver metastases.