Complete remission in a patient with human herpes virus-8 negative multicentric Castleman disease using CHOP chemotherapy.

Multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder. Although MCD pathogenesis is unclear, studies have suggested that human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) may be associated with the disorder. Recent reports have identified MCD cases without viral infection. A 43-year-old woman presented to our hospital for fever and myalgia of 6 months' duration. The complete blood count revealed an elevated leukocyte count (15.1x10(3)/microL) and a decreased hemoglobin level of 10.0 g/dL. The C-reactive protein level was elevated at 276.5 mg/L. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) scans revealed bilateral axillary lymphadenopathy. There was no evidence of HHV-8, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or Mycobacterium infection. Histologic evaluation of a lymph node biopsy from the left axilla yielded a diagnosis of MCD. Cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) were administered for a total of 4 cycles. The patient's fever and lymphadenopathy resolved after the course of chemotherapy. She has been in complete remission for 24 months at this writing. As previously reported, this case report suggests that MCD can develop without viral infection. CHOP chemotherapy may be an effective treatment option for newly diagnosed MCD patients.

Phase contrast microradiography of mouse lung using synchrotron X-ray: correlation with optical microscopy.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of phase contrast X-ray microtomography and microradiography, using a polychromatic synchrotron X-ray, for analysis of the mouse lung microstructure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Normal mice were used for experiments. Some of the mouse lungs were prepared by the lung fixation-inflation method. The resulting sponge-like inflated lung samples were used for microtomography. The remaining mouse lungs were cut into 10 microm sections and were used for microradiography and optical microscopic correlation. The experiments on mouse lung samples were performed at the 7B2 beamline of the Pohang Light Source in Korea. RESULTS: Phase contrast X-ray microtomography of inflated lung samples showed individual alveolar structure on 3-D reconstruction. Phase contrast microradiographs of thin lung samples showed microstructure of lung, such as alveoli and bronchioles, and were well correlated with optical microscopic images. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the phase contrast X-ray microtomography and microradiography using polychromatic synchrotron X-ray is feasible for evaluation of microstructure of the lung.

Maspin expression in early oral tongue cancer and its relation to expression of mutant-type p53 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).

Even though oral tongue cancer is generally diagnosed at an early stage, the prognosis is poor due to frequent recurrence. Therefore, it is important to identify factors predictive of recurrence and to treat aggressively those patients with a high probability of recurrence. The relationship between angiogenesis and recurrence in tongue cancer has been widely investigated but no consensus has been reached. Mutant-type p53 and VEGF are known to be related to angiogenesis, and maspin is a potent angiogenic inhibitor but its role in tongue cancer has scarcely been examined. We observed the expression of maspin, mutant-type p53 and VEGF by immunohistochemistry in 33 patients with stages I and II oral tongue cancer. And the relationships between maspin, mutant-type p53, VEGF expression and recurrence were analyzed. Maspin and VEGF displayed a cytoplasmic staining pattern and mutant-type p53 a nuclear pattern. None of expression of maspin, mutant-type p53, and VEGF was significantly correlated with tumor recurrence (p=0.34, 0.56, and 0.33, respectively) and survival. Maspin expression was negatively correlated with both mutant-type p53 expression (p=0.02), and VEGF expression (p=0.01). There was no correlation between age, sex, clinical staging, and recurrence. In conclusion, the expression of maspin is not related to recurrence of early stage oral tongue cancer. It is inversely correlated with that of mutant-type p53 and of VEGF, suggesting that the maspin gene is a mutant-type p53 target in vivo and may contribute to regulate VEGF expression.