Low invasiveness of thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the prone position for esophageal cancer: a propensity score-matched comparison of operative approaches between thoracoscopic and open esophagectomy.

BACKGROUND: In this study, cytokine levels, outcome, and survival rates after esophagectomy for esophageal cancer were retrospectively investigated in a propensity score-matched comparison of operative approaches between the thoracoscopic esophagectomy (TE) in the prone position and open esophagectomy (OE). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between 2005 and 2014, TE was performed on a group of 85 patients, which was compared with a group of 104 OE cases. Eventually, 65 paired cases were matched using propensity score matching. RESULTS: Although the TE group underwent a significantly longer operation time than the OE group (P < 0.001), the TE group exhibited less blood loss (P < 0.001) and had a shorter postoperative hospital stay (P = 0.038) than the OE group. The serum interleukin-6 levels on ICU admission (P < 0.001) and on POD 1 (P < 0.001) were significantly lower in the TE group. The interleukin-10 levels on ICU admission (P < 0.001), POD 1 (P = 0.016), and POD 3 (P < 0.001) were also significantly lower in the TE group. Pulmonary complication was significantly lower in the TE group (P = 0.043). The 5-year PFS rates in the TE and OE groups were 70.6 and 58.7% (P = 0.328), respectively, and OS rates were 64.9 and 50.2% (P = 0.101), respectively. CONCLUSION: TE compared to OE is a less invasive procedure with lower surgical stress and less pulmonary complication for the treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Melanoma-Derived Wnt5a Promotes Local Dendritic-Cell Expression of IDO and Immunotolerance: Opportunities for Pharmacologic Enhancement of Immunotherapy.

The ß-catenin signaling pathway has been demonstrated to promote the development of a tolerogenic dendritic cell (DC) population capable of driving regulatory T-cell (Treg) differentiation. Further studies have implicated tolerogenic DCs in promoting carcinogenesis in preclinical models. The molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment of immune tolerance by this DC population are poorly understood, and the methods by which developing cancers can co-opt this pathway to subvert immune surveillance are currently unknown. This work demonstrates that melanoma-derived Wnt5a ligand upregulates the durable expression and activity of the indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-1 (IDO) enzyme by local DCs in a manner that depends upon the ß-catenin signaling pathway. These data indicate that Wnt5a-conditioned DCs promote the differentiation of Tregs in an IDO-dependent manner, and that this process serves to suppress melanoma immune surveillance. We further show that the genetic silencing of the PORCN membrane-bound O-acyl transferase, which is necessary for melanoma Wnt ligand secretion, enhances antitumor T-cell immunity, and that the pharmacologic inhibition of this enzyme synergistically suppresses melanoma progression when combined with anti-CTLA-4 antibody therapy. Finally, our data suggest that ß-catenin signaling activity, based on a target gene expression profile that includes IDO in human sentinel lymph node-derived DCs, is associated with melanoma disease burden and diminished progression-free survival. This work implicates the Wnt-ß-catenin signaling pathway as a novel therapeutic target in the melanoma immune microenvironment and demonstrates the potential impact of manipulating DC function as a strategy for optimizing tumor immunotherapy.

Isolated limb infusion as a model to test new agents to treat metastatic melanoma.

The limb model of in-transit disease can expand our understanding of treating melanoma because of the ease of obtaining tissue biopsies for correlative studies and the availability of preclinical animal models that allow validation of novel therapeutic strategies. This review will focus on regional therapy for in-transit melanoma as a platform to investigate novel therapeutic approaches to improve regional disease control, and help us develop insights to more rationally design systemic therapy trials.

ABCB6 mRNA and DNA methylation levels serve as useful biomarkers for prediction of early intrahepatic recurrence of hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

The poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be explained largely by the high rate of intrahepatic recurrence (IHR). Identification of genes related to IHR is needed to improve the poor prognosis and important for personalized medicine. Eighty-one HCC specimens were used in this study. We screened for IHR-related genes by DNA microarray analysis. The validation of screening was performed by using real-time PCR. The methylation levels in genomic DNAs were measured by quantitative methylation-specific PCR. Six hepatoma cell lines were used for examination of ABCB6 expressional regulation. Time-to-event analyses for recurrence after surgery were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analysis with cutoff values obtained from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. We confirmed that ABCB6 mRNA levels were significantly higher in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCCs with early IHR compared to HCV-related HCCs without early IHR (2.5-fold, P=0.01) and the corresponding non-cancerous livers (3.1-fold, P=0.05). Experiments with cell lines showed correlation between DNA methylation and mRNA levels of ABCB6. ROC analysis revealed that mRNA levels (0.81 area under the curve, 88% sensitivity and 72% specificity) and DNA methylation levels (0.81 area under the curve, 80% sensitivity and 80% specificity) of ABCB6 in HCV-related HCCs allowed for the accurate discrimination of the development of early IHR. Cox regression analysis revealed that ABCB6 mRNA levels was an independent risk factor for IHR of HCV-related HCC. Aberrant mRNA and DNA methylation levels of ABCB6 may serve as useful predictive biomarkers for early IHR of HCV-related HCC.

[A case report of a patient with overlap syndrome systemic lupus erythematosus( SLE) and polymyositis( PM)whose condition improved following treatment for coexisting descending colon cancer].

Here, we report a case of a patient with overlap syndrome (systemic lupus erythematosus[SLE]and polymyositis[PM]) whose condition improved following treatment for coexisting descending colon cancer. A 75-year-old man experienced Raynaud symptoms and arthralgia. He was diagnosed as having overlap syndrome (SLE/PM) and was treated with steroids. However, the symptoms did not improve. Descending colon cancer was diagnosed by colonoscopy. After surgery, overlap syndrome improved immediately. Overlap syndrome was considered as a paraneoplastic event caused by the coexisting descending colon cancer.

Efficient detection of hepatocellular carcinoma by a hybrid blood test of epigenetic and classical protein markers.

BACKGROUND: There are few blood tests for an efficient detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. METHODS: The abilities of quantitative analyses of 7 genes hypermethylation in serum DNA, α-fetoprotein (AFP) and prothrombin-induced vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II), and various combinations to detect HCC were evaluated in a training cohort of 164 HCV-infected patients (108 HCCs; 56 non-HCCs). An optimal hybrid detector, built using data for 2 methylated genes (SPINT2 and SRD5A2), AFP, and PIVKA-II, achieved the most satisfactory ability to detect HCC in the training cohort. We evaluated the ability of the optimal hybrid detector to detect HCC in an independent validation cohort of 258 consecutive HCV-infected patients (112 HCCs; 146 non-HCCs) who were newly enrolled in 4 distinct institutes. RESULTS: In the validation cohort of 258 patients, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the hybrid detector for detection of HCC were 81.4%, 73.2%, and 87.7%, respectively. Notably, even when detecting HCC ≤ 2 cm in diameter, the hybrid detector maintained markedly high abilities (84.6% accuracy, 72.2% sensitivity, 87.7% specificity). Youden's index (sensitivity+specificity - 1) for HCC ≤ 2cm was 0.60, vastly much superior to the 0.39 for AFP at a cut-off value of 20 ng/ml and the 0.28 for PIVKA-II at a cut-off value of 40 mAU/ml. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that the optimal hybrid blood detector can detect HCV-related HCC more accurately.

Methylated cyclin D2 gene circulating in the blood as a prognosis predictor of hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poor because of high recurrence rate. We examined preoperatively the methylated CCND2 gene levels present in the serum following release from HCC cells as a prognosis predictor in patients undergoing curative hepatectomy. METHODS: Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and quantitative methylation-specific PCR were used to measure methylated CCND2 gene and its mRNA levels. RESULTS: The CCND2 mRNA levels were down-regulated in HCC with early intrahepatic recurrence (IHR) within 1year of curative hepatectomy. We also identified that this down-regulation was due to promoter hypermethylation. In 70 HCC patients who underwent curative hepatectomy, 39 patients sero-positive for the methylated CCND2 gene (>70pg/ml serum) exhibited a significantly shorter disease-free survival (DFS) period (P=0.02) than the 31 patients who were sero-negative for the methylated CCND2 gene. None of the sero-negative patients demonstrated early IHR, and this method of serum testing did not produce any false-negative predictions for early IHR. Multivariate analysis showed that the serum level of methylated CCND2 was an independent risk factor for DFS (hazard ratio of 1.866, 95% CI: 1.106-3.149). CONCLUSION: Methylated CCND2 gene in the serum serves as a prognosis predictor of HCC after curative hepatectomy.

Increased serum cell-free DNA levels in relation to inflammation are predictive of distant metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Distant metastasis hinders a favorable outcome for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by limiting the surgical cure. The levels of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in the blood have served as a predictor for metastasis and recurrence in distant organs in liver cancer. Thus, this study tested the clinical efficacy of serum cfDNA levels as a predictive marker for distant metastasis of ESCC. We investigated cfDNA levels in a cohort of 101 ESCC patients and 46 age- and gender-matched control patients with benign disease. We found that serum cfDNA levels were significantly higher in the ESCC patients than in the control patients (P=0.034). In the ESCC patients, serum cfDNA levels were positively associated with tumor size and cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1) expression (r=0.416 and r=0.573, respectively). An increase in cfDNA levels was also associated with host inflammation status including C-reactive protein levels and neutrophil and monocyte numbers in the peripheral blood. Serum cfDNA levels tended to be higher in advanced tumors when compared to early stage tumors. We found that serum cfDNA levels were significantly higher in ESCC patients with distant metastasis than in those without (P=0.011). Logistic regression analysis showed that serum cfDNA levels represented only one independent risk factor for distant metastasis among the five factors tested including gender, age, cfDNA levels, CYFRA 21-1 and squamous cell carcinoma antigen levels (P=0.0414). These results suggest that increased serum cfDNA levels may serve as a useful predictor for distant metastasis of ESCC.

[Long-term survival after surgery and adjuvant imatinib in a patient with rectal GIST, local recurrence, liver metastases and mediastinal pleural metastasis].

Imatinib is a standard treatment for metastatic GIST. Surgery is an optional treatment for local recurrence and resectable liver metastasis. We report a case of high risk group rectal GIST with local recurrence, liver metastases and mediastinal pleural metastasis. Long-term survival (7 years and 10 months) was achieved with imatinib after resection. A 63-year-old man underwent a surgery for undifferentiated esophageal cancer and simultaneously was diagnosed a rectal submucosal tumor of 3 cm by digital examination in 2001. After 2 years, he underwent Miles' operation because of an increase of the rectal submucosal tumor. The histological examination revealed a high risk group GIST. PET-CT and CT pointed out a local recurrence and liver metastases that were resected in 2004. Adjuvant imatinib at a dose of 300 mg/day was started but the dose was reduced to 300 mg/2 days due to a side effect. Resumption and discontinuation of imatinib had been repeated. In 2008, he received a resection of mediastinal pleural metastasis. Imatinib started again at a dose of 200 mg/2 days and no recurrence has been pointed out. Combined modality therapy with surgery and chemotherapy for the metastatic GIST may contribute to a long-term survival.

[A case of esophageal cancer associated with colon cancer successfully treated with combination chemotherapy of FOLFOX and concurrent radiotherapy].

The standard chemotherapy regimen for esophageal cancer is cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). We herein report a case of esophageal cancer associated with colon cancer, which was treated with combination chemotherapy of FOLFOX. The patient received chemotherapy of modified FOLFOX6 (mFOLFOX6) at dosages of 80% of standard regimen (oxaliplatin 68 mg/m2, levofolinate calcium 160 mg/m2, bolus 5-FU 320 mg/m2, and followed by continuous 5-FU 1,920 mg/m2/ 46 hr) in combination with radiotherapy (total 61.6 Gy). He developed grade 3 leukopenia after 2 courses of mFOLFOX6 and the 3rd course was started at dosages of 70% of standard regimen with 1 week delay. After that, no other adverse event without grade 2 esophagitis was appeared. Esophagogram revealed a partial response in primary tumor of the esophagus after 3 courses of chemotherapy with radiotherapy and blood chemistry examination showed negative squamous cell carcinoma antigen. One month after chemoradiotherapy, esophagogram revealed tracheoesophageal fistula, but tumor of the esophagus was well controlled. FOLFOX regimen combined with radiotherapy is well tolerated and effective for inoperable esophageal cancer. FOLFOX cannot be used for esophageal cancer in Japan, so clinical trial of FOLFOX for esophageal cancer should be conducted in the near future in Japan.