Lung cancer and combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema with anti-ARS antibody.

A 59-year-old man who had smoked for 23 pack-years was admitted to our hospital because of two-month history of back pain. The chest computed tomography scan demonstrated combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) and an irregular shaped nodule in the left lower lobe of the lung. A biopsy obtained from samples from subcarinal lymph nodes revealed non-small cell lung cancer. Anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) antibody was elevated up to 166 U/mL, although he had no symptoms suggestive connective tissue diseases. It is well known that most of CPFE patients are current or former heavy smokers, and some researchers described the relationship between CPFE and connective tissue diseases. To our best knowledge, this was the first report of lung cancer in patient with anti-ARS antibody-positive CPFE. In some anti-ARS antibody-positive patients, smoking might have a relationship with development of CPFE and lung cancer.

Elevated expression of P450c17 (CYP17) during testicular formation in the frog.

Sex steroids play decisive roles in gonadal differentiation in many species of vertebrates. The sex can be changed by sex steroids in some species of amphibians, but the mechanism of the sex-reversal is largely unknown. In this study, we cloned and characterized 3 cDNAs encoding sex steroid-synthesizing enzymes, i.e., CYP11A1, CYP17 and 3beta-HSD from the frog Rana rugosa. RT-PCR analysis showed that the CYP17 expression was much higher in male gonads than in female ones during sex determination in R. rugosa, whereas CYP11A1 and 3beta-HSD showed no sexually dimorphic expression. When testosterone was injected into tadpoles for female-to-male sex reversal, CYP17 expression appeared to be very strong in the gonad at days 16 and 24 after injection of testosterone. CYP11A1 was also transcribed higher at day 16, but its expression was weaker when compared with that of CYP17. The expression of 3beta-HSD did not change during the sex reversal. In addition, in situ hybridization analysis revealed that CYP17 was expressed in somatic cells of the indifferent male gonad and in those of the testis. Positive signals of CYP17 were also produced in somatic cells of a female-to-male sex-reversed gonad (testis) at days 16 and 24 post testosterone injection, but not in the ovary. Taken together, the results suggest that CYP17 is very involved in testicular differentiation of the gonad in R. rugosa.