Hepatocellular carcinoma in a transplanted donor liver and colon cancer developing in a patient with a complex background: A case report.

The development of tumors in livers transplanted from hepatitis B virus (HBV)-negative donors to patients with hepatitis B and cirrhosis is rare. The present study describes the case of a woman in her 60s who developed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in her grafted liver, 19 years after transplantation, as well as a metachronous colorectal tumor. The pathological findings, including clinical, immunohistochemical and molecular results, are described in the present case report. The liver tumor was a conventional HCC and the colorectal tumor comprised a tubular adenocarcinoma. Immunohistochemistry of both tumors showed a loss of expression of mutL homolog 1 and postmeiotic segregation increased 2 in the tumor cells, confirming microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) status. Furthermore, a molecular study detected the presence of genes located on the Y chromosome in the normal and tumor tissues of the liver, proving that the HCC occurred in the grafted liver. The present report also discusses that prolonged use of immunosuppressive drugs to prevent post-transplant rejection, poorly controlled diabetes mellitus and MSI-H may have contributed to the risk of tumor development.

Diagnosis by molecular pathology of an early and atypical histoplasmosis lesion in the duodenum of an immunocompromised patient: A case report.

Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection caused by Histoplasma capsulatum (HC), which can occasionally be aggressive resulting in the formation of granulomatous lesions. These are usually located in the lungs; however, immunocompromised patients may occasionally develop disseminated lesions in other organs as well. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) primarily infects cells of the immune system expressing CD4 molecules. Not only does HIV multiply within these cells, but it can also kill them or otherwise cause loss of cellular function, leading to an immunocompromised state. As a result, in an immunocompromised patient, infection with HC can have serious implications, often the development of visceral histoplasmosis in different organs. Although several types of lesions are formed in HC-infected organs, it may be difficult to distinguish the causative organism from other pathogens based on morphology alone. The present case report describes the case of a 57-year-old woman, from South America, who may have been infected with HC >20 years previously, remaining asymptomatic over the years. She later developed a lesion in the duodenum associated with immunodeficiency caused by HIV infection. The differential diagnosis of this case was made on the basis of several specific morphological findings using histopathological analysis and molecular pathological techniques. The pathogenesis of characteristic lesions caused by HC in the presence of HIV infection was also reviewed.

Effect on epidermal cell of soybean protein-degraded products and structural determination of the root hair promoting peptide.

Peptide(s) produced from degraded soybean protein by an alkaline protease from Bacillus circulans HA12 (degraded soybean-meal products; DSP) increased the number of both the root hair cells (trichoblasts) and hairless cells (atrichoblasts) of Brassica rapa by about 4.4 times and 1.9 times, respectively. To identify the root hair-promoting peptide(s) in DSP, the origin protein of the root hair-promoting peptide(s) was identified as Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI). The root hair-promoting peptide in the degraded products of KTI was purified and produced a signal of 1,198.2 Da with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) analysis. A search of the amino acid sequence of KTI located the peptide GGIRAAPTGNER, which had a molecular weight identical to 1,198.2 Da. The peptide GGIRAAPTGNER was chemically synthesized, and the synthetic peptide possessed root hair-promoting activity. Thus, it is concluded that this peptide in DSP is the foreign bioactive peptide promoting the differentiation of root hairs.

Isolation and characterization of a bluegill-degrading microorganism, and analysis of the root hair-promoting effect of the degraded products.

Bluegill-degrading bacteria were isolated from various environmental sources. Brevibacillus sp. BGM1 degraded bluegill efficiently at 50 degrees C, and its culture supernatant showed the highest peptide and amino acid concentrations as trichloroacetic acid (TCA) soluble fraction (ASF) (10.7 mg/ml) of all supernatants obtained with bluegill as a substrate. Strain BGM1 secreted a protease(s) into the medium, and the concentration of peptides and amino acids gradually increased. The fertile effect of the degraded bluegill products (DGP) on Brassica rapa was also investigated. The root hair density of B. rapa grown with DGP at a concentration of 30 mug peptides and amino acids/ml was about 1.7 times higher than when grown with the same concentration of undegraded bluegill. DGP was shown to increase root hair numbers and adventitious root formation. The results of this study suggest that a specific peptide(s) for promotion of root hair is produced from the order Perciformes with a protease(s) from BGM1.