Investigations in the possibility of early detection of colorectal cancer by gas chromatography/triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry.

In developed countries, the number of patients with colorectal cancer has been increasing, and colorectal cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death. To improve the quality of life of colorectal cancer patients, it is necessary to establish novel screening methods that would allow early detection of colorectal cancer. We performed metabolome analysis of a plasma sample set from 282 stage 0/I/II colorectal cancer patients and 291 healthy volunteers using gas chromatography/triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry in an attempt to identify metabolite biomarkers of stage 0/I/II colorectal cancer. The colorectal cancer patients included patients with stage 0 (N=79), I (N=80), and II (N=123) in whom invasion and metastasis were absent. Our analytical system detected 64 metabolites in the plasma samples, and the levels of 29 metabolites differed significantly (Bonferroni-corrected p=0.000781) between the patients and healthy volunteers. Based on these results, a multiple logistic regression analysis of various metabolite biomarkers was carried out, and a stage 0/I/II colorectal cancer prediction model was established. The area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity values of this model for detecting stage 0/I/II colorectal cancer were 0.996, 99.3%, and 93.8%, respectively. The model's sensitivity and specificity values for each disease stage were >90%, and surprisingly, its sensitivity for stage 0, specificity for stage 0, and sensitivity for stage II disease were all 100%. Our predictive model can aid early detection of colorectal cancer and has potential as a novel screening test for cases of colorectal cancer that do not involve lymph node or distant metastasis.

Investigation of 5-(3-Trifluoromethylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione as a Matrix for Analyses of Biogenic Monoamine Transmitters Using MALDI-MS.

In order to discover new matrices suitable for the analyses of low molecular-weight compounds using positive-ion mode matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS), 5-(3-trifluoromethylbenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (3-CF3-BTD) was synthesized, and its effectiveness was compared with that when commercially available α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid was used. 3-CF3-BTD was sufficiently sensitive to analyze neurotransmitters, i.e., dopamine, serotonin, histamine, and epinephrine, in amounts of several picomoles. Similar to vacuum MALDI experiments, atmospheric-pressure MALDI-MS measurements using 3-CF3-BTD as a matrix also detected dopamine.

In situ label-free visualization of orally dosed strictinin within mouse kidney by MALDI-MS imaging.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) is a powerful technique for visualizing the distribution of a wide range of biomolecules within tissue sections. However, methodology for visualizing a bioactive ellagitannin has not yet been established. This paper presents a novel in situ label-free MALDI-MSI technique for visualizing the distribution of strictinin, a bioactive ellagitannin found in green tea, within mammalian kidney after oral dosing. Among nine representative matrix candidates, 1,5-diaminonaphthalene (1,5-DAN), harmane, and ferulic acid showed higher sensitivity to strictinin spotted onto a MALDI sample plate. Of these, 1,5-DAN enables visualization of a two-dimensional image of strictinin directly spotted on mouse kidney sections with the highest sensitivity. Furthermore, 1,5-DAN-based MALDI-MSI could detect the unique distribution of orally dosed strictinin within kidney sections. This in situ label-free imaging technique will contribute to the localization analysis of strictinin and its biological mechanisms.

Ovarian follicular lymphoma: a case report and review of the literature.

Primary ovarian lymphoma is extremely rare, and such a case is reported here. The patient was a 54-year-old Japanese female with abnormal genital bleeding. Pelvic CT and MRI showed a right ovarian tumor with a diameter of 7 cm and an irregular border. With the diagnosis of a right ovarian tumor, the patient underwent a simple hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Microscopic examination of the right ovarian tumor revealed vaguely nodular growth of small lymphoid cells. They were CD10+, Bcl-2+, Cyclin D1- and CD21-, although CD21+ follicular dendritic cell clusters were present as a background component in each vague nodule. A conventional cytogenetic analysis revealed t(14;18)(q32;q21), and somatic hypermutation of the variable region of the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IgH) was confirmed by direct sequencing of subcloned DNA samples derived from PCR amplicons. These findings led us to characterize the lesion as follicular lymphoma, grade 1. The patient was free of detectable disease 9 months after initiation of post-surgical chemotherapy. Since the prognosis for primary ovarian lymphoma is relatively favorable in many cases, it is important to establish therapeutic methods for the cure of this disease using chemotherapy and radiotherapy without radical surgery.