Cutaneous lymphoma is a disease characterized with massive skin infiltration of lymphoid malignant cells. They commonly express some T-cell markers, such as CD2, CD3, CD4, and CD7, and thus termed as CTCL (cutaneous T cell lymphoma). Here, we present a case with CD56/N-CAM-positive cutaneous lymphoma, which appears lymphocytic morphology and expresses CD4, but does not express CD2, CD3, CD8, CD14, CD16, CD57, and CD20. The most malignant cells contained no distinctive azurophilic granules in the cytoplasm. Southern blot analysis revealed that T cell receptor-beta, gamma, and immunoglobulin heavy chain genes in the cells were in germ-line configurations. Electron microscopic examination showed characteristics of lymphoid cells with higher nucleocytoplasmic ratio and lacked structures typical of other cell types (i.e., epithelial cells, neuroendocrine cells, and mesenchymal cells). Thus, the cells are likely to be immature lymphoid cells. Histological analysis revealed the cells infiltrate mainly into the dermis with angiocentric growth pattern. The clinical course was aggressive, with rapid involvement of bone marrow and central nervous system. These striking features of the patient may represent a novel fraction (CD2-, CD4+, and CD56+) of cutaneous lymphoma.

The expression of MMP-7 (pump-1) gene was examined in 10 cases of colorectal cancer by utilizing RT-PCR. In 9 out of 10 cases, MMP-7 mRNA was detected in cancerous tissue, whereas none was detected in adjacent normal colon tissue. However, this message was detected in only 1 out of 6 colon-cancer cell lines. In colonic mucosa from 3 patients with ulcerative colitis it was not detected. The expression of MMP-2 (72-kDa type-IV collagenase) mRNA was also investigated in the same tissue samples, and was detected in all samples, including cancerous and non-cancerous tissue. Our data suggest that MMP-7 is expressed in a tumor-associated manner in colorectal cancers and may play a role in tumor progression.

Objective. We investigated whether levels of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) antigen shed into the circulation increase during acute Kawasaki disease (KD). We also compared ICAM-1 levels in acute KD with those in anaphylactoid purpura (AP) and in measles.Methods. Serum ICAM-1 levels were measured by a double-determinant immunoassay using 2 monoclonal antibodies in the FAST (Falcon assay screening test) system. Serum levels of tumor necrosis factor a (TNFa) were measured by a specific and sensitive sandwich enzyme immunoassay.Results. Patients with KD, but not those with AP or measles, had increased levels of shed ICAM-1 antigen in serum samples obtained during acute stages. Moreover, during the acute stage, KD patients with coronary artery lesions (CAL) had still higher levels of shed ICAM-1 than did those without CAL. We found a

The expression of common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen (CALLA; CD10), which is identical to neutral endopeptidase (NEP, EC3.424.11), was examined in the malignant and adjacent noninvaded tissues of the human stomach and colon (n = 27). All of 27 normal and 18 well or moderately differentiated adenocarcioma tissue specimens were positive for monoclonal antibody (mAb) NL-1 against CD10/NEP, whereas the expression level was clearly decreased in all of 9 specimens of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. In addition, all of 7 gastric or colorectal carcinoma cell lines tested showed decreased expression of CD10/NEP. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot analysis of the crude antigen J5 from the normal colon tissue lysate by mAb J5 detected a single band of approximately 100 kDa that was consistent with that of NALM-6 cells used as a positive control. These findings suggest that CD10/NEP is expressed in normal epithelial cells of the human stomach and colon, whereas the expression level is decreased in the poorly differentiated type of adenocarcinoma.