Cervical cancer is a malignant neoplastic disease that is the fourth most commonly occurring cancer in women worldwide. Since the introduction of angiogenesis inhibitors, treatments for recurrent and advanced cervical cancers have improved significantly in the past five years. However, the median overall survival in advanced cervical cancer is 16.8 months, with a 5-year overall survival rate of 68% for all stages, indicating that the effects of the treatment are still unsatisfactory. The development of a new treatment method is therefore imperative. Recently, in the clinical oncology field, remarkable progress has been made in immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is already established as standard therapy in some fields and in some types of cancers, and its clinical role in all areas, including the gynecology field, will change further based on the outcomes of currently ongoing clinical trials. This manuscript summarizes the results from previous clinical trials in cervical cancer and describes the ongoing clinical trials, as well as future directions.

Teaching materials characterization to support student research projects requires a systematic educational approach, because characterization involves a combination of analysis instruments. As analytical instruments are expensive, it is difficult to provide multiple sets simultaneously. An effective educational program allows students to select their own research materials to characterize and apply their personal strategies of instrumental analysis. These strategies are designed around the purposes of the analytical instruments, e.g., molecular structure analysis, crystal structure analysis, morphology assessment, surface analysis, elemental analysis, and thermal analysis. An open-ended laboratory complements this educational purpose. Here, we report on an open-ended laboratory program for fourth-year undergraduate and graduate students at the Materials Characterization Central Laboratory at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan). The goals of our open-ended laboratory program are to enable students to (1) conduct instrumental analysis, (2) operate analytical instruments, and (3) interpret their data. A team led by a supervisor and laboratory staff offers students a flexible program. This flexibility can be applied to various research fields, such as macromolecular chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, electrochemistry, physics, catalyst chemistry, biomaterials science, and chemical engineering. These diverse research fields demonstrate the feasibility of applying our open-ended laboratory program to student research projects.

Recent studies have shown that cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) contribute to invasive and metastatic abilities of ovarian cancer (OC) cells. In the present study, we attempted to identify the role of CAF- and EMT-related proteins in OCs, including serous carcinoma, mucinous carcinoma, endometrioid carcinoma and clear cell carcinoma using an immunohistochemical approach. The following CAF-related markers were used: CD10, podoplanin, fibroblast activating protein (FAP), platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFRα), PDGFRβ, S100A4 and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA). In addition, the following EMT-related markers were investigated: Slug, TWIST1 and ZEB1We performed hierarchical cluster analysis to group the samples according to their scoring. Subgroup 1 was characterized by high expression of CD10, podoplanin, α-SMA, Slug and ZEB1, whereas subgroup 2 was closely associated with high expression of podoplanin, PDGFRα, PDGFRβ, α-SMA, and Slug. In addition, marked expression of CD10 was observed in subgroup 3. High expression of α-SMA was a distinctive feature in subgroup 4, and expression of podoplanin and α-SMA characterized subgroup 5. Each subgroup was correlated with a histological type. The fact that different histological types were associated with different subgroups suggests the presence of distinct and heterogeneous subpopulations of CAFs in OC.

Aurora-A is a promising biomarker that is predictive of patient outcomes and a potential target for OCCC. The results suggested that chemotherapy, including ENMD-2076 in combination with cisplatin, is a potential treatment modality for patients with OCCC.

ObjectiveUterine carcinosarcoma (UCS) is a highly aggressive neoplasm that is composed of an intricate admixture of carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. The relationship between UCS and the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been reported. In this study, we examined how expression of E-cadherin was associated with the expression of EMT-related proteins in UCS.MethodsUCS samples were histologically divided into three components: carcinomatous, transitional, and sarcomatous regions. Next, we examined the expression of E-cadherin and EMT-related proteins, including SNAI2, ZEB1, and TWIST1, in each component of the UCS using immunohistochemistry. The expression score was determined by combining the staining intensity and staining area of the target cells.ResultsThe expression score of E-cadherin was significantly lower in transitional and sarcomatous components than in the carcinomatous component. In addition, a significant difference in the low expression score of E-cadherin between transitional and sarcomatous components (transitional > sarcomatous components) was found. There were significant differences between the expression scores of ZEB1 in the three components (sarcomatous > transitional > carcinomatous components). However, no difference in the expression of TWIST1 between the components was found. Conversely, the expression level of SNAI2 was higher in sarcomatous or transitional components than in the carcinomatous component. However, a significant difference between the transitional and sarcomatous components was not detected.ConclusionThese results suggest that the EMT plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of UCS.