A novel monoclonal anti-pan human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I heavy chain antibody, EMR8-5, was established. It could detect HLA-A, -B, and -C antigens in formalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissues. By immunohistochemical staining using the EMR8-5 antibody, various cancer tissues from 246 cases were examined for HLA class I expression. It was found that HLA class I expression was decreased in 20% to 42% of the cases of lung cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colon cancer, renal cell carcinoma, and urothelial carcinoma. In contrast, 85% of breast cancer cases had loss of or decreased HLA class I expression. Of the 35 breast cancer cases that had decreased HLA class I heavy chain expression, 33 (94%) also had decreased beta2-microglobulin expression detected by immunohistochemical staining. It was suggested that HLA class I down-regulation might be a common characteristic of breast cancer mostly caused by the down-regulation of beta2-microglobulin expression.

Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs)/ cancer-initiating cells (CICs) are defined by their higher tumor-initiating ability, self-renewal capacity and differentiation capacity. CSCs/CICs are resistant to several therapies including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. CSCs/CICs thus are thought to be responsible for recurrence and distant metastasis, and elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of CSCs/CICs are essential to design CSC/CIC-targeting therapy. In this study, we analyzed the molecular aspects of gynecological CSCs/CICs. Gynecological CSCs/CICs were isolated as ALDH1high cell by Aldefluor assay. The gene expression profile of CSCs/CICs revealed that several genes related to stress responses are preferentially expressed in gynecological CSCs/CICs. Among the stress response genes, a small heat shock protein HSP27 has a role in the maintenance of gynecological CSCs/CICs. The upstream transcription factor of HSP27, heat shock factior-1 (HSF1) was activated by phosphorylation at serine 326 residue (pSer326) in CSCs/CICs, and phosphorylation at serine 326 residue is essential for induction of HSP27. Immunohistochemical staining using clinical ovarian cancer samples revealed that higher expressions of HSF1 pSer326 was related to poorer prognosis. These findings indicate that activation of HSF1 at Ser326 residue and transcription of HSP27 is related to the maintenance of gynecological CSCs/CICs.

A gas tungsten arc in helium and argon was modelled taking into account the contamination of the plasma by metal vapour from the weld pool. The whole region of gas tungsten arc atmosphere including the tungsten cathode, arc plasma and weld pool was treated using a unified numerical model. A viscosity approximation was used to express the diffusion coefficient in terms of viscosity of shielding gas and metal vapour. The transient two-dimensional distributions of the temperature, velocity of plasma flow and iron vapour concentration were predicted, together with the weld penetration as a function of time for a 150 A arc current at the atmospheric pressure, both for helium and argon welding gases.It was shown that the thermal plasma in gas tungsten arcs is influenced by iron vapour from the weld pool surface and that the concentration of iron vapour in plasma is dependent on the temperature of the weld pool.

The Sokal and Hasford scores were developed in the chemotherapy and interferon era and are widely used as prognostic indicators in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Recently, a new European Treatment and Outcome Study (EUTOS) scoring system was developed. We performed a multicenter retrospective study to validate the effectiveness of each of the three scoring systems. The study cohort included 145 patients diagnosed with CML in chronic phase who were treated with imatinib. In the EUTOS low- and high-risk groups, the cumulative incidence of complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) at 18 months was 86.9% and 87.5% (P = 0.797) and the 5-year overall survival rate was 92.6% and 93.3% (P = 0.871), respectively. The cumulative incidence of CCyR at 12 months, 5-year event-free survival and 5-year progression-free survival were not predicted using the EUTOS scoring system. However, there were significant differences in both the Sokal score and Hasford score risk groups. In our retrospective validation study, the EUTOS score did not predict the prognosis of patients with CML in chronic phase treated with imatinib.

The LMR at diagnosis, as a simple index which reflects host systemic immunity, predicts clinical outcomes in DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP.