The epidemiological data do not support a direct local lymphogenous or venous spread from the primary tumor to the pancreas. They rather suggest a systemic spread. Because of the positive outcome, radical removal of both solitary and multiple metastases should be attempted in eligible patients.

This investigation confirms that FDG PET is the best predictor of viable residual tumor in postchemotherapy seminoma residuals and should be used as a standard tool for clinical decision making in this patient group.

In view of the rarity of small-bowel epithelial neoplasms as compared with the case for the large bowel, evidence for an adenoma-carcinoma sequence in the small bowel was studied based on a search for data in the medical literature for the years 1927 through 1986. Sufficiently defined data were found for comparison of 185 benign adenomas, 76 adenoma-with-carcinomas, and 1333 carcinomas in patients without familial polyposis disease and for 63, five, and 30, respectively, in patients with disease. For patients without polyposis, it was found that (1) 29.8% of all small-bowel adenomas (33.6% if those at Vater's ampulla are excluded) showed malignancy; (2) the mean and median ages were lower for benign adenoma than for adenoma-with-carcinoma and carcinoma, although the ratios by sex were the same; (3) there is a nearly identical spatial distribution of the three types of epithelial neoplasms within the small bowel; and (4) both the frequency of finding adenomatous residues existing in continuity with carcinoma and the life history of the adenoma-carcinoma sequence are similar in the small bowel as in the large. In comparing these results with those from patients with familial polyposis disease, it was particularly noted that (1) the only difference was that adenomas in familial polyposis occurred earlier and multiply, and (2) the spatial distributions of adenomas and carcinomas for both cases were closely similar. It is therefore postulated that the adenoma-carcinoma sequence is as significant in the small bowels as in the large. A hypothesis regarding the relationship of epithelial neoplasms in people with and without familial polyposis disease is suggested.

Organic anion transporter polypeptides (OATPs) mediate the transmembrane uptake of endogenous compounds and clinically important drugs in various tissues thereby effecting drug disposition and tissue penetration. OATPs have also been identified in gastric, pancreatic and colon carcinomas but little is known about their expression in breast carcinoma. We therefore analyzed the expression pattern of all 11 known OATPs in three breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, ZR-75-1, MDA-MB-231) and one immortalized breast epithelial cell line (MCF-10A) using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Transcripts of 7/11 OATP genes with heterogeneity in their expression profile were detected in control and/or cancer cell lines. Of these seven OATPs, five were also expressed in breast tumor and adjacent non-tumorous specimens from 13 patients. OATP2B1, not found in the analyzed cell lines, was verified in the tissue samples. Interestingly, mRNA expression of OATP2B1, OPATP3A1 and OATP4A1 was significantly higher (p < 0.022) in non-malignant specimens as compared to tumor tissue samples.