No abstract

The long-term use of geniposide in herbal medicines appears to be associated with mesenteric phlebosclerosis.

We have established a highly sensitive and quantitative reverse transcriptase -polymerase chain reaction (RT -PCR) method to detect axillary lymph node metastases of breast cancer. Amplifying cytokeratin 19 (CK19) mRNA transcripts using real-time TaqMan PCR made it possible to quantify axillary metastatic burden. Metastases in 358 axillary lymph nodes obtained from 23 breast cancers of 22 patients were investigated by conventional haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, immunohistochemical staining and quantitative RT -PCR assay. The detection rates of axillary lymph node metastasis using H&E staining, immunohistochemistry and RT -PCR assay were 4.5, 5.9 and 13.1%, respectively. RT -PCR assay was the most sensitive of these three methods for detecting lymph node metastases. Cytokeratin 19 mRNA expression values of both histologically and immunohistochemically positive lymph nodes were significantly higher than the values for lymph nodes judged to be negative by both histological and immunohistochemical methods (Po0.0001), and those of histologically negative, but immunohistochemically positive lymph nodes were significantly higher than the values for lymph nodes judged to be negative by both histological and immunohistochemical methods (Po0.0001). Furthermore, metastatic rates of sentinel nodes were higher than the rates of nonsentinel lymph nodes as measured by all three methods. These results indicate that quantitative RT -PCR assay is a sensitive and reliable method for detecting lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, quantification of metastases in sentinel lymph nodes by quantitative RT -PCR assay may be useful to assess the entire axillary burden of breast cancer patients.

Key words: capecitabine; lymph node metastasis; lung metastasis; thymidine phosphorylase; rectal xenograft modelGastrointestinal cancer is one of the most common internal malignancies and is one of the leading causes of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in the world. The primary definitive treatment modality is surgical excision. Adjuvant therapies subsequent to surgery have been studied extensively in recent years because of the high incidence of postoperative recurrences. More than 40 years after its development, 5-FU remains the chemotherapeutic mainstay for the management of patients with many types of cancer. In recent years, several new approaches to the treatment of cancer have undergone examination. These include the introduction of 2 novel cytotoxic compounds. Another strategy that has received attention has been the development of several oral forms of fluoropyrimidine, offering an alternative route of administration to intravenous 5-FU 1 . Capecitabine (N 4 -pentyloxycarbonyl-5Ј-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine) is a new fluoropyrimidine carbamate, which is designed to be activated to 5-FU by 3 sequential steps of enzyme reactions. 1 In humans, it is sequentially converted first to 5Ј-deoxy-5-fluorocytidine by carboxylesterase located in the liver, then to 5Ј-deoxy-5-fluorouridine by cytidine deaminase also with high activity in the liver and in various solid tumors and finally to 5-FU by thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) with high activity in many types of tumors. [1][2][3] This oral fluoropyrimidine has an advantage over parental therapy with 5-FU in its potential for affording patients greater convenience and comfort. 4 -6 Randomized clinical trials that compared capecitabine with parenteral 5-FU/leucovorin against metastatic colorectal cancer demonstrated that capecitabine provides at least equivalence, a favorable benefit-risk ratio and greater patient preference making it an acceptable replacement for 5-FU/leucovorin. 4,5,7 Our interest focused on the possibility of capecitabine usage in the prevention of metastasis. Neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy to inhibit spontaneous metastasis or suppress occult micrometastasis may reduce the incidence of postoperative distant metastasis and improve survival. To confirm this possibility, large randomized clinical trials should be needed. These clinical trials are expensive and time consuming. Animal experiments may take their place to examine the efficacy of new therapeutic modalities. Here, we develop an animal model of gastrointestinal cancer by the intrarectal injection of tumor cells, which resulted in the formation of local tumors with lymph node and lung metastasis consistent with the progression of gastrointestinal cancer in humans.In our study, we examined the efficacy of capecitabine for the inhibition of metastasis and its mechanism for doing so by using a mouse metastasis model. MATERIAL AND METHODS AnimalsMale BALB/c-nu/nu mice aged 5 weeks were obtained from Charles River Japan, Inc. (Kanagawa, Japan). After at least 1 week of observation, th...

Objective: Expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-D by tumors is associated with metastasis to lymph nodes in mice. However, there are few reports concerning the clinical significance of VEGF-D protein in human carcinoma. Methods: After confirming production of VEGF-D by eight colorectal carcinoma cell lines, we investigated relationships between the expression of VEGF-D protein, lymph node metastasis and postoperative survival in 83 colorectal carcinoma patients. mRNA levels in cell lines were evaluated using the real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and protein was detected by Western blotting in cell lines and by immunohistochemistry in resected tissues using an antibody recognizing the processed form of the molecule. Results: Immunohistochemistry showed VEGF-D-positive staining in 26 of the 83 carcinomas (31%). There was a significant relationship between the presence of VEGF-D protein and the incidence of lymph node metastasis (p < 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that VEGF-D protein expression was an independent factor affecting lymph node metastasis (p < 0.01). Nonetheless, the presence or absence of VEGF-D protein had no significant impact on the survival of the patients (p = 0.15). Conclusion: These results suggest that the expression of VEGF-D protein could be useful in predicting the nodal status of colorectal carcinoma patients.