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Aim: Concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) is the standard treatment for locally advanced cervical cancer. This study was undertaken to evaluate the outcomes and the prognostic factors for cervical cancer after CCRT. Material and Methods: The medical records of 174 patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage IB1-IVA who were treated at three affiliated hospitals of the Catholic University of Korea between January 1999 and December 2008 were reviewed and analyzed. Patients received pelvic radiotherapy with one of three regimens of cisplatin-based chemotherapy concurrently and high-dose rate brachytherapy. The radiation field was extended to include para-aortic lymph nodes, if necessary. Results: The median follow-up period was 29.5 months (range, 5-96 months). Using multivariate analysis, stage (P = 0.014), tumor size (P = 0.043), and clinical response (P = 0.001) had a significant effect on overall survival. Similarly, progression-free survival (PFS) was influenced by stage (P = 0.004), tumor size (P = 0.02), clinical response (P = 0.011), and normalized squamous cell carcinoma antigen level after CCRT (P = 0.007).The 5-year survival rates were 91.7% (standard error, 5.8%) for stages IB1-IIA, 71.5% (standard error, 7.8%) for stage IIB, 44.9% (standard error, 7.8%) for stage III, and 20.9% (standard error, 12.0%) for stage IVA. A total of 151 out of 174 patients (86.8%) completed the planned treatment. Toxicities were manageable with supportive therapy. Conclusions: Cisplatin-based CCRT is well-tolerated. Good clinical response revealed a favorable correlation to survival. A maximal effort to achieve this goal might prolong survival in patients with cervical cancer.

To evaluate the influence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) on bone mineral density (BMD), we measured BMD in 185 female patients with NIDDM using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). BMD was measured in lumbar vertebrae (L2-4). BMD is slightly higher in the diabetic patients compared with control subjects and bone loss related to menopause starts before the onset of menopause. The BMD of postmenopausal women showed a definite decrease with aging and there was abrupt bone loss after 55 years of age (p < 0.05). In relation to the duration of diabetes, the decrease of BMD for 15 years was 10.0%. BMD was negatively correlated with age, years since menopause (YSM), and disease duration (r = -0.584, r = -0.470, r = -0.186). These results suggest that age, YSM, and the duration of disease appear to be the risk factors for decreased BMD in the diabetic patients.

Uterine leiomyomas are one of the most common benign gynecologic tumors, but the exact causes are not completely understood. In 2011, through DNA sequencing, MED12 mutation was discovered in approximately 71% of uterine leiomyomas. Several recent studies confirmed the high frequency of MED12 mutation in uterine leiomyoma. Nevertheless, no study has been done on MED12 mutation in the case of patients with multiple leiomyomas in a patient. The purpose of this study was to investigate the frequency of MED12 mutations in uterine leiomyomas of South Korean patients. In addition, we examined MED12 mutation in multiple leiomyomas in the same patients.Uterine leiomyoma tissues were obtained from symptomatic women who underwent hysterectomy or myomectomy for medically indicated reasons. We collected 60 uterine leiomyomas from 41 women. Tumor size ranged from 1 to 12cm. Patients' ages ranged from 25 to 55 years with an average of 38.4 years.Of the 60 tumors, 40 (66.67%) displayed MED12 mutation. Among the 41 patients, 14 patients had multiple leiomyomas and we analyzed those multiple leiomyomas. Three of them had the same mutations. Five of them, each leiomyoma had a different mutation. Two of them did not have mutation. Four of them had both mutation-positive and mutation-negative leiomyomas.In conclusion, we confirmed the high frequency of the MED12 mutation in uterine leiomyomas of South Korean patients. We also identified various MED12 mutation status in patients with multiple leiomyomas. This suggests that in a given patient, different tumors may have arisen from different cell origins and therefore it is supposed that occurrence of multiple leiomyoma in a single patient may not be caused by intrauterine metastasis or dissemination.

Background and Aim: NK cells are one of the major immune cells in endometriosis pathogenesis. While previous clinical studies have shown that helixor A to be an effective treatment for endometriosis, little is known about its mechanism of action, or its relationship with immune cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of helixor A on Natural killer cell (NK cell) cytotoxicity in endometriosisMaterials and Methods: We performed an experimental study. Samples of peritoneal fluid were obtained from January 2011 to December 2011 from 50 women with endometriosis and 50 women with other benign ovarian cysts (control). Peritoneal fluid of normal control group and endometriosis group was collected during laparoscopy. Baseline cytotoxicity levels of NK cells were measured with the peritoneal fluid of control group and endometriosis group. Next, cytotoxicity of NK cells was evaluated before and after treatment with helixor A. NK-cell activity was determined based upon the expression of CD107a, as an activation marker.Results: NK cells cytotoxicity was 79.38±2.13% in control cells, 75.55±2.89% in the control peritoneal fluid, 69.59±4.96% in endometriosis stage I/II endometriosis, and 63.88±5.75% in stage III/IV endometriosis. A significant difference in cytotoxicity was observed between the control cells and stage III/IV endometriosis, consistent with a significant decrease in the cytotoxicity of NK cells in advanced stages of endometriosis; these levels increased significantly after treatment with helixor A; 78.30% vs. 86.40% (p = 0.003) in stage I/II endometriosis, and 73.67% vs. 84.54% (p = 0.024) in stage III/IV. The percentage of cells expressing CD107a was increased significantly in each group after helixor A treatment; 0.59% vs. 1.10% (p = 0.002) in stage I/II endometriosis, and 0.79% vs. 1.40% (p = 0.014) in stage III/IV.Conclusions: Helixor A directly influenced NK-cell cytotoxicity through direct induction of CD107a expression. Our results open new role of helixor A as an imune modulation therapy, or in combination with hormonal agents, for the treatment of endometriosis.