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Neurilemmomas are benign tumors which originate from Schwann cells. They rarely occur in the trachea or bronchus. We encountered two cases of endobronchial neurilemmoma and in this context, reviewed 48 cases previously reported in Japan. Neurilemmomas can occur in all regions of the bronchial tree and they often progress into both intraluminal and extraluminal spaces. Incomplete resection results in a local recurrence, despite being rare. As for appropriate therapies, surgery, bronchofiberoptic removal and yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) laser resection can be chosen depending on the patient's status. (Internal Medicine 42: 1215-1218, 2003

Multiple epiphyseal dysplasia (MED) is a common skeletal dysplasia characterized by joint pain and stiffness, delayed and irregular ossification of epiphyses, and early-onset osteoarthritis. Six genes responsible for MED have been identified, including COMP, COL9A1, COL9A2, COL9A3, DSTDT and MATN3. MATN3 encodes matrilin-3, a cartilage-specific extracellular matrix protein. To date, seven different MATN3 mutations have been identified; all are located within the beta-sheet regions of the von Willebrand factor type A (vWFA) domain, which is encoded by exon 2. We examined MATN3 mutations in27 Japanese MED patients who were possibly autosomal dominant inheritance and had been excluded for COMP mutations. Ten of them had a positive family history. We examined all eight exons of MATN3 by PCR and direct sequencing from genomic DNA. We have identified four missense mutations in eight unrelated families; two are novel, and two have been characterized previously. Like previously characterized MATN3 mutations, those identified in this study are clustered within exon 2, specifically in and around the 2nd beta-sheet region of the vWFA domain (aa. 120-127). Contrary to the previous assumption that the MATN3 mutation in MED is confined to the beta-sheet regions, one novel mutation (p.F105S) is located outside the beta-sheet region, within an alpha-helix region.

We have studied 215 male patients (aged 45–97 years) whose sole cytogenetic abnormality was clonal loss of the Y chromosome in metaphase cells from unstimulated cultures. The patients comprised a control group with no evidence of hematologic disease and four disease case groups: 1) myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), refractory anemia, refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB), RAEB in transformation, and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia; 2) acute myelogenous leukemia; 3) myeloproliferative disorder (MPD), chronic granulocytic leukemia, and polycythemia vera; and 4) B‐cell lymphoma/leukemia. The frequency of cells with Y loss increased with age and was significantly greater in cases than in controls, but it was not correlated with survival or with prior therapy. The frequency of cases with a ‐Y clone was 6.3% of male karyotypes and represented 16.4% of all abnormal male cytogenetic reports. Much of the difference between cases and controls appears to be accounted for by a greater frequency of cases with > 75% Y loss. A value of 81% chromosome Y loss maximized the combined sensitivity (28%) and specificity (100%) for predicting disease status, but a 75% cutoff provided the best estimate of disease risk. Even in older males, if > 75% of metaphase cells are 45,X,‐Y, they probably represent a disease‐associated clonal population, and it is possible that the critical genetic change is not visible through the microscope. This observation is true for MDS, MPD, B‐cell disease, and especially acute myelogenous leukemia. The prognostic association of Y chromosome loss for survival appears to be neutral or favorable. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 27:11–16, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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