ObjectiveTo evaluate the Johns Hopkins Hospital experience with 136 thymomas over the past 40 years. This number of patients allowed quantitative estimation of the independent influence of common clinicopathologic risk factors using multivariate analysis. Summary Background DataThymomas vary widely in terms of recurrence and influence on overall survival. Several series have indicated the importance of initial tumor invasion, as well as the extent of surgical resection, as predictors of recurrence and survival after thymoma resection. However, findings have been equivocal when other predictors of prognosis were examined. MethodsThe authors evaluated 136 patients seen at the Johns Hopkins Hospital between 1957 and 1997 with a pathologic diagnosis of thymoma. Demographic information, clinical staging data, surgical and adjuvant treatment details, and patient follow-up data were obtained from the patient record and from detailed patient or family interviews. Microscopic sections of all 136 patients were reviewed by two pathologists blinded to the clinical data. All data were analyzed by multivariate Cox regression analysis, which allowed the quantification of the independent predictive value of 12 putative clinicopathologic prognostic indicators. ResultsCompleteness of follow-up was 99%, 99%, and 98% of eligible patients at 5, 10, and 15 years, respectively. Forty percent of the patients had associated myasthenia gravis and 27% had a secondary primary malignancy. Overall patient survival rates were 71%, 56%, 44%, 38%, and 33% at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years, respectively. Overall, the thymoma-related mortality rate was 14%; the nonthymoma-related mortality rate was 26%. Incomplete resection, preoperative absence of myasthenia gravis, and advanced Lattes/Bernatz pathologic class were found to be independent predictors of poorer overall survival. ConclusionsThese findings support a policy of aggressive, complete surgical resection of all thymomas when feasible. Thymoma behaves as a rather indolent tumor, with most deaths from causes unrelated to thymoma or its direct treatment. Clinicians should have an increased awareness of the possibility of second primary malignancies in patients with thymoma.

We recently reported that the number of γδ T cells was increased after infection with Escherichia coli in C3H/HeN mice. We here showed that an i.p. injection with native lipid A derived from E. coli induced an increase of γδ T cells in the peritoneal cavity of LPS-responsive C3H/HeN mice and, albeit to a lesser degree, also in LPS-hyporesponsive C3H/HeJ mice. The purified γδ T cells from C3H/HeN and C3H/HeJ mice expressed a canonical TCR repertoire encoded by Vγ6-Jγ1/Vδ1-Dδ2-Jδ2 gene segments and proliferated in response to the native lipid A derived from E. coli in a TCR-independent manner. The lipid A-reactive γδ T cells bearing canonical Vγ6/Vδ1 expressed Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 mRNA, while TLR4 mRNA was undetectable. Treatment with a TLR2 anti-sense oligonucleotide resulted in hyporesponsiveness of the γδ T cells to the native lipid A. TLR2-deficient mice showed an impaired increase of the γδ T cells following injection of native lipid A. These results suggest that TLR2 is involved in the activation of canonical Vγ6/Vδ1 T cells by native E. coli lipid A.

. Rapid upregulation of endothelial P-selectin expression via reactive oxygen species generation. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 283: H2054-H2061, 2002. First published July 26, 2002 10.1152/ ajpheart.01011.2001.-Endothelial cell ICAM-1 upregulation in response to TNF-␣ is mediated in part by reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by the endothelial membrane-associated NADPH oxidase and occurs maximally after 4 h as the synthesis of new protein is required. However, thrombin-stimulated P-selectin upregulation is bimodal, the first peak occurring within minutes. We hypothesize that this early peak, which results from the release of preformed P-selectin from within Weibel-Palade bodies, is mediated in part by ROS generated from the endothelial membraneassociated xanthine oxidase. We found that this rapid expression of P-selectin on the surface of endothelial cells was accompanied by qualitatively parallel increases in ROS generation. Both P-selectin expression and ROS generation were inhibited, dose dependently, by the exogenous administration of disparate cell-permeable antioxidants and also by the inhibition of either of the known membrane-associated ROSgenerating enzymes NADPH oxidase or xanthine oxidase. This rapid, posttranslational cell signaling response, mediated by ROS generated not only by the classical NADPH oxidase but also by xanthine oxidase, may well represent an important physiological trigger of the microvascular inflammatory response.

ITT is an accurate approach for depth assessment in DCC. The four-tier ITT classification with cut-off points of 1, 5 and 10 mm seems to be a better T system than those in the seventh and eighth editions of the AJCC classification.