In order to find a relationship between ductal hyperplasia and carcinoma of the pancreas, histological and histochemical examinations were made on pancreatic specimens of 1,174 autopsy patients with special attention to the age incidence of the former. Ductal hyperplasia was divided into 3 types; nonpapillary, papillary, and atypical hyperplasia. All three types of hyperplasia and ductal carcinoma showed a similar tinctorial property in mucous histochemistry. In general, atypical hyperplasia was seen in the pancreas having papillary hyperplasia which was found in the pancreas associated with nonpapillary hyperplasia. All three types of hyperplasia were apparently more frequent in cancerous pancreases than in non-cancerous ones. They were also more common in the head of the pancreas than in the body and tail. Age incidence also suggests a sequential change from nonpapillary hyperplasia through papillary and atypical ones to carcinoma.Cancer 43:1418-1428, 1979.HE GREAT MAJORITY of carcinomas of the T exocrine elements of the pancreas is of duct cell rigi in.^,^ The relationship of pancreatic duct hyperplasia to pancreatic carcinoma has been emphasized by Sommers et al.," because of the high incidence of ductal hyperplasia in carcinomatous pancreases. Cubilla and Fitzgerald3 also found a similar relation. However, following Birnstingl's report, they noted that there was obstruction to the pancreatic duct in most of their cases, a complicating factor in the assessment of ductal papillary hyperplasia. Birnstingl,2 in cases with a variety of acute and chronic nonpancreatic diseases and. no cancer of the pancreas, reported an incidence of 29% having hyperplastic columnar epithelium. It seems to be necessary for clarification of the relationship between ductal hyperplasia and carcinoma of the pancreas to reevaluate the age incidence of ductal hyperplasia in noncancerous pancreases. If ductal hyperplasia is a change preceding pancreatic carcinoma, it should appear in younger patients than those with pancreatic carcinoma. The aim of the present study is to find possible From the 2nd Department of Pathology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.Address for reprints: S. Komka, MD, T h e 2nd Department of Pathology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, Japan.Accepted for publication May 22, 1978. transition from ductal hyperplasia to carcinoma by histology and mucous histochemistry and to study age difference in incidence between ductal hyperplasia and pancreatic carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODSUsing autopsy cases at our laboratory, available routine microscopic sections of 1,174 pancreases of which 24 had infiltrating carcinoma were examined. Mostly one section, sometimes two or more sections, was prepared from one pancreas. Selected cases were stained with periodic acid Schiff/alcian blue pH 2.5 and high iron diamine/alcian blue pH 2.5.'*"Ductal hyperplasia was defined as ducts with large epithelial cells which are more than twice as tall as normal cells, because en...

In order to clarify the relation of adenoma to carcinoma in the gallbladder, histopathologic examination was made on surgical specimens of 1605 cholecystectomies. Among them, 11 benign adenomas, seven adenomas with malignant change, and 79 invasive carcinomas were found. All of the benign adenomas were 12 mm or less in diameter (average diameter, 5.5 ± 3.1 mm), while the adenomas having cancerous foci were 12 mm or more in diameter (average diameter, 17.6 ± 4.4 mm). Most invasive carcinomas were more than 30 mm in diameter. The average patient age was 50.5 ± 16.3 years for benign adenomas, 58.3 ± 12.6 years for adenomas with malignant change, and 64.8 ± 9.6 years for invasive carcinomas. Transition of benign adenoma into carcinoma was histologically traceable. Adenomatous residue was found in 15 (19.0%) of 79 cases of invasive carcinoma.

A new pancreatic tumor, called mucin-producing tumor, has received great attention in Japan. These tumors are found inside the pancreatic duct and produce large quantities of copious mucus. The authors examined 22 cases of these tumors histologically and histochemically. In 12 malignant cases, the tumors inside the ducts consisted of cancerous lesions over small areas along with papillary or atypical hyperplasia. Tumors in ten benign cases mainly consisted of papillary hyperplasia. Except for three patients with carcinoma in situ, cancerous tumors infiltrated the pancreatic parenchyma and, in some cases, were observed invading the bile duct or duodenum. A mucous histochemical study showed evidence of sialomucin in malignant cases; neutral mucin was dominant in benign cases. Characteristics of this disease were also compared with 13 cases of mucinous cystic neoplasm. From the results, it was concluded that these two diseases can be classified into the same conceptual category. Cancer 68:159-168,1991.

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The spore coat of Bacillus subtilis has a unique morphology and consists of polypeptides of different sizes, whose synthesis and assembly are precisely regulated by a cascade of transcription factors and regulatory proteins. We examined the factors that regulate cotS gene expression and CotS assembly into the coat layer of B. subtilis by Northern blot and Western blot analysis. Transcription of cotS mRNA was not detected in sporulating cells of ςK and gerE mutants by Northern blot analysis. By Western blot analysis using anti-CotS antibody, CotS was first detected in protein samples solubilized from wild-type cells at 5 h after the start of sporulation. CotS was not detected in the vegetative cells and spores of a gerEmutant or in the spores of mutants deficient in ςE, ςF, ςG, or ςK. CotS was detected in the sporangium but not in the spores of a cotEmutant. The sequence of the promoter region of cotS was similar to the consensus sequences for binding of ςK and GerE. These results demonstrate that ςK and GerE are required for cotS expression and that CotE is essential for the assembly of CotS in the coat. Immunoelectron microscopic observation using anti-CotS antibody revealed that CotS is located within the spore coat, in particular in the inner coats of dormant spores.