Synchronous Quadruple Lung Cancer Treated Curatively by Photodynamic Therapy

A 54-year-old male was diagnosed as having synchronous quadruple early stage lung cancer. All four tumors showed the same histologic type of in-situ or microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma, but existed independently in different bronchi. Photodynamic therapy of these four lesions was successfully performed by fiberoptic bronchoscopy because of the patient's poor pulmonary function. The patient is alive and well 51 months later

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target

Complete response to preoperative chemoradiotherapy in highly advanced gastric adenocarcinoma

This report presents a case of highly advanced gastric cancer that achieved a histologically complete response (CR) to preoperative chemoradiotherapy with S-1 plus low-dose Cisplatin. A 60-year-old male patient underwent FDG positron emission tomography (PET) during a routine health examination. The patient was found to have swollen paraaortic lymph nodes. Shortly thereafter, he was diagnosed with gastric carcinoma with a type 2 tumor in the antrum with paraaortic lymph node metastases based on FDG-PET, endoscopic examination and abdominal computed tomography. After the completion of chemoradiation therapy (CRT), the tumor and the paraaortic lymph node metastases disappeared. The patient underwent surgery 5 wk after the completion of CRT, including a subtotal gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction, D3 lymph node dissection and a left adrenalectomy. No cancer cells were detected in the resected specimen either in the primary lesion or lymph nodes, thus confirming a pathologically CR to CRT (CR grade 3). The patient has been stable and well without any evidence of recurrence for 48 mo after surgery. Such a preoperative CRT regimen might therefore be very effective for treatment of some advanced gastric cancers

Protein antigen of bird-related hypersensitivity pneumonitis in pigeon serum and dropping

Abstract Background Avian antigen is a common cause of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). Inhalation challenge with pigeon serum and pigeon dropping extract (PDE) elicits a hypersensitivity reaction in patients with bird-related hypersensitivity pneumonitis (BRHP), but the antigenic components in these materials have yet to be fully elucidated. Method Pigeon serum, pigeon intestine homogenates, and PDE were immunoblotted with serum samples from 8 patients with BRHP, 2 patients with summer-type HP, 2 patients with humidifier lung, and 3 healthy volunteers. Among the protein spots found in both pigeon serum and PDE, those that reacted with sera from BRHP patients were identified by mass spectrometry. Immunoassays using recombinant protein were performed to confirm the antigenicity of the identified protein. Cytokine production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) stimulated with recombinant protein was also assessed. Results Immunoglobulin lambda-like polypeptide-1 (IGLL-1) was identified from all spots on 2-DE immunoblots of both pigeon serum and PDE. The BRHP patients exhibited higher levels of serum IgG antibody against the recombinant IGLL-1 (rIGLL-1) compared to the control subjects, as well as a stronger PBMCs proliferative response to rIGLL-1. Cytokine production by PBMCs from BRHP patients after rIGLL-1 exposure indicated that the protein could induce Th1 prone immune responses: an increase in TNF-α and an absence of elevated IL-10 production. Conclusions Pigeon IGLL-1 was identified as the BRHP antigen present in both pigeon serum and PDE