Expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 in tonsillar cancer predicts cervical nodal metastasis, systemic relapse and survival

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of CC chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) in squamous cell cancer of the tonsil with respect to patterns of spread, relapse-free, overall and disease-specific survival. Eighty-four patients with squamous cell cancer of the tonsil were identified. There was a male predominance of 3 : 1 and the median age at diagnosis was 53 (range 35–86) years. The median duration of follow-up was 33 (range 2–124) months. There was a significant association between CCR7 immunopositivity and synchronous cervical nodal metastasis in patients with tonsillar cancer (Spearman's correlation coefficient 0.564; P<0.001). Relapse-free (P=0.0175), overall (P=0.0136) and disease-specific (P=0.0062) survival rates were significantly lower in patients whose tumours expressed high levels of CCR7. On multivariate analysis, high-level CCR7 staining predicted relapse-free (hazard ratio 3.0, 95% confidence intervals 1.1–8.0, P=0.026) and disease-specific (hazard ratio 10.2, 95% confidence intervals 2.1–48.6, P=0.004) survival. Fifteen percent of patients with the highest level of tumour CCR7 immunopositivity relapsed with systemic metastases. These data demonstrated that CCR7 expression was associated with cervical nodal and systemic metastases from tonsillar cancers. High levels of CCR7 expression predicted a poor prognosis

Structural characterization of room-temperature synthesized fullerene nanowhiskers

Structural properties of various kinds of room-temperature synthesized C60 fullerene nanowhiskers were investigated by TEM and XRD. The C60 nanowhiskers prepared by use of toluene lost their initial solvated hexagonal structure faster than the C60 nanowhiskers prepared by use of m-xylene. The hexagonal structure of C60 nanowhiskers prepared by use of toluene was stabilized by adding C60[C(COOC2H5)2]. These results suggest that large solute molecules in the C60 nanowhisker matrix stabilize their initially solvated hexagonal structure. Furthermore, the addition of a sufficient amount of C60(2-methoxycarbonyl-N-methylpyrrolidine) into the m-xylene solution of C60 produced the C60 nanowhiskers indicating the formation of ordered solid solution of C60 and C60(2-methoxycarbonyl-N-methylpyrrolidine)