Gas Exchange Rates Decrease and Leaf Temperature Increases in Nicotiana benthamiana Leaves Transiently Overexpressing Hemagglutinin in an Agrobacterium-Assisted Viral Vector System

In this study, gas exchange characteristics and temperature of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves transiently overexpressing hemagglutinin (HA), an influenza vaccine antigen, with an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-assisted viral vector were investigated. Inoculation of leaves with an empty viral vector not containing the HA gene decreased the net photosynthetic rate (Pn) and transpiration rate (T) from 2 to 3 days post-infiltration (DPI) in the A. tumefaciens suspension. Expression of HA with the vector decreased Pn and T to much lower levels until 4 DPI. Such significant decreases were not observed in leaves infiltrated with suspension of A. tumefaciens not carrying the viral vector or in uninfiltrated leaves. Thus, viral vector inoculation itself decreased Pn and T to a certain extent and the HA expression further decreased them. The decreases in Pn and T in empty vector-inoculated and HA expression vector-inoculated leaves were associated with decreases in stomatal conductance, suggesting that the reduction of gas exchange rates was caused at least in part by stomatal closure. More detailed gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence analyses revealed that in HA vector-inoculated leaves, the capacity of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase to assimilate CO2 and the capacity of photosynthetic electron transport in planta were downregulated, which contributed also to the decrease in Pn. Leaf temperature (LT) increased in viral vector-inoculated leaves, which was associated with the decrease in T. When HA vector-inoculated leaves were grown at air temperatures (ATs) of 21, 23, and 26°C post-infiltration, HA accumulated earlier in leaves and the days required for HA content to attain its peak became shorter, as AT was higher. The highest LT was found 1–2 days earlier than the highest leaf HA content under all post-infiltration AT conditions. This phenomenon could be applicable in a non-destructive technique to detect the optimum harvesting date for individual plants to determine the day when leaf HA content reaches its maximum level, irrespective of spatiotemporal variation of AT, in a plant growth facility

Well-Differentiated Extraskeletal Osteosarcoma Arising from the Retroperitoneum That Recurred as Anaplastic Spindle Cell Sarcoma

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma is an uncommon high-grade malignant soft tissue sarcoma. Well-differentiated extraskeletal osteosarcoma is thought to have a better prognosis than classical extraskeletal osteosarcoma, but dedifferentiation after recurrence has also been reported. We present a case of a primary retroperitoneal extraskeletal osteosarcoma in a 62-year-old Japanese woman. Abdominal CT revealed a large mass with diffuse calcification in the right retroperitoneal space and tumor resection was performed. The histopathological diagnosis was well-differentiated retroperitoneal extraskeletal osteosarcoma. She was followed up by CT every 6 months without adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy for 31 months until anaplastic high-grade spindle cell sarcoma recurred in the retroperitoneum. Our case is the seventh reported description of well-differentiated extraskeletal sarcoma, and the first to arise in the retroperitoneum and recur as an entirely dedifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma

Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Bladder

The case was a 67-year-old male who visited our hospital with a major complaint of macroscopic hematuria. A bladder tumor was found. When a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor was performed, the histopathological diagnosis was neuroendocrine bladder cancer. After chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide a partial shrinkage of the tumor was observed; however, the patient expired 7 months after the first visit

Primary Synovial Sarcoma of the Kidney

The case was a 40-year-old female. She visited a local doctor with a chief complaint of right side abdominal pain. A right kidney tumor measuring 10 cm in diameter was observed in an abdominal Computed Tomography (CT) scan. Based on the CT image, the possibility of angiomiolipoma (AML) could not be ruled out, but a high maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of 7.8 was observed in a Positron Emission Tomography CT (PET-CT) scan and there was a possibility of malignancy. We therefore performed a transperitoneal right radial nephrectomy. Although adhesion of the tumor to the duodenum and the inferior vena cava was observed, it was possible to perform an excision. The tumor accounted for a large proportion of the excised kidney; the surrounding areas had taken on a cyst-like structure, and the interior comprised grayish brittle tissue exhibiting solid growth. Histologically, gland-like and cyst-like structures composed of cylindrical cuboidal cells and mainly characterized by the solid growth of short fusiform-shaped and oval-shaped basophilic cells were observed, and we believed it was a synovial sarcoma. There were no malignant findings in the adrenal gland. There have been approximately 30 reported cases around the world of synovial sarcoma that developed in the kidney, and we herein report this case with bibliographic considerations

Gallbladder Metastasis from Renal Cell Carcinoma

A 73-year-old female was operated with radical nephrectomy and cholecystectomy for renal cell carcinoma and suspected gallstones after 9 courses of sunitinib treatment. Gallbladder specimen showed gallbladder metastasis originating from the renal cell carcinoma. Gallbladder metastasis from renal cell carcinoma is rare. Here, we discuss a case of gallbladder metastasis from renal cell carcinoma

Sarcomatoid Variant of Bladder Carcinoma: A Case Report

A 59-year-old man was referred to our hospital complaining of asymptomatic gross hematuria. Cystoscopy revealed a papillary tumor 8 cm in diameter filling the bladder. The patient underwent transurethral resection of the bladder tumor. The pathological findings revealed the sarcomatoid variant of urothelial carcinoma with a heterologous osteosarcomatous element. He had no metastasis according to our imaging analyses; thus, we planned radical cystectomy after two courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (gemcitabine and cisplatin). Following chemotherapy, enlarged pelvic lymph nodes were noted, and extremely aggressive local progression of the bladder tumor was confirmed. The patient ultimately died 6 months after his initial visit to our hospital

Impact of maximum Standardized Uptake Value (SUVmax) evaluated by 18-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) on survival for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma: a preliminary report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In this era of molecular targeting therapy when various systematic treatments can be selected, prognostic biomarkers are required for the purpose of risk-directed therapy selection. Numerous reports of various malignancies have revealed that 18-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) accumulation, as evaluated by positron emission tomography, can be used to predict the prognosis of patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) from 18-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT) on survival for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 26 patients with advanced or metastatic RCC were enrolled in this study. The FDG uptake of all RCC lesions diagnosed by conventional CT was evaluated by ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT. The impact of SUVmax on patient survival was analyzed prospectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>FDG uptake was detected in 230 of 243 lesions (94.7%) excluding lung or liver metastases with diameters of less than 1 cm. The SUVmax of 26 patients ranged between 1.4 and 16.6 (mean 8.8 ± 4.0). The patients with RCC tumors showing high SUVmax demonstrated poor prognosis (<it>P </it>= 0.005 hazard ratio 1.326, 95% CI 1.089-1.614). The survival between patients with SUVmax equal to the mean of SUVmax, 8.8 or more and patients with SUVmax less than 8.8 were statistically different (<it>P </it>= 0.0012). This is the first report to evaluate the impact of SUVmax on advanced RCC patient survival. However, the number of patients and the follow-up period were still not extensive enough to settle this important question conclusively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The survival of patients with advanced RCC can be predicted by evaluating their SUVmax using ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT. ¹⁸F-FDG-PET/CT has potency as an "imaging biomarker" to provide helpful information for the clinical decision-making.</p

Retroperitoneoscopic radical nephrectomy with a small incision for renal cell carcinoma: Comparison with the conventional method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>purpose</p> <p>When retroperitoneoscopic radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma was introduced into our institution, we performed a combined small skin incision method. In this method, a small incision was made to approach the retroperitoneal space prior to setting trockers and thereafter a LAPDISC was placed in the incision to start the retroperitoneoscopic procedure. In this study, we compared the outcomes between the combined small skin incision method ("A method" hereinafter) and the conventional method ("B method" hereinafter).</p> <p>material and methods</p> <p>Among the cases of T1N0M0 suspicious renal cell carcinoma treated at Yokohama City University between May 2003 and June 2009, the A method was performed in 51 cases and the B method was performed in 33 cases. The factors in the outcomes compared between the A and B methods were the duration of procedure, volume of bleeding, volume of transfusion, weight of the specimen, incidence of peritoneal injury, rate of conversion to open surgery, and perioperative complications.</p> <p>results</p> <p>The duration of the procedure was 214.4 ± 46.9 minutes in the A method group and 208.1 ± 36.4 minutes in the B method group (p = 0.518). The volume of bleeding and the weight of the specimen were 105.5 ± 283.2 ml and 335.1 ± 137.4 g in the A method group and 44.8 ± 116 ml (p = 0.247) and 309.2 ± 126 g (p = 0.385) in the B method group. There was no significant difference in all factors analyzed.</p> <p>conclusion</p> <p>The A method would be highly possible to produce stable results, even during the introduction period when the staff and the institution are still unfamiliar with the retroperitoneoscopic surgery.</p

hTID-1 defines a novel regulator of c-Met Receptor signaling in renal cell carcinomas

The c-Met receptor tyrosine kinase (MetR) is frequently overexpressed and constitutively phosphorylated in a number of human malignancies. Activation of the receptor by its ligand, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), leads to increased cell proliferation, motility, survival and disruption of adherens junctions. In this study, we show that hTid-1, a DNAJ/Hsp40 chaperone, represents a novel modulator of the MetR signaling pathway. hTid-1 is a co-chaperone of the Hsp70 family of proteins, and has been shown to regulate a number of cellular signaling proteins including several involved in tumorigenic and apoptotic pathways. In this study we demonstrate that hTid-1 binds to unphosphorylated MetR and becomes dissociated from the receptor upon HGF stimulation. Overexpression of the short form of hTid-1 (hTid-1S) in 786-0 renal clear cell carcinomas (RCCs) enhances MetR kinase activity leading to an increase in HGF-mediated cell migration with no discernible effect on cell proliferation. By contrast, knockdown of hTid-1 markedly impairs both the onset and amplitude of MetR phosphorylation in response to HGF without altering receptor protein levels. hTid-1-depleted cells display defective migratory properties, coincident with inhibition of ERK/MAP kinase and STAT3 pathways. Taken together, our findings denote hTid-1S as an essential regulatory component of MetR signaling. We propose that the binding of hTid-1S to MetR may stabilize the receptor in a ligand-competent state and this stabilizing function may influence conformational changes that take place during the catalytic cycle that promote kinase activation. Given the prevalence of HGF/MetR pathway activation in human cancers, targeted inhibition of hTid-1 may be a useful therapeutic in the management of MetR-dependent malignancies