• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• 제33권2호
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• pp.98-108
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• 2015

Purpose: The outcomes of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT) using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) with/without neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) were evaluated. Materials and Methods: Eighty-three patients who underwent NCT followed by CCRT (49%) or CCRT with/without adjuvant chemotherapy (51%) were reviewed. To the gross tumor, 67.5 Gy was prescribed. Weekly cisplatin was used as concurrent chemotherapy. Results: With a median follow-up of 49.4 months, the 5-year local control, regional control, distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival rates were 94.7%, 89.3%, 77.8%, 68.0%, and 81.8%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the American Joint Committee on Cancer stage (p = 0.016) and N stage (p = 0.001) were negative factors for DMFS and DFS, respectively. Overall, NCT demonstrated no benefit and an increased risk of severe hematologic toxicity. However, compared to patients treated with CCRT alone, NCT showed potential of improving DMFS in stage IV patients. Conclusion: CCRT using IMRT resulted in excellent local control and survival outcome. Without evidence of survival benefit from phase III randomized trials, NCT should be carefully administered in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients who are at high-risk of developing distant metastasis and radiotherapy-related mucositis. The results of ongoing trials are awaited.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제12권2호
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• pp.221-226
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• 1999

Background : Validity of WHO guideline of cancer pain management has been proven and many trials have been done to derive solutions for inadequate cancer pain management. We assessed the severity of pain of terminal cancer patients in a few different ways and patients' characteristics influencing inadequate pain management. Methods : This study was based on 100 adult oncological patients who were confirmed as terminal stage in our institution from 3/1998 to 11/1998. Medical records were reviewed and individual patients were interviewed to obtain demographic information and medical characteristics such as: daily activity performance, metastasis, and drug-adjusted pain severity. Adequacy of prescribed analgesics in accordance with WHO guidelines of pain management and patients' characteristics influencing adequacy of pain management were assessed. Results : Among those cancer patients diagnosed as terminal stage, 85% complained of pain, and 68% of those patients reported pain above moderate severity. 38% of those patients received inadequate pain management resulting in greater severity of pain; the less adequate pain relief was(p<0.01). Sex, age, primary cancer site metastasis, symptoms such as depression and anxiety, and daily activity performance were not significantly related. Conclusions : Despite WHO guidelines for pain management, majority of the terminal cancer patients received inadequate pain management. There is a necessity for education on proper pain evaluation and strict implimentation for WHO guidelines of pain management.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권10호
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• pp.4271-4274
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• 2014

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a key step during embryonic morphogenesis and plays an important role in drug resistance and metastasis in diverse solid tumors. We previously reported that 48 h treatment of anti-cancer drug doxorubicin could induce EMT in human gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. However, the long term effects of this transient drug treatment were unknown. In this study we found that after 48 h treatment with $0.1{\mu}g/ml$ doxorubicin, most cells died during next week, while a minor population of cells survived and formed colonies. We propagated the surviving cells in drug free medium and found that these long term cultured drug survival cells (abbreviated as ltDSCs) retained a mesenchymal-like cell morphology, and expressed high levels of EMT-related molecules such as vimentin, twist and ${\beta}$-catenin. The expression of chromatin reprogramming factors, Oct4 and c-myc, were also higher in ltDSCs than parental cells. We further demonstrated that the protein level of p300 was upregulated in ltDSCs, and inhibition of p300 by siRNA suppressed the expression of vimentin. Moreover, the ltDSCs had higher colony forming ability and were more drug resistant when compared to parental cells. Our results suggested that an epigenetic mechanism is involved in the EMT of ltDSCs.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• 제42권5호
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• pp.243-250
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• 2016

Objectives: Many studies have examined histopathological factors and various prognostic scores related to inflammation to predict outcomes. Here, we examined the prognostic value of the C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/alb) ratio in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 40 patients with OSCC. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, we focused on the correlation of the CRP/alb ratio with clinicopathological characteristics and with overall survival. We then compared five inflammation-based prognostic scores, CRP/alb ratio, modified Glasgow Prognostic Score (mGPS), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI), based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The optimal cut-off value for the CRP/alb ratio was 0.085. The group with a high CRP/alb ratio had a high TNM clinical stage (P=0.002) and larger primary tumors (P=0.029), with statistically significant differences in lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. In addition, when the CRP/alb ratio was high, multivariate analysis showed a lower survival rate (P=0.002; hazard ratio=6.078), and the ROC curve showed more outstanding discriminatory ability regarding overall survival compared to other inflammation-based prognostic scores. Conclusion: The CRP/alb ratio can be an independent prognostic factor when predicting prognosis in OSCC and has good prognostic ability.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• 제10권4호
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• pp.182-187
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• 2010

Purpose: Additional surgery is commonly recommended in gastric cancer patients who have a high risk of lymph node metastasis or a positive resection margin after endoscopic resection. We conducted this study to determine factors related to residual cancer and to determine the appropriate treatment strategy. Materials and Methods: A total of 28 patients who underwent curative gastrectomy due to non-curative endoscopic resection for early gastric cancer between January 2006 and June 2009 were enrolled in this study. Their clinicopathological findings were reviewed retrospectively and analyzed for residual cancer. Results: Of the 28 patients, surgical specimens showed residual cancers in eight cases (28.6%) and lymph node metastasis in one case (3.8%). Based on results of the endoscopic resection method, the rate of residual cancer was significantly different between the en-bloc resection group (17.4%) and the piecemeal resection group (80.0%). The rate of residual cancer was significantly different between the diffuse type group (100%) and the intestinal type group (20%). The rate of residual cancer in the positive lateral margin group (25.0%) was significantly lower than that in the positive vertical margin group (33.3%) or in the positive lateral and vertical margin group (66.7%). Conclusions: We recommended that patients who were lateral and vertical margin positive, had a diffuse type, or underwent piecemeal endoscopic resection, should be treated by surgery. Minimal invasive procedures can be considered for patients who were lateral margin positive and intestinal type through histopathological examination after en-bloc endoscopic resection.

• Clinical Pain
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.88-91
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• 2019

Unexplained pain and weakness, i.e., without obvious predisposing factors, are often encountered by physiatrists and efforts should be made to determine the cause. A 63-year-old male presented with radiating pain in his right arm and mild weakness of the right hand. An electrodiagnostic examination revealed distal symmetric sensory polyneuropathy in the upper and lower extremities, and denervation potentials in the forearm muscles, which were inconsistent with the cervical spine MRI images and symptoms. A predisposing undiscovered disease was revealed, i.e., squamous cell carcinoma in the lung; brain metastasis affecting the left primary motor cortex was also detected. Therefore, we concluded that the pain and weakness were related to paraneoplastic syndrome and brain metastases of the hand knob. The observed denervation potentials were characterized as trans-synaptic changes in the brain metastasis. This case highlights the importance of unexplainable focal pain and weakness in the increasing prevalence of cancer.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.83-89
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• 2017

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is involved in not only cancer development and metastasis but also non-cancerous conditions. Hypoxia is one of the proposed critical factors contributing to formation of chronic rhinosinusitis or nasal polyposis. Wheatgrass (Triticum aestivum) has antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory effects. In this study, we analyzed whether wheatgrass has an inhibitory effect on the EMT process in airway epithelial cells. MATERIALS/METHODS: A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells were incubated in hypoxic conditions ($CO_2$ 5%/$O_2$ 1%) for 24 h in the presence of different concentrations of wheatgrass extract (50, 75, 100, and $150{\mu}g/mL$) and changes in expression of epithelial or mesenchymal markers were evaluated by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence. Accordingly, associated EMT-related transcriptional factors, Snail and Smad, were also evaluated. RESULTS: Hypoxia increased expression of N-cadherin and reduced expression of E-cadherin. Mechanistically, E-cadherin levels were recovered during hypoxia by silencing hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-$1{\alpha}$ or administering wheatgrass extract. Wheatgrass inhibited the hypoxia-mediated EMT by reducing the expression of phosphorylated Smad3 (pSmad3) and Snail. It suppressed the hypoxia-mediated EMT processes of airway epithelial cells via HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and the pSmad3 signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that wheatgrass has potential as a therapeutic or supplementary agent for HIF-1-related diseases.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제30권9호
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• pp.1108-1114
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• 2001

Objective : Prognostic factors of metastatic brain tumors have been widely reported and their operative indications also have been extended gradually even to the poor grade patients. Authors intended to analyze the causative factors for the clinical outcome of metastatic brain tumors, especially with relevant to the poor prognosis by one year follow-up evaluation. Patients and Methods : The authors retrospectively studied the clinical characteristics of 46 cases(35 patients) with metastatic brain tumors among 466 cases(437 patients) which were operated on due to the brain tumor, during the period between January 1994 to June 1999. Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 8.0$^{(R)}$. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered clinically significant. Result : Among the variable clinical factors in patients with metastatic brain tumors, Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score of less than 70(16 patients), uncontrolled primary tumor(8 patients), and surgical resection without further adjuvant therapy(9 patients) showed statistically significant poor prognosis ; p value of 0.002, 0.032, and 0.001, respectively. Other tested variables, such as old age(greater than 65 years ; 10 patients), gender(male ; 20 patients), type of primary cancer(primary undefined ; 6 patients, lung cancer ; 15 patients), location(infratentorial ; 9 patients, sellar ; 5 patients), number of lesion(multiple ; 12 patients), and number of operation(multiple craniotomy ; 7 patients) were not related to the poor prognosis. Conclusions : The most common primary site of distant metastasis was lung. The poorer prognosis was highly correlated with various factors including low KPS score(<70), no postoperative adjuvant therapy, and uncontrolled primary tumors.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제28권8호
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• pp.992-998
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• 2018

암세포는 종양의 성장을 지지하는 다양한 성분으로 구성되어 있는 환경에서 자란다. 암미세환경에 존재하는 주요 세포등은 섬유아세포, 내피세포, 면역세포들이며 이들세포들은 암세포들과 서로 소통을 하고 있다 종양조직에 유입된 면역세포중에서 대식세포가 종양미세환경의 주요성분으로서 다양한 면역현상들을 조절한다. 면역세포유입에 의한 암촉진과 항암효과 간의 복잡한 균형은 종양의 성장과 진행에 필요한 만성염증 환경을 생성시킬 수 있다. 대식세포는 M1과 M2 극성화로 규정된 미세환경 신호에 반응하여 기능적으로 다른 프로그램을 작동시킬 수 있다. 종양관련대식세포는 다양한 사이토카인, 케모카인, 단백질분해효소들을 분비함으로써 암 신생혈관형성, 증식, 전이 및 면역억제를 촉진시킨다. 최근에, 종양관련대식세포는 암줄기세포와 상호작용하여 종양의 진행, 전이 및 항암제 내성을 유도하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 종양관련대식세포는 암미세환경을 유지하기위해 면역억제 기능을 획득하며, 종양의 이질성과 가소성의 특성을 갖고 있어 암관련인자 및 감염등의 노출에 의해 서로 다른 극성형질로 리프로그래밍된다. 종양관련대식세포는 기질인자의 자극에 의해 암특이적인 케모카인들을 생성하기 때문에 케모카인은 질병의 활성을 반영하는 바이오마커로 작용할 수 있다. 종양조직에 종양관련대식세포가 많이 유입될수록 환자의 예후가 좋지 않으며 항암치료에 대한 저항성이 생긴다. 따라서 종양에서 대식세포를 표적화하는 항암치료는 유망한 치료전략이 될 수 있다.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• 제61권5호
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• pp.633-639
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• 2018

Objective : We investigated the outcomes of repeat stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for metastatic brain tumors that locally recurred despite previous SRS, focusing on the tumor control. Methods : A total of 114 patients with 176 locally recurring metastatic brain tumors underwent repeat SRS after previous SRS. The mean age was 59.4 years (range, 33 to 85), and there were 68 male and 46 female patients. The primary cancer types were non-small cell lung cancer (n=67), small cell lung cancer (n=12), gastrointestinal tract cancer (n=15), breast cancer (n=10), and others (n=10). The number of patients with a single recurring metastasis was 95 (79.8%), and another 19 had multiple recurrences. At the time of the repeat SRS, the mean volume of the locally recurring tumors was 5.94 mL (range, 0.42 to 29.94). We prescribed a mean margin dose of 17.04 Gy (range, 12 to 24) to the isodose line at the tumor border primarily using a 50% isodose line. Results : After the repeat SRS, we obtained clinical and magnetic resonance imaging follow-up data for 84 patients (73.7%) with a total of 108 tumors. The tumor control rate was 53.5% (58 of the 108), and the median and mean progression-free survival (PFS) periods were 246 and 383 days, respectively. The prognostic factors that were significantly related to better tumor control were prescription radiation dose of 16 Gy (p=0.000) and tumor volume less than both 4 mL (p=0.001) and 10 mL at the repeat SRS (p=0.008). The overall survival (OS) periods for all 114 patients after repeat SRS varied from 1 to 56 months, and median and mean OS periods were 229 and 404 days after the repeat SRS, respectively. The main cause of death was systemic problems including pulmonary dysfunction (n=58, 51%), and the identified direct or suspected brain-related death rate was around 20%. Conclusion : The tumor control following repeat SRS for locally recurring metastatic brain tumors after a previous SRS is relatively lower than that for primary SRS. However, both low tumor volume and high prescription radiation dose were significantly related to the tumor control following repeat SRS for these tumors after previous SRS, which is a general understanding of primary SRS for metastatic brain tumors.