• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.12
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• pp.1997-2006
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• 2015

Ginsenoside Rg3 is a bioactive ginseng constituent that has been reported to have diverse pathological and physiological effects, including anti-inflammatory and anti-metastatic activities. Metastasis is one of the most important factors involved in patients with melanoma. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the anti-metastatic activities of Rg3 in malignant melanoma cancer has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we have evaluated that Rg3 effectively inhibits metastasis of B16F10 melanoma cancer cells. We found that Rg3 significantly suppresses the migration, invasion, wound healing, and colony-forming abilities of B16F10 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that Rg3 suppresses B16F10 cell metastasis by inhibiting MMP-13 expression. These results indicate that Rg3 suppresses the metastasis of B16F10 mouse melanoma cancer cells via MMP-13 regulation. Importantly, MMP-13 downregulation may influence the migration and invasion capabilities of melanoma cells and has been correlated with melanoma progression. Therefore, Rg3 is a potential therapeutic candidate that could be used to treat patients with metastatic melanoma.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.903-907
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• 2015

Background: Among human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, more than half are also hormone receptor (HR)-positive. Although HR is a predictive factor for the efficacy of hormone therapy, there are still some uncertainties in regard to the effects on patients with HR-positive and HER2-positive metastatic breast cancers due to the potential resistance to hormone therapy caused by co-expression of HR and HER2. There are no clinical trials directly comparing the efficacy of hormonal therapy with chemotherapy. Materials and Methods: To examine the real-world effect of hormone therapy on patients with HR-positive and HER2-positive metastatic breast cancers, a cross-sectional study of a representative sample of the Chinese population was conducted. The study included 113 patients who received first-line and second-line palliative treatment between 2005 and 2010 in the Cancer Institute and Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science. The effect of hormone therapy on overall survival (OS) was studied. Results: The patients who received hormone therapy (n=51) had better overall survival in contrast to those who received chemotherapy with anti-HER2 therapy (n=62) in first- or second-line treatment. The difference was of borderline statistical significance (51.8m vs 31.9m, p=0.065). In addition, the effect of hormone therapy did not differ significantly with other prognostic factors, including age (${\leq}50$ years or >50 years), disease free survival (${\geq}2$ years or < 2 years) and site of metastasis (visceral or bone/soft tissue). On multivariate analysis, administration of hormone therapy was associated with a trend toward a favorable prognosis (p=0.148, HR=0.693, 95%CI 0.422-1.139). Age more than 50 years was the sole independent harmful prognostic factor (p<0.001, HR=2.797, 95%CI 1.676-4.668). Conclusions: Our data suggest that hormonel therapy may improve outcomes of the patients with ER-positive and HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.905-910
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• 2016

Breast cancer is one of the major threats to female health, and its incidence is rapidly increasing in many countries. Currently, breast cancer is treated with surgery, followed by chemotherapy or radiation therapy, or both. However, a substantial proportion of breast cancer patients might have a risk for local relapse that leads to recurrence of their disease and/or metastatic breast cancer. Therefore searching for new and potential strategies for breast cancer treatment remains necessary. Immunotherapy is an attractive and promising approach that can exploit the ability of the immune system to identify and destroy tumors and thus prevent recurrence and metastatic lesions. The most promising and attractive approach of immunotherapeutic research in cancer is the blockade of immune checkpoints. In this review, we discuss the potential of certain inhibitors of immune checkpoints, such as antibodies targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), programmed death 1 (PD-1) and lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3), in breast cancer therapeutics. Immune checkpoint inhibitors may represent future standards of care for breast cancer as monotherapy or combined with standard therapies.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.14
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• pp.5835-5838
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• 2014

Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death in Taiwan. The literature has previously shown that age, tumor site, T categories, and number of metastatic nodes significantly affect prognosis. The aim of this study was to determine the long-term survival of patients with gastric cancer, as well as the effect of particular prognostic factors on survival. Materials and Methods: This was a survival analysis study with retrospective design. We reviewed the records of 64 patients with adenocarcinoma of the stomach who had undergone gastrectomy with curative intent between 2009 and 2012 at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. Data extracted from patient documents included age, gender distribution, tumor location, and pathological grading. Results: The median follow-up time was 4 years, and there were 31 deaths attributed to gastric cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that retrieval of less than 15 lymph nodes from a patient was a significant predictor of survival. A significant predictor of poorer survival was higher pathological grading. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the number of lymph nodes retrieved and pathological grading could be viewed as crucial prognostic factors affecting the survival of individuals with gastric cancer.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.439-442
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• 1996

Continuous epidural analgesia has been used widely for chronic pain control, especially in cancer patients. As one of the complications, paraplegia developed during continuous epidural analgesia may be caused by epidural abscess, epidural hematoma, neural damage, chronic adhesive arachnoiditis, anterior spinal artery syndrome, delayed migration of extradural catheter into subdural space or subarachnoid space and preexisting disease. A 55-years-old male with lung cancer was implanted with continuous thoracic epidural catheter for pain control. Twenty days after catheterization, moderate back pain, weakness of lower extremity and urinary difficulty were developed. We suspected epidural abscess at first and made differential diagnosis with MRI which showed metastatic cancer at T2-4 spine, And compressed spinal cord was the main cause of the lower extremity paralysis.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.463-467
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• 2018

Metastasis from primary cancer to the thyroid is uncommon in breast cancer. Here we present a case of lobular breast carcinoma that metastasized to the thyroid. A 54-year-old woman without symptoms was admitted to our institution for staging of the lymph node above the left clavicle. An $^{18}F$-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography scan was performed for staging, and low uptakes were observed in the left supraclavicular and cervical lymph nodes. High uptake was seen in the posterior and lower left lobe of the thyroid. Histologic findings indicated lobular breast carcinoma (positive GATA3, loss of E-cadherin expression) metastatic to the thyroid with a luminal profile. Immunohistochemical analysis was negative for primary thyroid or parathyroid carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient presenting a metastatic invasive lobular carcinoma in the thyroid and lymph nodes without a prior diagnosis of breast cancer.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.239-248
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• 2007

Alteration of temperature is one of cancer therapies. In general, severe hyperthermia(around $43^{\circ}C$) and hypothermia(around $18^{\circ}C$) trigger apoptosis through mitochondria, though the specific mechanism is still unknown. CC-t6 and GB-d1 cell lines, which were originally derived from human cholangiocarcinoma and gall bladder cancer, were established from a metastatic lymph node. To investigate the mechanism of metastatic cancer cell response to thermal stresses, hyperthermia($37^{\circ}C{\rightarrow}43^{\circ}C$) and hypothermia($37^{\circ}C{\rightarrow}17.4^{\circ}C$) were designed. Thermal stresses did not induce apoptosis but necrotic cell death. Any alterations of caspase-3, -9, cytochrome c, Bax, and Bcl-2 were not found in both hyperthermia and hypothermia exposed fells using western blot analysis. In the transmission electron microscopy, typical necrotic, but not apoptotic, changes were observed. These results suggest that temperature changes induce cell death through necrotic pathway in metastatic cancer in vitro, and it can be one of effective anticancer methods.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.985-989
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• 2015

Background: Docetaxel, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil (DCF) given every three weeks is an effective, but palliative regimen and significantly toxic especially in patients who have a low performance score. Here, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of a weekly formulation of DCF in locally advanced and metastatic gastric cancer patients. Materials and Methods: 64 gastric cancer patients (13 locally advanced and 51 metastatic) whose ECOG (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group) performance status (PS) was 1-2 and who were treated with at least two cycles of weekly DCF protocol as first-line treatment were included retrospectively. The weekly DCF protocol included $25mg/m^2$ docetaxel, $25mg/m^2$ cisplatin, and 24 hours infusion of $750mg/m^2$ 5-fluorouracil, repeated every week. Disease and patient characteristics, prognostic factors, treatment response, grade 3-4 toxicity related to treatment, progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. Results: Of the patients, 41 were male and 23 were female; the median age was 63 (29-82) years. Forty-one patients were ECOG-1 and 23 were ECOG-2. Of the total, 81.2% received at least three cycles of chemotherapy. Partial response was observed in 28.1% and stabilization in 29.7%. Overall, the disease was controlled in 57.8% whereas progression was noted in 42.2%. The median time to progression was 4 months (95%CI, 2.8-5.2 months) and median overall survival was 12 months (95%CI, 9.2-14.8 months). The evaluation of patients for grade 3-4 toxicity revealed that 10.9% had anemia, 7.8% had thrombocytopenia and 10.9% had neutropenia. Non-hematologic toxicity included renal toxicity (7.8%) and thrombosis (1.6%). Conclusions: In patients with locally advanced or metastatic gastric cancer who were not candidates for DCF administered every-3-weeks, a weekly formulation of DCF demonstrated modest activity with minimal hematologic toxicity, suggesting that weekly DCF is a reasonable treatment option for such patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.2003-2007
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• 2015

Background: Elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels in adults are considered abnormal. This parameter is used mostly in the diagnosis and follow-up of hepatocellular carcinomas and yolk sac tumors. Among the other rare tumors accompanied with elevated serum AFP levels, gastric cancer is the most common. In this study, we evaluated the follow-up and comparison of the treatment and marker response of patients with metastatic gastric cancer who had elevated serum AFP levels. Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective study, including all consecutive patients with advanced gastric cancer, who received systemic chemotherapy with elevated AFP level. Results: Seventeen metastatic gastric cancer patients with elevated AFP levels at the time of diagnosis were evaluated. Fourteen (82.4%) were males and three (17.6%) were females. The primary tumor localization was the gastric body in 8 (76.4%), cardia in 7 (41.2%), and antrum in 2 (11.8%). Hepatic metastasis was observed in 13 (76.4%) at the time of diagnosis. When the relationship of AFP levels and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) response of the patients with their radiologic responses was evaluated, it was found that the radiologic response was compatible with AFP response in 16 (94.1%) patients and with CEA response in 12 (70.6%); however, in 5 (29.4%) patients no accordance was observed between radiological and CEA responses. Conclusions: Follow-up of AFP levels in metastatic gastric cancer patients with elevated AFP levels may allow prediction of early treatment response and could be more useful than the CEA marker for follow-up in response evaluation.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.3-6
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• 1994

Neck dissection has become an integral part of the staging and management of head and neck tumors. This paper reports a series of head and neck patients who had pathological findings in their neck dissection specimens, which were unrelated to their primary tumors. In 7 cases, there was unexpected pathology in the cervical lymph nodes which was not related to the primary tumor. Four cases were squamous cell carcinomas and 3 were thyroid carcinomas. In 3 cases of squamous cell carcinomas, there were no evidence of metastatic squamous cell carcinoma in neck dissection specimen; however, the lymph nodes were found to be involved by metastatic papillary carcinoma in one larynx cancer, metastatic adenocarcinoma in the other larynx cancer, tuberculosis in one nasopharynx cancer. In three of neck dissection specimen of carcinoma(two thyroid carcinomas, one laryngeal carcinoma), dual nodal pathology was found: Each of these specimen contained carcinoma with tuberculosis of the lymph nodes in three cases. In one thyroid carcinoma, there was no evidence of metastasis; however, the lymph nodes were found to be involved by tuberculosis. Preoperative assessment did not reveal any findings to alert us to the possibility of a synchronous pathological process in the cervical nodes of this group of 7 patients. In particular, there was no evidence of active pulmonary tuberculosis in the 5 patients with active lymph node disease.