The Tohoku journal of experimental medicine
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · May 2011
ReviewClinical applications of sentinel lymph node biopsy in ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast: a dilemma.
Breast cancer is the fifth most common cause of cancer deaths in the world, which often spreads first to the axillary lymph nodes (ALN) from the primary tumor. ALN helps clinician stage breast cancer. In addition, it is one of the key prognostic factors for patients with invasive breast cancer. ⋯ The potential benefit of accurately upstaging patients with DCIS and the minimal invasiveness of SLNB justify use of SLNB in selected high-risk DCIS patients. At least DSIS with microinvasion, have DCIS of sufficient extent on mammography or MRI, or indicated invasive or microinvasive focus by final histological examination, are recommended for SLNB. Moreover, large randomized trials to evaluate the usefulness of SLNB in DCIS patients after long-term follow-up on local control and survival are required for further evaluation.
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Tohoku J. Exp. Med. · May 2011
Tudor domain-containing protein 4 as a potential cancer/testis antigen in liver cancer.
The poor prognosis of liver cancer demands the development of new diagnostic markers and therapeutic strategies. Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are expressed in the testis and cancerous tissues, but not in adult somatic cells. Given their tumor-specific expression, CT antigens are potential molecular markers for tumor diagnosis and targets for cancer immunotherapy. ⋯ TDRD4 mRNA was expressed in 7 of the 41 liver cancers: 4 HCCs, 1 CC and 2 combined HCC-CCs. The TDRD4 mRNA expression was not significantly associated with patient age, tumor size, pathologic stages, hepatitis B virus infection, or CD133 expression. In conclusion, TDRD4 mRNA is expressed in a subset of liver cancers, and TDRD4 is a candidate CT antigen for liver cancer.