Correction: The Usefulness of AirSeal™ Intelligent Flow System in Gas Insufflation Total Endoscopic Thyroidectomy.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s12070-022-03257-0.].

The Usefulness of AirSeal™ Intelligent Flow System in Gas Insufflation Total Endoscopic Thyroidectomy.

Total endoscopic thyroidectomy (TET) using low CO2 insufflation provides cosmetic advantage, excellent working space and visibility. On the contrary, suctioning blood or mist/smoke produced by energy device application causes narrowing of working space especially in neck surgery. In this regard, AirSeal intelligent flow system would be particularly suitable in TET. However, the benefit of AirSeal is unknown in TET unlike abdominal surgery. Therefore, the impact of AirSeal was evaluated in TET in this study. Twenty patients who underwent total endoscopic hemithyroidectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Insufflation was conducted by either conventional or AirSeal system according to the surgeon's preference. Short-term surgical outcomes including operation time, bleeding, frequency of scope cleaning, and disappearance of subcutaneous emphysema were compared as well as actual visibility. AirSeal application dramatically reduced obstacle smoke/mist and prevented narrowing working space by suctioning. Frequency of scope cleaning was significantly less in AirSeal group than that in conventional group (p = 0.016). In patients with nodule < 5 cm, intraoperative hemorrhage was less in AirSeal group than that in the counterpart (p = 0.077) regardless of larger nodule size in AirSeal group (p = 0.058). Notably, subcutaneous emphysema around surgical cavity disappeared significantly earlier in AirSeal group than in the counter parts (p = 0.019). On the contrary, AirSeal application did not shorten operation time in the current study. AirSeal provided excellent visibility and seamless operation. AirSeal has great potential to decrease not only surgeon's stress but surgical invasion on patients. The results in this study give rational to AirSeal application to TET. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12070-022-03257-0.

[A Case of Pseudopancreatic Cyst Development during Bevacizumab plus Paclitaxel Therapy for Pancreatic Metastasis of Breast Cancer].

A 70s woman with pancreatic metastases of HER2-negative breast cancer was being treated with bevacizumab plus paclitaxel. Tumor markers decreased after treatment initiation. After 8 months of treatment, the patient developed abdominal pain and distention, along with loss of appetite. Contrast-enhanced abdominal CT scan images showed the presence of a large 25 cm pseudopancreatic cyst and disappearance of the pancreatic metastatic lesions. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided cystogastrostomy was performed and an AXIOS stent was placed in the lower part of the gastric body. Subsequently, the cyst disappeared and her abdominal symptoms improved. The patient was able to resume treatment with other drugs and did not experience any recurrence of pancreatitis. Four months later, the AXIOS stent was removed. Bevacizumab plus paclitaxel is reportedly effective against HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. Bevacizumab is a molecular targeted therapy against vascular endothelial growth factor, and the mechanism of its antitumor effect and complications are different from those of conventional drugs. Paclitaxel has also been reported to cause pancreatitis in rare cases. In this case, the mechanism of response to bevacizumab plus paclitaxel for metastatic pancreatic lesions or the development of drug-induced pancreatitis was considered to be the cause of pseudopancreatic cyst formation.

Expression of cell polarity protein scribble differently affects prognosis in primary tumor and lymph node metastasis of breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the relationship between the immunohistochemically determined expression of the cell polarity protein scribble to prognosis in different environments of estrogen receptor (ER) expression and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). METHODS: We immunohistochemically evaluated the expression level of scribble in primary tumors and lymph node metastases of 225 node-positive breast cancer patients who had received chemotherapy. We then evaluated metastasis-free survival (MFS) in the absence or presence of ER and the EMT-related protein vimentin. RESULTS: Among patients with ER-positive tumors, patients with low scribble expression in the primary tumor had a significantly shorter MFS than patients with high scribble expression (p = 0.0225). Furthermore, among patients with vimentin-negative tumors, patients with low expression of scribble in the primary tumor had significantly shorter MFS than patients with high expression of scribble (p = 0.0463). In contrast, among patients with vimentin-positive tumors, patients with high expression of scribble in the primary tumor had significantly shorter MFS than patients with low expression of scribble (p = 0.0343). Moreover, among patients with ER-negative tumors, patients with high expression of scribble in lymph node metastases showed significantly higher expression of E-cadherin in metastases (p = 0.0407) and had significantly shorter MFS than patients with low expression of scribble (p = 0.0064). CONCLUSIONS: The prognostic significance of cell polarity depended on the ER expression and EMT. Furthermore, the preservation of cell polarity in metastases was associated with mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition and worse prognosis. Cell polarity promotes the diversity of metastasis in combination with malignancy grade in breast cancer patients.

Organic anion transporting polypeptide 2B1 expression correlates with uptake of estrone-3-sulfate and cell proliferation in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells.

Estrone-3-sulfate (E1S) is thought to be a major estrogen precursor in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Since E1S is a hydrophilic compound, the uptake of E1S into cancer cells is probably mediated by transporters, such as organic anion-transporting polypeptide (OATP, SLCO) family. In this study, we investigated the relationship between expression of OATP2B1 and cell proliferation in ER-positive breast cancer. Cell-based assays were carried out in MCF-7 cells both with and without overexpression of OATP2B1. Normal breast and tumor tissues were collected and used in this study. Cell proliferation, ER-mediated transcriptional activities and estradiol secretion were stimulated by addition of E1S to the culture medium of MCF-7 cells. These stimulatory effects were significantly greater in MCF-7 cells overexpressing OATP2B1 than in control cells. The expression level of SLCO2B1 mRNA was significantly correlated with histological grade, Ki-67 labelling index and mRNA expression of steroid sulfatase. The expression level of SLCO2B1 mRNA in luminal B-like cancers was higher than that in luminal A-like cancers. Uptake of E1S resulted in down-regulation of ERα protein and induction of Ki-67 in MCF-7 cells. The present study suggests that OATP2B1 is involved in cell proliferation by increasing the amount of estrogen in ER-positive breast cancer cells.

Cancer-mediated adipose reversion promotes cancer cell migration via IL-6 and MCP-1.

The objective of this study is to investigate interactions between adipocytes and breast cancer cells, and identify the responsible factors for the observed effects. In 27 breast cancer patients undergoing mastectomy, mammary adipose tissue was obtained from the breast quadrant bearing the tumor and corresponding non-tumoral quadrant. Isolated normal breast adipocytes (NBAs) and cancer-associated adipocytes (CAAs) were cultured in collagen gels to mimic the in vivo environment. Immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR, and cell proliferation assays were performed to analyze adipocyte phenotypes. MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines were co-cultured with adipocytes to detect phenotypic changes. Migration of MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells was assessed in NBA- and CAA-conditioned media. Cytokine levels in conditioned media were measured by cytokine array. Migration assays were repeated using conditioned media containing neutralizing antibodies. NBAs and CAAs lost their morphological phenotype in culture, acquiring a spindle-like shape, and CAAs showed higher cell proliferation, suggesting reversion to an immature phenotype. In co-cultures with MCF7 or MDA-MB-231 cells, NBAs exhibited increased cell proliferation, indicating acquisition of the immature phenotype of CAAs. MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 showed higher migration in a CAA-conditioned medium than in an NBA-conditioned medium. Cytokine array analysis of conditioned media revealed higher levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in the CAA-conditioned medium. Neutralization experiments using antibodies against IL-6 or MCP-1 showed abrogation of migration-enhancing effects of the CAA-conditioned medium. Adipocytes revert to an immature and proliferative phenotype in the presence of breast cancer cells, and promote cancer cell migration via adipokines including IL-6 and MCP-1.

Diffusion-weighted imaging reflects pathological therapeutic response and relapse in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Conventional imaging does not always accurately depict the pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) may provide additional insight into the chemotherapeutic effect. This study assessed whether the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) correlated with pathological outcome and prognosis in breast cancer patients receiving NAC. METHODS: Fifty-six patients with locally advanced breast cancer received surgery after NAC. Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and DWI were performed before and after NAC. The pathological response was classified into five categories from no response to complete response according to amount of residual cancer. The correlation between ADC and postoperative pathologic and prognostic outcome was assessed. RESULTS: The distribution of the pathological response classification was as follows: no response, 3 cases; mild response, 22 cases; moderate response, 12 cases; marked response, 11 cases; complete response, 8 cases. ADC after NAC correlated with pathological response, but ADC before NAC did not. The change in ADC after chemotherapy had better correlation coefficient (r = 0.67) than change in size (r = 0.58) and ADC after NAC (r = 0.64). Although the group with larger change of tumor size showed only marginal significance compared with the smaller change group (p = 0.089), the group with higher change of ADC showed significantly better prognosis than the lower one (p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Change in ADC after chemotherapy better correlated with pathological outcome and prognosis than change in tumor size. DWI has potential in evaluating the pathological outcome of NAC in breast cancer patients.

[A case of primary retroperitoneal malignant fibrous histiocytoma].

A 68-year-old man visited our hospital due to constipation. A hard mass was palpated in the left side abdomen. Several examinations could point out a large left sided retroperitoneal tumor. Because the tumor was adherent to the descending colon, both were removed. Based on histological and immunohistochemical inspection, the tumor was diagnosed as malignant fibrous histocytoma (MFH) on retroperitoneum. No treatment was undergone as the postoperative course was good, however, computed tomography (CT) for 8 months after the surgery showed the sign of local recurrence. It has been reported that the prognosis of MFH was very poor and a surgical resection was the only treatment for MFH, or we are expecting to find an effective treatment quickly such as a new combined chemotherapy.