OBJECTIVES The validity of a new sham acupuncture technique was tested on acupuncture naïve healthy subjects. METHODS The procedure was tested in accupoints LI4 and ST6 in a randomised, single blind and crossover study. The participants were blind to which technique they received. 32 healthy volunteers (15 men, 17 women, aged between 20 and 62 years, mean age 34 years) were recruited at the U...

B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a lymphoproliferative disorder with a variable clinical course. Patients with unmutated IgV(H) gene show a shorter progression-free and overall survival than patients with immunoglobulin heavy chain variable regions (IgV(H)) gene mutated. In addition, BCL6 mutations identify a subgroup of patients with high risk of progression. Gene expression was an...

Lichens produce various unique chemicals that can be used for pharmaceutical purposes. To screen for novel lichen secondary metabolites showing inhibitory activity against lung cancer cell motility, we tested acetone extracts of 13 lichen samples collected in Chile. Physciosporin, isolated from Pseudocyphellaria coriacea (Hook f. & Taylor) D.J. Galloway & P. James, was identified as an effectiv...

BACKGROUND Lymphatic metastasis contributes to the poor prognosis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). This study aimed to investigate the roles of two metastasis suppressor genes, KAI1 and nm23, in lymphangiogenesis and lymph metastasis of LSCC. METHODS A total of 45 LSCC patients were enrolled in this study. The positive expression rates of KAI1 and nm23 protein were detected via im...

We report the case of an 80-year-old man who presented with pathologically diagnosed chromophobe renal cell carcinoma composed of eosinophilic cells with partial papillary growth. The patient had a 2.5 cm diameter renal mass incidentally detected by abdominal ultrasound examination. Laparoscopic left partial nephrectomy was performed under a diagnosis of left renal tumor. Histopathology demonst...

The tetraspanin and tumor suppressor KAI1 is downregulated or lost in many cancers which correlates with poor prognosis. KAI1 acts via physical/functional crosstalk with other membrane receptors. Also, a splice variant of KAI1 (KAI1-SP) has been identified indicative of poor prognosis. We here characterized differential effects of the two KAI1 variants on tumor biological events involving integ...

Tumor metastases suppressor protein KAI1/CD82 is capable of blocking the tumor metastases without affecting the primary tumor formation, and its expression is significantly down-regulated in many types of human cancers. However, the exact molecular mechanism of the suppressor function of KAI1 remains elusive. Evidence from our laboratory supports a model in which tumor cells dislodge from the p...