The author reports a rare case of sarcomatoid carcinoma with an emphasis on immunohistochemical features. A 79-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of hematuria. An endoscopy revealed a large polypoid tumor in the bladder, and urine cytology demonstrated malignant cells. A cystectomy was performed. The patient is now alive without metastasis 4 months after the operation. Grossly, a...

RATIONALE Sarcomatoid carcinoma is an extremely rare lesion in the common bile duct (CBD). PATIENT CONCERNS We present a case of sarcomatoid carcinoma of the distal CBD in a 51-year-old woman who presented with jaundice and abdominal pain. Whipple's operation was performed successfully. Microscopically, the tumor was a poorly differentiated carcinoma containing a component of sarcoma-like dif...

Malignant tumors of the ureter that display biphasic patterns are very rare; they include carcinosarcomas, sarcomatoid carcinomas and carcinomas with pseudosarcomatous stroma. Although the distinction between carcinosarcomas and sarcomatoid carcinomas has been extensively discussed in the past, the recent World Health Organization classification of urinary tract tumors (2004) does not distingui...

Myelinating Schwann cells (SCs) are highly plastic cells that are able to dedifferentiate and re-enter the cell cycle. However, the molecular signals controlling dedifferentiation are not completely understood. Because a connection between mitogenic signaling and myelin loss has been suggested, we investigated the role of cAMP, a strong inducer of the myelinating phenotype, and mitogenic factor...

OBJECTIVE When primary chondrocytes are cultured in monolayer, they undergo dedifferentiation during which they lose their phenotype and their capacity to form cartilage. Dedifferentiation is an obstacle for cell therapy for cartilage degeneration. In this study, we aimed to systemically evaluate the changes in gene expression during dedifferentiation of human articular chondrocytes to identify...

How a committed cell can be reverted to an undifferentiated state is a central question in stem cell biology. This process, called dedifferentiation, is likely to be important for replacing stem cells as they age or get damaged. Tremendous progress has been made in understanding this fundamental process, but its mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that the aberrant activation ...

BACKGROUND High-dose interleukin-2 (HD IL-2) is used in the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) and has an overall response rate (ORR) of 12-20% and a complete response rate (CR) of 8% in unselected populations with predominantly clear cell type renal cell carcinoma. Nearly 10-15% of patients with renal cell carcinoma exhibit sarcomatoid differentiation, a feature which correlat...