PURPOSE To investigate whether uveal melanoma cells express HLA-G, a nonclassical HLA class I molecule that has been shown to be a critical mediator in the inhibition of natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytolysis. METHODS Eleven human uveal melanoma cell lines were analyzed for the expression of HLA-G by flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, Western blot analysis, and RT-PCR followed by South...

Uveal melanoma arises in the eye, and it spreads to distant organs in almost half of patients, leading to a fatal outcome. To metastasize, uveal melanoma cells must transmigrate into and out of the microvasculature, crossing the monolayer of endothelial cells that separates the vessel lumen from surrounding tissues. We investigated how human uveal melanoma cells cross the endothelial cell monol...

PURPOSE Expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) is of prognostic significance in several tumor types, whereas HSPs may also have clinical use as stimulators in tumor vaccination. HSP expression levels were determined in normal eyes and in uveal melanoma and tested whether HSPs expression was associated with prognostic parameters in the uveal melanoma. METHODS Expression of HSP27, HSP70, HSP9...

Congenital isolated pleural effusion, a non-specific accumulation of fluid in the pleural space, is an uncommon anomaly which can be associated with structural malformations, inflammatory or iatrogenic problems, genetic syndromes or fetal hydrops. Here, we present two neonates with isolated congenital pleural effusion, one of which was associated with Down syndrome and the other with empyema an...

Struma ovarii is an uncommon ovarian teratoma comprised predominantly of mature thyroid tissue. The combination of pseudo-Meigs' syndrome, and elevation of CA 125 to the struma ovarii is a rare condition that can mimic ovarian malignancy. We reported a case of benign struma ovarii, presenting with the clinical features of advanced ovarian carcinoma: complex pelvic mass, gross ascites, bilateral...

PURPOSE To examine the immunohistochemical profile of heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) in uveal melanoma and the cytotoxicity of an Hsp90 inhibitor, 17-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17-AAG), in uveal melanoma cell lines. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Hsp90 expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in 44 paraffin-embedded sections of primary human uveal melanoma and in five uveal melanoma ce...

PURPOSE This study was conducted to investigate the expression and functional impact of the proto-oncogene c-kit in uveal melanoma. METHODS Based on immunohistochemical (IHC) study of paraffin-embedded specimens from 134 uveal melanomas and Western blot analysis on eight fresh-frozen samples the expression of c-kit in uveal melanoma was studied. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of c-kit and t...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the survival rate of patients with uveal melanoma and sex disparity in this rate in South Korea. Methods We extracted incident uveal melanoma patients using the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR) database, which covered the entire population from 1999 to 2012 in South Korea. We estimated all-cause survival probabilities and cancer-specific ...

Uveal melanomas are highly metastatic and have high rate of recurrence due to the lack of effective systemic therapy. The identification of important survival pathways in uveal melanomas provides novel therapeutic targets for effective treatment. In the present study, we found that the NF-κB signaling pathway was constitutively and highly activated in uveal melanoma cells. Treatment with the ph...