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Melastoma (Melastomataceae) includes ca. 100 species across tropical to subtropical regions of Asia and Oceania. The Bonin Islands harbor three endemic taxa: M. tetramerum, M. tetramerum var. pentapetalum, and M. candidum var. alessandrense. Of these, M. tetramerum is critically endangered and faces near extinction in the wild. This study investigates the phylogenetic relationships among these endemic Melastoma species in the Bonin Islands based on the whole chloroplast genome and nuclear SNPs. The results revealed that M. candidum var. alessandrense was placed in the clade of the widespread East Asian M. candidum and has a distinct evolutionary origin from the other two taxa. The population genomics analyses (heterozygosity, rates of deleterious mutations, and numbers and lengths of runs of homozygosity) indicated lower genetic diversity and more vulnerable genomes of endemic Melastoma, especially M. tetramerum var. pentapetalum. M. tetramerum var. pentapetalum is not a target of any protection programs, however, conservation plans might be required for this variety because M. tetramerum var. pentapetalum would have a more vulnerable genome than M. tetramerum, which faces near extinction in the wild. This information can facilitate the development of effective conservation strategies in a precautionary way that anticipates imminent threats to the survival of the species.

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High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is a well-known biomarker, which has been associated with reduction in the risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, some HDL anti-atherosclerotic functions may be impaired without altered HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) level via its dysfunctional proteins or other physiological reactions in vivo. We previously showed that activated mast cell-derived chymase could modestly cleave apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) in HDL3, and further easily cleave lipid-free apoA-I. In contrast, myeloperoxidase (MPO) secreted by macrophages, the main cell type in atherosclerotic plaques, could oxidize HDL proteins, which might modify their tertiary structures, increasing their susceptibility to other enzymes. Here we focused on the co-modification and impact of chymase and MPO, usually secreted during inflammation from cells with possible co-existence in atheromas, on HDL. Only after sequential treatment with MPO and then chymase, two novel truncated apoA-I fragments were generated from HDL. One fragment was 16.5 kDa, and the cleavage site by chymase after MPO modification was the C-terminal of Tyr100 in apoA-I, cross-validated by three different mass spectrometry methods. This novel apoA-I fragment can be trapped in HDL particles to avoid kidney glomerular filtration and has a specific site for antibody generation for ELISA tests. As such, its quantification can be useful in predicting patients with CVD having normal HDL-C levels.

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Reactivity to an anisakis allergen component was examined in three patients with a history of an anisakiasis anaphylaxis. Case 1, a 38-year-old man, allergic symptoms appeared 0.5 hours after ingestion, and the component Ani s 1 and 3 were positive. Case 2, a 44-year-old woman, allergic symptoms appeared 4 hours after ingestion, and components Ani s 3 and 12 were positive. Case 3, a 36-year-old woman, developed allergic symptoms 7 hours after ingestion of fish and shellfish, and tested positive for Ani s 1, 4, and 12. Case 3 reacted strongly to both heated and unheated Anisakis extract, while cases 1 and 2 reacted weakly to heated Anisakis extract. The most common allergen was Ani s 12, followed by Ani s 1, when analyzed in conjunction with existing reports on 10 cases. Anisakis IgE was class 3 or higher in all cases. Analysis of 13 cases showed 2 cases sensitized to Ani s 4 and moderate or higher anaphylaxis, while Ani s 4-sensitized patients were reported to be more likely to develop severe disease. It is possible that the patients sensitized to Ani s 4 need to be careful about the severity of their allergic symptoms.

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Immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-positive cells are rarely observed in the lungs of patients with idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIPs). IgG1 may be more pathogenic than IgG4, with IgG4 having both pathogenic and protective roles in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD). However, the role of both IgG1 and IgG4 in IIPs remains unclear. We hypothesized that patients with IgG4-positive interstitial pneumonia manifest different clinical characteristics than patients with IgG4-RD. Herein, we identified the correlation of the degree of infiltration of IgG1- and IgG4-positive cells with IIP prognosis, using a Japanese nationwide cloud-based database. We included eighty-eight patients diagnosed with IIPs after multidisciplinary discussion, from April 2009 to March 2014. IgG4-positive cell infiltration was identified in 12/88 patients with IIPs and 8/41 patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Additionally, 31/88 patients with IIPs and 19/41 patients with IPF were diagnosed as having IgG1-positive cell infiltration. IgG4-positive IIPs tended to have a better prognosis. Conversely, overall survival in cases with IgG1-positive IPF was significantly worse. IIPs were prevalent with IgG1- or IgG4-positive cell infiltration. IgG1-positive cell infiltration in IPF significantly correlated with a worse prognosis. Overall, evaluating the degree of IgG1-positive cell infiltration may be prognostically useful in cases of IPF.

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BACKGROUND: LGR5 is a promising stem cell marker in gastric pylorus, but there are few reports on its expression in human gastric corpus. AIMS: To investigate the involvement of LGR5 expression in gastric corpus ulcer regeneration in humans. METHODS: LGR5 expression was analyzed in five post-ESD ulcers during the healing process of regenerating epithelial cells of the gastric corpus. LGR5 expression was detected by mRNA in situ hybridization using an RNA scope kit. Immunohistochemistry of MUC6, HIK1083, and pepsinogen 1 (PG1) was performed to identify cell differentiation. RESULTS: We defined MUC6+/HIK1083-/PG1-, MUC6+/HIK1083+/PG1-, MUC6+/HIK1083+/PG1+, MUC6+/HIK1083-/PG1+, and MUC6-/HIK1083-/PG1+cells as pseudopyloric mucosa (PPM) phase 1 (PPM1), PPM phase 2 (PPM2), PPM phase 3 (PPM3), immature chief cells (ICC), and mature chief cells (MCC) in order from the ulcer center, respectively. In the regenerated mucosa around post-ESD ulcers, LGR5 expression was observed throughout the gland in PPM1-PPM3, but it was limited to the bottom of the gland in ICC and MCC. Furthermore, LGR5 expression was not identified in the normal gastric corpus. The H-score of PPM2 was significantly higher than that of PPM3 (P = 0.0313). The H-score of PPM3 was significantly higher than that of ICC (P = 0.0313). The LGR5 H-score was higher at the immature stage, which decreased gradually with progression of the differentiation stage. CONCLUSIONS: LGR5 expression appears to contribute to mucosal regeneration in the human gastric corpus. The application of LGR5 expression analysis to mucosal regeneration and fundic gland-type gastric tumors is expected.

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BACKGROUND: Lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH) is a disease considered to be the origin of tumorigenesis of minimal deviation adenocarcinoma, which has characteristic expression in the gastric pyloric mucosa. It is difficult to diagnose by nuclear findings because of lower nuclear atypia. In this study, nuclei of endocervical (EC) and LEGH cells were digitized, and nuclear information was quantified from nuclear images and objectively evaluated using a computer. We examined whether it is possible to distinguish between EC and LEGH cells, which is difficult by human eyes. METHODS: Signal intensity, morphological features, Otsu thresholding technique and gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) features were calculated from nuclei of EC and LEGH cells on cytology microscopic images. Then, discriminant analysis was performed using the significant difference test and linear support vector machine (LSVM). RESULTS: GLCM features in LEGH cells were higher than those in EC cells. The nuclei of LEGH cells had a higher frequency of signal value pairs with a larger signal value difference than that of EC cells. Therefore, LEGH cell nuclei are thought to have more chromatin granules, and the chromatin is coarse and granular. Moreover, in the LSVM discriminant analysis, the accuracy of GLCM calculated using these features was 85.4%. CONCLUSION: In this study, GLCM accurately demonstrated the nuclear chromatin distribution and coarseness. Discriminant analysis of EC and LEGH cells using GLCM features is useful.

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A 28-year-old man was transferred to our emergency room for dyspnea and wheals on the entire body. He had eaten landlocked ayu fish (Plecoglossus altivelis) the so-called "koayu fish", from Lake Biwa, and had immediately experienced a stomachache. Wheals and dyspnea developed one hour later and were successfully treated with intravenous corticosteroids. The patient was examined for koayu fish and related allergens by skin prick and allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) (ImmunoCAP®) tests. Positive skin prick results were obtained for Lake Biwa koayu fish (raw and heated) as well as for standard skin test allergens (prepared by Torii pharmaceuticals) including shrimp, crab, and squid. Negative prick test results were observed for regular ayu fish and other fish such as horse mackerel, sardine, salmon, mackerel, codfish, and tuna. Allergen-specific IgE tests (ImmunoCAP ®) showed positivity for shrimp, crab, ticks, moths, and mosquitoes, while ImmunoCAP® tests were negative for the allergen components rGad c 1 (pollackparvalbumin) and rPen a 1 (shrimp tropomyosin). Moreover, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests were negative for mackerel parvalbumin and collagen. We considered this case to be of anaphylaxis caused by koayu fish from Lake Biwa and speculated that a novel koayu-specific antigen might have been the cause of the condition.

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BACKGROUND: Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) is a promising intestinal stem cell and carcinoma stem cell marker. We examined the relationship between mismatch repair (MMR) protein deficiency and LGR5 expression in poorly differentiated (PD) colorectal carcinoma (CRC). METHODS: In 29 cases of PD-CRC, deficiencies in MMR proteins (MLH1, PMS2, MSH2, MSH6) and ß-catenin expression were identified by immunohistochemistry (IHC). LGR5 expression was examined by the RNAscope assay in tissue microarrays. RESULTS: LGR5 H-scores in MMR-deficient (MMR-D) cases were significantly lower than those in MMR-proficient (MMR-P) cases (P = 0.0033). Nuclear ß-catenin IHC scores in MMR-D cases were significantly lower than those in MMR-P cases (P = 0.0024). In all cases, there was a positive correlation between LGR5 H-score and nuclear ß-catenin IHC score (r = 0.6796, P < 0.001). Even in MMR-D and MMR-P cases, there was a positive correlation between LGR5 H-score and nuclear ß-catenin IHC score (r = 0.7180, P < 0.0085 and r = 0.6574, P < 0.003, respectively). MMR-D CRC cases showed low expression of LGR5, which may be due to low activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal the relationship between LGR5 expression and MMR protein profiles in PD-CRC. A further study is warranted to confirm these findings.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Previous studies have established leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (LGR5) as a cancer stem cell marker in gastrointestinal cancers. However, few reports have examined LGR5 in PDAC. Here we examined LGR5 expression and its clinicopathological significance in PDAC. We evaluated LGR5 expression in 78 PDAC patients who underwent surgical resection in our institution using RNAscope, a newly described RNA in situ hybridization technique. All 78 PDAC cases expressed LGR5 in cancer tissues, and LGR5 expression was prominent in the gland-forming part. LGR5 expression was significantly higher in patients with low histological grade (G1-G2) (p < 0.001) and early clinical stage (p = 0.004). Univariate analysis showed that low LGR5 expression (p = 0.034) was significantly associated with worse overall survival. However, LGR5 expression did not remain a predictor of prognosis in multivariate analysis (p = 0.639). All PDAC cases showed LGR5 expression to varying degrees, indicating LGR5 might be a cancer stem cell marker of PDAC, as in gastrointestinal cancer. Reduced LGR5 expression in tumor cells was associated with worse prognosis in PDAC. Further studies are required to elucidate the relationship between tumor progression and LGR5 expression in PDAC.

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BACKGROUND: Lobular endocervical glandular hyperplasia (LEGH) was first described by Nucci et al. in 1999 and is believed to be a precancerous lesion of minimal deviation adenocarcinoma and gastric-type adenocarcinoma in the uterine cervix. LEGH lesions do not always exhibit apparent cellular and structural atypia, so are difficult to distinguish from normal endocervical cells (EC cells) with cytological examination. Therefore, we often struggle to make a definite diagnosis of LEGH. METHODS: We used microscopy images of cytological specimens that were diagnosed as EC cells and LEGH cells. Signal intensity in whole nuclear area and in heterochromatin and euchromatin regions, euchromatin area ratio, and nuclear morphological features were quantified in each cell nucleus of the cases. Statistical analyses were conducted to determine statistical significance. Finally, we performed linear support vector machine (LSVM) modeling as a discriminant analysis using the quantified features. RESULTS: Signal intensity in whole nuclear area, and heterochromatin and euchromatin regions of EC cell nuclei were higher than that of the LEGH cell nuclei. Morphologically, EC cell nuclei were larger than LEGH cell nuclei, and nuclei of LEGH cells had irregular nuclear respectively membrane structure and an elongated shape. The LSVM accuracy of 10-fold cross validation and leave-one-case-out cross-validation (LOCOCV) using all measured features were 84.7% to 89.3% and 78.6% to 86.0%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The LVSM analysis using features extracted from signal intensity and morphological analysis was useful for discrimination of EC cells vs LEGH cells. We therefore believe that this image analysis method could be used for early detection of LEGH.

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LGR5 is expressed in various tumors and has been identified as a putative intestinal stem cell marker. Here we investigated LGR5 expression in colorectal neuroendocrine neoplasms and analyzed the correlation with pathological characteristics. We evaluated the clinicopathological features of 8 neuroendocrine tumor (NET) grade 1 (NET G1), 4 NET Grade 2 (NET G2), and 8 NET Grade 3 (NET G3; also termed neuroendocrine carcinoma, or NEC) cases. We examined LGR5 expression using an RNAscope, a newly developed RNA in situ hybridization technique, with a tissue microarray of the neuroendocrine neoplasm samples. LGR5 staining in individual tumor cells was semi-quantitatively scored using an H-score scale. We also performed a combination of LGR5 RNA in situ hybridization and synaptophysin immunohistochemistry. All cases contained tumor cells with some LGR5-positive dots. For all cases, H-scores showed a positive correlation with nuclear beta-catenin expression. In the NEC group, there was a strong positive correlation between H-score and beta-catenin expression. Our findings suggest that LGR5 may serve as a stem cell marker in NEC, as is the case in colon adenocarcinoma. The positive correlation between H-score and beta-catenin expression suggests that LGR5 expression might be affected by beta-catenin expression in neuroendocrine neoplasms and especially in NEC.

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Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations are associated with responses to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Our previous study revealed a rapid point-of-care system for detecting EGFR mutations. This system analyzes cell pellets from cytology specimens using droplet-polymerase chain reaction (d-PCR), and has a reaction time of 10 min. The present study aimed to validate the performance of the EGFR d-PCR assay using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from supernatants obtained from cytology specimens. Assay results from cfDNA supernatant analyses were compared with those from cell pellets for 90 patients who were clinically diagnosed with, or suspected of having, lung cancer (80 bronchial lavage fluid samples, nine pleural effusion samples and one spinal fluid sample). EGFR mutations were identified in 12 and 15 cases using cfDNA supernatants and cell pellets, respectively. The concordance rates between cfDNA-supernatant and cell­pellet assay results were 96.7% [kappa coefficient (K)=0.87], 98.9% (K=0.94), 98.9% (K=0.79) and 98.9% (K=0.79) for total EGFR mutations, L858R, E746_A750del and T790M, respectively. All 15 patients with EGFR mutation-positive results, as determined by EGFR d-PCR assay using cfDNA supernatants or cell pellets, also displayed positive results by conventional EGFR assays using tumor tissue or cytology specimens. Notably, EGFR mutations were even detected in five cfDNA supernatants for which the cytological diagnoses of the corresponding cell pellets were 'suspicious for malignancy', 'atypical' or 'negative for malignancy.' In conclusion, this rapid point-of-care system may be considered a promising novel screening method that may enable patients with NSCLC to receive EGFR-TKI therapy more rapidly, whilst also reserving cell pellets for additional morphological and molecular analyses.

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The relationship between methylation abnormality and autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP)-a representative IgG4-related disease-has not yet been elucidated. We identified SKI might have a significant methylation abnormality in AIP through methylation array analysis using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation 450K BeadChip array, and investigated the relationship of SKI with AIP clinicopathological features. The methylation rate of SKI was assessed by quantitative SYBR green methylation-specific PCR, and the degree of SKI expression in tissue specimens was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 10 AIP cases, 14 cases of obstructive pancreatitis area in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) without a history of AIP, and 9 normal pancreas (NP) cases. The SKI methylation ratio was significantly lower in AIP than in PDA and NP. Additionally, the immunohistochemical staining-index (SI) score for SKI was significantly higher in AIP than NP, although there was no significant difference between AIP and PDA. There was a strong negative correlation between SI score and SKI methylation ratio, and between the serum concentrations of IgG4 and the SKI methylation ratio. There was a moderate positive correlation between the serum concentrations of IgG4 and SI. SKI is thought to be an oncogene indicating that SKI hypomethylation and carcinogenesis might be linked to AIP. Furthermore, the correlation between serum concentrations of IgG4 and SKI methylation levels suggest SKI might be involved in the pathogenesis of AIP. However, the role of SKI has not been clearly elucidated. Further studies are needed to understand further the function of SKI.

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The detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is necessary for the selection of suitable patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for treatment with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Cytology specimens are known to be suitable for EGFR mutation detection, although tissue specimens should be prioritized; however, there are limited studies that examine the utility of bronchial lavage fluid (BLF) in mutation detection. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the utility of BLF specimens for the detection of EGFR mutations using a conventional quantitative EGFR polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Initially, quantification cycle (Cq) values of cell pellets, cell-free supernatants and cell blocks obtained from three series of 1% EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer cell line samples were compared for mutation detection. In addition, PCR analysis of BLF specimens obtained from 77 consecutive NSCLC patients, detecting EGFR mutations was validated, and these results were compared with those for the corresponding formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens obtained by surgical resection or biopsy of 49 of these patients. The Cq values for mutation detection were significantly lower in the cell pellet group (average, 29.58) compared with the other groups, followed by those in cell-free supernatants (average, 34.15) and in cell blocks (average, 37.12) for all three series (P<0.05). Mutational status was successfully analyzed in 77 BLF specimens, and the results obtained were concordant with those of the 49 matching FFPE tissue specimens. Notably, EGFR mutations were even detected in 10 cytological specimens that contained insufficient tumor cells. EGFR mutation testing with BLF specimens is therefore a useful and reliable method, particularly when sufficient cancer cells are not obtained.

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OBJECTIVES: Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a representative IgG4-related and inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. To clarify mechanisms of carcinogenesis resulting from AIP, we focused on methylation abnormalities and KRAS mutations in AIP. METHODS: Six tumor suppressor genes (NPTX2, Cyclin D2, FOXE1, TFPI2, ppENK, and p16) that exhibited hypermethylation in pancreatic carcinoma were selected for quantitative SYBR green methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction in 10 AIP specimens, 10 pancreatic adenocarcinoma cases without history of AIP containing carcinoma areas (CAs) and noncarcinoma areas (NCAs), and 11 normal pancreas (NP) samples. KRAS mutation in codons 12, 13, and 61 were also investigated using direct sequencing. RESULTS: Hypermethylation events (≥10%) were identified in NPTX2, Cyclin D2, FOXE1, TFPI2, ppENK, and p16 in 1, 2, 2, 0, 2, and 0 CA cases, respectively, but not in these 6 candidate genes in AIP, NCA, and NP. However, the TFPI2 methylation ratio was significantly higher in AIP than NCA and NP. Direct sequencing results for KRAS showed no single-point mutations in AIP. CONCLUSIONS: These are the first studies characterizing methylation abnormalities in AIP. AIP's inflammatory condition may be related to carcinogenesis. Further study will elucidate methylation abnormalities associated with carcinogenesis in AIP.

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Leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5) is a putative intestinal stem cell marker that is also expressed in various tumors. To analyze its pathological characteristics in mucosal gastric signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC), we investigated Lgr5 expression in 35 intramucosal gastric SRCC patients using RNAscope, a newly developed RNA in situ hybridization technique. Lgr5 expression in individual tumor cells was scored semi-quantitatively from 0 to 400. Ki67 was also examined by immunohistochemistry, with a linear arrangement of Ki67-expressing cells present in 20 of 35 cases. This area of Ki67-expressing cells was topographically divided into upper, middle, and lower regions. All cases with linear Ki67 expression patterns also had Lgr5-positive cells arranged in a linear fashion in the lower area-which was distinct from the area of high Ki67 expression. The rate of Ki67 positivity in Lgr5-positive cells was significantly lower than that of Lgr5-negative cells in areas of high Ki67 expression. In intramucosal SRCC, the low mitotic activity of Lgr5-positive cells suggests that they may represent cancer stem cells as seen in other types of stomach carcinomas. Intramucosal SRCC may therefore contain stem cells expressing Lgr5 in the lower area of the lamina propria, akin to normal gastric pyloric mucosa.

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Allergenic characteristics of purified parvalbumins from different fish species have not been thoroughly investigated. We revealed that purified parvalbumins from nine different fish species have identical IgE-reactivities and high cross-reactivities. We also showed that fish allergenicity is associated with the parvalbumin content of the fish species, rather than species-specific differences in the molecular characteristics of the individual parvalbumin proteins.

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