John Wang

• Taichung Veterans General Hospital

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.18632/oncotarget.5734.].

14-3-3ε is overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its expression significantly associates with a poor prognostic outcome. To uncover how 14-3-3ε contributes to the tumor progression of HCC, we investigated the potential downstream targets regulated by 14-3-3ε. We found that 14-3-3ε increases expression and nuclear translocation of β-ca...

The qRT-PCR analysis of 139 clinical samples and analysis of 150 on-line database clinical samples indicated that AKT3 mRNA expression level was elevated in primary prostate tumors. Immunohistochemical staining of 65 clinical samples revealed that AKT3 protein expression was higher in prostate tumors of stage I, II, III as compared to nearby normal...

Unroofing hepatectomy, an alternative approach to remove a deep-seated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) adjacent to major intrahepatic vessels by peel-off technique after sacrificing the overlying noncancerous liver, may result in tumor exposure without resection margin. The aim of the study was to examine the value of this approach in cirrhotic pati...

Background: Many tumors are small and located around the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, and they are difficult to obtain tissue from for pathological diagnosis by the guidance of conventional methods (sonography or computed tomography. The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy and benefit of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration...

Background: The aim of the present study was to clarify both short-term and long-term results of patients with concomitant hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and high-risk oesophagogastric varices (OGV). Methods: This retrospective study identified 927 cirrhotic patients who underwent curative resection of HCC between 1995 and 2012 in single institu...

High operative mortality has been reported after liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients with high preoperative serum alanine aminotransferase (sALT) level. Their long-term prognosis has never been investigated. The aim of this study is to evaluate the benefit of liver resection for HCC in this subgroup of patients....

Background 14-3-3σ is implicated in promoting tumor development of various malignancies. However, the clinical relevance of 14-3-3σ in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor progression and modulation and pathway elucidation remain unclear. Methods We investigated 14-3-3σ expression in 109 HCC tissues by immunohistochemistry. Overexpression and knoc...

Langerhans cell sarcoma (LCS) is a rare malignancy requiring differential diagnosis from other high-grade nonhematologic and hematologic tumors. The pathogenesis of LCS remains unknown. Notably, LCS and its benign counterpart, Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), are frequently associated with other malignancies. To the best of our knowledge, we de...

14-3-3ε is implicated in regulating tumor progression, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our earlier study indicated that elevated 14-3-3ε expression is significantly associated with higher risk of metastasis and lower survival rates of HCC patients. However, the molecular mechanisms of how 14-3-3ε regulates HCC tumor metastasis are still u...

Oligonucleotide sequences for Q-PCR procedures. Primer sequences for CDH1 (E-cadherin), SNAI1 (Snail), ZEB1 (Zeb-1), SMAD2 (Smad-2) and PLA2G2A. (TIF)

Smad-2 does not regulate 14-3-3ε/E-cadherin expression. Smad-2 siRNA has no significant effect on the restoration of 14-3-3ε-reduced E-cadherin expression. (TIF)

14-3-3ε does not direct interact with Zeb-1. No significant interaction between 14-3-3ε and Zeb-1 was observed by using co-immunoprecipitation. Cell lysates were collected and subjected to Protein A magnet beads (Millipore) immunoprecipitation followed by Western blot analysis. (TIF)

Oligonucleotide sequences of small interfering RNAs. siRNA sequences for YWHAE (14-3-3ε), SNAI1 (Snail) and ZEB1 (Zeb-1). (TIF)

Representative immunohistochemical analysis of 14-3-3ε and Zeb-1 in HCC tissues. 14-3-3ε and Zeb-1 are positive expressed in HCC tumors. (TIF)

Correlation of E-cadherin expression with 14-3-3ε and clinicopathological characteristics in primary HCC patients. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze correlation between clinicopathological parameters and 14-3-3ε with E-cadherin expression. (TIF)

TGF-β and PI3K/Akt do not regulate 14-3-3ε/E-cadherin expression. Treatment with SB431542 (TGF-βR Inhibitor) or LY294002 (PI3K Inhibitor) has no significant effect on the restoration of 14-3-3ε-reduced E-cadherin expression. (TIF)

Intraosseous benign notochordal cell tumors are rare and the likely precursors of chordoma. Extraosseous benign notochordal cell tumors have been reported in only 2 patients, and both presented as solitary pulmonary nodules. Here, we report a 53-year-old woman with an incidental finding of small nodules bilaterally in the lungs. The clinician sugge...

P53 inactivation by p53 mutation and E6 oncoprotein plays a crucial role in human carcinogenesis. DDX3 has been shown to be a target of p53. In this study, we hypothesized that DDX3 loss by p53 inactivation may promote tumor malignancy and poor patients’ outcome. Mechanically, DDX3 loss by p53-knockdown and E6-overexpression was observed in A549 lu...

Partitioning defective 3 (Par-3), a crucial component of partitioning-defective complex proteins, controls cell polarity and contributes to cell migration and cancer cell epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. However, the clinical relevance of Par-3 in tumor progression and metastasis has not been well elucidated. In this study, we investigated the...

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is implicated in cancer cell survival, proliferation and migration. Expression of FAK expression is elevated and associated with tumor progression and metastasis in various tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Increased 14-3-3ε expression is shown to be a potential prognostic factor to predict higher risk of...

We present a case of an atypical pituitary adenoma with prominent lymphocyte infiltration and germinal center formation. Histologically, the tumor revealed clusters of large pleomorphic cells with vesicular nuclei, prominent nucleoli, smudgy chromatin, and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm. There was heavy lymphocyte infiltration and prominent germin...

14-3-3β is implicated in cell survival, proliferation, migration, and tumor growth; however, its clinical relevance in tumor progression and metastasis have never been elucidated. To evaluate the clinical significance of 14-3-3β, we analyzed the association of 14-3-3β expression and clinicopathologic characteristics in primary and subsequent metast...

Castleman's disease (CD) is a rare, benign lymphoproliferative disorder that can involve single lymph node stations or can be systemic. Unicentric CD in patients with microcytic anemia is rarely described in the English literature. We describe the case of a 19-year-old Chinese woman with hyaline vascular type of unicentric CD presenting as severe n...

Fas ligand (FasL) -844T/C polymorphism (rs763110) has a demonstrated association with lung cancer risk. FasL -844CC with higher FasL expression has been suggested to contribute to tumor progression via immune escape. However, the impact of FasL -844T/C polymorphism on the clinical outcome of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains to be identifi...

Thick calcification is a rare presentation of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). Penetration into gastric mucosa and pericolic soft tissue has never been reported. We report a case of gastric GIST with cystic degeneration and thick calcification in an 81-year old female, who presented with hematemesis and severe abdominal pain. Thick calcificat...

The results of our earlier studies suggested that 14-3-3ε is involved in cancer cell survival and growth. However, it is not clear whether 14-3-3ε plays a role in tumour metastasis and patient outcome. The aim of this study was to determine whether 14-3-3ε is a marker for predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis and survival. One hundre...

DDX3 alteration has been shown to participate in hepatocellular tumorigenesis via p21(WAF1/CIP1) (p21) deregulation. We observed that DDX3 and p21 expression in lung tumors was negatively associated with E6 expression. Therefore, the aim of this study was to clarify whether deregulation of p21 by DDX3 via an E6-inactivated p53 pathway would enhance...

The 14-3-3γ protein is an important regulator of various cellular and physiologic functions. Overexpression promotes cell proliferation and induces cancer cell polyploidization. Production is up-regulated in human hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the clinical significance of 14-3-3γ for human hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis and survival has n...

Paxillin (PXN) gene mutations are associated with lung adenocarcinoma progression and PXN is known to be a target gene of microRNA-218 (miR-218). On this basis, we hypothesized that PXN overexpression via miR-218 suppression may promote tumor progression and metastasis and that PXN may predict survival and relapse in non-small cell lung cancer (NSC...

Precursor B lymphoblastic neoplasm usually presented as childhood leukemia. Most precursor lymphoblastic lymphoma are T-cell lineage and precursor B lymphoblastic lymphoma constitutes only about 10% of cases according to the WHO Classification of Tumours of Haematologic and Lymphoid Tissues. The most frequent sites of involvement in precursor B lym...

Diabetic nephropathy is characterized as the progressive development of renal insufficiency in a setting of hyperglycemia. Previous studies indicate that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in high glucose-induced renal injury. Cilostazol was reported to lower the production of superoxide significantly in situ. We hypothesized that...

We report a unique case of combined primary neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of the liver in a 65-year-old male patient. The patient underwent segmental resection of the liver and regional lymph node dissection for a tumor mass that measured 7.5 cm in diameter in the right lobe, with regional lymphadenopathy. Histol...

Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has achieved great success in cytological diagnosis of various cancers when compared with conventional smear methods. However, its application in diagnosing nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has never been studied. Eighty-four consecutive patients who underwent nasopharyngeal biopsy for suspicious NPC or a nasopharyngeal ma...

Focal adhesion kinase plays a critical role in cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis. Although focal adhesion kinase overexpression indicates poor prognoses for hepatocellular carcinoma, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis has not been well investigated. In this study, 55 hepatocellular carcinoma patients were enrolled, and their...

Lipoastrocytomas are rare and only four cases have been reported previously. Our case is in the fourth ventricle of a 32 year-old man.Many areas showed tumor cells with a signet-ring appearance and focally formed perivascular arrangements. Eosinophilic granular bodies were frequent. There was strong positive immunoreactivity to GFAP and S-100 prote...

In this paper, a short review of grid generation methods is proposed. Demonstrations of a conformal grid generation by the boundary integral element method and the complex mapping technique are presented in detail. To elaborate the grid generation method, discussions of the associated problems about conformality quality are included. Indicators of...

Malignant mesothelioma is an uncommon tumor of serosal surfaces. The most common sites of origin include the pleura and the peritoneum. Malignant mesothelioma of the tunica vaginalis testis is rare. We describe a 78 year-old man with a 2-month history of a rapidly enlarging scrotum. The initial pathologic diagnosis was fibrous pseudotumor by the pr...

The authors present the first case of a pure osteosarcoma arising in a long-standing uterine leiomyoma along with a literature review of all heterologous sarcomas arising in uterine leiomyoma. Most cases present with abnormal vaginal bleeding and symptoms related to a rapidly enlarged pelvic mass in postmenopausal women with a long-standing history...

Primary signet-ring stromal tumor of the testis is extremely rare. To our knowledge, only one case has been reported in the literature. Herein, we present a case of testicular signet-ring stromal tumor with positive immunostain for CD99, which has not been reported previously. We also review the literature and discuss the clinicopathological signif...

O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation has been demonstrated to associate with the G:C-->A:T transition mutation in the p53 gene of lung tumors. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether MGMT promoter methylation is not only associated with the shift from the G:C-->A:T mutation in the p53 gene but also whether MG...

The purpose of this study was to develop a rabbit model of rhinogenic chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). New Zealand white rabbits were used and divided into two groups. In group A rabbits, a piece of Merocel (Medtronic-Xomed, Jacksonville, FL) was inserted into one nasal cavity and the other was left undisturbed as control. In group B rabbits, 1 microg...

While polyomavirus nephropathy (PVN) is recognized as an emerging cause of graft loss in renal transplants, the prevalence rate of PVN in renal grafts is unclear in Taiwan. Biopsies (n = 412) from 323 Taiwanese renal transplant patients were retrospectively analysed. PVN was diagnosed by the characteristic viropathic change in epithelial cells unde...

Inactivation of p53 by human papillomavirus 16/18 E6 plays a crucial role in cervical tumorigenesis. To investigate the involvement of HPV16/18 in lung tumorigenesis, the association between HPV16 or HPV18 E6 and p53 protein expression in 122 lung tumors was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and data showed that HPV16/18 E6 expression correlated i...

Synchronous tumors of the stomach are uncommon. We present a unique case of gastric synchronous tumors composed of signet-ring cell adenocarcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST). The two tumors arose at the same site and were sharply juxtaposed without intermingling of morphologically distinct elements. Coincidence probably accounts for...

Angiosarcoma developing within a schwannoma is rare, and only 8 cases have been reported in the literature. Its association with a plexiform schwannoma has never been reported. We describe an epithelioid angiosarcoma arising in a plexiform schwannoma of the sciatic nerve in a 73-year-old man not known to have von Recklinghausen disease. Grossly, th...

Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD) with thyroid involvement is extremely rare; we herein present the sixth known case with a review of the previously reported five cases and discuss the clinicopathological characteristics of this entity. RDD with thyroid involvement has occurred only in females with a mean age of 56.3 years, which is significantly differe...

Reported herein is an unusual case of atypical teratoid/ rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) of the lumbar spine with an intradural extramedullary location in a 7-year-old boy. Histologically, this tumor contained rhabdoid cells, pale cells, and sickle-shaped embracing cells without primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), mesenchymal or epithelial components. I...

Here, we report an unusual case of gastric anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), lymphohistiocytic variant, in a 70-year-old female patient who presented with epigastric pain, tarry stool and body weight loss. Endoscopic and imaging findings revealed a Bormann type II tumor in the stomach with perigastric lymphadenopathy and multiple tumor nodules...

Based on the study of grid generation methods in a simply connected region (Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engng 1997; 40:343), with the aid of a new transformation from a multiply connected region to a simply connected domain, the grid generation in a multiply connected domain is carried out in this paper. 2-D conformal and orthogonal grids are generated in...

It is important to distinguish gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) from other gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors (GIMTs), because of the malignant potential of GISTs and the availability of molecular targeted therapy. GISTs represent the most common subgroup of GIMTs, and rarely occur in the colon and rectum. The first objective of our retrosp...

Assuming a sharp interface between freshwater and seawater within a coastal aquifer, a theory is developed to account for the piezometric head movement of steady and unsteady components in terms of large- and small-time scales. Tidal fluctuations are simulated by a series of decomposed simple harmonic motions in time. Groundwater fluctuation induce...