Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0035412 (rhabdomyosarcoma)
 6,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

An unusual case of a massive liver tumour composed of rhabdomyosarcoma with a small focus of hepatocellular carcinoma in a 52-year-old man is presented. He had hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen in his serum. Macroscopically, a large tumour with satellite nodules occupied the right lobe of the cirrhotic liver. Microscopically, the tumours were composed of small and short spindle-shaped undifferentiated cells, mixed with desmin-positive round rhabdomyoblasts and elongated striated muscle cells, strongly suggestive of rhabdomyosarcoma of the liver. Elevated levels of alpha-fetoprotein in the serum led us to examine the liver tumour closely in multiple sections, which disclosed a hepatocellular carcinoma component measuring 2 cm in diameter within the massive tumour. Immunohistochemically, the hepatocellular carcinoma cells were alpha-fetoprotein positive. There was neither a tumour capsule, nor distinct demarcation, and cytokeratin-positive clusters of undifferentiated cells were intermingled with the hepatocellular carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma at the border. The invading tumour outside the liver and metastatic tumours were pure rhabdomyosarcomas. It is suggested that the present case should be diagnosed as rhabdomyosarcoma transformed from hepatocellular carcinoma.
 ...
PMID:Sarcomatoid hepatocellular-carcinoma showing rhabdomyoblastic differentiation in the adult cirrhotic liver. 1039 85

The fragility of the evidence for SV40 association with human cancer is seen in studies of NHL. A publication in 1999 stated that SV40 is rarely present in NHL. In 2002, two laboratories reported SV40 sequences in 42% to 43% of cases of NHL . One of these laboratories also detected SV40 sequences in small proportions of pediatric tumors (e.g., Wilm's tumor, hepatoblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma, osteosarcoma, and retinoblastoma) and adult carcinomas (e.g., lung, colon, breast, and prostate) These positive results were not confirmed in subsequent studies published in 2003. Capello et al and Mackenzie et al failed to detect SV40 sequences in NHL tissues. Sanjose et al examined sera from patients with NHL and from controls for antibodies reactive to SV40 VLPs, and they detected no significant differences between the two groups. The association of SV40 with NHL is in doubt. An etiologic link between a virus and a cancer becomes plausible when evidence from different lines of enquiry (e.g., epidemiology, pathogenesis, and molecular mechanisms) is mutually reinforcing and together provides a coherent picture that can connect the biology the virus to the characteristics of the disease. The associations of human papillomaviruses with cervical cancer and hepatitis B and C viruses with hepatocellular carcinoma are examples in which the etiologic link is clear. With SV40 and mesothelioma, the data on viral sequences in tumors is inconsistent and disputed, and serologic evidence does not support any association. The epidemiologic data do not show that documented exposures tt SV40 increase the risk of mesothelioma. It seems improbable that a single virus (which cannot be conclusively demonstrated to be present in the community) contributes to the development of such a wide variety of tumors, spanning all age groups and histologic types. The weaknesses in the evidence linking SV40 with mesothelioma are summarized in Box 11 It seems unlikely that infection with SV40 contributes to the development of human mesothelioma or any other human cancer.
 ...
PMID:Causality of mesothelioma: SV40 question. 1555 56