Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0038358 (gastric ulcer)
 5,179 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Malignant melanoma involving the gastrointestinal tract is diagnosed antemortem in only a small percentage of patients with the disease. Presenting symptoms are often non-specific, causing a diagnostic problem. The vast majority of such melanomas are metastatic from a cutaneous primary, however there is evidence that the tumour can arise de novo in the gastrointestinal system. We report a 74-year-old man with malignant melanoma with an unusual presentation simulating a symptomatic gastric ulcer. He presented with epigastric pain, haematemesis and melaena. Explorative laparotomy revealed a large ulcerated tumour with several pigmented satellite nodules in the proximal stomach, multiple ileal nodules and widespread nodal and liver metastases. Proximal gastrectomy and limited small bowel resection was performed. Histology revealed the tumour to be composed of nests of epithelioid cells with melanin pigment. The tumour cells showed immunohistochemical positivity for S100 protein and HMB45 antibodies. This report emphasizes that melanoma should be a diagnostic consideration in patients with gastric ulcer.
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PMID:Malignant melanoma of the gastrointestinal tract presenting as a bleeding gastric ulcer. 1619 79

The liver is the predominant site of metastases in the majority of patients with uveal melanoma, suggesting the evaluation of regional treatment approaches. Here we report our experience with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in uveal melanoma patients with pretreated liver metastases. Twenty-five patients were treated with fotemustine-based or cisplatin-based TACE after treatment failure of systemic therapy between 2003 and 2008 at our institution. Grade III toxicity consisted of gastric ulcer (n=1), fever (n=3), splenic infarction (n=1), and thrombocytopenia (n=1). No grade IV toxicity or catheter-associated complications were observed. Fourteen of 25 patients (56%) had stable disease for at least 2 months and four had partial remission. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3 months (95% confidence interval: 2-4 months) and the median overall survival (OS) was 6 months (95% confidence interval: 5-7 months), with 15% of patients alive at 1 year. Both PFS and OS were significantly longer, when pretreatment lactate dehydrogenase was below the two-fold upper limit of normal (n=11): PFS 5 versus 2 months (P<0.001) and OS 11 versus 5 months (P=0.012). All patients with lactate dehydrogenase less than 2xupper limit of normal had a clinically detectable benefit. TACE is well tolerated and effective in pretreated patients with liver metastases from uveal melanoma. TACE should further be evaluated as first-line therapy in prospective randomized clinical trials.
Melanoma Res 2010 Jun
PMID:Transarterial chemoembolization of liver metastases from uveal melanoma after failure of systemic therapy: toxicity and outcome. 2033 20

The human body is made of some 250 different cell types. From them, only a small subset of cell types is able to produce histamine. They include some neurons, enterochromaffin-like cells, gastrin-containing cells, mast cells, basophils, and monocytes/macrophages, among others. In spite of the reduced number of these histamine-producing cell types, they are involved in very different physiological processes. Their deregulation is related with many highly prevalent, as well as emergent and rare diseases, mainly those described as inflammation-dependent pathologies, including mastocytosis, basophilic leukemia, gastric ulcer, Crohn disease, and other inflammatory bowel diseases. Furthermore, oncogenic transformation switches some non-histamine-producing cells to a histamine producing phenotype. This is the case of melanoma, small cell lung carcinoma, and several types of neuroendocrine tumors. The bioactive compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major component of green tea, has been shown to target histamine-producing cells producing great alterations in their behavior, with relevant effects on their proliferative potential, as well as their adhesion, migration, and invasion potentials. In fact, EGCG has been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral, and anti-angiogenic effects and to be a potent inhibitor of the histamine-producing enzyme, histidine decarboxylase. Herein, we review the many specific effects of EGCG on concrete molecular targets of histamine-producing cells and discuss the relevance of these data to support the potential therapeutic interest of this compound to treat inflammation-dependent diseases.
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PMID:Targeting of histamine producing cells by EGCG: a green dart against inflammation? 2065 70

Gastric ulcer secondary to direct invasion from pancreatic adenocarcinoma is rare. Metastases to the stomach have been commonly reported with melanoma and with primary tumors of the breast, lung, ovary, liver, colon and testis. We report a patient who presented with epigastric pain and in whom subsequently upper endoscopy showed a malignant gastric ulcer secondary to direct invasion from pancreatic adenocarcinoma of the body. An 81-year-old female presented to our hospital with epigastric pain and subsequently underwent endoscopy with endoscopic ultrasound for evaluation of a pancreatic body mass. She had a large gastric ulcer in the fundus which was in direct continuity with the pancreatic mass. Pathology from biopsy of the ulcer revealed invasive well-to-moderately-differentiated adenocarcinoma, and immunohistochemical stains were strongly positive for CA19-9, CK7, CK19 and carcinoembryonic antigen. These findings were consistent with a histopathological diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma of the pancreas. Patients with gastrointestinal metastases usually have advanced malignancy with poor prognosis. Endoscopic evaluation with adequate biopsies should be performed for symptomatic patients.
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PMID:Rare endoscopic manifestation of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. 2285 67