"A 41-year-old male patient complained of a whitish growing mass on the central area of palate. The exophytic keratinizing mass was recently grown and showed rough surface localized at palatal mucosa. He has heavily smoked for more than 25 years. The lesion was clearly demarcated as an out-growing verrucous whitish epithelial lesion with erosive mucosa in the periphery and also continuous with the extensive hyperkeratosis in whole hard palatal mucosa. In the histological examination there appeared a plaque type verrucous hyperplasia in the absence of papillomatous growth. In the series of immunostains including PCNA, p53, β-catenin, APC, E-cadherin, BCL-2, MMP-1 and MMP-3 showed no features of infiltrative growth and malignant transformation. Therefore, the present case was diagnosed oral verrucous hyperplasia(OVH) different from squamous cell papilloma, verrucous leukoplakia, verrucous carcinoma, and oral squamous cell carcinoma."

"Both synovial cysts and synovial chondromatoses originate from synovial tissue, and only one case has been reported to occur simultaneously in a patient. Our patient presented with a swelling of the right preauricular area and pain on opening the mouth. Magnetic resonance images demonstrated two cystic structures in the superficial lobe of right parotid gland. Under the clinical impression of a cyst in the salivary gland, an enucleation was performed. However, the final diagnosis based on microscopic examination was a synovial cyst associated with the right temporomandibular joint and a synovial chondromatosis arising within the cystic wall. Awareness of this combined lesion will help make a diagnosis and establish a proper treatment plan."

"Myositis ossificans traumatica(MOT) in head and neck area is a rare non-neoplastic, heterotopic bone formation within a muscle, arising after trauma or surgery. Although the several case reports have described the occurrence of MOT in other muscles of oro-facial musculature, MOT has never been reported in mentalis muscle. We demonstrate a case of MOT occurred in mentalis muscle of a 64 years old male. He recently complained of a movable mass with no pain. He had experienced a hitting trauma on his right anterior mandible about 25 years ago. Since then, the trauma area has been asymptomatic. The lesion showed severe muscular degeneration, resulted in a pseudocystic change without epithelial lining. The ectopic ossification was closely associated with the fibrous fascia of adjacent muscles. The lesion contained a lot of basophilic materials admixed with atrophying cells, which were supposed to be derived from muscle parenchyma injured previously. It was presumed that the basophilic materials induced callus-like ossification in the fibro-muscular lesion, also recruited macrophages and fibroblasts. However, the ossification processes in MOT were predominantly characterized by dystrophic calcification without osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal cells. Even more, there appeared some skeletal muscle bundles which were calcified dystrophically. Therefore, we suggest the present case of MOT might be initiated by dystrophic calcification in the degenerating muscle tissue. "

"Nodular fasciitis is defined by the World Health Organization as a benign proliferative fibroblastic lesion. It was first described in 1955 by Konwaler et al. and also known as “nodular pseudosarcomatous fasciitis” and “infiltrative fasciitis”, which reflect the lesion’s rapid growth, dense cellularity, alarming mitotoic activity and lack of circumscription. Here, we report a case of nodular fasciitis, which appeared as subcutaneous mass of right perizygoma area in 40-year-old Korean female. She had no history of trauma or cosmetic surgery related with the lesion. She disclosed that the mass grew rapidly for last 2 months. Computed tomography showed relatively well-defined spherical mass with 1.2 cm in diameter. Under local anesthesia the mass was resected by intraoral approach. The histological examination revealed a relatively poor-dermacated mass with high cellularity, which was composed with infiltrative spindle-shaped cells without accompanying inflammatory reactions. The tumor cells were partially positive for α-smooth muscle actin and β-catenin, but negative for cytokeratin AE1/3, S-100, desmin, and CD34. Therefore, the lesion was pathologically diagnosed as nodular fasciitis. Although nodular fasciitis is known to pseudosarcomatous benign reactive lesion, the clinician need to follow up the patient periodically. The reasons are as follows; Nodular fasciitis may accompany nuclear accumulation of β-catenin, which imply neoplastic process rather than reactive process of the lesion. Moreover, it has many histological similarities with inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor which have malignant transformation tendency. Further research for mesenchymal tumor could help our understanding for the disease entity of nodular fasciitis."

"Recurrence-metastasis status of squamous cell carcinoma of tongue is a challenging oncologic problem. This study examined the expression of E-cadherin/β-catenin cell adhesion complex in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue through an immunohistochemical study. Twenty samples from 15 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue, who were treated at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, consisted of primary or recurrent tumors along with matched metastatic lymph nodes were retrieved for immunohistochemical staining and grouped based on recurrence-metastasis status.Differences in stain localization were noted in E-cadherin, β–catenin and phospho β–catenin staining between different tumor groups based on the recurrence-metastasis status. The number of phospho β-catenin stain positive cells was found to have a significant role in survival. E-cadherin confirms its role as a powerful individual differentiation indicator and the role of β-catenin specially the phospho type elicts interest."

"Urokinase-type plasminogen activator(uPA) bound to urokinase plasminogen activator receptor(uPAR) expression is strongly correlated with the metastatic potential of various tumors by enhancing ECM degradation through plasminogen and matrix metallopreotease activation. But expression of uPA/uPAR in human malignant salivary gland tumors has been rarely reported. The purpose of this study were to investigate mRNA expression and cytologic concentration of uPAR in SGT cell line compared to various cancer cell lines by RT-PCR and ELISA method, and to study migration and adhesion assay. These results would be to apply the pathogenesis and prognosis of malignant salivary gland tumors. All the cell lines(SGT, HN 4, SCC 25, and HeLA) were cultured under DMEM with 10% FBS at 37℃ in a 5% CO2 incubator. We studied a possible association between mRNA expression and cytosolic concentrations of uPAR in SGT cell line compared to various cancer cell lines using RT-PCR and an enzyme-linked immunoassay(ELISA) method. And also cell adhesion and migration assay were done in all the cell lines. In migration assay SGT cell line was about 2.5-4 folds higher than another cell lines. In adhesion assay SGT cell line was about 1.1-2 folds higher than another cell lines. uPAR cytosolic concentrations of SGT cell line was about 3.4-10 folds by ELISA, while mRNA expression was about 2.5-5 folds by RT-PCR. Oral Scc cell lines showed the lowest value. uPAR protein and mRNA expression were correlated with migration and adhesion assay. From the aboving results, high cytosolic concentrations and mRNA expression of uPAR were correlated with migration and adhesion assay. It suggested that this might be a specific marker for malignant potential of SGT cell line and would be contributed to pathogenesis and prognosis of human salivary gland adenocarcinoma."

"A rare case of primary intraosseous squamous cell carcinoma(PISCC) arising from lining epithelium of a dentigerous cyst is described. The case occurred at the left mandibular 3rd molar region in a 56-year-old Japanese woman. Clinical observation revealed cyst formation with an impacted 3rd molar, a common finding in dentigerous cyst, in the left mandible. Histopathologically, the lining epithelium of the cyst demonstrated transition from epithelial dysplasia to invasive squamous cell carcinoma(SCC). This case was diagnosed as PISCC arising from lining epithelium of a dentigerous cyst."

"The osteoblastic activity of carcinoma is restricted in osteoblastic metastasis, common in the patients with prostate cancer, whereas its mechanism and the factors involved are unknown. Here, we present a case of central adenocarcinoma showing the osteoblastic activity in the mandible of the 80-year-old Korean male who had suffered from the paresthesia of lower lip during four mouths. Clinically the overlying oral epithelium was intact, but the radiologic images revealed the ill-defined radiolucent intraosseous lesions in left ascending ramus. Microscopically, the mandibular lesion was composed with carcinoma of ductal or glandular differentiation but lack typical features of any epithelial salivary gland malignancies. Intriguingly abundant new bone formation was found in the stroma, but the tumor cells expressed no reactivity for prostate-specific antigen(PSA). The patient had low ionized calcium level, normal serum alkaline phosphatase and PSA level. Positron emission tomography-computed tomopraphy scan revealed the benign prostatic hyperplasia, but failed to trace the primary site of tumor other than mandible. Therefore, pathologically diagnosis for the lesion was informed as adenocarcinoma, not otherwise specified(NOS). Because occult primary tumor associated with osteoblastic metastasis cannot be completely ruled out, periodic and careful check-ups for the patient should be performed."

"For investigate intracellular function and role of genes in the biological processes, various gene delivery methods into cell have been developed. Many studies performed to construct optimum conditions of gene delivery into cells and tissues. In this study, we examined efficiency of gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector in human cancer cell lines. GFP plasmids were complexed with cationic lipid and transfected into human cancer cell lines at different concentrations. And then, expression of GFP was analysed with fluorescent microscope and FACS. To determine efficiency of gene delivery, we investigated GFP expression level in various cancer cell lines. GFP expression cells were not shown in hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 and lung carcimona cell line A549 after 24hr transfection, while, GFP expression cells were observed at 500ng concentration after 48hr transfection. In colorectal carcinoma cell line HCT116, GFP expression cells were observed at 100ng and 500ng concentrations after 24hr transfection and slightly increased at 48hr. After transfection into ovary adenocarcinoma cell line SKOV3, we could found that many cells expressed GFP at 500ng concentration after 24hr and highly elevated GFP expression cells after 48hr. For further evaluate gene expression level, we confirmed GFP expression level by using FACS analysis after 48hr transfection. As a result, HepG2 was expressed GFP in very low level at 10ng, 100ng, and 500ng concentrations. We also identified that GFP was expressed low level at 10ng and 100ng in HCT116 and A549, but highly increased at 500ng concentration to 14.19% and 16.57%, respectively. In case of SKOV3, GFP expression was highly elevated to 13.14% at 100ng and 58.10% at 500ng compared with 10ng transfection. By Comparing efficiency of gene expression among cancer cell lines, GFP expression was similar with cell lines at 10ng transfection, but significantly differed from cell lines at 500ng higher concentration. Additionally, GFP expression level of SKOV3 was showed about 10 fold higher than HepG2, and about 4 fold higher than HCT116 and A549 at 500ng. These results demonstrated that efficiency of gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector was the highest in SKOV3, while HepG2 was showed the lowest efficiency. Taken together, we could determined that efficiency of gene delivery into cells differed from each human cancer cell lines. Our study suggest that cellular properties should be considered in gene delivery-complexed with cationic lipid vector to improve cellular expression efficiency of gene."

"Plasminogen activator(PA) system such as urokinase plasminogen activator(uPA), urokinase PA Receptor(uPAR), tissue, tissue PA, and PA inhibitor-1&2(PAI-1&2) play a role in tumor invasion, metastasis, and proliferation. It is interested that these factors in patients with primary oral squamous cell carcinoma(Oral SCC) will be evaluated and correlated with clinicopathologic variables. Recently, these expression of primary oral SCC has been restricted to clinical or immunohistochemical study such in vivo study.The purpose of this study were to investigate the mRNA expression and cytologic concentration of uPA, uPAr, tPA, and PAI-1,2 in oral SCC cell lines compared to NHOK and to apply these results to evaluate early detection biomarkers of oral SCC in future. All the cell lines(NHOK, HN 4 and SCC 25) were cultured under KBM bullet kit at 37℃ in a 5% CO2 incubator. We studied a possible association between mRNA expression and cytosolic concentrations of uPA, uPAR, tPA, and PAI-1,2 in oral SCC cell lines compared to NHOK using RT-PCR and an enzyme-linked immunoassay(ELISA) method. uPA mRNA expression was about 5-6 folds, while uPAR was about 3 folds, and PAI-1 was about 1.5-1.6 folds. PAI-2 was about1.2-1.3 folds than that of NHOK, while tPA was lower than that of NHOK. uPA cytosolic concentrations was about 15-19 folds, while uPAR was about 8 folds, and PAI-1 was about 3-4.5 folds. PAI-2 was about 2 folds than that of NHOK, while tPA was lower than that of NHOK. Both uPA, uPAR, and PAI-1,2 cytologic concentrations were correlated with mRNA expression of oral SCC cell lines. From the aboving results, high cytosolic concentrations of uPA, uPAR, and PAI-1 & 2 were correlated with mRNA expression. It suggested that these might be specific markers for oral SCC cell lines and these results would be contributed to evaluate early detection biomarkers for human oral squamous cell carcinoma."

"β-phenylethyl isothiocyanate(PEITC) is a component derived from cruciferous vegetables and has been demonstrated to fight many types of cancers through various molecular pathways. In the present study, we focused on its effect on the induction of apoptotic cell death to inhibit cell growth and its molecular mechanism in HSC-4 human oral cancer cells. A colorimetric MTS assay was used to examine cell viability. The apoptotic effect and was investigated using DAPI staining and the molecular target and mechanism of PEITC-mediated apoptosis were determined by Western blotting. The result showed that PEITC inhibited oral cancer cell growth and induced apoptosis via extrinsic signaling pathway evidenced by the activation of caspase 8, truncation of bid protein and induction of death receptor(DR) 5. DR5 protein level was increased through the activation of p38 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase(JNK). These results from this study strongly suggest that DR5 is a potential molecular target for PEITC-induced apoptosis in oral cancer via p38 and JNK."

"In the previous study it was demonstrated that most of sialolith contained bacterial colonies in their center of calcified laminated capsules1). Although it is still not determined whether the bacterial infection is a major pathogenic cause or not, many authors reported that the bacterial vegetation in sialolith can cause chronic suppurative inflammation in salivary gland. Actually a lot of different bacteria were found in oral cavity, most of them are non-pathogenic as normal flora, and only some of them are pathogenic for different mucosal infectious diseases. However, this study was aimed to identify a causative bacterial strain for the sialolith formation in human salivary gland. A strain of Bacillus subtilis(B. subtilis) was found in the culture of sialolith, which was known to be a normal flora related to the fermentation of various Korean bean foods. In vitro culture experiment of B. subtilis it abundantly produced the thick biofilm aggregated around their cells and colony structure, which were subsequently attached on the surface of hydroxyapatite(HA) beads in scanning electronmicroscope(SEM) observation. The bacterial adherence on HA beads was strongest in the culture of B. subtilis, followed by Streptococcus mutans(Str. mutans), oral mixed bacteria, and lactobacillus. Therefore, B. subtilis might be an important causative microorganism for the sialolithiasis in Korean people, and it is suggested that postmeal oral hygiene care should be required to reduce the number of normal flora, B. subtilis, after eating of fermented bean foods."