Esophageal tumors

CHEN J (1992) The effects of Chinese tea on the occurrence of esophageal tumors induced by N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine in rats , Prev Med, 21 (3), 385-91. 

Both l-nitroso-3,5-dimethylpiperazine and l-nitroso-3,4,5-trimethylpiperazine induced a high incidence of thymic leukemia in rats within 6 months (23). The 4-acetyl derivative of the former induced esophageal tumors in the same time, while the 4-benzoyl derivative was a very much weaker carcinogen, giving rise to only a few tumors of the forestomach after almost 2 years. These contrasting results are difficult to reconcile with any simple mechanism of carcinogenesis. 

In summary, the superior and inferior margins are approx 5 cm above and below the primary tumor as defined by clinical and radiological studies. The fields are slightly larger for tumors above the carina so as to include the supraclavicular region and lower esophageal tumors so as to include the celiac node. 

One of the more important classes of chemical carcinogens are N-nitrosamines. They are important because practically all of the simple nitrosamines are carcinogenic, they are widely distributed in our environment and can be formed in the stomach from secondary and tertiary amines and the ubiquitous nitrite ion. Moreover, nitrosamines are very organ-specific. Thus, a given nitrosamine will produce a liver or an esophageal tumor, regardless of the route of administration of the carcinogen. This fact makes nitrosamines very useful in the study of mechanisms of tumor induction (1). 

The most direct way of testing the possibility that reaction of an ingested amine with nitrite can give rise to sufficient of a carcinogenic N-nitroso compound to induce tumors has been to feed the amine and nitrite simultaneously to animals for most of their lifespan. The first successful experiment of this type was that of Sander and BUrkle ( ), using the amine methyl benzyl amine, which when fed to rats with nitrite induced esophageal tumors, the same tumor induced in rats by feeding nitrosomethyl benzyl amine. Similar experiments were carried out in mice with piperazine (24), and in rats with heptamethyleneimine (25). 

Mirvish, S.S., Salmasi, S., Lawson, T.A., Pour, P. Sutherland, D. (1985) Test of catechol, tannic acid, Bidens pilosa, croton oil, and phorbol for cocarcinogenesis of esophageal tumors induced in rats by methyl-n-amylnitrosamine. J. natl Cancer Inst., 14, 12831290... 

Table III. Esophageal Tumor Incidence in Control and Zinc Deficient...

The electroporation-mediated in vivo gene transfer had been successfully used for hepatic parenchyma (70, 71), hepatocellular carcinoma (72), skin (73,74), skeletal muscle (69, 75,761, mouse testes (77), melanoma (65), human primary myoblast (78), glomeruli (79), brain (80), human primary hematopoietic stem cells (81), human esophageal tumor (82), and rat skeletal muscle for correcting anemia of renal failure (83). 

Abe S, Sasaki M. 1982. Induction of sister-chromatid exchanges by indirect mutagens/carcinogens in cultured rat hepatoma and esophageal tumor cells and in Chinese hamster Don cells co-cultivated with rat cells. Mutat Res 93 409-418. 

Prevot S, Bienvenu L, Vaillant JC, de Saint-Maur PP. Benign schwannoma of the digestive tract a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical smdy of five cases, including a case of esophageal tumor. Am J Surg Pathol. 1999 23 431-436. 

One study showed 43% ErbB-2 positivity in esophageal tumors, and association with a better prognosis to neoadjuvant therapy (Duhaylongsod et al., 1995). In Barrett s adenocarcinoma expression correlates with decreased patient survival (Flejou et al., 1994). 

Boyland et al. (15A01) discussed the possibility of the presence of NNAs in tobacco smoke, particularly in the acidic environment of the cigarette smoke (pH < 6.7) as opposed to the alkaline environment (pH > 7.0) of cigar and pipe smoke. Boyland et al. (422,423) suggested that it was possible, because of the formation of NNAs by the reaction of NO with secondary amines, that cigarette MSS could contain NAB and NNN because of the presence in tobacco MSS of nomicotine and anabasine. They reported that NAB, when administered orally to rats, produced numerous esophageal tumors in the treated animals. 

NAB, when administered orally to rats, induced esophageal tumors in the treated animals. 

Given the vast number of cell types present in the esophagus, a variety of tumors can arise. Spindle cell carcinoma, small-cell carcinoma, leiomyosarcoma, Kaposi s sarcoma, and malignant melanoma comprise rare malignant esophageal tumors. The vast majority of primary malignant tumors of the esophagus, however, include squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinomas. 

The esophagus is a hollow organ and may appear collapsed on routine CT. Its non-distended wall, even if normal, may appear thickened, nodular and irregular, thus simulating a tumor. Furthermore, it is difficult to judge the superior and inferior extent of esophageal tumors on standard CT exams (Lyang and Chan 1996). 

Most esophageal tumors are diagnosed by endoscopy, with thoraco-abdominal axial CT used to stage tumor spread acquisition of 3D data set permits acquisition of three-dimensional modeling, virtual endoscopic images, and conventional axial CT information within a single examination. 

---