The standard form of CD44 (CD44s) and its isoforms (CD44v) are generated by alternative splicing of the CD44 gene. It has been reported that CD44v6 expression is correlated with cancer metastases.
This study investigated whether the impaired expression of CD44s and CD44v is correlated with nodal metastases of tongue cancer.
The expression of CD44 isoforms was evaluated immunohistochemically in paraffin-embedded tissues from 34 biopsies of tongue cancer, using monoclonal antibodies against CD44s and CD44v (v4, v5, v6, v7-8, v9) . Cancer tissues from 64.7%, 52.9%, 88.2%, 64.7%, 70.6% and 52.9% patients showed positive immunoreactivity for CD44s, v4, v5, v6, v7-8 and v9, respectively. A correlation was observed between the reduced expression of v6 and/or v7-8 and cervical lymph node metastases (P<0.01) .
Furthermore, expression of CD44v6 mRNA was examined by in situ hybridization. Signals of CD44v6 mRNA were detected in the cytoplasm of marginal cancer cells in the cancer nest. The reduction of CD44v6 mRNA expression correlated with cervical lymph node metastases (P<0.05) .
In conclusion, it was thought that determination of v6, v7-8 in tongue cancer patients might provide significant information for predicting stromal invasion and the presence of cervical lymph node metastases.

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Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is a member of the heparin-binding growth factor family and has mitogenetic effects on cultured f ibroblasts. Expression of FGF-2 is reported to be higher in human oral squamous cell carcinomas (HOSCC) than in normal mucosa, with more intense expression in more poorly differentiated tumors. However, many aspects remain unknown regarding the mechanism through which FGF-2 affects the multiplication of f ibroblasts. It is not clear either how FGF-2 is related to invasion and metastasis of HOSCC. In this study, we examined the expression of FGF-2 in HOSCC by immunohistochemical staining and comparative analysis to determine the relevance of FGF-2 for invasion, metastasis and prognosis. For this purpose, the expression of FGF-2 of cancer cells and fibroblasts in front of invasion of HOSCC was divided into Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type and Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (negative) type. Immunohistochemical analysis detected a high level of the Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type in lymph node metastasis (+) cases. Furthermore, there was a tendency for the Cancer cell (positive) Fibroblast (positive) type to increase as the mode of invasion intensified. Using a survival analysis by the Kaplan-Meier method, there was a significant correlation with prognosis. We conclude that FGF-2 may play an important role in the process of invasion and metastasis in HOSCC. FGF-2 was found to correlate with the mode of invasion, lymph node metastasis and prognosis.

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One hundred and thirty-five cases of odontogenic tumors experienced from October 1981 to June 2002 at the Department of Oral and Maxillof acial Surgery, Nara Medical University, were clinico-statistically studied according to the WHO classification of 1992. The tumors were classified into 56 ameloblastomas, 41 compound odontomas, 18 complex odontomas, 17 other benign tumors, and 3 malignant tumors. The age of patients at the first visit ranged from 5 to 77 years, with the mean age of 29.8 years. The tumors were found in 71 males and 64 females, with the male to female ratio of 1.1: 1. There were 45 cases in the maxilla and 90 cases in the mandible. The frequent sites of the ameloblastomas, compound odontomas and complex odontomas were the molar region of the mandible, the anterior region of the maxilla, and the molar region of the mandible, respectively. Most of the chief complaints were the evaluation of lesion, except for ameloblastoma, in which the chief complaint was swelling. Radiographic patterns of ameloblastoma were multilocular in 22 cases, unilocular in 14 cases, and honeycombed in 3 cases. Thirty-nine cases were associated with impacted teeth. The absorption of root of the adjacent teeth was found in 24 cases of ameloblastomas. The treatments were enucleation in 90 cases, marsupialization in 16 cases, segmental resection of mandible in 12 cases, marginal resection of mandible in 3 cases, and partial resection of maxilla in 3 cases. Recurrence was found in 3 ameloblastomas of primary cases, and in 3 ameloblastomas, 1 odontogenic mxyoma and 1 malignant ameloblastoma of secondary cases.

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Nasogastric tube feeding is a good means of feeding patients who have difficulty in taking food orally due to oral cancer.
So far, nasogastric tube feeding has been used for most patients, but it has some problems concering appearauce and long-term use. Therefore, we have applied percutaneous trans-esophageal gastro-tubing (PTEG) to nine patients (post reconstructive surgery : 2 cases, post irradiation to the cervical region : 3 cases, uncontrolled cases of primary tumor : 4 cases) with oral cancer at the Department of Oral Surgery, Saitama Cancer Center.
This method can be performed under local anesthesia, and a nutritious substance can be fed from the next day. There was no trouble in all cases. The period for which this method was applied ranged from 2 months to 1 year and 3 months (average 5.9 months) . It has been shown to improve the long-term quality of life at home.

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