The relationship between baseline serum albumin level and long-term prognosis of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remains unknown. This is a sub-analysis of the CLIONE (Clinical Outcome Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) study. The main outcomes were: death or orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), liver-related death, and liver-related events (hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC], decompensated cirrhosis, and gastroesophageal varices/bleeding). 1383 Japanese patients with biopsy-confirmed NAFLD were analyzed. They were divided into 3 groups based on serum albumin: high (>4.0 g/dL), intermediate (3.5–4.0 g/dL), and low (<3.5 g/dL). Unadjusted hazard ratio [HR] of the intermediate albumin group, compared with the high albumin group, were 3.6 for death or OLT, 11.2 for liver-related death, 4.6 for HCC, 8.2 for decompensated cirrhosis, and 6.2 for gastroesophageal varices (all risks were statistically significant). After adjusting confounding factors, albumin remained significantly associated with death or OLT (intermediate vs. high albumin group: HR 3.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.59–5.91, p < 0.001; low vs. high albumin group: HR 22.9, 95% CI 8.21–63.9, p < 0.001). Among biopsy-confirmed NAFLD patients, those with intermediate or low serum albumin had a significantly higher risk of death or OLT than those with high serum albumin.

Raman spectroscopy (RS), a non-invasive and label-free method, has been suggested to improve accuracy of cytological and even histopathological diagnosis. To our knowledge, this novel technique tends to be employed without concrete knowledge of molecular changes in cells. Therefore, identification of Raman spectral markers for objective diagnosis is necessary for universal adoption of RS. As a model study, we investigated human mammary epithelial cells (HMEpC) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7) by RS and employed various multivariate analyses (MA) including principal components analysis (PCA), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and support vector machine (SVM) to estimate diagnostic accuracy. Furthermore, to elucidate the underlying molecular changes in cancer cells, we utilized multivariate curve resolution analysis–alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) with non-negative constraints to extract physically meaningful spectra from complex cellular data. Unsupervised PCA and supervised MA, such as LDA and SVM, classified HMEpC and MCF-7 fairly well with high accuracy but without revealing molecular basis. Employing MCR-ALS analysis we identified five pure biomolecular spectra comprising DNA, proteins and three independent unsaturated lipid components. Relative abundance of lipid 1 seems to be strictly regulated between the two groups of cells and could be the basis for excellent discrimination by chemometrics-assisted RS. It was unambiguously assigned to linoleate rich glyceride and therefore serves as a Raman spectral marker for reliable diagnosis. This study successfully identified Raman spectral markers and demonstrated the potential of RS to become an excellent cytodiagnostic tool that can both accurately and objectively discriminates breast cancer from normal cells.

Pancreas divisum, the most common congenital anomaly of the pancreas, is caused by failure of the fusion of the ventral and dorsal pancreatic duct systems during embryological development. Although various pancreatic tumors can occur in patients with pancreas divisum, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm is rare. A 77-year-old woman was referred to our hospital because she was incidentally found to have a cystic tumor in her pancreas at a regular health checkup. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography images demonstrated a cystic tumor in the head of the pancreas measuring 40 mm in diameter with slightly enhancing mural nodules within the cyst. Endoscopic retrograde pancreatography via the major duodenal papilla revealed a cystic tumor and a slightly dilated main pancreatic duct with an abrupt interruption at the head of the pancreas. The orifice of the major duodenal papilla was remarkably dilated and filled with an abundant extrusion of mucin, and the diagnosis based on pancreatic juice cytology was “highly suspicious for adenocarcinoma”. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography depicted a normal, non-dilated dorsal pancreatic duct throughout the pancreas. The patient underwent a pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy under the diagnosis of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm with suspicion of malignancy arising in the ventral part of the pancreas divisum. A pancreatography via the major and minor duodenal papillae on the surgical specimen revealed that the ventral and dorsal pancreatic ducts were not connected, and the tumor originated in the ventral duct, i.e., the Wirsung’s duct. Microscopically, the tumor was diagnosed as intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma with microinvasion. In addition, marked fibrosis with acinar cell depletion was evident in the ventral pancreas, whereas no fibrotic change was noted in the dorsal pancreas. Invasive ductal carcinomas of the pancreas associated with pancreas divisum usually arise from the dorsal pancreas, in which the occurrence of pancreatic cancer may link to underlying longstanding chronic pancreatitis in the dorsal pancreas; however, the histopathogenesis of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm in this anomaly is a critical issue that warrants further investigation in future.