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1.
Relationship between serum soluble vascular adhesion protein-1 level and gastric cancer prognosis.
Kaplan, MA, Kucukoner, M, Inal, A, Urakci, Z, Evliyaoglu, O, Firat, U, Kaya, M, Isikdogan, A
Oncology research and treatment. 2014;(6):340-4
Abstract
BACKGROUND Vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1) is a glycoprotein that mediates tissue-selective lymphocyte adhesion in a sialic acid-dependent manner. The prognostic importance of VAP-1 was determined in various human cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between VAP-1 and prognosis of gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS Serum of operable and metastatic gastric cancer patients was collected before treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, and/or chemotherapy). VAP-1 levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS A total of 86 gastric cancer patients (32 female, 54 male) were included in the study. Curative surgical treatment was performed in 54 (62.8%) patients. The mean serum VAP-1 level was 324.4 pg/ml and significantly higher in operable gastric cancer patients compared to metastatic gastric cancer patients (383.1 ± 173.5 vs. 225.2 ± 113.9 pg/ml; p < 0.001). When a cut-off value for VAP-1 of 218.8 pg/ml was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for presence of metastasis, sensitivity and specificity were 81.5 and 65.6%, respectively. Patients with decreased VAP-1 levels had a significantly poorer prognosis compared to patients with increased serum VAP-1 levels (median survival 8.2 vs. 23.5 months; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that VAP-1 is an independent prognostic factor of gastric cancer (odds ratio 2.3, 95% confidence interval 1.1-4.9; p = 0.032). CONCLUSION A low serum VAP-1 level may be an indicator of poor prognosis in gastric cancer. This study demonstrated that low serum VAP-1 levels are associated with poor prognosis in gastric cancer patients.
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2.
[Significance of vitamins A and E in the cervical intraepithelial neopiasia--CEN].
Basta, T, Jach, R, Streb, J, Hosiawa, W, Gawron, I
Przeglad lekarski. 2014;(12):685-9
Abstract
UNLABELLED Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia--CIN affects women in their repro- ductive life period. CIN may proceed squamous cervical cancer. CIN is divided into: CIN1, CIN2, CIN3. CIN3 comprises cervical cancer in situ- CIS which is the true precancer state within the cervix. CIN, depending on grade may progress, regress or persist for many years. According to a few publication vitamins C, E and A may protect against carcinogenesis within the cervix. The aim of this paper was evalua- tion of vitamins A and E serum concentration of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia patients. The study material consisted of 289 women aged 25-60 years diagnosed with CIN and early invasive cervical cancer IA. The subjects of the study were selected amongst participants of National Cervical Cancer Screen- ing Program attending Department of Gynecology and Oncology of Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow. The control group consisted of 44 women aged 28-56 years diagnosed and treated in the same centre and period due to a non oncologic gynecologic conditions. Serum vitamin A and E was measured with HPLC method with ultraviolet detector (UV) (254 nm). RESULTS Medium serum vitamin A concentration in the study group was 2.67 ± 1.15 mg/l and was significantly (p < 0.001) lower than in control group -3.81 ± 1.62 mg/l. Mean serum vitamin E concentration in the study group was 3.95 ± 1.93 mg/l and was also significantly (p < 0.001) lower than in control group (8.63 ± 2.84 mg/l). To conclude, the observed significantly lower vitamins A and E serum concentrations may be related to the cervical neoplasia process. The normal vitamin A and E serum levels may have a protective effect against cervical carcinogenesis.
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3.
Evaluation of 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) as prognostic markers in prostate cancer.
Gondek, T, Szajewski, M, Szefel, J, Aleksandrowicz-Wrona, E, Skrzypczak-Jankun, E, Jankun, J, Lysiak-Szydlowska, W
BioMed research international. 2014;:102478
Abstract
In carcinoma of prostate, a causative role of platelet 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) for tumor progression has been firmly established in tumor and/or adjacent tissue. Our goal was to investigate if 12-LOX and/or PAI-1 in patient's plasma could be used to predict outcome of the disease. The study comprised 149 patients (age 70±9) divided into two groups: a study group with carcinoma confirmed by positive biopsy of prostate (n=116) and a reference group (n=33) with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The following parameters were determined by the laboratory test in plasma or platelet-rich plasma: protein level of 12-LOX, PAI-1, thromboglobulin (TGB), prostate specific antigen (PSA), C-reactive protein (CRP), hemoglobin (HGB, and hematocrit (HCT), as well as red (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC), number of platelets (PLT), international normalized ratio of blood clotting (INR), and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). The only difference of significance was noticed in the concentration of 12-LOX in platelet rich plasma, which was lower in cancer than in BPH group. Standardization to TGB and platelet count increases the sensitivity of the test that might be used as a biomarker to assess risk for prostate cancer in periodically monitored patients.
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4.
Role of dynamic contrast-enhanced sonography for characterization and monitoring of extramedullary myeloma: comparison with serologic data.
Pintoffl, JP, Weisel, K, Schulze, M, Maksimovic, O, Claussen, CD, Kramer, U, Horger, M
Journal of ultrasound in medicine : official journal of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine. 2013;(10):1777-88
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To measure blood perfusion in extramedullary myeloma by contrast-enhanced sonography, correlate it with specific hematologic parameters, and determine their utility for local and systemic response monitoring. METHODS Twenty-five consecutive patients (14 male and 11 female; median age, 68 years) with extramedullary myeloma were included. After intravenous administration of 2.4 mL of sulfur hexafluoride, extramedullary myeloma masses were examined for 60 seconds. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced sonography at baseline, and 15 were monitored additionally (3 weeks during therapy). Average peak perfusion, regional blood flow (RBF), and regional blood volume (RBV) were calculated. Baseline perfusion parameters were compared with short-term follow-up sonographic data and serologic biomarkers (M gradient). For validation of extramedullary myeloma and systemic myeloma, patients underwent midterm (<3 months) imaging and serologic diagnosis. RESULTS Patients with baseline β2-microglobulin (B2M) greater than 3.5 mg/L (n = 17) showed higher perfusion parameters compared with baseline B2M less than 3.5 mg/L (n = 8). At short-term follow-up, patients were classified by serologic criteria as responders (n = 9) and nonresponders (n = 6) and by sonographic criteria as responders (n = 10) and nonresponders (n = 5). In sonographic responders, mean peak, RBV, and RBF dropped from 59.13, 1446.09, and 71.52 (artificial units) at baseline to 29.30, 364.19, and 34.64 at follow-up (P < .05), whereas in nonresponders, perfusion parameters increased from 33.18, 789.82, and 36.92 at baseline to 51.14, 1491.06, and 65.34 at follow-up (P > .05). Prediction of a midterm course of systemic myeloma using serologic data yielded sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.66, 0.77, 0.66, and 0.77, whereas sonographic results (judged by RBV) yielded values of 0.66, 0.55, 0.5, and 0.71. Separate prediction of a local (extramedullary myeloma) response by sonography yielded sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of 0.8, 1.0, 1.0, and 0.71. CONCLUSIONS Contrast-enhanced sonography is a valuable tool for short-term monitoring of the treatment response in extramedullary myeloma.
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5.
[Serum levels of 25(OH)D3 in patients with prostate cancer compared to healthy men].
Lizis-Kolus, K, Hubalewska-Dydejczyk, A, Piwońska-Solska, B, Sowa-Staszczak, A, Kowalska, A, Jaskulski, J, Obarzanowski, M, Orlowski, P
Przeglad lekarski. 2013;(11):926-32
Abstract
UNLABELLED Prostate cancer (CaP) is one of the most common cancers in men. On the basis of international and Polish epidemiological data it is estimated that is the second leading cause of death from cancer. These data tend to look for underlying causes such a high incidence. Detected in 1990, the relationship between UV radiation and the reduction of mortality rate due to CaP gave rise to the search for effects of vitamin D, in CaP. The aim of this study was to evalu ate the concentration of 25(OH)D3 in patients treated for prostate cancer (CaP) compared to the control group of healthy men, and attempt to assess the relationship 25(OH)D3 shortage of CaP incidence and degree of its clinical advancement. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 42 men, aged from 42 to 86 years (average age 66.14+/-8.92 years) treated between 2005-2013 in śCO due to prostate cancer. The control group consisted of 40 healthy men aged from 42 to 78 years (average age 63.17+/-9.02) in whom CaP and other cancer disease were excluded. Patients treated for CaP were divid ed into two groups depending on the severity of the cancer being evaluated by the TNM scale. Group 1 consisted of 11 patients with low severity of CaP-T1, group 2 -31 patients with higher tumor stage (T2+T3+T4). In all patients, serum 25(OH)D3 was marked in venous blood collected in the morning. RESULTS The concentration of 25(OH)D3 in the group of patients with CaP occured in 80.94. There was no statistically significant difference between patients 25(OH)D3 concentra tions of CaP and control group (p = 0.3756). In both subgroups of patients with CaP showed no statistically significant difference 25(OH)D3 concentra tions (p = 0.5672), depending on the tumor advancement stage (according to TNM). CONCLUSIONS The majority of tested patients with prostate cancer were low concentrations of vitamin D3. There were no significant differences in concentrations of vitamin D3 in the group of patients with CaP and in the control group. Based on the analysis no relationship between the 25(OH)D3 concentration and the stage of CaP was showed, too.
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6.
Effect of a low fat versus a low carbohydrate weight loss dietary intervention on biomarkers of long term survival in breast cancer patients ('CHOICE'): study protocol.
Sedlacek, SM, Playdon, MC, Wolfe, P, McGinley, JN, Wisthoff, MR, Daeninck, EA, Jiang, W, Zhu, Z, Thompson, HJ
BMC cancer. 2011;:287
Abstract
BACKGROUND Weight loss in overweight or obese breast cancer patients is associated with an improved prognosis for long term survival. However, it is not clear whether the macronutrient composition of the chosen weight loss dietary plan imparts further prognostic benefit. A study protocol is presented for a dietary intervention to investigate the effects of weight loss dietary patterns that vary markedly in fat and carbohydrate contents on biomarkers of exposure to metabolic processes that may promote tumorigenesis and that are predictive of long term survival. The study will also determine how much weight must be lost for biomarkers to change in a favorable direction. METHODS/DESIGN Approximately 370 overweight or obese postmenopausal breast cancer survivors (body mass index: 25.0 to 34.9 kg/m²) will be accrued and assigned to one of two weight loss intervention programs or a non-intervention control group. The dietary intervention is implemented in a free living population to test the two extremes of popular weight loss dietary patterns: a high carbohydrate, low fat diet versus a low carbohydrate, high fat diet. The effects of these dietary patterns on biomarkers for glucose homeostasis, chronic inflammation, cellular oxidation, and steroid sex hormone metabolism will be measured. Participants will attend 3 screening and dietary education visits, and 7 monthly one-on-one dietary counseling and clinical data measurement visits in addition to 5 group visits in the intervention arms. Participants in the control arm will attend two clinical data measurement visits at baseline and 6 months. The primary outcome is high sensitivity C-reactive protein. Secondary outcomes include interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF), IGF binding protein-3, 8-isoprostane-F2-alpha, estrone, estradiol, progesterone, sex hormone binding globulin, adiponectin, and leptin. DISCUSSION While clinical data indicate that excess weight for height is associated with poor prognosis for long term survival, little attention is paid to weight control in the clinical management of breast cancer. This study will provide information that can be used to answer important patient questions about the effects of dietary pattern and magnitude of weight loss on long term survival following breast cancer treatment. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION CA125243.
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7.
PNL2 melanocytic marker in immunohistochemical evaluation of primary mucosal melanoma of the head and neck.
Morris, LG, Wen, YH, Nonaka, D, DeLacure, MD, Kutler, DI, Huan, Y, Wang, BY
Head & neck. 2008;(6):771-5
Abstract
BACKGROUND Histologic diagnosis of mucosal melanoma of the head and neck is difficult, requiring immunohistochemical stains which are less reliable than in cutaneous lesions. PNL-2 is a novel marker that has not been examined in mucosal melanoma. METHODS Nine formalin-fixed tissue sections of mucosal melanoma were stained with PNL-2, human melanoma black (HMB)-45, Melan-A, S-100, and microphthalmia transcription factor (MITF). RESULTS Disease in all 9 patients arose from the sinonasal mucosa. Rates of diffuse positive staining with the 4 stains were PNL-2 (77.8%), HMB-45 (77.8%), Melan-A (50%), S-100 (87.5%), and MITF (40%). In 3 patients, PNL2 staining was superior to Melan-A or MITF. CONCLUSION We report the first characterization of PNL-2 staining in head and neck mucosal melanoma. PNL-2 demonstrates high sensitivity for mucosal melanoma, likely superior to Melan-A and MITF, and comparable to HMB-45, with specificity superior to S-100. We advocate inclusion of PNL2 as an important adjunctive marker in the evaluation of these lesions.
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8.
Iodine-123 as a diagnostic imaging agent in differentiated thyroid carcinoma: a comparison with iodine-131 post-treatment scanning and serum thyroglobulin measurement.
Urhan, M, Dadparvar, S, Mavi, A, Houseni, M, Chamroonrat, W, Alavi, A, Mandel, SJ
European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. 2007;(7):1012-7
Abstract
PURPOSE Using 123I for diagnostic purposes avoids the risk of stunning for subsequent radioiodine treatment and affords an excellent image quality. In this study we assessed the role of 123I in comparison with 131I post-treatment imaging in patients with thyroid cancer. METHODS We compared a total of 292 123I scans with their corresponding post-treatment 131I images. Patients received a therapeutic dose of 131I following diagnostic scanning with 50-111 MBq of 123I. All patients were in a hypothyroid state (>30 microIU/l) before radioiodine administration for either diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. RESULTS In 228 out of 263 patients with a positive diagnostic scan, 123I whole-body scan findings were concordant with those of corresponding post-treatment 131I images (concordance rate 87%). However, there were 44 additional foci of abnormal uptake on post-treatment 131I scans in 22 discordant cases with no impact on therapeutic management of the patients. In 13 patients, there was at least one new site on post-treatment images that had been missed on pretreatment 123I images. Twenty-nine patients with a negative diagnostic scan were treated with 131I owing to a high serum thyroglobulin level (range 11.3-480 ng/ml). Radioiodine uptake sites were seen in eight post-treatment scans. In 21 pairs of whole-body scans, both the pre- and the post-treatment scan were negative (concordance rate 72.4%). CONCLUSION 123I scanning is comparable to high-dose 131I post-treatment imaging in thyroid carcinoma patients, and 123I offers excellent image quality as a diagnostic agent. It avoids disadvantages such as stunning before treatment and delivery of a high radiation dose to patients.
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9.
Quantification of prostate MRSI data by model-based time domain fitting and frequency domain analysis.
Pels, P, Ozturk-Isik, E, Swanson, MG, Vanhamme, L, Kurhanewicz, J, Nelson, SJ, Van Huffel, S
NMR in biomedicine. 2006;(2):188-97
Abstract
This paper compares two spectral processing methods for obtaining quantitative measures from in vivo prostate spectra, evaluates their effectiveness, and discusses the necessary modifications for accurate results. A frequency domain analysis (FDA) method based on peak integration was compared with a time domain fitting (TDF) method, a model-based nonlinear least squares fitting algorithm. The accuracy of both methods at estimating the choline + creatine + polyamines to citrate ratio (CCP:C) was tested using Monte Carlo simulations, empirical phantom MRSI data and in vivo MRSI data. The paper discusses the different approaches employed to achieve the quantification of the overlapping choline, creatine and polyamine resonances. Monte Carlo simulations showed induced biases on the estimated CCP:C ratios. Both methods were successful in identifying tumor tissue, provided that the CCP:C ratio was greater than a given (normal) threshold. Both methods predicted the same voxel condition in 94% of the in vivo voxels (68 out of 72). Both TDF and FDA methods had the ability to identify malignant voxels in an artifact-free case study using the estimated CCP:C ratio. Comparing the ratios estimated by the TDF and the FDA, the methods predicted the same spectrum type in 17 out of 18 voxels of the in vivo case study (94.4%).
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10.
Monte Carlo-based inverse model for calculating tissue optical properties. Part II: Application to breast cancer diagnosis.
Palmer, GM, Zhu, C, Breslin, TM, Xu, F, Gilchrist, KW, Ramanujam, N
Applied optics. 2006;(5):1072-8
Abstract
The Monte Carlo-based inverse model of diffuse reflectance described in part I of this pair of companion papers was applied to the diffuse reflectance spectra of a set of 17 malignant and 24 normal-benign ex vivo human breast tissue samples. This model allows extraction of physically meaningful tissue parameters, which include the concentration of absorbers and the size and density of scatterers present in tissue. It was assumed that intrinsic absorption could be attributed to oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin and beta-carotene, that scattering could be modeled by spheres of a uniform size distribution, and that the refractive indices of the spheres and the surrounding medium are known. The tissue diffuse reflectance spectra were evaluated over a wavelength range of 400-600 nm. The extracted parameters that showed the statistically most significant differences between malignant and nonmalignant breast tissues were hemoglobin saturation and the mean reduced scattering coefficient. Malignant tissues showed decreased hemoglobin saturation and an increased mean reduced scattering coefficient compared with nonmalignant tissues. A support vector machine classification algorithm was then used to classify a sample as malignant or nonmalignant based on these two extracted parameters and produced a cross-validated sensitivity and specificity of 82% and 92%, respectively.