Unintended irradiation of internal mammary chain – Is that enough?

Aim

To evaluate the unintentional coverage of the internal mammary chain (IMC) with tangential fields irradiation to the breast, and its relation with the type of surgery employed.

Background

The dose distribution in regions adjacent to the treatment targets (mammary gland or chest wall), with incidental irradiation of the IMC, could translate into clinical benefit, due to the proximity of these regions.

Materials and methods

One hundred and twelve consecutive conformal radiotherapy plans were correlating the average dose to the IMC with the type of surgery employed, the extent of disease and the irradiation techniques.

Results

The mean doses to IMC after modified radical mastectomy (MRM), modified radical mastectomy with immediate reconstruction (MRM + R), and breast conservative surgery (BCS) were 30.34 Gy, 30.26 Gy, and 18.67 Gy, respectively. Significant differences were identified between patients who underwent MRM or MRM + R over BCS (p = 0.01 and 0.003, respectively), but not between MRM and MRM + R (p = 0.88). Mean doses to IMC were greater in patients with T3–T4 tumors when compared with more initial stages (≤T2) (p = 0.0096). The lymph node involvement also correlated with higher average doses to IMC (node positive: 26.1 Gy × node negative: 17.8 Gy, p = 0.0017).

Conclusions

The moderate dose level to the IMC in the unintentional irradiation scenario seems to be insufficient to treat the subclinical disease, although it could have an impact in patients undergoing mastectomy.     

Progress and prospects for the discovery of biomarkers for gastric cancer: a focus on proteomics

Introduction: Patient outcomes from gastric cancer vary due to the complexity of stomach carcinogenesis. Recent research using proteomic technologies has targeted components of all of these systems in order to develop biomarkers to aid the early diagnosis of gastric cancer and to assist in prognostic stratification.

Areas covered: This review is comprised of evidence obtained from literature searches from PubMed. It covers the evidence of diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers for gastric cancer using proteomic technologies, and provides up-to-date references.

Expert commentary: The proteomic technologies have not only enabled the screening of a large number of samples, but also enabled the identification of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive biomarkers for gastric cancer. While major challenges still remain, to date, proteomic studies in gastric cancer have provided a wealth of information in revealing proteome alterations associated with the disease.     

Emerging power of proteomics for delineation of intrinsic tumor subtypes and resistance mechanisms to anti-cancer therapies

Introduction: Despite extreme genetic heterogeneity, tumors often show similar alterations in the expression, stability, and activation of proteins important in oncogenic signaling pathways. Thus, classifying tumor samples according to shared proteomic features may help facilitate the identification of cancer subtypes predictive of therapeutic responses and prognostic for patient outcomes. Meanwhile, understanding mechanisms of intrinsic and acquired resistance to anti-cancer therapies at the protein level may prove crucial to devising reversal strategies.

Areas covered: Herein, we review recent advances in quantitative proteomic technology and their applications in studies to identify intrinsic tumor subtypes of various tumors, to illuminate mechanistic aspects of pharmacological and oncogenic adaptations, and to highlight interaction targets for anti-cancer compounds and cancer-addicted proteins.

Expert commentary: Quantitative proteomic technologies are being successfully employed to classify tumor samples into distinct intrinsic subtypes, to improve existing DNA/RNA based classification methods, and to evaluate the activation status of key signaling pathways.     

Mapping and analyzing the human liver proteome: progress and potential

Introduction: The liver is an important organ in humans. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the deadliest cancers in the world. Progress in the Human Liver Proteome Project (HLPP) has improved understanding of the liver and the liver cancer proteome.

Areas covered: Here, we summarize the recent progress in liver proteome modification profiles, proteomic studies in liver cancer, proteomic study in the search for novel liver cancer biomarkers and drug targets, and progress of the Chromosome Centric Human Proteome Project (CHPP) in the past five years in the Institutes of Biomedical Sciences (IBS) of Fudan University.

Expert commentary: Recent advances and findings discussed here provide great promise of improving the outcome of patients with liver cancer.     

Dual‐function fluorescent probe for cancer imaging and therapy

To date, several fluorescent probes modified by a single targeting agent have been explored. However, studies on the preparation of dual‐function quantum dot (QD) fluorescent probes with dual‐targeting action and a therapeutic effect are rare. Here, a dual‐targeting CdTe/CdS QD fluorescent probe with a bovine serum albumin–glycyrrhetinic acid conjugate and arginine‐glycine‐aspartic acid was successfully prepared that could induce the apoptosis of liver cancer cells and showed enhanced targeting in in vitro cell imaging. Therefore, the as‐prepared fluorescent probe in this work is an efficient diagnostic tool for the simultaneous detection of liver cancer and breast cancer cells. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Limits of application of initiated chemiluminescence in monitoring of oncological process of mucous membrane of mouth and larynx

Investigation into the limits of application of chemiluminescence (CL) methods in oncology still attracts the attention of researchers. In the present work we analyze the screening and monitoring of oncological processes (OP) in the mucous membrane of the mouth and larynx by initiated CL (ICL). Chemiluminescence has already been used by stomatologists to define the start of OP, but methods that reflect the metabolic changes in organism under cancer diagnostics still have not found their place. This work presents results of ICL on blood serum (BS) of patients with oncological diseases at different stages of medical treatment compared with those of healthy people. We found an essential metabolic difference only in types of OP that are characterized by two maxima on chemiluminograms. These OP represent only 12.81% of groups of patients with oncological diseases. The possibility to apply ICL methods to monitor operation quality and control medical treatment at different stages when the two ICL maxima are present is established. At present, the chemiluminograms with the two maxima are mostly informative, but this does not exclude the quantitative analysis of other ICL kinetic methods and is encouraging for their investigation. Any OP introduces changes in organism function and these should be reflected in the ICL. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

槐定碱联合顺铂对卵巢癌中FHIT，Survivin 及PTEN表达的影响

目的:探讨槐定碱联合顺铂对卵巢癌中脆性组氨酸三联(FHIT)、凋亡抑制基因survivin、抑癌基因PTEN的表达影响研究。方法:收集我院卵巢癌患者60例,随机分为实验组和对照组,每组30例,所有患者在给予纠正电解质与酸碱平衡等常规治疗后,对照组患者给予顺铂注射液进行治疗,实验组患者在对照组的基础上给予槐定碱注射液进行治疗。观察并比较治疗前后两组患者卵巢癌组织中FHIT,survivin及PTEN表达水平的变化情况以及不良反应的发生率。结果:与治疗前相比,治疗后两组患者FHIT及PTEN表达水平均升高,survivin表达水平均降低(P0.05),治疗结束后与对照组相比,实验组患者FHIT及PTEN表达水平较高(P0.05);与对照组相比,实验组患者survivin表达水平较低(P0.05);且两组患者不良反应率相当(P0.05)。结论:槐定碱联合顺铂可以有效降低卵巢癌的恶性程度,减慢肿瘤细胞的增殖发展,延缓病情,其机制可能与升高抑癌基因FHIT和PTEN的表达水平,以及降低凋亡抑制基因survivin的表达有关。     

microRNA-21 表达水平对新疆地区食管癌患者早期诊断及预后评估的临床价值

目的:探讨microRNA-21表达水平对新疆地区食管癌早期诊断及预后评估的临床价值。方法:收集我院收治的100例食管癌患者,其中哈萨克族患者50例,汉族患者50例,采用RT-PCR以及RT-qPCR的方法对患者血清microRNA-21表达水平进行检测并比较。结果:食管癌患者癌组织中microRNA-21表达水平均高于癌旁组织,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);有淋巴结转移、ⅡB+Ⅲ期、低分化癌组织中的miRNA-21相对表达量高于无淋巴结转移、I+ⅡA期以及高分化癌组织患者,差异具有统计学意义(P0.05);miRNA-21在不同民族、性别、年龄分组中表达无明显差异(P0.05)。结论:microRNA-21表达水平对新疆地区食管癌患者癌组织中表达水平较高,在有淋巴转移、ⅡB+Ⅲ期以及低分化癌组织中表达水平较高,民族、性别以及年龄对microRNA-21水平的影响较小,因此microRNA-21检测对食管癌的早期诊断及预后判断具有指导意义。     

HPV+/-宫颈癌患者临床特点与预后的对比分析

目的:探讨HPV阴性与HPV阳性宫颈癌的临床特点及其和预后的关系。方法:选取住院手术的HPV呈阴性与阳性的宫颈癌患者各86例,且两组患者在年龄、FIGO临床分期相近。分析两组患者的年龄、肿瘤临床分期、病理分型、原发肿瘤大小、分化程度、基层浸润深度、淋巴结转移、治疗方案情况及其5年RFS和总生存时间。结果:两组间宫颈癌患者肿瘤分化程度、肌层浸润深度、淋巴结转移间差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。HPV阳性组和HPV阴性组随访时间分别为63(13~87)个月、61(9~90)个月,5年总生存率分别为70.4%和61.3%,平均总生存时间分别为(73.15±2.74)月和(62.72±3.03)月,差异有统计学意义(p0.05)。HPV阴性组和HPV阳性组5年RFS分别为52.3%和66.4%,平均RFS为(51.57±4.62)月和(58.83±3.46)月,差异有统计学意义(p0.05)。结论:HPV阴性宫颈癌瘤体倾向于低分化,易发生局部侵犯和淋巴结转移,其临床预后较差。