Chronic hyperglycemia and intracranial meningiomas.

Meningiomas are among the most common primary tumors of the central nervous system. Previous research into the meningioma histological appearance, genetic markers, transcriptome and epigenetic landscape has revealed that benign meningiomas significantly differ in their glucose metabolism compared to aggressive lesions. However, a correlation between the systemic glucose metabolism and the metabolism of the tumor hasn't yet been found. We hypothesized that chronic levels of glycaemia (approximated with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c)) are different in patients with aggressive and benign meningiomas. The study encompassed 71 patients with de novo intracranial meningiomas, operated on in three European hospitals, two in Croatia and one in Spain. Our results show that patients with WHO grade 2 meningiomas had significantly higher HbA1c values compared to patients with grade 1 lesions (P = 0.0290). We also found a significant number of patients (19/71; 26.7%) being hyperglycemic, harboring all the risks that such a condition entails. Finally, we found a significant correlation between our patients' age and their preoperative HbA1c levels (P = 0.0008, ρ(rho) = 0.388), suggesting that older meningioma patients are at a higher risk of having their glycaemia severely dysregulated. These findings are especially important considering the current routine and wide-spread use of corticosteroids as anti-edematous treatment. Further research in this area could lead to better understanding of meningiomas and have immediate clinical impact.

The urinary dehydroepiandrosterone, androsterone and etiocholanolone excretion of healthy women and women with benign and malignant breast disease.

The 24-h urinary excretion of dehydroepiandrosterone, androsterone and etiocholanolone was followed in healthy women (n = 50) and in women with benign-fibroadenoma (n = 32), microcysts (n = 32), macrocysts (n = 25) and malignant (n = 35) breast disease aged 35-50 years. The data were analysed in three groups each covering 5 years (35-39, 40-44 and 45-49). A significant decrease in the excretion of etiocholanolone and dehydroepiandrosterone was found in women with benign and malignant breast disease when compared to controls. There was no significant decrease in androsterone excretion in women with benign and malignant breast disease when compared to a control group. A high correlation was found between excretion of etiocholanolone and its precursor dehydroepiandrosterone both in women with benign-fibroadenoma (r = 0.7683) or macrocysts (r = 0.7337) and in women with malignant (r = 0.805) breast disease. Dehydroepiandrosterone and, in particular, etiocholanolone excretions were found to decrease significantly with age in women affected by malignant breast disease.

Influence of interferon on C19-steroids in urine of malignant skin melanoma and malignant breast neoplasm patients.

The paper evaluates the effect of human leukocyte interferon (HLI) in patients with malignant skin melanoma and malignant neoplasm of the breast. HLI was administered intramuscularly in a daily dose of 2 X 10(5) IU 7 days at 8-week intervals over a period of 12 months. The chosen patients were in the surgical stage of the disease, i.e. they had undergone surgical operation on the primary tumor or on the regional lymph nodes T1-3, N0-1, M0. During the HLI treatment the values of C19-steroid metabolites and particularly of Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHA) were established and the following conclusions have been drawn: the application of HLI in a dose of 2 X 10(5) by the described method has an impact on the change of C19 steroid metabolism in terms of normalization.