RESUMO
Sorafenib is an oral multikinase inhibitor with anticancer activity against a wide spectrum of cancers. It is currently approved for the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, advanced renal cell carcinoma or progressive, locally advanced or metastatic differentiated thyroid carcinoma. In this review, we present a number of studies that investigated the efficacy and safety of sorafenib in these settings. We also discuss the perspectives on the use of this molecule, including the role of sorafenib as comparator for the development of new drugs, the combination of sorafenib with additional therapies (such as transarterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma) and the use of this treatment in several other advanced refractory solid tumors.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Hepatocelular/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Hepáticas/tratamento farmacológico , Niacinamida/análogos & derivados , Compostos de Fenilureia/uso terapêutico , Neoplasias da Glândula Tireoide/tratamento farmacológico , Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Carcinoma de Células Renais/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Niacinamida/efeitos adversos , Niacinamida/uso terapêutico , Compostos de Fenilureia/efeitos adversos , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/uso terapêutico , SorafenibeRESUMO
PURPOSE: Colon carcinoma is a malignant tumor showing a marked preference to metastasize to distant organs. The presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood is a prerequisite for the formation of distant metastases. However, whether circulating cytokines are linked to the circulation of tumor cells, as individual cells or clusters, remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the circulating levels of TGF-beta, CXCL1, VEGF and PAI-1 as potential bioindicators of the presence of CTCs in patients with metastatic colon cancer. METHODS: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) were isolated from peripheral blood by immunomagnetic separation and phenotypically characterized in a cohort of 103 patients with metastatic colon cancer. TGF-beta, CXCL1, VEGF and PAI-1 concentrations were determined by immunoassay in plasma samples from the same patients. RESULTS: We detected two different populations of CTCs, single cells or clusters in patients with metastatic colon cancer. Importantly, we found that the presence of clustered CTCs is significantly associated with elevated circulating levels of TGF-beta and CXCL1 and with reduced overall survival. Finally, we observed that circulating levels of cytokines are differently associated with the two populations of CTCs. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these findings show that detection of clustered CTCs represents a negative prognostic factor in patients with metastatic colon cancer. The presence of clustered CTCs is associated with elevated circulating levels of cytokines such as TGF-beta and CXCL1. This suggests an additional role for circulating cytokines as predictive tool for cancer prognosis and diagnosis of minimal residual disease as well as assessment of tumor sensitivity to anticancer therapy.
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Biomarcadores Tumorais/sangue , Neoplasias Colorretais/mortalidade , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Células Neoplásicas Circulantes/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Quimiocina CXCL1/sangue , Neoplasias Colorretais/sangue , Neoplasias Colorretais/etiologia , Neoplasias Colorretais/genética , Neoplasias Colorretais/patologia , Citocinas/sangue , Feminino , Humanos , Itália/epidemiologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica , Fenótipo , Prognóstico , Fator de Crescimento Transformador beta/sangueAssuntos
Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/tratamento farmacológico , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Niacinamida/análogos & derivados , Compostos de Fenilureia/uso terapêutico , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/uso terapêutico , Ensaios Clínicos Fase III como Assunto , Humanos , Estadiamento de Neoplasias , Niacinamida/uso terapêutico , Sorafenibe , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Despite the efforts of recent years, clinicians still lack reliable biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of clinical outcomes in breast cancer patients. Owing to the large number of people potentially involved in the management of this clinical problem, the search for noninvasive and repeatable laboratory assays has been intensive. Recently, the proteomic profiling performed by SELDI-TOF mass spectrometry, has been proposed in order to identify new clusters of serum markers that could be potentially useful in breast cancer management. The purpose of this special report is to review the literature on SELDI-TOF technology applied on serum coming from healthy people and breast cancer patients, in order to verify the clinical applicability of such approach. We conclude that potential new biomarkers, first of all for early diagnosis of breast cancer, need to be validated in larger clinical series.
Assuntos
Neoplasias da Mama/sangue , Proteômica/métodos , Espectrometria de Massas por Ionização e Dessorção a Laser Assistida por Matriz/métodos , Biomarcadores Tumorais/sangue , HumanosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Liver carcinogenesis seems to be heavely influenced by hepatitis B and C viral (HBV, HCV) infection. The aim of our study was to improve the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by measuring alfa-fetoprotein (AFP) in addition to other molecular markers by estimating the plasma levels of human catalytic fraction of reverse telomerase (hTERT) DNA, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) in 75 patients with liver desease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A control group was enrolled (N=30). PAI-1 and t-PA levels were detected with enzyme-linked immunoassorbent assay (ELISA), DNA hTERT was performed with real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: PAI-1, t-PA and hTERT DNA levels were much higher than in controls. PAI-1 and t-PA levels were higher in the presence of both viruses compared to their absence, p<0.001. Moreover, hTERT was significantly higher in the presence of both viruses, p<0.05 and in the presence of HCV alone, p<0.05. No decrease or increase of AFP was noted in these patients. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest the reliability of PAI-1, t-PA and hTERT in detecting HCC, in particular when the carcinogenesis is affected by virus infection.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Hepatocelular/sangue , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/metabolismo , DNA de Neoplasias/sangue , Neoplasias Hepáticas/sangue , Inibidor 1 de Ativador de Plasminogênio/sangue , Telomerase/genética , Ativador de Plasminogênio Tecidual/sangue , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/genética , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/genética , Transformação Celular Neoplásica/patologia , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/genética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , alfa-Fetoproteínas/metabolismoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs) account for about 1% of all human malignancies. Cervical lymph nodes metastases and recurrences in the thyroid bed frequently occur. Furthermore, about 10-15% of patients develop distant metastases. Therefore, patients must undergo life-long follow-up. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Thyroglobulin measurement in FNAB washout (FNAB-Tg) in the detection of local metastasis in patients affected by or evaluated for thyroid cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a 3-year period, a total of 83 consecutive patients coming to our attention at the Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) Outpatients Service of the National Cancer Research Center "Istituto Tumori Giovanni Paolo II" of Bari, Italy, because of the finding of one or more cervical lymph node(s), were enrolled in the study. After collection of the cytological specimen, the needle used for performing FNAB was then washed in 1 ml of normal saline. 89 FNAB washouts were collected from the same number of lymph nodes and subsequently investigated for Thyroglobulin levels using a sequential chemiluminescent-immunometric assay. RESULTS: Comparing the cytological or, when performed, histological diagnoses with the results of FNAB-Tg, we found that in 24 cases of lymph node metastases from PTC (19 lymph nodes from patients at the first diagnoses and 5 lymph nodes from PTC patients in follow up) the mean level of Thyroglobulin was 1840.11 ng/ml; range: <0,2 to 11440 ng/ml. In the group of PTC patients (27 lymph nodes) with lymph nodes negative for metastatic involvement at cytology (i.e. no lymph node recurrence at follow-up), as well as in the cases of subjects without PTC and submitted to FNAB because of the appearance of lymph node(s) classified as reactive at cytology (37 lymph nodes), FNAB-Tg was lower than or equal to 0.2 ng/ml. As expected, the Thyroglobulin level was not detectable (< 0.2 ng/ml) also in a lymph node FNAB from a case of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma. CONCLUSION: In our study, FNAB-Tg was not detectable in all node negative patients showing, when considering together all the lymph node metastases, a 96% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
Assuntos
Biomarcadores Tumorais/análise , Carcinoma Papilar/química , Linfonodos/química , Tireoglobulina/análise , Carcinoma Anaplásico da Tireoide/química , Neoplasias da Glândula Tireoide/química , Biópsia por Agulha Fina , Carcinoma Papilar/secundário , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Humanos , Itália , Linfonodos/patologia , Metástase Linfática , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Estudos Prospectivos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Câncer Papilífero da Tireoide , Carcinoma Anaplásico da Tireoide/secundário , Neoplasias da Glândula Tireoide/patologia , Fatores de TempoRESUMO
Colorectal cancer is the most common cancer of the gastrointestinal system and has a marked preference to metastasize to distant organs. In this study, we investigated whether levels of circulating serum pro-angiogenic cytokine such as chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 1 (melanoma growth-stimulating activity, alpha; CXCL1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) have a role in favoring the colonization of metastatic cells at preferential sites and determined their prognostic significance in a cohort of 103 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Importantly, we found that the presence of elevated circulating levels of VEGF and CXCL1 are predictive of liver and lung metastasis, respectively. Moreover, the presence of a high serum VEGF level represents a negative prognostic factor for patients with liver metastases, with a worse prognosis than patients with lung metastasis. This suggests an additional role for circulating cytokines as a predictive tool for cancer prognosis and diagnosis, as well as for assessment of tumor sensitivity to anticancer therapy.
Assuntos
Quimiocina CXCL1/sangue , Neoplasias Colorretais/sangue , Neoplasias Colorretais/patologia , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/sangue , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/sangue , Neoplasias Hepáticas/secundário , Neoplasias Pulmonares/sangue , Neoplasias Pulmonares/secundário , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica , Prognóstico , Análise de SobrevidaRESUMO
Background: ADIPOQ gene, which encode for Adiponectin (APN), is sited on chromosome 3q27 and linked to a susceptibility locus for metabolic syndrome (MetS). The ADIPOQ rs266729 G/C gene polymorphism is significantly associated with low APN levels and linked to susceptibility to develop cancer. In addition, decreased APN serum levels are linked with tumor development and progression and inversely associated with markers of inflammation. Here, we investigate the influence of APN rs266729 G/C polymorphism on adipocytokine circulating levels and their association with MetS in colorectal cancer patients (CRC). Methods: Blood samples from 105 CRC patients (50 women and 55 men) with and without MetS were genotyped for APN rs266729 G/C polymorphism by TETRA ARMS PCR. ELISA assay was used to measure plasma levels of APN and inflammatory TNF-α cytokine. Biochemical and anthropometric parameters of MetS were also analyzed. Results: We found that CRC patients (N=75) with genotype rs266729G/C or carriers of G allele were associated with a significantly increased risk of MetS development (OR =2.9) compared to those with CC genotype (N=30). Also, CG/GG genotypes were associated with significantly lower plasma APN levels and higher TNF-α levels in comparison to CC genotype (P=0.034) and APN levels were decreased in relation to BMI increases (P=0.001). Conclusions: Our findings show that APN rs266729 G/C polymorphism is associated with lower APN levels in CRC patients, indicating that decreased circulating levels of APN may be a determinant risk factor for CRC in MetS patients.
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BACKGROUND/AIM: Colorectal Cancer is the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide and its incidence increases from 50 years of age. It is often associated with protein-caloric malnutrition and 20% of cancer deaths occur due to this event. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of malnutrition and inflammatory status in 78 patients undergoing surgery for colorectal carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Nutritional Status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured by ELISA, while albumin, C-reactive protein (CRP) and transferrin (TRF) were tested using an immunometric assay. RESULTS: The mean MNA score in colorectal patients was 20.4±8.4, while 23/78 patients (29.4%) were well nourished, 36/78 (46.1%) were at risk of malnutrition and 19/78 (24.3%) were malnourished, reporting in the previous six months from the date of diagnosis a significant weight loss (>10 kg), muscle mass loss and severe reduction of food intake due to loss of appetite and altered taste perception. The serum means of IL-6, TNF-α and CRP, were significantly higher in colorectal patients compared to the control group (p<0.001, p<0.0001, p<0.0001, respectively) while lower TRF, albumin and HCT serum levels in cancer patients vs. healthy subjects (p<0.0001; p<0.0001 and p<0.0001) were found. CONCLUSION: more than 50% of colorectal cancer patients were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition and reported an imbalance between nutritional and inflammatory status. They, therefore, require a nutritional intervention before treatment in order to have a more effective response and improve quality of life.
Assuntos
Neoplasias Colorretais/fisiopatologia , Neoplasias Colorretais/cirurgia , Desnutrição/diagnóstico , Estado Nutricional , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Apetite , Proteína C-Reativa/metabolismo , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Neoplasias Colorretais/complicações , Estudos Transversais , Dieta , Feminino , Humanos , Inflamação/complicações , Inflamação/diagnóstico , Interleucina-6/metabolismo , Masculino , Desnutrição/complicações , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Avaliação Nutricional , Prevalência , Qualidade de Vida , Transferrina/metabolismo , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/metabolismoRESUMO
AIM: To investigate H pylori expression in gastric cancer patients in relation to primary tumor angiogenic markers, such as microvessel density (MVD), thymidine phosphorylase (TP), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1 (VEGF-R1), p53 and circulating VEGF levels. METHODS: Angiogenic markers were analyzed immunohistochemically in 56 primary gastric cancers. H pylori cytotoxin (vacA) and the cytotoxin-associated gene (cagA) amplification were evaluated using PCR assay. Serum H pylori IgG antibodies and serum/plasma circulating VEGF levels were detected in 39 and 38 patients by ELISA, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 69% of patients were positive for circulating IgG antibodies against H pylori. cagA-positive H pylori strains were found in 41% of gastric patients. vacA was found in 50% of patients; s1 strains were more highly expressed among vacA-positive patients. The presence of the s1 strain was significantly associated with cagA (P = 0.0001). MVD was significantly correlated with both tumor VEGF expression (r = 0.361, P = 0.009) and serum VEGF levels (r = -0.347, P = 0.041). Conversely, neither VEGF-R1 expression nor MVD was related to p53 expression. However, H pylori was not related to any angiogenic markers except for the plasma VEGF level (P = 0.026). CONCLUSION: H pylori antigen is related to higher plasma VEGF levels, but not to angiogenic characteristics. It can be hypothesized that the toxic effects of H pylori on angiogenesis occurs in early preclinical disease phase or in long-lasting aggressive infections, but only when high H pylori IgG levels are persistent.
Assuntos
Infecções por Helicobacter/complicações , Helicobacter pylori/patogenicidade , Neovascularização Patológica/fisiopatologia , Neoplasias Gástricas/irrigação sanguínea , Neoplasias Gástricas/microbiologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Antígenos de Bactérias/genética , Antígenos de Bactérias/metabolismo , Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Proteínas de Bactérias/metabolismo , Biomarcadores Tumorais/genética , Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Feminino , Regulação Bacteriana da Expressão Gênica , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Infecções por Helicobacter/genética , Infecções por Helicobacter/metabolismo , Helicobacter pylori/genética , Helicobacter pylori/imunologia , Humanos , Imunoglobulina G/sangue , Imunoglobulina G/genética , Masculino , Microcirculação , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Neovascularização Patológica/genética , Neovascularização Patológica/metabolismo , Receptores de Fatores de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/genética , Receptores de Fatores de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/metabolismo , Neoplasias Gástricas/genética , Neoplasias Gástricas/metabolismo , Timidina Fosforilase/genética , Timidina Fosforilase/metabolismo , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/genética , Proteína Supressora de Tumor p53/metabolismo , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/sangue , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/metabolismoRESUMO
AIMS AND BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to assess the clinical utility of circulating preoperative HER-2 extracellular domain p105 detected by enzyme immunoassay (ELISA), to compare the tissue expression of HER-2/neu determined by immunohistochemistry (IHC), to correlate prognostic factors including tumor size, nodal involvement, and hormone receptor status, and to analyze the prognostic significance of the marker in relation to clinical outcome as measured by disease-free and overall survival. METHODS: In this study, we enrolled 108 consecutive patients with breast carcinoma, and obtained serum samples and frozen tumor tissues. We compared them with 57 women with fibroadenoma and 63 healthy women as controls. RESULTS: Univariate ANOVA analysis showed no relationship between HER-2/neu in tissue and serum. Preoperative serum levels of p105 were significantly higher in breast cancer patients than in women with benign disease or healthy women. Concerning the correlation between p105, HER-2/neu tissue expression, and the other prognostic factors, a statistically significant correlation between high serum p105 levels and ER-negative status in breast cancer patients was found. Kaplan-Meier analysis confirmed that patients with positive HER-2/neu tissue expression had a significantly shorter survival than those with negative expression. Analysis with the Cox model demonstrated that tumor size was the only significant independent prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS: This research failed to demonstrate a relationship between preoperative tissue overexpression and circulating HER-2/neu, suggesting that p105 does not represent a valid alternative to predict a worsened prognosis in breast cancer, but it could be a diagnostic marker to discriminate healthy subjects from breast cancer patients.
Assuntos
Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Neoplasias da Mama/metabolismo , Receptor ErbB-2/metabolismo , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Análise de Variância , Antígenos Nucleares/sangue , Biomarcadores Tumorais/sangue , Neoplasias da Mama/sangue , Neoplasias da Mama/patologia , Neoplasias da Mama/cirurgia , Proteínas Cromossômicas não Histona/sangue , Intervalo Livre de Doença , Ensaio de Imunoadsorção Enzimática , Feminino , Fibroadenoma/metabolismo , Regulação Neoplásica da Expressão Gênica , Humanos , Imuno-Histoquímica , Metástase Linfática , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Prognóstico , Modelos de Riscos Proporcionais , Receptor ErbB-2/sangue , Receptores de Estrogênio/metabolismo , Receptores de Progesterona/metabolismo , Estudos Retrospectivos , Fatores de Risco , Análise de Sobrevida , Regulação para CimaRESUMO
Adipose tissue in addition to its ability to keep lipids is now recognized as a real organ with both metabolic and endocrine functions. Recent studies demonstrated that in obese animals is established a status of adipocyte hypoxia and in this hypoxic state interaction between adipocytes and stromal vascular cells contribute to tumor development and progression. In several tumors such as breast, colon, liver and prostate, obesity represents a poor predictor of clinical outcomes. Dysfunctional adipose tissue in obesity releases a disturbed profile of adipokines with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory factors and a consequent alteration of key signaling mediators which may be an active local player in establishing the peritumoral environment promoting tumor growth and progression. Therefore, adipose tissue hypoxia might contribute to cancer risk in the obese population. To date the precise mechanisms behind this obesity-cancer link is not yet fully understood. In the light of information provided in this review that aims to identify the key mechanisms underlying the link between obesity and cancer we support that inflammatory state specific of obesity may be important in obesity-cancer link.
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Although several molecular markers have been proposed as prognostic of disease progression in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), predictive markers of response to treatment are still unsatisfactory. Here, we propose a genetic polymorphism as a potential predictive factor of poor prognosis in HCC patients treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE). In particular, we show that the guanosine insertion/deletion polymorphism in the promoter region of SERPINE1 gene at the -675 bp position, named 4G/4G, predicts poor prognosis in a cohort of 75 patients with HCC undergoing TACE. By a combination of ELISA and SERPINE1 promoter study, we found that the presence of elevated plasma levels of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in patients with 4G/4G genotype is significantly associated with reduced overall survival compared to patients with 5G/5G or 4G/5G genotype in HCC patients after TACE. Our analysis provided evidence that variation in SERPINE1 gene plays a role in defining the outcome in patients treated with TACE. In addition to a poor disease outcome, the 4G/4G variant represents an unfavorable predictive factor for response to chemotherapy as well.
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AIM: To evaluate vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and tryptase in hepatocellular cancer (HCC) before and after trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE). METHODS: VEGF and tryptase serum concentrations were assessed from 71 unresectable HCC patients before and after hepatic TACE performed by binding DC-Beads(®) to doxorubicin. VEGF levels were examined for each serum sample using the Quantikine Human VEGF-enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay (ELISA), whereas tryptase serum concentrations were assessed for each serum sample by means of fluoro-enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) using the Uni-CAP100 tool. Differences between serum VEGF and tryptase values before and after TACE were evaluated using Student t test. Person's correlation was used to assess the degree of association between the two variables. RESULTS: VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients before TACE had a mean value and standard deviation (SD) of 114.31 ± 79.58 pg/mL and 8.13 ± 3.61 µg/L, respectively. The mean levels and SD of VEGF levels and serum tryptase in HCC patients after TACE were 238.14 ± 109.41 pg/mL and 4.02 ± 3.03 µg/L. The changes between the mean values of concentration of VEGF and tryptase before treatment and after treatment was statistically significant (P < 0.000231 and P < 0.00124, by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney respectively). A significant correlation between VEGF levels before and after TACE and between tryptase levels before and after TACE was demonstrated (r = 0.68, P = 0.003; r = 0.84, P = 0.000 respectively). CONCLUSION: Our pilot results suggest that the higher serum VEGF levels and the lower tryptase levels following TACE may be potential biomarkers changing in response to therapy.
Assuntos
Biomarcadores Tumorais/sangue , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/terapia , Quimioembolização Terapêutica , Neoplasias Hepáticas/terapia , Triptases/sangue , Fator A de Crescimento do Endotélio Vascular/sangue , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Antibióticos Antineoplásicos/administração & dosagem , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/sangue , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/enzimologia , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Doxorrubicina/administração & dosagem , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/sangue , Neoplasias Hepáticas/enzimologia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Projetos Piloto , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Estudos Prospectivos , Fatores de Tempo , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) are the main immuno-biological agents used in the therapy of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Unfortunately the promising results obtained in biological studies have not yet been confirmed in clinical studies. One reason is linked to the immunosuppression of metastatic patients which is caused by macrophage products. IL-6 in particular is considered a growth factor for RCC. Medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) may interfere with IL-6 macrophage production, possibly causing a synergistic effect in association with IL-2 and IFN-alpha. Therefore the purpose of our study was to evaluate the toxicity and the efficacy of the association between IL-2, IFN-alpha and MPA. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Forty-two consecutive patients with metastatic RCC were enrolled. IL-2 was administered subcutaneously at doses of 4.5 million UI on days 1-5, 8-12, 15-19 and 22-26; IFN-alpha was administered s.c. at a dose of 3 million t.t.w; MPA was administered orally at a dose of 1000 mg daily. This schedule was repeated after a rest of 2 weeks. RESULTS: Toxicity was mild: the main symptoms observed were fatigue and fever. Six CR (14%), five PR (12%), thirteen SD (31%) and seventeen PD (41%) were observed for an overall response rate of 26%. Patients with good PS and low levels of CRP had a better prognosis. CONCLUSION: Considering both the good activity and the low toxicity of this scheme, we think that it could be carried out in normal clinical practice.
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Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/uso terapêutico , Carcinoma de Células Renais/tratamento farmacológico , Neoplasias Renais/tratamento farmacológico , Adulto , Idoso , Protocolos de Quimioterapia Combinada Antineoplásica/efeitos adversos , Proteína C-Reativa/metabolismo , Carcinoma de Células Renais/sangue , Carcinoma de Células Renais/patologia , Sinergismo Farmacológico , Feminino , Humanos , Imunoterapia/métodos , Interferon alfa-2 , Interferon-alfa/administração & dosagem , Interferon-alfa/efeitos adversos , Interleucina-2/administração & dosagem , Interleucina-2/efeitos adversos , Interleucina-6/sangue , Neoplasias Renais/sangue , Neoplasias Renais/patologia , Masculino , Acetato de Medroxiprogesterona/administração & dosagem , Acetato de Medroxiprogesterona/efeitos adversos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Metástase Neoplásica , Proteínas Recombinantes , Taxa de SobrevidaAssuntos
Antineoplásicos/uso terapêutico , Biomarcadores Tumorais/análise , Leucemia Mielogênica Crônica BCR-ABL Positiva/tratamento farmacológico , Inibidores de Proteínas Quinases/uso terapêutico , Proteoma/análise , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Biologia Computacional , Feminino , Humanos , Leucemia Mielogênica Crônica BCR-ABL Positiva/sangue , Leucemia Mielogênica Crônica BCR-ABL Positiva/patologia , Masculino , Espectrometria de Massas , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Projetos Piloto , Proteômica , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The objective of the study was to quantify the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene in the circulating DNA of patients with primary breast cancer (BC) and to test its correlation with clinical parameters of the disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-one BC patients, 30 patients with fibroadenoma (NBC) and 50 healthy women were enrolled. RESULTS: The level of hTERT in the plasma was significantly different in BC, NBC and controls (p<0.01), showing a sensitivity of 50% and specificity of 90% in the ability to detect malignancy. The circulating hTERT DNA was significantly different in the estrogen receptor (ER)(+)/progesterone receptor (PgR)(+) compared to the ER(-)/PgR(-) patients (p=0.03). Higher hTERT levels were associated with higher human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2/Neu expression: score 0-1 vs. score 2+ (p=0.01) and vs. score 3+ (p=0.02). Finally, hTERT was significantly inversely correlated with the carbohydrate antigen (CA) 15.3 serum level (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Circulating hTERT DNA has a better diagnostic value than CA 15.3 in early breast cancer disease and could be a possible candidate as a tumor marker in patients with infiltrating ductal carcinoma positive to steroid hormonal receptor and with amplification of HER-2/Neu.