Oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy in breast cancer patients suffering from fatigue and musculoskeletal pain upon aromatase inhibitors treatment: a case-series study.

OBJECTIVE: In patients with breast cancer and positive hormone receptors, aromatase inhibitors are effective in reducing the risk of recurrences and are active in progressing the disease in this setting. On the other hand, fatigue and painful musculoskeletal side effects can significantly reduce treatment compliance. With no further treatment options to control these symptoms, non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as oxygen-ozone therapy, may play a role in managing rheumatologic symptomatology inasmuch. We have previously reported evidence on the effectiveness of oxygen-ozone in the treatment of pain and fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia patients and in oncological patients as well. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this study, we reported 6 cases of patients (mean age 64 yrs, all Caucasian females) with breast cancer upon treatment with anastrozole (Arimidex®), suffering from musculoskeletal pain, weakness and fatigue, and therefore treated with oxygen-ozone major autohemotherapy according to the Italian Scientific Society of Oxygen Ozone Therapy (SIOOT) protocol. Pain was measured with a 10-item Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) and fatigue with a 7-item Fatigue Scoring Scale (FSS). RESULTS: A reduction of at least 66% of pain (from 9.43 ±0.54 SD to 2.36 ±1.32 SD, p<0.001) and 66.26% of fatigue were obtained for all the cases. Pain and fatigue disappeared within one month from ozone therapy, and a healthy painless state lasted for many months following the oxygen-ozone therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The oxygen-ozone therapy is a sound opportunity for breast cancer patients to reduce anti-aromatase-induced pain, fatigue, and musculoskeletal symptoms.

Lung cancer and COVID-19: problems and perspectives.

COVID-19 pandemic generated concerns about the healthcare of patients with cancer, not simply because of the formidable impact of COVID-19 patients in the public healthcare system, but also due to the overlapping pathognomonic signs of many forms of lung cancer with lung injuries associated with COVID-19. This report tries to shed light on the issue. We evaluated the great concern of people suffering from lung cancer and also infected with SARS-CoV-2 by discussing evidence and data from current literature. Lung cancer in Italy has represented more than 1 case/4 (27%) in the latest ten years and nevertheless, even due to the concurrence of many complex interplays between COVID-19 and cancer even at the immune level, a consensus protocol and expert guidelines to diagnose and treat lung cancer upon SARS-CoV-2 infection are yet lacking. New insights and consensus panels should be therefore proposed, even at the simplistic level about if priority must be either given to COVID-19 or to cancer therapy.

Fibromyalgia treated with oxygen-ozone auto-haemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT): a case study on 200 patients with a modified 10-PI-NRS evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a concerning chronic disease showing as widespread pain, muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, chronic fatigue, and depressed mood, for which no sound therapy is yet available to date. In this article we assessed a wider patients' cohort the efficacy of oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT) previously reported. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A number of 200 FM-patients accessed the study and were treated with 3-4 runs of O2-O3-AHT, following their signed consent. A modified 10 points-PI-NRS were used to evaluate pain intensity before and after the conclusion of the complete ozone-treatment cycle (1 month). Kruskall-Wallis' test and other statistics were used at p<0.05 level of significance. RESULTS: A quite complete rehabilitation of the musculoskeletal function and of the overall arthralgia was observed in 76% of the patients at one month of follow-up. The number of patients having a reduction in the PI-NRS score from 10 (the maximal observed) to 3 (including 10-1 and 10-2) following only two runs of O2-O3-AHT was 23.5%, whereas only 17.5% did not show any significant improvement (ΔPI-NRS = 0 or 1), so assessing that the efficacy of O2-O3-AHT, independently from ages, encompassed at least 41% in a moderate way and 64.5% of the treated patients, as a whole. CONCLUSIONS: Oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy represents a formidable therapeutic approach for FM, deserving further studies to be made in order to fully elucidate ozone effect of this pathology.

Sjögren syndrome successfully treated with oxygen-ozone auto-hemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT). a case report.

OBJECTIVE: Sjögren syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disorder, affecting about 16,000 individuals in Italy, yet lacking a standardized therapy protocol and a plain inclusion in the reimbursed healthcare services. This raises many controversial issues about how managing the SS patient, to relief pain and discomfort and improve patients' health and social life. The ozone therapy resulted successful in previous reports, and therefore, it was used in this case report. CASE PRESENTATION: A 69-years old female outpatient, showing positivity to Schirmer's test, was previously diagnosed as a primary Sjögren syndrome, who later developed an autoimmune thyroiditis and showed the presence of rheumatoid factors. The patient suffered from a marked ocular dryness, subsequently to a purported endothelitis, alongside with fatigue and pain. Laboratory tests showed a positive ANA 1:320 in a speckled pattern with negative anti-SSA and anti-SSB tests. From December 2020 to January 2021 she underwent 2 routes of three sessions of oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy (O2-O3 AHT), as described below and improved, with only 2 sessions, her symptomatology and clinical outcome, as ocular dryness, fatigue and pain, rapidly disappeared. CONCLUSIONS: The use of ozone in the therapy of SS is a straightforward, affordable and feasible approach to treat primary Sjögren syndrome without significant side effects.

Fatigue in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV2 (PASC) treated with oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy - preliminary results on 100 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV2 infection (PASC) are a novel terminology used to describe post-COVID persistent symptoms, mimicking somehow the previously described chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). In this manuscript, we evaluated a therapeutical approach to address PASC-derived fatigue in a cohort of past-COVID-19 positive patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A number of 100 patients, previously diagnosed as COVID-19 positive subjects and meeting our eligibility criteria, was diagnosed having PASC-related fatigue. They were recruited in the study and treated with oxygen-ozone autohemotherapy (O2-O3-AHT), according to the SIOOT protocol. Patients' response to O2-O3-AHT and changes in fatigue were measured with the 7-scoring Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), according to previously published protocols. RESULTS: Statistics assessed that the effects of O2-O3-AHT on fatigue reduced PASC symptoms by 67%, as a mean, in all the investigated cohort of patients (H = 148.4786 p < 0.0001) (Figure 1). Patients following O2-O3-AHT therapy, quite completely recovered for PASC-associated fatigue, a quote amounting to about two fifths (around 40%) of the whole cohort undergoing ozone treatment and despite most of patients were female subjects, the effect was not influenced by sex distribution (H = 0.7353, p = 0.39117). CONCLUSIONS: Ozone therapy is able to recover normal functionality and to relief pain and discomfort in the form of PASC-associated fatigue in at least 67% of patients suffering from post-COVID sequelae, aside from sex and age distribution.

Post COVID syndrome: a new challenge for medicine.

The huge concern raised by SARS-CoV2 pandemic about public health management and social impact is still under debate, particularly because COVID-19 may affect infected people much longer than expected from a typical air-borne viral disease. The scientific community is actually wondering about the etiopathogenesis and clinical development of this "post-COVID" complex symptomatology, very close to symptoms typically observed in chronic fatigue syndrome, so recently named as "post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC)". This commentary tries to focus on the most recent news about this issue.

Molecular imaging and cancer gene therapy.

Gene therapy is known as one of the most advanced approaches for therapeutic prospects ranging from tackling genetic diseases to combating cancer. In this approach, different viral and nonviral vector systems such as retrovirus, lentivirus, plasmid and transposon have been designed and employed. These vector systems are designed to target different therapeutic genes in various tissues and cells such as tumor cells. Therefore, detection of the vectors containing therapeutic genes and monitoring of response to the treatment are the main issues that are commonly faced by researchers. Imaging techniques have been critical in guiding physicians in the more accurate and precise diagnosis and monitoring of cancer patients in different phases of malignancies. Imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are non-invasive and powerful tools for monitoring of the distribution of transgene expression over time and assessing patients who have received therapeutic genes. Here, we discuss most recent advances in cancer gene therapy and molecular approaches as well as imaging techniques that are utilized to detect cancer gene therapeutics and to monitor the patients' response to these therapies worldwide, particularly in Iranian Academic Medical Centers and Hospitals.Cancer Gene Therapy advance online publication, 18 November 2016; doi:10.1038/cgt.2016.62.

Possible role of vitamin D3 on the adipocyte/fibroblast trans-differentiation mediated by pancreas cancer

In pancreatic tumors, white adipose tissue and metabolic disorders related to adipocytes, are recently reviewed as important co-factors in pancreas pathology. Cell differentiation in pancreatic cancer might involve therefore adipose tissue and factors released by adipocytes should play a fundamental role both in cancer onset and in its progression. Among these molecules, a great interest has been devoted quite recently to the hormonal role exerted by vitamin D3 in pancreatic cancer, particularly its active 1,25 dihydroxylated form. Despite the wide bulk of evidence reporting the chemopreventive role of vitamin D, the mechanism by which active vitamin D3 is able to counteract cancer progression and malignancy is yet far to be elucidated.

Possible role of NF-κB in hormesis during ageing.

Hormesis in ageing is probably represented by mild stress-induced stimulation of protective mechanisms in cells and organisms resulting in biologically beneficial effects. Mild stress and hormetins may act on bifurcation points in the complex network of cell signaling and transcription factors, often turning homeodynamics to health or survival. Several signaling pathways activated by diverse stimuli and by stress response converge on NF-κB activation, resulting in a regulatory system characterized by high complexity. NF-κB behaves as a chaotic oscillator and it is increasingly recognized that the number of components that impinges upon phenotypic outcomes of signal transduction pathways may be higher than those taken into consideration from canonical pathway representations. NF-κB is closely related to other important upstream signaling networks, creating chaotic oscillators with other receptor-related kinases and targeting hubs for hormesis. The great bulk of natural hormetins acts on these signaling pathways, while NF-κB appears as a key regulatory factor in this context. Due to its tight relationship with main signaling system NF-κB plays a fundamental role in stress response, apoptosis and autophagy and appears to be a possible target for hormesis in ageing.

Stimulus-specific regulation of CD63 and CD203c membrane expression in human basophils by the flavonoid quercetin.

BACKGROUND: Flavonoids, such as quercetin, were reported to inhibit histamine release and cytokine production by basophils, but there is no evidence describing their action on membrane markers and intracellular biochemical pathways. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of several quercetin doses on an in vitro human basophil activation system that evaluates up-regulation of membrane markers in response to agonists. METHODS: Leukocyte buffy coats from K(2)-EDTA anti-coagulated blood were treated with different concentrations of quercetin and triggered with anti-IgE ("allergy model") and with N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) ("inflammation model"). Basophils were captured as CD123(bright)/HLA-DR(non-expressing) cells in a flow cytometry analysis and fluorescence values of CD63-FITC, CD203c-PE and CD123-PECy5 were used to produce dose response curves. RESULTS: Quercetin at a dose of 10 microg/ml strongly inhibited CD63 and CD203c membrane up-regulation triggered by both agonists, but it neither affected cell viability nor changed the expression of the phenotypic marker CD123. The anti-IgE model appeared highly sensitive to the effect of quercetin: a dose as low as 0.01 microg/ml was able to significantly decrease CD63 and CD203c membrane expression. In the fMLP model the dose response was different: quercetin doses from 0.01 to 0.1 microg/ml significantly increased up-regulation of membrane markers, achieving the highest effect with CD63. CONCLUSION: Very low doses of quercetin, within the pharmacological range, inhibit IgE-mediated membrane marker's up-regulation but prime the response to the chemotactic peptide fMLP; this stimulus specificity may have implications on the possible therapeutic action of the flavonoid in different pathologies.

Effect of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate on human neutrophil respiratory burst and adhesion on serum coated microplates.

The effect of pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PP) on human polymorphonuclear leukocytes respiratory burst and on cellular adhesion on serum coated microplates was investigated. No dose-response effect was observed after 10 min pre-treatment at 37 degrees C of human neutrophils with increasing doses of PP, ranging from 0.05 mM/L to 0.5 mM/L. The production of superoxide anion (O2-), after challenging cells with 0.5 pM/L formyl-methyonyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, 50 ng/mL phorbol myristate acetate or 50 pg/mL concanavalin A was comparable to that observed by pre-treating cells with phosphate buffered saline only (control, no PP), therefore indicating that PP did not affect neutrophil respiratory burst in our assay conditions. Evaluation of the effect on cellular adhesion onto fetal bovine serum pre-coated microplates produced the same results. As previous results showed that PP in the range of 0.01 mM/L to 0.6 mM/L proved to be an efficient inhibitor of neutrophil aggregation, the evidence reported here might contribute to establish PP as a good in vitro leukocyte anti-aggregant which does not affect other functional parameters.