RESUMO
Exposure to carcinogenic chemicals, Helicobacter pylori infection, and high dietary salt are the risk factors associated with gastric cancer. Mice models of gastric cancer are key to understanding the cancer mechanism, to discerning the role played by different factors, and to determining therapeutic effects of different treatments. The goal has been to find targets which are only expressed with cancer so that they can be targeted specifically without harming normal cells. One such target could be the transferrin receptor, a glycoprotein receptor that is expressed many-folds on rapidly growing cells due to the greater demand of iron. In this study, gastric cancer was developed in mice (BALB/c) with human cancer-associated risk factors by feeding them with tumor-inducing concentration of methyl nitrosourea, dietary salt, and H. pylori along with normal feed and water. Three strategies were adopted to induce gastric cancer; (1) use of N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) with high dietary salt (NaCl), (2) infection with H. pylori (isolated from human gastric tissue), and (3) use of MNU along with high concentration of NaCl after H. pylori infection. Mice were dissected after induction, and histological study of gastric tissue was done with Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. A diagnostic probe comprising transferrin conjugated with cadmium sulfide quantum dots was prepared and characterized. It was used to study the transferrin receptor overexpression in gastric tissue of cancer-induced mice relative to the normal mice. Mice of group 3 showed the highest rate of the cancer incidence ratio (96%) along with a high expression of transferrin receptors among the three groups. Histochemical studies showed that different types of gastric cancer depend upon the cancer-induction conditions. The mouse model of group 3 has the potential to be used in the future to study the therapeutic effects of cancer medicines, and overexpression of transferrin receptors could be identified through the designed probe to be used as diagnostics.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To compare the improvement of dilatation among patients receiving intralesional steroid injection with dilatation versus dilatation alone for the management of corrosive ooesophageal strictures. METHODS: The randomized controlled trial was conducted at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from November 10, 2014, to November 10, 2015, and comprised patients of either gender aged 15-50years who had corrosive ooesophageal stricture. They were randomised into 2 groups by using the lottery method. In the dilatation group, only endoscopic dilation was done, while in the combination group, intralesional triamcinolone injection was injected followed by dilatation. Follow-up endoscopic dilatation was done every two weeks. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. RESULTS: There were 60 patients randomised into two groups of 30(50%) each. The overall mean age was 32.58±10.58 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.7:1. At baseline, in dilatation group, the mean stricture length was 23.30±2.28cm while in combination group, it was 24.23±3.06cm. In dilatation group, the mean stricture length was 11.20±3.09cm while in combination group, it was 5.33±3.09cm (p=0.0001).. CONCLUSIONS: oesophageal Combination group was more effective than the dilatation-alone group.
