The expression and clinical significance of ERß/ERα in ovarian cancer: can we predict the effectiveness of platinum plus taxane therapy?

Estrogens play an extremely important role in regulating the proliferation of ovarian cancer. The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) stimulates cell growth, whereas ERß can be attributed to tumor suppressors. The study aims to assess the relationship between the expression of estrogen receptors in tumors and the efficacy of front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ERα and ERß tumor expression was evaluated quantitatively by flow cytometry in a narrowly defined group (31 patients): stage III high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC), suboptimal surgical cytoreduction, front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy (front-line, six cycles). RESULTS: The median of progression-free survival (PFS) was 2 times greater (18 vs 8 months, p = 0.04) and the recurrence risk (HR) was 2.2 times (95 % CI: 1.1-6.2, p = 0.04) lower in the group with high (in more than 40% of the cells) vs low level of ERß tumor expression. The statistically significant difference between PFS in the groups with high vs low tumor ERα expression was not revealed. CONCLUSION: A high level of ERß and not ERα expression can predict the efficacy of front-line platinum plus taxane chemotherapy in stage III HGSOC patients. The status of estrogen receptor beta can be considered as one of the possible predictors for evaluating the effectiveness of ovarian cancer therapy.

A new approach to epithelial-mesenchymal transition diagnostics in epithelial tumors: double immunofluorescent staining and flow cytometry.

A new method of double immunofluorescent staining for flow cytometry has been created to evaluate quantitative expression of mesenchymal protein vimentin only in epithelial cells of a solid tumor that is a mix of different origin cells. De novo vimentin expression is strongly associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition and therefore is a metastatic potential marker of epithelial tumor cells. In comparison with semiquantitative available methods, the proposed one has several advantages, such as the accurate measurement of the marker's expression, and minimization of spatial and temporal tumor heterogeneity. Clinical validation of the method has revealed inverse correlation between the quantitative index of epithelial-mesenchymal transition level and progression-free survival using Kaplan-Meier curves and the COX proportional hazards ratio in 32 ovarian cancer patients.

Human Lung Microbiome on the Way to Cancer.

Recent research on cancer-associated microbial communities led to the accumulation of data on the interplay between bacteria, immune and tumor cells, the pathways of bacterial induction of carcinogenesis, and its meaningfulness for medicine. Microbial communities that have any kind of impact on tumor progression and microorganisms associated with tumors have been defined as oncobiome. Over the last decades, a number of studies were dedicated to Helicobacter pylori and its role in the progression of stomach tumors, so this correlation can be regarded as proven. Involvement of bacteria in the induction of lung cancer has been largely ignored for a long time, though some correlations between this type of cancer and lung microbiome were established. Despite the fact that in the present the microbial impact on lung cancer progression has many confirmations, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Microorganisms can contribute to tumor initiation and progression through production of bacteriotoxins and other proinflammatory factors. The purpose of this review is to organize the available data on lung cancer microbiome and its role in malignant tumor progression.