In vitro Monocyte IL-6 Secretion Levels Following Stimulation with Autologous Spheroids Derived from Tumour or Benign Mucosa Predict Long-term Survival in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients.

MCP-1/IL-6 in vitro monocyte secretion upon coculture with autologous fragment spheroids was studied in relation to patient 5- and 10-year overall survival rates in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients (n = 65) diagnosed between 1998 and 2005, nine of whom had an human papilloma virus (HPV) tumour infection. The spheroids were harvested from malignant or benign tissue during primary surgery. Two weeks following surgery, freshly isolated autologous monocytes and benign or malignant spheroids were cocultured 24 h in vitro. The IL-6 secretion was expressed as a fraction of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) response from the same batch of monocytes. HPV status was obtained by employing PCR analyses of primary diagnostic blocks. IL-6/MCP-1 response levels were not found to be dependent on HPV infection status. MCP-1 secretion did not predict prognosis, nor did in vitro IL-6 monocyte background or LPS-stimulated IL-6 secretion. At 5-year observation, dichotomized IL-6 levels following monocyte coculture, with both malignant and benign spheroids, showed a strong trend towards predicting survival, that is a low monocyte malignant coculture response showed a survival of 31 ± 17 versus 58 ± 17% with a high such response (P = 0.057). When studying monocyte IL-6 coculture responses evaluating benign and malignant spheroid results statistically together, a prediction of survival up to 10 years was found (hazard ratio = 0.48; confidence interval = 0.24-0.96; P < 0.05) with double low IL-6 responses. This survival prediction was also present after an adjustment for HPV tumour infection status. In conclusion, monocyte IL-6 in vitro secretion in cocultures with autologous spheroids/serum from HNSCCs predicted 5- and 10-year survivals, both with and without tumour HPV tumour adjustment.

Feasibility of electronic nose technology for discriminating between head and neck, bladder, and colon carcinomas.

Electronic nose (e-nose) technology has the potential to detect cancer at an early stage and can differentiate between cancer origins. Our objective was to compare patients who had head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with patients who had colon or bladder cancer to determine the distinctive diagnostic characteristics of the e-nose. Feasibility study An e-nose device was used to collect samples of exhaled breath from patients who had HNSCC and those who had bladder or colon cancer, after which the samples were analyzed and compared. One hundred patients with HNSCC, 40 patients with bladder cancer, and 28 patients with colon cancer exhaled through an e-nose for 5 min. An artificial neural network was used for the analysis, and double cross-validation to validate the model. In differentiating HNSCC from colon cancer, a diagnostic accuracy of 81 % was found. When comparing HNSCC with bladder cancer, the diagnostic accuracy was 84 %. A diagnostic accuracy of 84 % was found between bladder cancer and colon cancer. The e-nose technique using double cross-validation is able to discriminate between HNSCC and colon cancer and between HNSCC and bladder cancer. Furthermore, the e-nose technique can distinguish colon cancer from bladder cancer.

Honey and beehive products in otorhinolaryngology: a narrative review.

BACKGROUND: Honey and beehive products were rediscovered as an alternative treatment in wounds. The medicinal properties also raised interest of their use in Otorhinolaryngology. OBJECTIVE OF REVIEW: To give an overview of the effectiveness of beehive products in Otorhinolaryngology. TYPE OF REVIEW: Narrative. SEARCH STRATEGY AND EVALUATION: A literature search of the databases PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane was performed from the last two decades till December 2014. The search terms 'honey', 'propolis' or 'royal jelly' were used. Articles, which evaluated the effectiveness of beehive products in Otorhinolaryngology, were included. The quality assessment of included studies was performed using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias tool. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: A total of 36 studies were identified and evaluated. Eighteen studies investigated their effect in oral infections, seven in infection of the respiratory tract, six in rhino-sinusal diseases, four investigated the use in tonsillectomy and head and neck surgery and one study explored the preventive effect in otitis media. Honey can be considered as effective (additional) treatment in mucositis, childhood cough, persistent post-infectious cough and after tonsillectomy. Propolis may have a role in the treatment of (aphthous) stomatitis, mouth ulcer and prevention of acute otitis media. Royal jelly showed to reduce mucositis. In the presented studies, beehive products proved to be safe, with only minor adverse reactions. Studies showed to be diverse and had some methodological limitations.

Co-culture of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma spheroids with autologous monocytes predicts prognosis.

Co-culture of monocytes with autologous fragment (F) spheroids originating from malignant (M) tumour or benign (B) control mucosa of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) yields interleukin (IL)-6 and monocyte chemo-attractant protein (MCP)-1 secretion. This study investigates the association between this cytokine co-culture response and prognosis. Analysis of IL-6 and MCP-1 content of supernatants from monocytes in vitro co-culture with autologous MF- or BF-spheroids was investigated in a cohort of HNSCC patients (n = 65) diagnosed between 1998 and 2005, all of whom were treated with curative intent by primary surgery. The IL-6 response was expressed as a fraction of the lipopolysaccharid response of the same batch of monocytes. Recurrence, survival and causes of death were then established following the second part of 2005. MCP-1 levels did not predict prognosis. We found that increased levels of IL-6 from autologous monocytes in co-culture with MF-spheroids predicted recurrence with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.5 [confidence interval (CI): 1.01-2.60; P = 0.05] and co-culture with BF-spheroids and monocytes predicted recurrence (HR = 4.17; CI: 1.54-11.29; P = 0.005). The same results where obtained in addition with TNM stage of the patients. Simultaneous analysis of BF- and MF-spheroid co-culture IL-6 responses as well as adjustment for age and TNM stage of the patients allowed prediction of total survival (HR = 3.1; CI: 1.11-8.56; P = 0.03) based on BF co-culture levels. IL-6 secreted upon in vitro co-culture with monocytes and BF-spheroids predicts recurrence and prognosis, whereas co-culture with monocytes and MF-spheroids predicts recurrence.

Gene expression profile in oral squamous cell carcinomas and matching normal oral mucosal tissues from black Africans and white Caucasians: the case of the Sudan vs. Norway.

Expression profile of 588 known genes relating to tumour biology, was examined between oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCCs) and matching normal oral mucosal tissues (NOMTs) obtained from Sudanese (n=11) and Norwegian (n=11) patients. cDNA probes were synthesised from total RNA and hybridised with the Atlas human cancer cDNA expression array membranes. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were applied to confirm the expression pattern of a subset of the 588 genes. Differences in expression of the genes examined were found between the OSCCs and the NOMTs on the Atlas membranes. Several of these genes were either up- or down-regulated 1.6-fold or higher in the OSCCs compared to the NOMTs in the cases from the two populations. We found that 181 (31%) and 195 (33%) genes were either up-regulated or down-regulated in the OSCCs from the Sudan and Norway, respectively. From the total number of genes (n=376) found expressed in the OSCCs investigated from the two countries, 53 genes (14%) showed common expression profile [35 (66%) were up-regulated and 18 (34%) were down-regulated] and 70 genes (19%) showed opposite regulation status. Results of the RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry confirmed the hybridisation data. These findings may provide an OSCCs-specific gene expression profile in patients from the two countries, suggesting that alterations of 123 genes are common in these OSCCs regardless of ethnic differences or other socio-cultural risk factors between the patients from the two countries. The findings might further suggest that specific genes are frequently involved in these OSCCs, which may provide novel clues as diagnostic, prognostic biomarkers and/or targets for therapy. The Atlas human cancer cDNA expression array technique can be useful to examine and describe the expression profile of known genes frequently involved in OSCCs from different populations.