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A Review of Sunlight Induced Cellular DNA Damage
Get PDFWe reviewed the literature on sunlight-induced DNA damage that leads to cancer in humans. Topics covered in this review are an introduction to sunlight radiation and examples of photo-induced DNA damage. The studies on sunlight radiation are covered in a brief discussion of ultraviolet (UV) and UV wavelengths such as UV-A, UV-B and UV-C that are known to induce cancer. The current literature covering a variety of cellular interactions with the UV component of sunlight from the point of view of photoactivated processes are discussed. We also discuss the chemical products of DNA sunlight induced damage. Based on the literature reviewed, a conclusion can be drawn that the UV component of sunlight is the most important epidemiological factor associated with an increased risk of human cancer. Sunlight-induced DNA damage also affects tissue homeostasis
Does Surgical Resection of the Primary Tumor in Patients with Stage IV Breast Cancer Improve Survival?
Get PDFSeveral lines of evidence suggest that it is time to re-examine the approach to the patient diagnosed with distant metastases at the initial breast cancer presentation.The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of surgical therapy of the primary tumor and other clinical and staging factors on overall survival of patients with stage IV breast cancer. Patients and methods: This retrospective study included patients with stage IV breast cancer from 2000 to 2008. Patient's characteristics and survival distilled from medical files were evaluated using multivariate analysis.Results: Of 330 patients included in this study, 132 underwent surgery in the form of mastectomy. Local surgery of the primary tumor, lower TN staging, younger age, positive receptor status, lack of Her-2 amplification, bone –only metastasis and one site metastasis were associated with significantly higher survival while grade and pathological type were not. Median overall survival time for no surgery group was 15 months and 27 months for mastectomy group (P = 0.003).Three-year survival rate was higher for patients who did have surgery (34% vs 16%). Conclusion: Removal of the primary tumor in patients with primary distant metastatic breast cancer was associated with significantly higher survival. However, carefully designed prospective randomized trials are needed to confirm these results
A Pilot Phase II Study of Digoxin in Patients with Recurrent Prostate Cancer as Evident by Rising PSA
Get PDFBackground: Digoxin was found to inhibit prostate cancer (PCa) growth via the inhibition of HIF-1α synthesis in a mouse model. We hypothesized that a therapeutic dose of digoxin could inhibit human PCa growth and disease progression. Methods: An open label, single arm pilot study was performed. Patients (pts) with non-metastatic, biochemically relapsed PCa with prostate specific antigen doubling time (PSADT) of 3 -24 months and no hormonal therapy within the past 6 months were enrolled. All pts had testosterone 50 ng/dL at baseline. Digoxin was taken daily with dose titration to achieve a target therapeutic level (0.8 – 2 ng/ml); patients had routine follow-up including cardiac monitoring with 12-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) and digoxin levels. The primary endpoint was the proportion of pts at 6 months post-treatment with a PSADT 200% from the baseline. HIF-1α downstream molecule vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was measured in plasma.Results: Sixteen pts were enrolled and 14 pts finished the planned 6 months of treatment. Twenty percent (3/15) of the pts had PSA decrease 25% from baseline with a medium duration of 14 months. At 6 months, 5 of 13 (38%) pts had PSADT 200% of the baseline PSADT and were continued on study for an additional 24 weeks of treatment. Two patients had durable PSA response for more than 1 year. Digoxin was well tolerated with possible relation of one grade 3 back pain. No patients had evidence of digoxin toxicity. The digoxin dose was lowered in 2 patients for significant ECGs changes (sinus bradycardia and QT prolongation), and there were probable digoxin-related ECG changes in 3 patients. Plasma VEGF was detected in 4 (25%) patients. Conclusions: Digoxin was well tolerated and showed a prolongation of PSDAT in 38% of the patients. However, there was no significant difference comparing that of similar patients on placebo from historical data. Digoxin at the dose used in this study may have limited benefit for patients with biochemically relapsed prostate cancer
Renal Carcinoid Tumor – Primary or Metastatic? A Case Report
Get PDFIntroduction: Renal carcinoid tumor is an extremely rare neoplasia. It arises from neuroendocrine cells, which have never been identified within the normal renal parenquima. After diagnosis, which is usually histological and proceeds nephrectomy, it is therefore important to exclude a primary tumor located elsewhere. Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy is a fundamental test in identification of primary tumor/metastases.Presentation of Case: We present a 77 year old man with this rare tumor: a primary carcinoid renal tumor, diagnosed in Portugal. He was asymptomatic and staging revealed no metastases. A partial nephrectomy was performed. After 2 years of follow up there is no evidence of clinic or imagiologic recurrence.Conclusion: There are no neuroendocrine cells within renal parenquima. Thus primary renal carcinoid is still a mystery. Our case confirms the existence of this entity and allows us to know more about its natural history. It is important to disclose all cases of this rare condition, so we can better treat these patients in the future
Mixed Adenoneuroendocrine Carcinoma Arising in a Papillary Adenoma of Gallbladder
Get PDFIntroduction: Neuroendocrine carcinoma and mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma (MANEC) in the gallbladder are rare. Here, we reported an unusual case of a mixed high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, arising in a papillary adenoma with high-grade dysplasia.Presentation of case: The patient, a 73 year-old woman, had a cholecystectomy for chronic calculous cholecystitis, in which a mixed high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma arising in a papillary adenoma with high-grade dysplasia was incidentally noted. The carcinoma invaded into lamina propria, without any evidence of invasion into muscularis layer or perimuscular soft tissue, hence was pathologically staged as T1. The patient was treated with chemoradiation after cholecystectomy. Desspite the unusually low tumor stage at presentation of this rare tumor, there were four recurrences / metastases involving abdominal wall, an unusual site for this tumor, which were treated with surgery and / or chemotherapy. The patient is alive with metastatic disease at 45 months after initial cholecystectomy.Conclusion: We detail the unusual presentation of a mixed high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma arising in a papillary adenoma with high-grade dysplasia, which sheds some light on the clinical course of this rare tumor
Postpartum Cystic Juvenile Granulosa Cell Tumor: A Case Report
Get PDFIntroduction: Juvenile granulosa cell tumor (JGCT) is a subtype of granulosa cell tumors of the ovary. 80% of JGCT occurs at prepubertal period. And, it is considered to be a slow growing tumor. In addition, gross appearence of it is mostly solid. Herein, we report a pure cystic JGCT case that was detected soon after childbirth with huge dimension.Presentation of Case: We report a 21 year-old woman who presented with abdominal mass during 6th month after childbirth. Ultrasound revealed a cystic mass of approximately 20 cm in diameter originated from left ovary. The patient underwent laparotomy and unruptured left ovarian cystic mass resection was performed. Uterus and right ovary were totally normal and extraovarian spread was not found. Macroscopic examination revealed totally cystic tumor of 25,5x22x10,2 cm with smooth outlines, containing serous fluid. There were papillary projections and small polypoid structures around 1 cm in diameter into the cavity. Histopathologic and immunohistochemical findings were compatible with JGCT. Relaparotomy was performed for staging and the patient was evaluated as stage IA. She is currently under clinical follow up without any further treatment.Conclusion: It should be noted that JGCT may rapidly grow and reach a higher dimension, occur during pregnancy and at postpartum period, and may present as cystic rather than a solid mass as in our case presented here
Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Cutaneous Metastasis to Back : A Case Report
Get PDFIntroduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary tumour of the liver. It mostly metastasise to lungs, followed by abdominal lymph nodes and bones. However, cutaneous metastases of HCC are very rare, accounting for 0.2% to 2.7% of all cutaneous metastases. The most common location is the head (usually the face), followed by the chest, the abdomen, and the limbs, but metastasis to back is very uncommon.Presentation of Case: A 63 year old man presented with history of mild fatigue and right upper abdominal pain for two months and a swelling in the back for 15 days. He was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma. With biopsy and immunohistochemistry, it was confirmed that the swelling in the back was a cutaneous metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma, which is very rare.Conclusion: Because cutaneous metastases are a very uncommon manifestation of HCC and metastasis to back is even more rare, the present case should increase awareness of their existence
Tiam1 Protein Expression in Primary and Metastatic Colorectal Carcinoma: A Retrospective Study of 200 Cases
Get PDFObjective: T-cell Lymphoma Invasion and Metastasis 1 (Tiam1)protein is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor that activates proteins of the Rho family of GTPases, specifically Rac1. Expression of Tiam1 protein has been reported in various human cancers and has been associated with lymphangiogenesis and promotion of tumor metastasis. The objective of this study was to further evaluate the expression of Tiam1 in primary and metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) and its association withvariousclinicopathological parameters, includinggender, age, tumor size, Dukes stage, tumor grade, lymph node status and original location of the primary tumor (colon versus rectum).Methods: The expression of Tiam1 was detected by immunohistochemistry in 200 samples of primary CRC tissues and in 100 samples of lymph node tissue with CRC metastases.Results: Tiam1 was overexpressed in the majority of both primary (69,5% of the cases) and metastatic (63% of the cases) CRC tumor tissues. Overexpression of Tiam1 in primary CRC was statistically associated withlowertumor grade(P=0,04), whereas in metastatic CRC a statistically significant association between Tiam1 expression and female gender (P=0,003), tumor size 5cm (P=0,001) and localization of the primary tumor in the colon (P=0,009) was found.Conclusion: Overexpression of Tiam1 protein may represent a frequent event in CRC. Additional studies are warranted to further investigate its potential value as a marker of prognosis and treatment response in this form of cancer
Observability of Minimal Cell Models
Get PDFIdentifying and modeling of biological systems is very useful to understand cell's dynamic. To know what really happens inside the cell we need to observe the state of a cell. In fact observability is a structural property of a control system defined as the possibility to deduce the state of the system from observing its input-output behavior. Any complex cell model is a combination of some minimal models which are simpler than complex cell model because they have two dimensions. These models can describe the behavior of the cell. The property of observability for nonlinear systems is very useful in analyzing such systems. This paper deals with the observability of minimal cell models. Based on the fact that the minimal cell models are nonlinear, analyzing the property of these models need nonlinear methods. The method has been used for observability is Lie Derivative. The results indicate observability of minimal cell models
A Rare Case of Isolated Jejunal Metastasis Arising from Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: A Case Report and Literature Review
Get PDFIntroduction: Carcinoma of the lung is a common and highly aggressive malignancy, with dissemination at presentation in approximately half of all cases.Presentation of the case: Herein, we report a rare case of a single jejunal metastasis arising from a primary non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), who presented with a history of abdominal discomfort and bleeding per rectum with associated anorexia and unintentional weight loss, one year after a successful lobectomy.Conclusion: Isolated jejunal metastasis in the absence of widespread dissemination is certainly a rare presentation and as a result, there should always be an index of suspicion regarding possible small bowel metastasis in those lung cancer patients presenting with bowel related symptoms