Clinics
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Epidemiological methods are essential for the discovery of cancer risks and prognostic factors as well as for the evaluation of cancer prevention measures. In this review, we discuss epidemiological surveillance procedures for data collection and processing to guide and evaluate the consequences of anticancer efforts for populations, assess the identification of cancer risk factors, examine barriers to cancer screening and recommended rules for early diagnosis programs. Epidemiological studies have shown that hindrances to cancer information assessment are currently encountered in developing countries. ⋯ Challenges remain in studying the effectiveness of cancer screening; screening can have detrimental effects, and few cancers clearly benefit from screening. Currently, epidemiology faces the challenge of dealing with distinct levels of data, including factors related to social status, lifestyle and genetics, to reconstruct the causal traits of cancer. Additionally, translating epidemiological knowledge into cancer control demands more implementation studies in the population.
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Infection with high oncogenic risk human papillomavirus types is the etiological factor of cervical cancer and a major cause of other epithelial malignancies, including vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile and head and neck carcinomas. These agents affect epithelial homeostasis through the expression of specific proteins that deregulate important cellular signaling pathways to achieve efficient viral replication. Among the major targets of viral proteins are components of the DNA damage detection and repair machinery. ⋯ On the other hand, it is clear that human papillomavirus-transformed cells depend on the preservation of a basal cellular DNA repair activity level to maintain tumor cell viability. In this review, we summarize the data concerning the effect of human papillomavirus infection on DNA repair mechanisms. In addition, we discuss the potential of exploiting human papillomavirus-transformed cell dependency on DNA repair pathways as effective antitumoral therapies.
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The aim of this study was to use the scientific literature to identify interdisciplinary interventions for rehabilitation during the perioperative period for cancer patients who underwent total laryngectomy. We systematically researched controlled descriptors: laryngectomy, patient care team/education, patient care team/manpower, patient care team/methods, patient care team/utilization and rehabilitation. ⋯ The articles addressed different types of interdisciplinary actions, such as vocal, olfactory, pulmonary and alimentary rehabilitation; comparisons of prosthetic devices; and descriptions of practices for total laryngectomized patient rehabilitation. Although the interventions found in the literature were effective in the rehabilitation of the total laryngectomized patient, their interdisciplinarity was not evidenced but was highlighted in these studies as a factor for improvement in terms of practical assistance and quality of life.
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Protein tyrosine phosphatases have long been considered key regulators of biological processes and are therefore implicated in the origins of various human diseases. Heterozygosity, mutations, deletions, and the complete loss of some of these enzymes have been reported to cause neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune syndromes, genetic disorders, metabolic diseases, cancers, and many other physiological imbalances. Vaccinia H1-related phosphatase, also known as dual-specificity phosphatase 3, is a protein tyrosine phosphatase enzyme that regulates the phosphorylation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathway, a central mediator of a diversity of biological responses. ⋯ Hence, fully identifying and characterizing these substrate-phosphatase interactions will facilitate the identification of pharmacological inhibitors of vaccinia H1-related phosphatase that can be evaluated in clinical trials. In this review, we describe the biological processes mediated by vaccinia H1-related phosphatase, especially those related to genomic stability. We also focus on validated substrates and signaling circuitry with clinical relevance in human diseases, particularly oncogenesis.
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Infection with human papillomaviruses is associated with a series of benign and malignant hyperproliferative diseases that impose a heavy burden on human populations. A subgroup of mucosal human papillomavirus types are associated with the majority of cervical cancers and a relevant fraction of vulvar, vaginal, anal, penile and head and neck carcinomas. Human papillomaviruses mediate cell transformation by the expression of two pleiotropic oncoproteins that alter major cellular regulatory pathways. ⋯ Matrix metalloproteinases function by remodeling the extracellular matrix and alterations in their expression levels and/or activity are associated with pathological processes and clinical variables including local tumor invasion, metastasis, tumor relapse and overall patient prognosis and survival. In this review we present a summarized discussion on the current data concerning the impact of human papillomavirus infection on the activity and expression of extracellular matrix components. We further comment on the possibility of targeting extracellular matrix molecules in experimental treatment protocols.