Anticancer research
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Anticancer research · Jun 2013
Alcohol and HER2 polymorphisms as risk factor for cardiotoxicity in breast cancer treated with trastuzumab.
Trastuzumab has no major side-effects except the potential for cardiac toxicity. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the association between trastuzumab-associated cardiac toxicity and two potential risk factors: alcohol intake and HER2 polymorphisms. ⋯ Heavy alcohol use during the course of trastuzumab treatment and the HER2 Ile/Val genotype may constitute risk factors for cardiac toxicity.
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Anticancer research · Jun 2013
ReviewEndoscopic and endobronchial ultrasound-guided needle aspiration in the mediastinal staging of non-small cell lung cancer.
Invasive staging of mediastinal lymph nodes is recommended for the majority of patients with potentially resectable non-small cell lung cancer. In the past, 'blind' transbronchial needle aspiration during bronchoscopy and mediastinoscopy, a surgical procedure conducted under general anesthesia, were the only diagnostic methods. ⋯ Current guidelines on the invasive mediastinal staging of lung cancer still state that a negative needle aspiration result from these methods should be confirmed by mediastinoscopy. As more experience is gathered and echoendoscopes evolve, a thorough endosonographic evaluation of the mediastinum by both techniques, will obviate the need for surgical staging in the vast majority of patients and reduce the number of futile thoracotomies.
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Anticancer research · Jun 2013
Cytokine changes in response to radio-/chemotherapeutic treatment in head and neck cancer.
Radiation and systemic chemotherapy are standard treatment strategies for advanced or metastatic head and neck cancer. However, little is known about the implications and changes in the tumor microenvironment, including the T-helper (TH)1/TH2 balance in response to these treatment regimens. The aim of the current study was to unravel the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation on cytokine changes. ⋯ The results suggest complex cytokine changes of the tumor microenvironment and more aberrant expression profiles under treatment with radiation and the chemotherapeutic drugs 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin.
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Anticancer research · Jun 2013
Multicenter StudyPhase II study of a triple combination of oral vinorelbine, capecitabine and trastuzumab as first-line treatment in HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer.
Chemotherapy plus trastuzumab is the standard first-line treatment for Human Epidermal Receptor 2-positive (HER2-positive) metastatic breast cancer. The aim of this international phase II trial was to determine the efficacy and safety profile of an oral chemotherapy doublet, oral vinorelbine plus capecitabine, and trastuzumab in this setting. ⋯ The triple combination of oral vinorelbine, capecitabine and trastuzumab is highly active in terms of response rate, progression-free survival and overall survival, with a manageable toxicity profile.
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Anticancer research · Jun 2013
ReviewIs there a benefit from addiction to anti-VEGF therapy in patients with colorectal cancer?
Studies carried out through the past two decades have evidenced that addition of bevacizumab to chemotherapy improves the efficacy both in first-line and second-line treatment in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Benefit of adding bevacizumab to second-line regimen after failing a bevacizumab-containing regimen, or aflibercept plus FOLFIRI) (irinotecan, 5-FU and leucovorin) after failing first-line oxaliplatin regimen with or without bevacizumab or regorafenib as a salvage therapy, do indicate the addiction to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents in these patients. This concept also lends some support from the NSABP C-08 adjuvant trial of colon cancer which showed very substantial improvement in time-to-recurrence for the one year of bevacizumab administration, but this benefit was quickly lost once the drug was stopped. The author reviews the data on anti-VEGF therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer.