Anticancer research
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Anticancer research · Jul 1999
ReviewRadiotherapy in the symptomatic treatment of the oncological patients.
This paper presents an overview on the palliative use of radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer patients. The aim of symptomatic treatment is to improve the patient's quality of life through the control of local symptoms, without serious disturbance of the life style. Radiotherapy can control many symptoms like metastasis bone pain hematological disorders and other.
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Anticancer research · Jul 1999
Comparative Study Clinical TrialPrevention of nausea and vomiting (N&V) in cancer patients receiving high-dose cisplatin. Assessment of the potential antiemetic activity of transdermal fentanyl (TTS-F) compared to standard antiemetic treatment in acute and delayed N&V: first clinical report.
A single-institution, prospective, open crossover study was performed to compare the effectiveness and tolerability of transdermal fentanyl (TTS-F) vs intravenous (i.v.) ondansetron (OND), both combined with i.v. DEX, in the prevention of acute nausea and vomiting (N&V), and TTS-F vs metoclopramide (M), both combined with intramuscular (i.m.) DEX, in the prevention of delayed N&V in patients with advanced stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma receiving high-dose (> or = 100 mg/m2) cisplatin. This is the first report on the clinical use of TTS-F in this setting. ⋯ All patients were adequately informed of the study characteristics and gave their written informed consent before study entry. The antiemetic treatment for acute N&V consisted of A) OND 8 mg plus DEX 20 mg (i.v.) or B) TTS-F 75 micrograms/h plus DEX 20 mg i.v. For prevention of delayed N&V, patients receiving TTS-F for acute N&V were given TTS-F at the same dosage (75 micrograms/h) on days 2-5, whereas patients receiving OND for acute N&V were treated with M 20 mg orally every 6 h on days 2-5, starting 24 h after CDDP. All patients received DEX 8 mg i.m. every 12 h on days 2 and 3, 4 mg i.m. every 12 h on days 4 and 5, starting 24 h after CDDP. From November 1997 to April 1998, 15 consecutive patients entered the study and were assigned to one of the two alternative treatments for acute N&V. All of them were evaluable. Twelve patients were evaluable for delayed N&V. Seven patients were assigned to Group 1 starting with treatment A (OND + DEX) and 8 patients were assigned to Group 2 starting with treatment B (TTS-F + DEX). In the prevention of acute N&V, the overall efficacy of OND + DEX was statistically significantly higher than that of TTS-F + DEX in achieving Complete Response (CR) and Major Efficacy (ME = CR + Major Response, MaR). As for delayed N&V, the overall efficacy of M + DEX, both in achieving CR and ME, although higher, was statistically not significantly different from that of TTS-F + DEX. Unfortunately, due to the small number of patients included in the study, the sophisticated criteria for evaluating response in antiemetic research, such as the persistence of efficacy, the response after crossing-over, did not make it possible for us to draw additional conclusions, although the trend was in favor of "standard" treatments, particularly in acute N&V. The 'response to treatment A (OND + DEX) in the prevention of acute N&V was in the same range as the response to treatment A (M + DEX) for delayed N&V. The response to treatment B (TTS-F) for acute N&V was lower than the response to the same treatment for delayed N&V. The TTS-F treatment was well-tolerated with no significant side-effects including the well-known opioid-related symptoms. Our study confirms that the currently available standard antiemetic treatments both for acute and delayed N&V must be considered by far the most effective ones for clinical use.
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Anticancer research · Jul 1999
Comparative StudyCA 242 in comparison with established tumour markers in colorectal, pancreatic and lung cancer.
In a prospective study (N = 566) we investigated the tumour associated carbohydrate-protein CA 242, focusing on the question whether CA 242 (CaNAG, Sweden) expression in carcinoma patients is distinctly higher than in benign disorders, especially when compared to CA 19-9 (EIA Roche Germany). A second point of interest was if CA 242 is expressed to a higher extent in early stages of colorectal cancer than CEA (MEIA Abbott, USA) and CA 19-9 are, and third its behavior in pancreatic and lung cancer. ⋯ CA 242 shows no advantage in lung cancer as compared to the established markers (CEA, CYFRA 21-1 (EIA Roche Germany) and NSE (EIA Hoffmann LaRoche, Switzerland) and no clearly higher expression in early colorectal cancer. Overall, the combination of CEA and CA 242 shows the best sensitivity in colorectal cancer.
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Anticancer research · Jul 1999
Immunomodulating and antimetastatic activity of thymic peptides in BALB/c mice.
The immunomodulating and antimetastatic activity of a clinically approved low molecular weight, standardized thymic peptide (TP) preparation was evaluated in BALB/c-mice. Daily subcutaneous application of TP (7 consecutive days, 1 and 10 micrograms per mouse) upregulated counts and activity of peripheral blood cells, as measured on day 14. ⋯ TP (1,10,100 micrograms/mouse) was subcutaneously administered daily for 7 consecutive days starting 24 hrs after tumor cell challenge. Liver colonization was investigated on day 14 after tumor cell inoculation and demonstrated a statistically significant (p < 0.05) reduction of experimental liver metastases for TP treated mice.
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Anticancer research · May 1999
Comparative StudyImmunohistochemical localization of metallothionein in human breast cancer in comparison with cathepsin D, stromelysin-1, CD44, extracellular matrix components, P53, Rb, C-erbB-2, EGFR, steroid receptor content and proliferation.
Metallothionein (MT) is a low molecular weight, cysteine-rich, zinc-binding protein that may have a function in cellular repair processes, growth and differentiation. Using a monoclonal antibody (E9) to metallothionein, we investigated the immunohistochemical expression of MT in routinely fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue from 98 cases of female breast carcinomas. The MT expression was studied in comparison with the expression of the basement membrane (BM) antigens (type IV collagen, laminin), fibronectin, cathepsin D, adhesion molecule CD44, p53 protein, the pRb, c-erbB-2 oncoprotein, EGFR, stromelysin-1, proliferation indices (Ki-67, PCNA), steroid receptor content as well as with other conventional clinicopathological parameters of breast cancer. ⋯ High values of MT were correlated with low steroid receptor status (p = 0.08 for ER receptor and p = 0.019 for PgR receptor content). MT positive cases were correlated with stromelysin-1 expression (p = 0.059) and cathepsin D (p = 0.058). These findings suggest that MT expression is characteristic of the early phase of breast carcinogenesis, possibly regulated by hormones, and could be a new potential prognostic marker in breast cancer.