European journal of cancer : official journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
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This paper describes the collection, standardisation and checking of cancer survival data included in the EUROCARE-4 database. Methods for estimating relative survival are also described. Incidence and vital status data on newly diagnosed European cancer cases were received from 93 cancer registries in 23 countries, covering 151,400,000 people (35% of the participating country population). ⋯ Of 5,753,934 malignant adult cases diagnosed in 1995-2002, 5.3% were second or later cancers, 2.7% were known from death certificates only and 0.4% were discovered at autopsy. The remaining 5,278,670 cases entered the survival analyses, 90% of these had microscopic confirmation and 1.3% were censored alive after less than five years' follow-up. These indicators suggest satisfactory data quality that has improved since EUROCARE-3.
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This study analyses survival in 40,392 children (age 0-14 years) and 30,187 adolescents/young adults (age 15-24 years) diagnosed with cancer between 1995 and 2002. The cases were from 83 European population-based cancer registries in 23 countries participating in EUROCARE-4. Five-year survival in countries and in regional groupings of countries was compared for all cancers combined and for major cancers. ⋯ Survival improved significantly over time for acute lymphoid leukaemia and primitive neuroectodermal tumours in children and for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in adolescents/young adults. Cancer survival in patients <25 years is poorly documented in Eastern European countries. Complete cancer registration should be a priority for these countries as an essential part of a policy for effective cancer control in Europe.
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This national survey sought to establish levels of awareness of cancer risk factors and awareness of what individuals could do to reduce their own risk status. ⋯ This survey highlights the need to increase awareness of overweight, alcohol, infections and exercise in the development of cancer, particularly amongst younger people and those from more socio-economically deprived backgrounds.
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Angiogenesis is known to be required for tumour growth and metastasis. Recent reports indicated that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) promoted angiogenesis by inducing expressions of HIF-1alpha and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The present study aims to investigate the antiangiogenic effect of ZSTK474, a novel pan-PI3K inhibitor. ⋯ Furthermore, ZSTK474 inhibited phosphorylation of Akt at submicromolar concentrations. In RXF-631L cancer cells, on the other hand, ZSTK474 treatment inhibited the expression of HIF-1alpha and secretion of VEGF. Together, these results suggest that ZSTK474 has potent antiangiogenic activity, which could be attributed to dual-target inhibitory properties: inhibition of VEGF secretion by cancer cells and inhibition of PI3K in endothelial cells.
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We have characterised for the first time the general and neurological side effects experienced when using a series of chronic non-lethal cisplatin + paclitaxel schedules in Wistar rats, selected according to our previous experience and the animals' maximum tolerated dose. At the pathological level, the use of combination schedules was definitely more toxic at the kidney and sternal bone marrow level than the single-agent schedules. ⋯ Our study supports the hypothesis that the general and, to a lesser extent, neurological effects of a combination of cisplatin and paclitaxel are different from those of the administration of both drugs as single agents. We believe that these models may be useful for testing neuroprotective strategies.