Cancer
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Serum epidermal growth factor receptor/HER-2 predicts poor survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR, HER-1, and erbB1) is overexpressed in primary breast cancer and had been identified as a poor prognostic factor. ⋯ In patients who had metastatic breast cancer, decreased serum EGFR/normal serum HER-2 predicted shorter survival compared with patients who had normal levels of serum EGFR/HER-2. This patient subgroup deserves further study to assess their response to and selection for anti-EGFR-directed therapies.
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Comparative Study
Hsp60 and Hsp10 down-regulation predicts bronchial epithelial carcinogenesis in smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The relation between smoking, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer (LC) is an open field of investigation. A higher frequency of adenocarcinoma has been reported in patients with COPD. Heat shock proteins (Hsps) are implicated in tumoral cell growth and differentiation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of Hsp60 and Hsp10 in bronchial biopsies from smokers with COPD and in 10 lung cancer patients and to evaluate the association between Hsps expression and carcinogenetic steps of LC. ⋯ The loss of Hsp60 and Hsp10 immunopositivity is related to the development and progression of bronchial cancer in smokers with COPD.
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Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) can have a profound impact on a patient's health-related quality of life; however, little is known about its actual impact. The authors evaluated patients' perspectives on the impact of CTCL on physical functioning, lifestyle, emotional well being, and satisfaction with treatment. ⋯ The high response rate and patients' responses to the survey provided compelling evidence that patients believed CTCL had a profound and severe impact on their functioning, emotional, and social well being. A striking health distress was prevalent in almost all respondents. Although the majority of patients reported that treatments made their disease more manageable, a significant proportion reported that they felt burdened financially by their disease.
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Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence, prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM), and all-cause mortality (ACM) were evaluated for men age >70 years receiving conventional dose external beam radiation therapy (RT). ⋯ In men age >70 years with low-risk prostate cancer and pretreatment PSA velocity < or =1.0 ng/mL/year, prostate cancer death was not observed despite a modest PSA recurrence rate.
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Malignant phyllodes tumor is a rare and potentially aggressive breast neoplasm. Little information is available regarding the optimal management of these lesions and rarer still are data regarding survival. The current study used a large population database to determine prognostic factors that predict cause-specific survival (CSS). ⋯ Mastectomy was not found to provide a benefit in CSS compared with wide excision in malignant phyllodes tumor of the breast. Women undergoing wide excision had at the minimum similar cancer-specific mortality compared with those who received mastectomy. The role of adjuvant RT is uncertain and requires further investigation.