Journal of Cancer http://www.jcancer.org Journal of Cancer RSS feed -- Volume 3 en-us Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:00:00 GMT http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0049.htm A Meta-Analysis of the Short- And Long-Term Results of Randomized Controlled Trials That Compared Laparoscopy-Assisted and Open Colectomy for Colon Cancer http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0049.htm Purpose: We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate and compare the short- and long-term results of laparoscopy-assisted colectomy (LAC) and open colectomy (OC) for colon cancer.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Citation Index, and Cochrane Controlled Trial Register for relevant papers published between January 1990 and October 2011 by using the search terms “laparoscopy,” “laparoscopy-assisted,” “surgery,” “colectomy,” “colon cancer,” and “randomized clinical trials (RCTs)”. We analyzed the outcomes of each type of surgery over short- and long-term periods.

Results: We selected 12 papers reporting RCTs that compared LAC with OC for colon cancer. Our meta-analysis included 4614 patients with colon cancer; of these, 2444 had undergone LAC and 2170 had undergone OC. In the short-term period, we found that the rates of overall postoperative complications and ileus in LAC were lower than in OC groups. LAC was associated with a reduction in intraoperative blood loss, a shorter duration of time to resumption and hospital stay, and lower rates of overall complication and ileus over the short-term, but with similar long-term oncologic outcomes such as overall and cancer-related mortality, overall recurrence, local recurrence, distant metastasis, and wound-site recurrence, compared to OC.

Conclusions: It is suggested that LAC may be preferred to OC for colon cancer.

]]> Hiroshi Ohtani, Yutaka Tamamori, Yuichi Arimoto, Yukio Nishiguchi, Kiyoshi Maeda, Kosei Hirakawa Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 49 57 2012-1-13 Research Paper http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0042.htm Diabetes and Risk of Renal Cell Carcinoma http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0042.htm Background and objectives: There is evidence that the incidence of solid tumors is markedly increased in patients with diabetes mellitus. In the current study, we investigate the association between diabetes and renal cancer.

Patients and Methods: A single-center retrospective analysis of 473 patients who underwent nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) was performed. Diabetic RCC patients were screened for age, gender, ethnicity, HgA1C, glucose levels and renal function.

Results: Of the 473 cases with RCC, we identified 120 patients (25.4%) with a history of diabetes. The incidence of diabetes in RCC patients was higher in female than male subjects and in Hispanic compared to White and Other ethnic backgrounds. At diagnosis, the majority of diabetic RCC patients were 50-59 years of age. In diabetic RCC cases, clear cell type histology (92.0%), nuclear grade 2 (56.1%) and tumor size range from 1-5 cm (65.7%) were the most common in each category.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that diabetic RCC patients have a predominance of localized, small clear cell RCC. In addition, females with a history of RCC have a higher frequency of diabetes compared to males. This is the first report of clinical and histopathological features of RCC associated with diabetes.

]]> Samy L Habib, Thomas J Prihoda, Maria Luna, Sherry A Werner Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 42 48 2011-12-24 Research Paper http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0032.htm Properties of Lewis Lung Carcinoma Cells Surviving Curcumin Toxicity http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0032.htm The anti-inflammatory agent curcumin can selectively eliminate malignant rather than normal cells. The present study examined the effects of curcumin on the Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cell line and characterized a subpopulation surviving curcumin treatments. Cell density was measured after curcumin was applied at concentrations between 10 and 60 μM for 30 hours. Because of the high cell loss at 60 μM, this dose was chosen to select for surviving cells that were then used to establish a new cell line. The resulting line had approximately 20% slower growth than the original LLC cell line and based on ELISA contained less of two markers, NF-κB and ALDH1A, used to identify more aggressive cancer cells. We also injected cells from the original and surviving lines subcutaneously into syngeneic C57BL/6 mice and monitored tumor development over three weeks and found that the curcumin surviving-line remained tumorigenic. Because curcumin has been reported to kill cancer cells more effectively when administered with light, we examined this as a possible way of enhancing the efficacy of curcumin against LLC cells. When LLC cells were exposed to curcumin and light from a fluorescent lamp source, cell loss caused by 20 μM curcumin was enhanced by about 50%, supporting a therapeutic use of curcumin in combination with white light. This study is the first to characterize a curcumin-surviving subpopulation among lung cancer cells. It shows that curcumin at a high concentration either selects for an intrinsically less aggressive cell subpopulation or generates these cells. The findings further support a role for curcumin as an adjunct to traditional chemical or radiation therapy of lung and other cancers.

]]> Dejun Yan, Michael E. Geusz, Roudabeh J. Jamasbi Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 32 41 2011-12-22 Research Paper http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0019.htm Promising Candidate Urinary MicroRNA Biomarkers for the Early Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma among High-Risk Hepatitis C Virus Egyptian Patients http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0019.htm MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small endogenously expressed non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate expression of protein-coding genes at the translational level. Accumulating evidence, such as aberrant expression of miRNAs, suggests that they play a role in the development of cancer. They have been identified in various tumor types, demonstrating that different sets of miRNAs are usually deregulated in different cancers. To identify the miRNA signatures specific for Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), miRNA expression profiling of 32 HCC post-HCV infected, 74 HCV-positive and 12 control individuals was carried out using whole genome expression profiling. Differential expression of two individual miRNAs between control and high risk HCV patients was detected and found to possibly target genes related to HCC development and progression. The sensitivity and specificity of miR-618 for detecting HCC among HCV-positive individuals was found to be 64% and 68%, respectively. Whereas, the sensitivity and specificity of miR-650 were 72% and 58%, respectively. Additionally, the sensitivity and specificity for miR-618/650 in tandem were 58% and 75%, respectively. These predictive values are greatly improved compared to the traditional α-feto protein (AFP) level-based detection method. The proposed HCC miRNA signatures may therefore be of great value for the early diagnosis of HCC, before the onset of disease in HCV-positive patients. The significance of this approach is amplified by the use of urine as a sample source as it offers a non-invasive approach for developing screening methods that can reduce mortality rates.

]]> Moemen AK Abdalla, Yousef Haj-Ahmad Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 19 31 2011-12-9 Research Paper http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0014.htm Endometrioid Adenocarcinoma with High-Grade Transformation with Serous and Choriocarcinomatous Differentiation - A Case Report http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0014.htm A choriocarcinoma component with a malignant tumor is relatively rare. We present a case of an 85-year-old woman with mixed carcinoma, which was endometrioid adenocarcinoma with squamous differentiation, choriocarcinoma and a disseminated peritoneal nodule, which was papillary serous adenocarcinoma. The patient received surgery and conservative treatment. Twenty weeks after surgery, a recurring tumor appeared at the Douglas pouch. Histology showed that the recurring tumor was poorly differentiated carcinoma that was very different from the primary tumor. This case represents an unusual uterine corpus cancer with high-grade transformation with serous and choriocarcinomatous differentiation. This case also demonstrates the capacity of tumor cells to differentiate into divergent elements.

]]> Senn Wakahashi, Tamotsu Sudo, Eriko Nakagawa, Sayaka Ueno, Miho Muraji, Seiji Kanayama, Hiroe Itami, Fumi Kawakami, Takashi Yamada, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, Hironobu Nishikawa, Ryuichiro Nishimura, Chiho Ohbayashi Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 14 18 2011-12-1 Case Report http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0007.htm Progression-free Survival Decreases with Each Subsequent Therapy in Patients Presenting for Phase I Clinical Trials http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0007.htm Background: There is often a finite progression-free interval of time between one systemic therapy and the next when treating patients with advanced cancer. While it appears that progression-free survival (PFS) between systemic therapies tends to get shorter for a number of factors, there has not been a formal evaluation of diverse tumor types in an advanced cancer population treated with commercially-available systemic therapies.

Methods: In an attempt to clarify the relationship between PFS between subsequent systemic therapies, we analyzed the records of 165 advanced cancer patients coming to our clinic for consideration for participation in six different phase I clinical trials requiring detailed and extensive past medical treatment history documentation.

Results: There were 77 men and 65 women meeting inclusion criteria with a median age at diagnosis of 55.3 years (range 9.4-81.6). The most common cancer types were colorectal (13.9%), other gastrointestinal (11.8%), prostate (11.8%). A median of 3 (range 1-11) systemic therapies were received prior to phase I evaluation. There was a significant decrease in PFS in systemic therapy for advanced disease from treatment 1 to treatment 2 to treatment 3 (p = 0.002), as well as, from treatment 1 through treatment 5 (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In an advanced cancer population of diverse tumor types, we observe a statistically significant decrease in PFS with each successive standard therapy. Identification of new therapies that reverse this trend of decreasing PFS may lead to improved clinical outcomes.

]]> Christopher H. Bailey, Gayle Jameson, Chao Sima, Sharon Fleck, Erica White, Daniel D. Von Hoff, Glen J. Weiss Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 7 13 2011-11-28 Research Paper http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0001.htm Preoperative Thyroid Ultrasound Is Indicated in Patients Undergoing Parathyroidectomy for Primary Hyperparathyroidism http://www.jcancer.org/v03p0001.htm Background: Primary hyperaparathyroidism (pHPT) is often accompanied by underlying thyroid pathology that can confound preoperative parathyroid localization studies and complicate intra-operative decision making. The aim of this study was to examine the utility of preoperative thyroid ultrasonography (US) in patients prior to undergoing parathyroidectomy for pHPT.

Methods: An Institutional Review Board approved prospective study was undertaken from January 2005 through July 2008. All patients with pHPT meeting inclusion criteria (n=94) underwent preoperative thyroid ultrasound in addition to standard 99mTc-sestamibi scintigraphy for parathyroid localization. Demographics, operative management and final pathology were examined in all cases.

Results: Fifty-four of the 94 patients (57%) were noted to have a thyroid nodule on preoperative US, of which 30 (56%) underwent further examination with fine needle aspiration biopsy. Alteration of the operative plan attributable to underlying thyroid pathology occurred in 16 patients (17%), with patients undergoing either total thyroidectomy (n=9) or thyroid lobectomy (n=7). Thyroid cancer was noted in 33% of patients undergoing thyroid resection, and 6% of all patients with HPT.

Conclusions: The routine utilization of preoperative thyroid ultrasound in patients prior to undergoing parathyroid surgery for pHPT is indicated. The added information from this non-invasive modality facilitates timely management of co-incidental, and sometimes malignant, thyroid pathology.

]]> Cletus A. Arciero, Zita S. Shiue, Jeremy D. Gates, George E. Peoples, Alan P. B. Dackiw, Ralph P. Tufano, Steven K. Libutti, Martha A. Zeiger, Alexander Stojadinovic Ivyspring International Publisher 3 1 1 6 2011-11-25 Research Paper