Religiosity and Physical and Emotional Functioning Among African American and White Colorectal and Lung Cancer Patients

The literature suggests that religiosity helps cope with illness. The present study examined the role of religiosity in functioning among African Americans and Whites with a cancer diagnosis. Patients were recruited from an existing study and mailed a religiosity survey. Participants (N = 269; 36% African American, 56% women) completed the mail survey, and interview data from the larger cohort was utilized in the analysis. Multivariate analyses indicated that in the overall sample religious behaviors were marginally and positively associated with mental health and negatively with depressive symptoms. Among women, religious behaviors were positively associated with mental health and negatively with depressive symptoms. Religiosity was not a predictor of study outcomes for men. Among African Americans, religious behaviors were positively associated with mental health and vitality. Among Whites, religious behaviors were negatively associated with depressive symptoms. These findings suggest a mixed role of religious involvement in cancer outcomes. The current findings may have applied potential in the areas of emotional functioning and depression.     

New and emerging radiosensitizers and radioprotectors

The combination of chemotherapy and radiation has led to clinical breakthroughs in several disease sites, and current work continues to define optimum combinations of proven chemotherapy as well as more recently available, noncytotoxic agents. Administration of systemic therapies allows modulation of radiation response to improve tumor control (radiosensitization) or to prevent normal tissue toxicity (radioprotection). Substantial progress has been made in identifying the targets of standard chemotherapeutic radiation sensitizers and protectors as well as in the introduction of a new generation of molecularly targeted therapies in combination with radiation. We have reviewed the most recent, predominantly early phase clinical trials combining systemic agents with radiation. Although the proof of an improved schedule ultimately needs to come from well-run Phase III trials, the search among schedules could be shortened by the use of surrogate endpoints such as presence of active drug metabolites in the tumor. This has been accomplished only in a few cases and needs to become a more standard part of radiation sensitizer and protector trials.     

Fruit and vegetables and cancer risk

The possibility that fruit and vegetables may help to reduce the risk of cancer has been studied for over 30 years, but no protective effects have been firmly established. For cancers of the upper gastrointestinal tract, epidemiological studies have generally observed that people with a relatively high intake of fruit and vegetables have a moderately reduced risk, but these observations must be interpreted cautiously because of potential confounding by smoking and alcohol. For lung cancer, recent large prospective analyses with detailed adjustment for smoking have not shown a convincing association between fruit and vegetable intake and reduced risk. For other common cancers, including colorectal, breast and prostate cancer, epidemiological studies suggest little or no association between total fruit and vegetable consumption and risk. It is still possible that there are benefits to be identified: there could be benefits in populations with low average intakes of fruit and vegetables, such that those eating moderate amounts have a lower cancer risk than those eating very low amounts, and there could also be effects of particular nutrients in certain fruits and vegetables, as fruit and vegetables have very varied composition. Nutritional principles indicate that healthy diets should include at least moderate amounts of fruit and vegetables, but the available data suggest that general increases in fruit and vegetable intake would not have much effect on cancer rates, at least in well-nourished populations. Current advice in relation to diet and cancer should include the recommendation to consume adequate amounts of fruit and vegetables, but should put most emphasis on the well-established adverse effects of obesity and high alcohol intakes.     

VEGF及KDR在大肠腺瘤和腺癌中的表达及意义

目的：探讨VEGF和KDR在大肠腺瘤和大肠腺癌中的表达及临床病理特征的关系。方法：大肠腺瘤和大肠腺癌组织标本各100例,采用免疫组织化学染色法检测VEGF和KDR在标本中的表达情况。结果：VEGF和KDR在大肠腺癌组中的阳性表达明显高于大肠腺瘤组（P〈0.05）;在正常大肠黏膜均未见VEGF和KDR表达的阳性染色;VEGF阳性表达组中KDR的阳性表达率为70%,显著高于VEGF阴性表达组中KDR的阳性表达率16%,两组比较有统计学意义（P〈0.01）。结论：大肠腺癌组织中KDR的表达与肿瘤大小、转移情况、浸润深度密切相关;VEGF和KDR在大肠腺瘤中的表达与患者的年龄、性别及分型均无相关性,而与增生程度相关（P〈0.05）。在大肠腺癌患者中VEGF及KDR表达更高,二者具有协同效应。     

肾上腺素能β受体与肿瘤生长及转移

大量研究表明肿瘤细胞可表达β受体，而一些神经递质、药物和社会心理因素可能通过β受体影响肿瘤的生长和转移，β受体激动剂、β受体阻滞剂以及抑郁等社会心理因素可加强或削弱这种作用。这为表达β受体肿瘤的治疗开辟了新的道路，提供了新的治疗靶点。     

Occupational and environmental radiation and cancer

Epidemiologic evidence on the relation between occupational and environmental radiation and cancer is reviewed. Studies of pioneering radiation workers, underground miners, and radium dial painters revealed excess cancer deaths and contributed to the setting of radiation protection standards and to theories of carcinogenesis. Occupational exposures today are generally much lower than in the past, thus any associated increases in cancer will be difficult to detect. Pooling investigations of these more recently exposed workers, however, has the potential to validate current estimates of risk used in radiation protection. New information on the effects of chronic radiation exposure also may come from studies in the former Soviet Union of Chernobyl clean-up workers and of workers at the Mayak nuclear facilities. Studies of environmental radiation exposures, other than radon, are largely inconclusive, due mainly to the difficulties in detecting the low risks associated with low dose exposures. Thyroid cancer, however, has been linked to environmental radiation from the Chernobyl accident and from nuclear weapons tests. Low-level radiation released during normal operations at nuclear plants has not been found to increase cancer rates in surrounding populations. Radon, a human carcinogen, is the most ubiquitous exposure to human populations; remediating high residential-radon levels is recommended, recognizing that the exposure can never be removed completely because it occurs naturally.     

Cell and tissue interactions in carcinogenesis and metastasis and their clinical significance

This review describes a new vision for future directions in the study of metastatic cancer biology and pathology. It is based upon clinical and experimental observations on the constituent cell lineages within a neoplasm and on tumour-host interactions. The vision incorporates information from studies in population biology, developmental biology and experimental pathology as well as investigations upon human malignant disease. The assembled information reveals that invasion and metastasis are supra-cellular manifestations of "emergent behavior" among combinations of normal and malignant cell lineages in vivo. Emergent behavior is a combinatorial interactive process in which a population displays new traits which cannot be achieved by individuals acting separately and which subside when the specific population mix disaggregates. Disruption of such pathological interactions in the field of a developing primary or secondary tumour is, therefore, required to disable the malignant population and arrest progression without tissue destruction. These conclusions originate, in part, from principles which govern the sociobiology and group behavior of bees, ants, fish, birds and human societies. In all these social organisms, external factors can disrupt signaling mechanisms and induce expanding self-perpetuating rogue behavior, leading to social disintegration. These principles also apply to cellular societies composing higher animals, which likewise need intrinsic rules to maintain social order and avoid anarchy, and recognition of this is essential for advancing future research on the mechanisms involved in carcinogenesis and metastasis. Summarised evidence is presented here to support the conclusion that miscommunications between cells and tissues in the region of the developing tumour and its metastases are the main direct perpetrators of malignant disease. Genetic lesions (mutations, deletions, translocations, reduplications, etc.), commonly seen in cancers, can significantly disrupt important molecular pathways in the networks of communications needed to sustain orderly tissue/organ structure and function. However, genetic lesions can also, themselves, be induced by abnormal cell interactions initiated by extrinsic carcinogenic agents such as chemicals, viruses, hormones and radiation. The evidence shows that, irrespective of the initiating cause, it is this miscommunication in the region of a developing tumour and its metastases that is ultimately responsible for the emergence and progression of the disease. The article describes how this information collectively, provides a framework for designing specific novel therapeutic approaches targeting the cell and tissue interactions driving tumour metastasis and its manifold effects on the whole body.     

Vitamin D and melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer risk and prognosis: A comprehensive review and meta-analysis

Vitamin D is formed mainly in the skin upon exposure to sunlight and can as well be taken orally with food or through supplements. While sun exposure is a known risk factor for skin cancer development, vitamin D exerts anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects on melanocytes and keratinocytes in vitro. To clarify the role of vitamin D in skin carcinogenesis, we performed a review of the literature and meta-analysis to evaluate the association of vitamin D serum levels and dietary intake with cutaneous melanoma (CM) and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) risk and melanoma prognostic factors. Twenty papers were included for an overall 1420 CM and 2317 NMSC. The summary relative risks (SRRs) from random effects models for the association of highest versus lowest vitamin D serum levels was 1.46 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60–3.53) and 1.64 (95% CI 1.02–2.65) for CM and NMSC, respectively. The SRR for the highest versus lowest quintile of vitamin D intake was 0.86 (95% CI 0.63–1.13) for CM and 1.03 (95% CI 0.95–1.13) for NMSC. Data were suggestive of an inverse association between vitamin D blood levels and CM thickness at diagnosis. Further research is needed to investigate the effect of vitamin D on skin cancer risk in populations with different exposure to sunlight and dietary habits, and to evaluate whether vitamin D supplementation is effective in improving CM survival.     

Fibronectin and integrins in invasion and metastasis

Summary The adhesive glycoprotein fibronectin and integrin receptors appear to play important roles in the progression of metastatic disease. Fibronectin is a multifunctional extracellular glycoprotein that has at least two independent cell adhesion regions with different receptor specificities. The cell adhesive region in the central portion of fibronectin is comprised of at least two minimal amino acid sequences - an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence and a Pro-His-Ser-Arg-Asn (PHSRN) sequence - which function in synergy. Another cell adhesive region is located near the carboxy-terminus in the alternatively spliced IIICS module. The critical minimal sequences for this region are Leu-Asp-Val (LDV) and Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV) which function in an additive rather than synergistic fashion. Integrins are heterodimeric, transmembrane cell adhesion receptors for fibronectin and other extracellular matrix molecules. Several different integrins bind to fibronectin. The ₅₁ fibronectin-specific integrin binds to the central RGD/PHSRN site. The ₄₁ integrin binds to the IIICS site. Fibronectin-integrin interactions are important in tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. In addition to promoting cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix, these proteins may also function in chemotaxis and control of proliferation. Peptide and antibody inhibitors of fibronectin and integrin functions have been shown to be effective inhibitors of metastasis, and are potentially important reagents for the study and control of cancer.     

XRCC1 and XRCC3 variants and risk of glioma and meningioma

Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affecting DNA repair capacity and modifying cancer susceptibility have been described. We evaluated the association of SNPs Arg194Trp, Arg280His, and Arg399Gln in the X-ray cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) and Thr241Met in the X-ray cross-complementing group 3 (XRCC3) DNA repair genes with the risk of brain tumors. The Caucasian study population consisted of 701 glioma (including 320 glioblastoma) cases, 524 meningioma cases, and 1,560 controls in a prospective population-based case–control study conducted in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the UK. The studied SNPs were not significantly associated with the risk of brain tumors. The highest odds ratios (ORs) for the associations were observed between the homozygous variant genotype XRCC1 Gln399Gln and the risk of glioma (OR = 1.32; 95% confidence interval, CI, 0.97–1.81), glioblastoma (OR = 1.48; 95% CI, 0.98–2.24), and meningioma (OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 0.96–1.86). However, in pair-wise comparisons a few SNP combinations were associated with the risk of brain tumors: Among others, carriers of both homozygous variant genotypes, i.e., XRCC1 Gln399Gln and XRCC3 Met241Met, were associated with a three-fold increased risk of glioma (OR = 3.18; 95% CI, 1.26–8.04) and meningioma (OR = 2.99; 95% CI, 1.16–7.72). In conclusion, no significant association with brain tumors was found for any of the polymorphisms, when examined one by one. Our results indicated possible associations between combinations of XRCC1 and XRCC3 SNPs and the risk of brain tumors.     

miRNA与肿瘤侵袭转移

目前,microRNA (miRNA)已成为肿瘤研究中最基本的参与者,主要通过与靶标基因3 'UTR(非翻译区)的完全或不完全配对,降解靶标基因mRNA或抑制其翻译,从而参与调控个体发育、细胞凋亡、增殖及分化等生命活动.miRNA作为调控基因表达的重要分子在肿瘤侵袭转移中的作用越来越受到重视,表明miRNA在肿瘤侵袭和转移中的作用机制具有重要的理论意义,同时也可为肿瘤的诊断和治疗提供新方法.本文就miRNA通过调控上皮间质转化及肿瘤干细胞导致肿瘤侵袭转移的最新研究进展作一综述.     

miR-21与头颈部恶性肿瘤

近年来研究发现miR-21在多种头颈部恶性肿瘤中存在异常表达,该异常表达与甲状腺癌、鼻咽癌、喉癌和口腔癌等头颈部恶性肿瘤的发生发展都存在密切的联系,并且可能对头颈部恶性肿瘤的术前诊断、临床治疗及预后的判断具有重要的价值.     

骨桥蛋白与肝癌转移复发关系的研究进展

骨桥蛋白是一种分泌性磷酸化糖蛋白,是人体极其重要的黏附因子,已成为多种恶性肿瘤转移复发的分子标签,在肝癌的转移复发中扮演重要角色。骨桥蛋白作为一项预警指标能够预测肝癌转移复发的发生,有助于识别需要积极综合治疗的患者,以进一步提高肝癌的疗效。     

Body size and composition and the risk of gastric and oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Although evidence has been mounting that obesity may be related to the increased incidence of oesophageal and gastric cardia malignancies, these reports (mainly case-control studies) have relied on imperfect measures of obesity such as body mass index (BMI), and generally have not clearly distinguished between anatomical subsites within the oesophagus and stomach. In a prospective study of people aged 27-75 years, we directly measured fat mass and fat-free mass (using bioelectrical impedance analysis), height, weight and waist and hip circumferences. Among 41,295 people followed on average for 11.3 years, 30 cases with cancers in the gastric cardia or lower third of the oesophagus and 68 cases with noncardia gastric adenocarcinomas were ascertained via the population cancer registry. The risk of adenocarcinoma of the lower oesophagus and gastric cardia was positively associated with BMI with a hazards ratio (HR) and (95% confidence interval) for people with BMI>or=30 kg/m2 compared with those<25 kg/m2, of 3.7 (1.1-12.4), an HR per 10 cm increase in waist circumference of 1.46 (1.05-2.04), and a HR per 10 kg increase on fat-free mass of 2.06 (1.15-3.69). Noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma showed little relationship with body size. We observed an increased risk of adenocarcinoma of the lower oesophagus and gastric cardia associated with increased BMI, central adiposity and the nonfat component of weight, but found no association with noncardia gastric adenocarcinoma. An increasing prevalence of obesity may be associated with the increasing incidence of gastro-oesophageal cancer observed in many populations.     

Hypersensitivity and cross-reactivity to cisplatin and analogues

We report on a 49-year-old woman with relapsing ovarian cancer who developed a hypersensitivity reaction (HSR) to carboplatin and, subsequently, to cisplatin. This patient was known to be allergic to Co-Amoxiclav and talc, both giving rise to a transient macular skin rash, but had no other history of atopy. Similar cases, including some of life-threatening severity, have been reported in the literature. These severe reactions may prevent a small population of young patients from receiving effective therapy with cisplatin or its analogues, treatment known to be associated with a significant improvement in survival in germ-cell tumours, ovarian cancer and osteogenic sarcoma.     

Breast-feeding and neuroblastoma,USA and Canada

Objective: Researchers have suggested an inverse association between breast-feeding and risk of childhood cancer. We investigated the association between breast-feeding and neuroblastoma in a large case–control study in the United States and Canada. Methods: Maternal reports of breast-feeding were compared among 393 children six months or older who had neuroblastoma and were identified through the Children's Cancer Group and the Pediatric Oncology Group and 376 age-matched controls identified by random-digit telephone dialing in a telephone interview case–control study. Results: Children with neuroblastoma were less likely to have breast-fed than control children (odds ratio (OR) = 0.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.5–0.9). The association between breast-feeding and neuroblastoma increased with breast-feeding duration (0–3 months OR = 0.7, CI = 0.4–1.0; 13+ months OR = 0.5, CI = 0.3–0.9). Conclusion: Breast-feeding was inversely associated with neuroblastoma and should be encouraged among healthy mothers. Additional research on possible mechanisms of this association may be warranted.     

Early and more advanced unifocal and multifocal breast carcinomas and their molecular phenotypes

Background

I examined the relationship between the recently established prognostic parameter, molecular tumor phenotype and tumor size, lesion distribution (unifocal, multifocal, diffuse growth), and lymph node status.

Materials and Methods

I analyzed 660 consecutive invasive breast carcinomas documented in large-format histology sections. Immunohistochemistry was used to phenotype the tumors on the basis of estrogen and progesterone receptor expression, HER2 (human epithelial growth factor receptor 2) overexpression, and expression of basal markers.

Results

The proportion of luminal A tumors (84.8% vs. 71.6%; P < .0001) and basal-like tumors (5.0% vs. 14.8%; P < .0001) were significantly different in early (<15 mm) and more advanced invasive breast carcinomas, whereas the proportion of luminal B and HER2 type tumors (4.2% vs. 7.8%, and 5.7% vs. 4.8%, respectively) were not. All the phenotypes had similar percentages of multifocal tumors, whereas most diffuse invasive carcinomas were luminal A type. Early luminal A carcinomas had significantly fewer lymph node metastases (LNM) than more advanced carcinomas but luminal B and HER2 type tumors showed no such difference. This difference was evident (15.4% vs. 42.4%) but statistically not significant in the basal-like category. Multifocal tumors of all phenotypes had significantly higher frequencies of LNM compared with unifocal tumors.

Conclusion

Multifocality of the invasive component represents a negative prognostic parameter associated with significantly increased LNM in all phenotype, whereas larger tumor size was such a parameter only in the luminal A category. HER2 overexpression occurs early in the natural history of tumors and is associated with high LNM rates.     

子宫内膜增生、子宫内膜样腺癌组织中Twist与maspin的表达及相关性分析

目的:研究扭曲蛋白Twist和maspin在典型子宫内膜增生、不典型子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜样腺癌组织中的表达。方法:应用免疫组化检测40例典型子宫内膜增生、40例不典型子宫内膜增生和80例子宫内膜样腺癌组织中Twist、maspin的表达。结果:在典型子宫内膜增生、不典型子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜样腺癌组织中Twist、maspin阳性率分别为10%、37.5%和52.5%,12.5%、42.5%和43.8%。Twist在不典型子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜样腺癌组织中的表达均高于典型子宫内膜增生,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。子宫内膜样腺癌组织中,Twist与组织学分级、浸润深度和淋巴结转移相关,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,maspin与组织学分级、分期和淋巴结转移相关,差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。Twist和maspin没有显著相关（r=0.322,P=0.056)。结论:在不典型子宫内膜增生和子宫内膜样腺癌组织中,Twist和maspin蛋白表达不同,表明它们在子宫内膜样腺癌发展中的潜在功能,可能与子宫内膜样腺癌发生有关。