摘要:

One hundred and twenty children first diagnosed as having acute leukemia between 1988 and 1992 in Athens, Greece, were followed until May 15, 1993. The socioeconomic status of the children’s families was assessed by means of paternal occupation, paternal schooling, maternal schooling, ownership of a car, ability to choose a private medical facility and freedom in the choice of the attending physician. The analysis was done by proportional-hazards modelling, controlling for age and gender. All six socioeconomic indicators, alternatively evaluated, showed that fatality rates were higher in the lower socioeconomic groups, although nominal statistical significance was reached for only one of them. With respect to family ownership of a private car, the fatality rate ratio between children of families who own a car and children of families who do not was 0.29 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.13-0.62 (p = 0.002). These results suggest that in Greece, socially disadvantaged children have a less favorable survival from childhood leukemi

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227372

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

In this multicenter randomized trial, the efficacy of combination chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin and mitomycin C (arm A) was compared with that of 5-fluorouracil alone (arm B) in 81 patients with nonresectable carcinomas of the pancreas or biliary tract. There were no significant differences between treatment arms regarding the median time to progressive disease, median survival time, palliative effects or toxicities. It was concluded that combination chemotherapy is feasible but cannot be recommended.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227373

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

We investigated the effects of piroxicam, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, and esculetin, a lipoxygenase inhibitor, on 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary carcinogenesis in female rats. Seven days after receiving a 5-mg dose of DMBA, rats were fed either a high-fat (20% soybean oil) or low-fat (0.5% soybean oil) diet. One third of the rats received diets containing 0.01% piroxicam and one third received diets containing 0.03% esculetin. Esculetin significantly inhibited mammary tumorigenesis and tumor proliferation in the rats fed the high-fat and the low-fat diets. Piroxicam had no inhibitory effect. Our findings indicate that DMBA-induced mammary tumorigenesis is affected by lipoxygenase products rather than by cyclooxygenase products.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227374

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Eighty-five postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer were randomized to receive aminoglutethimide (AG), medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), or AG+MPA. Patients with aggressive visceral disease were excluded. Response was observed in 36% of the patients in the AG treatment group, 31% in the MPA treatment group, and 47% in the combination treatment group. Statistical analysis showed that the percentage of responders was not different among the three treatment groups. Similarly, the duration of response did not differ. Toxicity of all three regimens was moderate, not necessitating discontinuation of treatment. In conclusion, AG, MPA and the combination of AG+MPA were found to be equally effective therapies for metastatic breast cancer in postmenopausal women with nonaggressive visceral disease. The lack of statistically significant superiority of the combination of AG+MPA suggests that sequential endocrine monotherapies may be more beneficial than combined hormonotherapies for this patient population.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227375

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The MTT assay in agarose, a simple colorimetric test performed in double-layer agarose, has been evaluated for chemosensitivity testing of fresh tumor samples from human cancers in comparison with the MTT assay. The absorbance of cells from fibroblast cell lines or normal tissues was markedly reduced in agarose. The chemosensitivity of cells from a carcinoma cell line or fresh tumor tissues was not apparently affected by the presence of almost 50% of fibroblast or nonmalignant cells in the MTT assay in agarose, whereas it did so in the MTT assay. The frequency of the differences between chemosensitivity of fresh tumor samples in both assays was increased, when the tumor tissue cells contained a higher proportion of nonmalignant cells, i.e. vimentin-positive cells. In 173 patients with various carcinomas, in vitro sensitivity to 7 drugs in the MTT assay in agarose was significantly greater than that in the MTT assay. Further, the MTT assay in agarose had a higher accuracy for prediction of either sensitivity or resistance than the MTT assay in a total of 38 in vitro-in vivo correlations. These results indicated that the MTT assay in agarose was a more suitable technique for the application to chemosensitivity of fresh tumor samples from patients with various carcinomas as compared to the MTT assay.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227376

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Seventy-two female mice of BALB/c strain were divided into three control and three perchlorate groups. The perchlorate groups drank 1.2% sodium perchlo-rate solution. After 8 or 32 weeks of the 46-week experiment one control and one perchlorate group were totally irradiated with 0.8 Gy on 5 consecutive days. Ten normal thyroid glands, 10 with hypertrophy and hyperplasia, 8 follicular adenomas and 10 follicular carcinomas were histologically and stereo-logically analysed. The results showed significant differences in the average nuclear volume (p < 0.05) and in the average number of the silver-stained nucleolar organiser regions (AgNORs) per nucleus (p < 0.005) between the follicular adenomas and the follicular carcinomas. The method of counting Ag-NORs per nucleus was more valid, more accurate and more economical than the method of measuring the average nuclear volume.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227377

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

In the present study we evaluated the clinical usefulness of the tumor antigens, squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) and ovarian carcinoma antigen (CA 125), in populations of patients with benign and malignant cervical disease. SCC and CA 125 levels were determined in the serum of 59 patients with invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix and in 21 patients with benign cervical diseases. Before treatment of cervical cancer, SCC levels were elevated in 63% of the patients with squamous cell cancer while all 5 patients with adenocarcinoma had normal levels. CA 125 levels were elevated in 21% of the patients with cervical squamous cell cancer and in 3 of the 5 cases of adenocarcinoma of the cervix. In patients with benign cervical diseases, only 1 had a positive SCC level and none were positive for CA 125. No correlation was found between SCC levels and histological differentiation or clinical stage. In positive patients, serial SCC determinations correlated with the clinical course in 72.2%. Increasing levels were always associated with progression and increased on average 3 months before there was clinical evidence for disease progression. It is concluded from these studies that SCC levels are a useful marker for cervical cancer progression and recurrence. Levels of CA 125 were more likely to be elevated in patients with adenocarcinoma than squamous cell carcinoma, but when elevated in these latter patients, it also tended to predict tumor recurrence.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227378

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

To assess the possibility of substituting our routine method (dextran-coated charcoal, DCC) of determining estrogen (ER) and progesterone receptors (PR) for an enzyme immunoassay technique (EIA), we compared the two methods for determination of the two types of receptor in breast cancer specimens. In terms of sample positivity or negativity, the two techniques agreed in 76 of the 82 samples analyzed for ER (92.7%; p < 0.001), and in 65 out of 75 samples assayed for PR (86.6%; p < 0.001). Quantitative analysis of the data showed a significant correlation between DCC and EIA for both ER (r = 0.84; p < 0.0001) and PR (r = 0.77; p < 0.0001). The results suggest the usefulness of EIA in substituting DCC, although further clinical studies are required to fully evaluate this new method.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227379

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

We developed and characterized a new series of low- and high-grade multi-drug-resistant (MDR) cell lines of human esophageal carcinoma. Eight vinde-sine-resistant clones, SH-1-V1, SH-1-V2, SH-1-V3, SH-1-V4, SH-1-V5, SH-1-V6, SH-1-V7, and SH-1-V8 were isolated from the human esophageal cancer cell line, SH-1, by stepwise selection on exposure to increasing doses of vindesine. SH-1-VI to SH-1-V8 acquired resistance to vindesine, in a stepwise manner, from 3- to 115-fold over findings in the parental SH-1 cells. The most resistant clone, SH-1-V8, was cross-resistant to other anticancer agents such as vincristine, actinomycin D, and daunomycin, thereby suggesting acquisition of the MDR phenotype. In SH-1-V8 cells, cellular accumulation of vincristine decreased and an MDR reversal agent, cepharanthine, potentiated the cytoci-dal action of vindesine. The expression of MDR 1 mRNA was enhanced and amplification of the MDR1 gene was observed in clones SH-1-V4, SH-1-V5, SH-1-V6, SH-1-V7 and SH-1-V8; expression of MDR1 mRNA was detectable without gene amplification in the remaining 3 clones. The enhanced expression of the MDR1 gene may be involved in the acquisition of vindesine resistance in human esophageal cancer cells.

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227380

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The total activity of cysteine peptidase inhibitors and activator(s) was determined in the samples of urine received from colorectal cancer patients. Patients with peptic ulcer and healthy volunteers agreed to be a control group. The studies revealed a marked difference between the values of the determined parameters for the patients with colorectal cancer and those for the control group. Determination of cysteine peptidase inhibitors in patient’s urine is proposed as a new diagnostic procedur

ISSN:0030-2414    

DOI:10.1159/000227381

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1994

数据来源: Karger