• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9567-9574
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• 2014

${\beta}$-Blockers have been one of the most widely used and versatile drugs for the past half a century. A new potential for their use as anti-cancer drugs has emerged in the past few years. Various retrospective case control studies have been suggestive that use of ${\beta}$-blockers before the diagnosis of cancer could have preventive and protective effects against non-small cell lung carcinoma, melanoma, and breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Experimental and clinical observations are still inconclusive with some inconsistent findings. However, indications are pointing toward a positive role of some ${\beta}$-blockers against certain forms of cancers. This mini review is an effort to present the up to date published results of case-control studies and experimental findings.

• Journal of Digestive Cancer Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.112-116
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• 2022

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) is known for its association with malignant diseases. Moreover, various solid organ malignancies, such as ovarian, breast, lung, esophageal, stomach, and colorectal cancers, have been reported to occur with IIM. Furthermore, its relationship with hematologic malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, myeloma, and leukemia, has been reported. However, to date, IIM related to pancreatic cancer has scarcely been reported, particularly in patients with polymyositis (PM). Therefore, here we report a case of PM developed immediately after the diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2017

With advances in the methods of cancer treatment used in modern medicine, the number of breast cancer survivors has been consistently rising. As the number of women who wish to become pregnant after being diagnosed with breast cancer increases, it is necessary to consider fertility preservation in these patients. However, medical doctors may be unaware of the importance of fertility preservation among cancer patients because most patients do not share their concerns about fertility with their doctors. Considering the time spent choosing and undergoing treatment, an early referral to a reproductive specialist is the best way to prevent a delay in cancer treatment. Since it is not easy to make decisions on matters related to cancer diagnosis and fertility, patients should be provided with enough time for decision-making, and to allow for this, an early referral will provide patients with sufficient time to choose an appropriate method of fertility preservation. The currently available options of fertility preservation for patients with breast cancer include cryopreservation of embryos, oocytes, and ovarian tissue and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment before and during chemotherapy. An appropriate method of fertility preservation must be selected through consultations between individual patients and health professionals and analyses of the pros and cons of different options.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5211-5217
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• 2015

Background: We earlier used PCR-dHPLC for mutation analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2. In this article we report application of targeted resequencing of 30 genes involved in hereditary cancers. Materials and Methods: A total of 91 patient samples were analysed using a panel of 30 genes in the Illumina HiScan SQ system. CLCBio was used for mapping reads to the reference sequences as well as for quality-based variant detection. All the deleterious mutations were then reconfirmed using Sanger sequencing. Kaplan Meier analysis was conducted to assess the effect of deleterious mutations on disease free and overall survival. Results: Seventy four of the 91 samples had been run earlier using the PCR-dHPLC and no deleterious mutations had been detected while 17 samples were tested for the first time. A total of 24 deleterious mutations were detected, 11 in BRCA1, 4 in BRCA2, 5 in p53, one each in RAD50, RAD52, ATM and TP53BP1. Some 19 deleterious mutations were seen in patients who had been tested earlier with PCR-dHPLC [19/74] and 5/17 in the samples tested for the first time, Together with our earlier detected 21 deleterious mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2, we now had 45 mutations in 44 patients. BRCA1c.68_69delAG;p.Glu23ValfsX16 mutation was the most common, seen in 10/44 patients. Kaplan Meier survival analysis did not show any difference in disease free and overall survival in the patients with and without deleterious mutations. Conclusions: The NGS platform is more sensitive and cost effective in detecting mutations in genes involved in hereditary breast and/or ovarian cancers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1119-1122
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• 2016

Background: Punica granatum (PG) has been demonstrated to possess antitumor effects on various types of cancer cells. In this study, we determined antiproliferative properties of a seed extract of PG (PSE) from Iran in different human cancer cells. Materials and Methods: A methanolic extract of pomegranate seeds was prepared. Total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were assessed by colorimetric assays. Antioxidant activity was determined with reference to DPPH radical scavenging activity. The cytotoxicity of different doses of PSE (0, 5, 20, 100, 250, 500, $1000{\mu}g/ml$) was evaluated by MTT assays with A549 (lung non small cell carcinoma), MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma), SKOV3 (ovarian cancer cells), and PC-3 (prostate adenocarcinoma) cells. Results: Significant (P<0.01) or very significant (P<0.0001) differences were observed in comparison to negative controls at all tested doses ($5-1000{\mu}g/ml$). In all studied cancer cells, PSE reduced the cell viability to values below 23%, even at the lowest doses. In all cases, IC50 was determined at doses below $5{\mu}g/ml$. In this regard, SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells were the most responsive to antiproliferative effects of PSE with a maximum mean growth inhibition of 86.8% vs. 82.8%, 81.4% and 80.0% in MCF-7, PC-3 and A549 cells, respectively. Conclusions: Low doses of PSE exert potent antiproliferative effects on different human cancer cells SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells as most and A549 cells ar least responsive regarding cytotoxic effects. However, the mechanisms of action need to be addressed.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.167-174
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• 2012

AKT is a signal transduction protein that plays a central role in the tumorigenesis. There are 3 mammalian isoforms of this serine/threonine protein kinase-AKT1, AKT2, and AKT3-showing a broad tissue distribution. We first discovered 2 novel polymorphisms (AKT2 -9826 C/G and AKT3 -811 A/G), and we confirmed 6 known polymorphisms (AKT2 -9473 C/T, AKT2 -9151 C/T, AKT2 -9025 C/T, AKT2 -8618G/A, AKT3 -675 A/-, and AKT3 -244 C/T) of the AKT2 and AKT3 promoter region in 24 blood samples of Korean lung cancer patients using direct sequencing. To evaluate the role of AKT2 and AKT3 polymorphisms in the risk of Korean lung cancer, genotypes of the AKT2 and AKT3 polymorphisms (AKT2 -9826 C/G, AKT2 -9473 C/T, AKT2 -9151 C/T, AKT2 -9025 C/T, AKT2 -8618G/A, and AKT3 -675 A/-) were determined in 360 lung cancer patients and 360 normal controls. Statistical analyses revealed that the genotypes and haplotypes in the AKT2 and AKT3 promoter regions were not significantly associated with the risk of lung cancer in the Korean population. These results suggest that polymorphisms of the AKT2 and AKT3 promoter regions do not contribute to the genetic susceptibility to lung cancer in the Korean population.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9739-9745
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• 2014

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the effects of hormone receptor, HER2, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression on epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) prognosis and investigate whether or not phenotypic subtypes might exist. Materials and Methods: The medical records of 82 patients who were diagnosed with EOC between 2003 and 2012 and treated by platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively evaluated. Expression of EGFR, oestrogen (ER), progesterone (PR), and cerbB2 (HER2) receptors were assessed immunohistochemically on paraffin-embedded tissues of these patients. Three phenotypic subtypes were defined according to ER, PR, and HER2 expression and associations of these with EGFR expression, clinicopathologic features, platinum sensitivity, and survival were investigated. Results: When we classified EOC patients into three subtypes, 63.4% had hormone receptor positive (HR(+)) (considering breast cancer subtypes, luminal A), 18.3% had triple negative, and 18.3% had HER2(+) disease. EGFR positivity was observed in 37 patients (45.1%) and was significantly more frequent with advanced disease (p=0.013). However, no significant association with other clinicopathologic features and platinum sensitivity was observed. HER2(+) patients had significantly poorer outcomes than HER2(-) counterparts (triple negative and HR positive patients) (p=0.019). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that the strongest risk factor for death was residual disease after primary surgery. Conclusions: Triple negative EOC may not be an aggressive phenotype as in breast cancer. The HER2 positive EOC has more aggressive behaviour compared to triple negative and HR(+) phenotypes. EGFR expression is more frequent in advanced tumours, but is not related with poorer outcome. Additional ovarian cancer molecular subtyping using gene expression analysis may provide more reliable data.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.413.3-414
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• 2002

Paclitaxel is a diterpenoid isolated from Taxus brevifolia and is an active anticancer drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and Kaposi's sarcoma. Due to its low solubility in water, it is dissolved in Cremophor EL(polyethoxylated castor oil) and ethanol, which cause serious side effects including hypersensitivity. BLK460 was developed as a novel polymeric micellar paclitaxel formulation containing Aceporol460 as solubilizer (omitted)

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7029-7035
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• 2014

Certain types of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are undoubtedly involved in genesis of human malignancies. HPV plays an etiological role in cervical cancer, but also in many vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers, as well as head and neck cancers. In addition, a number of non-malignant diseases such as genital warts and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis are attributable to HPV. Moreover, HPV forms have detected in several other cancers including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, lung, prostate, ovarian, breast, skin, colorectal and urinary tract cancers, but associations with etiology in these cases is controversial. The aim of this systematic assessment was to estimate the prevalence of HPV infection and HPV types in HPV-associated cancers, HPV-related non-malignant diseases and in cancers that may be associated with HPV in Iran. The present investiagtion covered 61 studies on a variety of cancers in Iranian populations. HPV prevalence was 77.5 % and 32.4% in cervical cancer and head and neck cancers, respectively. HPV was detected in 23.1%, 22.2%, 10.4%, 30.9%, 14% and 25.2% of esophageal squamous cell, lung, prostate, urinary tract cancers, breast and skin cancers, respectively. HPV16 and 18 were the most frequent HPV types in all cancers. The findings of present study imply that current HPV vaccines for cervical cancer may decrease the burden of other cancers if they are really related to HPV.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.743-746
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• 2013

Background: Some studies have indicated an inverse relationship between cancer risk and sunlight exposure. Others have reported that the prognosis of some cancers such as prostate, colon, ovarian and non melanoma skin cancer, were affected by the season in which the cancer was diagnosed. In our study, we evaluated whether season is prognostic in Turkish patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: A total of 517 patients from Kayseri Training and Research Hospital were analysed retrospectively. Patients were divided into 4 groups according to season of cancer diagnosis: winter, spring, summer and autumn. The prognostic factors for disease free survival and overall survival were investigated. Results: No significant differences were found among groups regarding prognostic factors overall. Only estrogen receptor status and lymphovascular invasion were independent prognostic factors (p=0.001 and p=0.001 respectively). We found significantly differences for mean disease free survival among groups (p=0.019). Winter group had better mean DFS while summer group had worse DFS. Mean overall survival was similar in the four groups (p=0.637). Conclusions: The season is not an independent predictive factor. However, due to interaction with other factors, we think that the season of cancer diagnosis is important for cancer prognosis.