• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.588-595
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• 2013

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are often known to have a therapeutic potential in the cell-mediated repair for fatal or incurable diseases. In this study, canine umbilical cord MSCs (cUC-MSCs) were isolated from umbilical cord matrix (n = 3) and subjected to proliferative culture for 5 consecutive passages. The cells at each passage were characterized for multipotent MSC properties such as proliferation kinetics, expression patterns of MSC surface markers and self-renewal associated markers, and chondrogenic differentiation. In results, the proliferation of the cells as determined by the cumulative population doubling level was observed at its peak on passage 3 and stopped after passage 5, whereas cell doubling time dramatically increased after passage 4. Expression of MSC surface markers (CD44, CD54, CD61, CD80, CD90 and Flk-1), molecule (HMGA2) and pluripotent markers (sox2, nanog) associated with self-renewal was negatively correlated with the number of passages. However, MSC surface marker (CD105) and pluripotent marker (Oct3/4) decreased with increasing the number of subpassage. cUC-MSCs at passage 1 to 5 underwent chondrogenesis under specific culture conditions, but percentage of chondrogenic differentiation decreased with increasing the number of subpassage. Collectively, the present study suggested that sequential subpassage could affect multipotent properties of cUC-MSCs and needs to be addressed before clinical applications.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.431-437
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• 2016

In this investigation, global DNA methylation patterns and the specific methylation status of 5 genes were studied in DNA from peripheral blood (PB) and impact on progression free survival (PFS) and overall-survival (OS) in patients with de novo or relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treated with decitabine-based regimens waas assessed. DNA was isolated from PB samples at the time of -1, 1, and 7 days of chemotherapy. Global methylation was determined by ELISA, and the CpG island DNA methylation profile of 5 genes using a DNA methylation PCR system. Our data demonstrated that patients with a high level of 5-mC had a poor prognosis after demethylation therapy and those who have low levels of 5-mC in PB achieved higher CR and better SO, but there was no significant correlation found between the 5-mC levels and other clinical features before treatment except the disease status. Higher methylation status of Sox2 and Oct4 genes was associated with differential response to demethylation therapy. A relatively low methylation percentage in one or both of these two genes was also associated with longer OS after decitabine based chemotherapy. We also suggest that global DNA and Oct-4/Sox2 methylation might impact on the pathogenesis of leukemia and play an important role in the initiation and progression. Moreover, dynamic analysis of 5-mC and Oct-4/Sox2 in peripheral blood nucleated cells of leukemia patients may provide clues to important molecular diagnostic and prognostic targets.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.4921-4926
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• 2015

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer type among women with increasing incidence rates, improved prognosis and survival. According to the localization of the tumor, breast cancer is designated as unilateral (UBC) or bilateral (BBC). BBC can be classified as synchronous (SBBC) or metachronous (MBBC) based on the time interval between the diagnosis of the first and the secondary tumors. According to the guideline of WHO 2012, BBC is generally defined as SBBC when contralateral breast carcinoma is diagnosed within 3 months. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics and patterns of metastasis of BBC patients with UBC. Materials and Methods: A cohort of 768 patients with breast cancer treated at the Turkish Ministry of Health-Izmir Bozyaka Research and Training Hospital between 1976 and 2012 were studied. Survival analysis was performed comparing UBC and BBC patients. In addition, evaluations were performed in patients with SBBC and MBBC sub-groups. We used a 3-months interval to distinguish metachronous from synchronous. Results: When clinical and histopathological parameters were statistically evaluated, ER status, event-free and overall survival were found to be significant between UBC and BBC patients. In comparison of SBBC and MBBC patients, age, histological type of tumor, event-free and overall survival were found to be significant. Conclusions: BBC cases were found to show worse prognosis than UBC cases. Among BBC, SBBC had the worst prognosis based on overall survival rates.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6029-6033
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• 2014

The burden and severity of a cancer can be reflected by patterns of survival. Breast cancer prognosis between two countries with a different socioeconomic status and cultural beliefs may exhibit wide variation. This study aimed to describe survival in patients with breast cancer in China and Thailand in relation to demographic and clinical prognostic information. Materials and Methods: We compared the survival of 1,504 Chinese women in Yunnan province and 929 Thai women in Songkhla with breast cancer from 2006 to 2010. Descriptive prognostic comparisons between the Chinese and Thai women were performed by relative survival analysis. A Cox regression model was used to calculate the hazard ratios of death, taking into account the age, disease stage, period of diagnosis and country. Results: The overall 5-year survival proportion for patients diagnosed with breast cancer for Yunnan province (0.72) appeared slightly better than Songkhla (0.70) without statistical significance. Thai women diagnosed with distant and regional breast cancer had poorer survival than Chinese women. Disease stage was the most important determinant of survival from the results of Cox regression model. Conclusions: Breast cancer patients in Kunming had slightly greater five-year survival rate than patients in Songkhla. Both Chinese and Thai women need improvement in prognosis, which could conceivably be attained through increased public education and awareness regarding early detection and compliance to treatment protocols.

• BMB Reports
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.522-526
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• 2004

Prader-Willi (PWS) and Angelman (AS) are syndromes of developmental impairment that result from the loss of expression of imprinted genes in the paternal (PWS) or maternal (AS) 15q11-q13 chromosome. Diagnosis on a clinical basis is difficult in newborns and young infants; thus, a suitable molecular test capable of revealing chromosomal abnormalities is required. We used a variety of cytogenetic and molecular approaches, such as, chromosome G banding, fluorescent in situ hybridization, a DNA methylation test, and a set of chromosome 15 DNA polymorphisms to characterize a cohort of 27 PWS patients and 24 suspected AS patients. Molecular analysis enabled the reliable diagnosis of 14 PWS and 7 AS patients, and their classification into four groups: (A) 6 of these 14 PWS subjects (44%) had deletions of paternal 15q11-q13; (B) 4 of the 7 AS patients had deletions of maternal 15q11-q13; (C) one PWS patient (8%) had a maternal uniparental disomy (UPD) of chromosome 15; (D) the remaining reliably diagnoses of 7 PWS and 3 AS cases showed abnormal methylation patterns of 15q11-q13 chromosome, but none of the alterations shown by the above groups, although they may have harbored deletions undetected by the markers used. This study highlights the importance of using a combination of cytogenetic and molecular tests for a reliable diagnosis of PWS or AS, and for the identification of genetic alterations.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.193-198
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• 2016

Objectives Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and schizophrenia have many common clinical and neurocognitive features. However, not all of them share the same underlying mechanism. The aim of this study was to discover evidences that indicate a pathophysiological mechanism specific to OCD by comparing correlations of quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) patterns and neurocognitive function in patients with OCD and schizophrenia. Methods Resting-state QEEG data of total 265 patients were acquired retrospectively and parameters such as absolute power, relative power and peak frequency were analyzed from the data. Stroop test and Trail Making Test results as well as demographic features were reviewed for this study. The correlation of neurocognitive functions and brain electrical activities in each group were assessed and compared by correlation analysis. Results Compared with the OCD group, the schizophrenia group performed poorly in neurocognitive tests. Mean values of QEEG parameters in patients with OCD and schizophrenia did not show significant differences. Both absolute and relative power of alpha rhythm in central and frontal regions showed significant positive correlation with Stroop test results in OCD patients. Conclusions Findings in this study shows distinctive correlations between frontal executive dysfunction and frontal alpha rhythm in the OCD patients, both of which might be a candidate for endophenotype underlying obsessive rumination.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1857-1859
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• 2016

Background: Hodgkin's lymphoma (formerly, Hodgkins disease) is a potentially curable malignancy with distinctive biological behavior and specific clinical characteristics. Limited information is available from developing countries for patients with classical Hodgkin's lymphoma (cHL). Therefore we reviewed the demographical and clinico-hematological profiles along with bone marrow infiltration patterns in adult patients presenting at Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College. Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 62 adult (${\geq}15years$) patients with cHL were enrolled from January 2010 to December 2014. Results: The mean age was $29.7{\pm}13.8years$ with a median of 30 years. The male to female ratio was 2:1. B symptoms were present in 72.5% of patients and lymph node enlargement in 85.4%. The frequency of bone marrow infiltration in our cHL patients was found to be 27.4%, the pattern being predominantly focal followed by diffuse. The mean hemoglobin was $9.4{\pm}1.9g/dl$ with a mean MCV of $78.1{\pm}7.9fl$, a mean total leukocyte count of $10.9{\pm}20.6{\times}10^9/l$ and a mean platelet count of $241.6{\pm}150.1{\times}10^9/l$. Conclusions: Our analysis shows that clinico-pathological features of cHL in Pakistan are comparable to published data. Peripheral lymphodenopathy associated with B symptoms is the commonest presentation. Bone marrow involvement is more common in our setup as patients usually presented at an advanced stage of disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.937-940
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• 2012

Due to lack of sufficient data on characteristics of breast cancer patients and risk factors for developing metastasis in Iran this study was designed to understand clinical aspects impacting on survival. A cross-sectional study on breast cancer patients was conducted in an oncology clinic of the university hospital between 1995 and 2010. Data were retrieved from medical records and included age, menopausal status, tumor diameter, number of involved nodes, histopathological type, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression, c-erbB-2, primary and secondary metastasis sites, overall survival, disease free interval and type of chemotherapy protocol. The results were analyzed with SPSS 13 software. The mean age of the patients was 49.2 (27-89) years. The primary tumors were mainly ER positive (48%) and PR negative (49.3%). The status of lymph nodes dissected and examined in these patients was unknown in 19 patients (25.3%) while 18 patients (24%) had positive lymph nodes with no report on the number of involved nodes. All of the patients had received antracyclin based chemotherapy in an adjuvant or metastatic setting. Adjuvant hormonal therapy was administered to receptor positive patients. In average, overall survival after recurrence was 30 months (95%CI 24.605-35.325) for non-skeletal versus 42 months (95%CI 31.211-52.789) for skeletal metastasis (P= 0.002). The median survival was also greater for receptor positive patients; 39 months (95%CI 33.716-44.284) for PR+ versus 26 months (95%CI 19.210-32.790) for PR- (P=0.047) and 38 months (95%CI 32.908-43.092) for ER+ versus 27 months (95%CI 18.780-35.220) for ER- patients (P=0.016). No relation was found between site of first metastasis and hormone receptor, age, tumor diameter, DFI and menopausal status. Sites of metastasis were independent of age, size of the tumor, menopausal and hormone receptor status in this study. Overall survival provided significant relations with respect to receptor status and bone metastasis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2959-2962
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the clinical characteristics, patterns of recurrence and survival outcomes in patients with uterine carcinosarcomas treated in our institution. Materials and Methods: Records of 26 patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2011 with uterine carcinosarcoma were retrospectively evaluated for demographic features, tumor characteristics, treatment regimens and patient outcomes in terms of DFS and OS Results: Median age was 61 (range 43-78). 10 patients (38%) had stage I disease at diagnosis, 3 (12%) had stage II, 4 (15%) had stage III and 9 (35%) had stage IV. Sixteen patients (62%) received chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin for 6 cycles. One patient underwent radiotherapy. Median follow up was 17 months. Sixteen patients relapsed and 13 died during follow up. Considering recurrence, 5 out of 16 patients had lung metastases, one had brain metastases and 9 had only intraabdominal recurrence. The 3 year DFS was 37% and the 3 year OS was 30%. Conclusions: Our data show that uterine carcinosarcomas tend to be at advanced stage at diagnosis and despite the use of chemotherapy, overall prognosis is poor. Surgery remains the mainstay of treatment. More effective adjuvant strategies are needed to reduce relapse and death rates.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.211-217
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• 2013

Purpose: Sleep onset association disorder (SOAD) is a form of behavioral insomnia observed in children that is caused by inappropriate sleep training. SOAD typically disturbs the sleep of not only infants and children but also their parents. We investigated levels of depression and marital intimacy among parents of infants with typical SOAD, to understand the influence of SOAD on family dynamics, as well as examine ways for improving depression and marital intimacy through behavioral training. Methods: Depression and marital intimacy were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Waring Intimacy Questionnaire (WIQ). These measures were administered to 65 parents of infants (n=50) diagnosed with SOAD. We conducted sleep education and behavioral training for the parents and compared levels of depression and marital intimacy after 2-6 weeks of training. Results: The 65 parents consisted of 50 mothers and 15 fathers. Depressive symptoms were higher among mothers than fathers (P=0.007). Marital intimacy was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. Twenty-six parents were assessed again after sleep training. We found that mothers' depressive symptoms and marital intimacy improved post training. Conclusion: SOAD can be detrimental to both infants and parents, especially for parents who sleep with their infants. For instance, disruption of sleep patterns in such parents can reduce marital intimacy. However, behavioral modification is an effective treatment for infants with frequent nighttime waking, as well as for diminishing the depressive symptoms of sleep-deprived parents.