• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.33-37
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• 2016

Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide, including in Iran. Variations in its incidence rate among geographical areas are due to various contributing factors. Since there has been a lack of studies on this topic in our country, the present spatial analysis of skin cancer incidence in Iran in 2009 was conducted using data from the cancer registry system for the country. The reported incidences of the disease were standardized on the basis of the World Health Organization population and the direct method. Then the data were inserted into the GIS software, and finally, using the analysis of hot spots (Getis-Ord Gi), high-risk areas were drawn. Provinces that were 1.9 SD higher or lower than the national average were considered hot spots or cold spots, with significance at the level of 0.05. In 2009, a total of 9,964 cases of skin cancer occurred, 3,696 in women and 6,268 in men (standardized incidence rates of 15.8 and 22.6, respectively). The results of the study showed that in men and women, the disease demonstrated high incidence in the central provinces and desert regions. In women, Yazd Province and in men, Qom Province had significant hot spots (p <0.05). While Isfahan, Markazi, Tehran and Kurdistan provinces were expected to be hot spots, the differences from the national average were not significant at the 0.05 level. As well, the provinces of Sistan Va Baluchistan, Kerman, and Hormozgan were identified as cold or low-risk disease regions (p <0.05). The central provinces of the country due to hot weather conditions, more solar radiation, and closer vicinity to the central desert of Iran demonstrated higher incidence rates for skin cancer, so further epidemiological studies into the etiology and early detection are essential in these areas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2835-2838
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• 2013

Background: Prostate cancer features a substantial incidence and mortality burden, similarly to breast cancer, and it ranks among the top ten specific causes of death in males. Objective: To explore the situation of prostate cancer in a healthy population cohort in Eastern Nepal. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in the Department of General Surgery at B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal from July 2010 to June 2011. Males above 50 years visiting the Surgical Outpatient Department in BPKIHS were enrolled in the study and screening camps were organized in four Teaching District Hospitals of BPKIHS, all in Eastern Nepal. Digital rectal examination (DRE) was conducted by trained professionals after collecting blood for assessment of serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA). Trucut biopsies were performed for all individuals with abnormal PSA/DRE findings. Results: A total of 1,521 males more than 50 years of age were assessed and screened after meeting the inclusion criteria. The vast majority of individuals, 1,452 (96.2%), had PSA ${\leq}4.0$ ng/ml. Abnormal PSA (>4 ng/ml) was found in 58 (3.8%). Abnormal DRE was found in 26 (1.72%). DRE and PSA were both abnormal in 26 (1.72%) individuals. On the basis of raised PSA or abnormal DRE 58 (3.84%) individuals were subjected to digitally guided trucut biopsy. Biopsy report revealed benign prostatic hyperplasia in 47 (3.11%) and adenocarcinoma prostate in 11 (0.73%). The specificity of DRE was 66.0%with a sensitivity of 90.9% and a positive predictive value of 38.5%. The sensitivity of PSA more than 4ng/ml in detecting carcinoma prostate was 100% and the positive predictive value for serum PSA was 19.0% Conclusions: The overall cancer detection rate in this study was 0.73% and those detected were locally advanced. Larger community-based studies are highly warranted specially among high-risk groups.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.48-50
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• 2017

Tumor tissues from biopsies or surgery are major sources for the next generation sequencing (NGS) study, but these procedures are invasive and have limitation to overcome intratumor heterogeneity. Recent studies have shown that driver alterations in tumor tissues can be detected by liquid biopsy which is a less invasive technique capable of both capturing the tumor heterogeneity and overcoming the difficulty in tissue sampling. However, it is still unclear whether the driver alterations in liquid biopsy can be detected by targeted NGS and how those related to the tissue biopsy. In this study, we performed whole-exome sequencing for a breast cancer tissue and identified PTEN p.H259fs*7 frameshift mutation. In the plasma DNA (liquid biopsy) analysis by targeted NGS, the same variant initially identified in the tumor tissue was also detected with low variant allele frequency. This mutation was subsequently validated by digital polymerase chain reaction in liquid biopsy. Our result confirm that driver alterations identified in the tumor tissue were detected in liquid biopsy by targeted NGS as well, and suggest that a higher depth of sequencing coverage is needed for detection of genomic alterations in a liquid biopsy.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2008

Colored potatoes are an excellent source of dietary polyphenols including anthocyanins. Generally, anthocyanins from fruits and vegetables exhibit anti-carcinogenesis and anti-cancer properties in vitro test. This experiment was conducted to know the effects of colored potato extracts contained anthocyanins on antimutagenic activity and anticancer activity to six human cancer cell lines containing LNCaP (androgen-dependent) prostate cancer cells. Extracts of three colored potatoes ('Hongyoung', 'Jayoung' and 'Jasim') and the white potato ('Superior') cultivars were used in this study. The extracts of three colored potatoes inhibited the mutagenicities induced by direct mutagen such as 4-nitro-quinoline-1-oxide (4-NQO) and another indirect mutagens of bezo(a)pyrene (BaP). Also, the extracts of 'Hoyoung' and 'Jayoung' showed higher antimutagenic activity than 'Jasim' and 'Superior' against to direct or indirect mutagen on both strains of TA98 and TA100. The activity of growth-inhibitory of extract of four potato cultivars were screened by SRB (sulphorhodamine B) method on diverse human cancer cells representing different types of cancers. Among the extract of four potato cultivars, the extract of 'Jasim' showed moderate inhibition on proliferation of LNCaP, ACHN and MOLT-4F cells and did not inhibit the proliferation of other cancer cells. On the other hand, extract of 'Superior' did not inhibit the proliferation of any tested cancer cell lines. However, the extracts of 'Hongyoung and Jayoung' inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells with $GI_{50}$ values ranging from 2.5 to $30\;{\mu}g/mL$. On the basis of the $GI_{50}$ values, it is clear that LNCaP cells were more sensitive to extracts of colored potato cultivars than other cancer cells. The extract of 'Jayoung' at $30\;{\mu}g/mL$ were more active and inhibited cell proliferation, and induced apoptosis in LNCaP cells. This result revealed that the extracts of colored potatoes are expected to be good candidate for development into source of antimutagenic and anticancer agent.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3931-3936
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• 2013

Background: Iran is a country with very high incidences of stomach cancer, especially in Northern parts. Here we assessed prognostic value of serum screening biomarkers among people >50 years old for early detection of precancerous lesions in a hot spot for gastric carcinoma in Guilan Province, North Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted on 1,390 residents of Lashtenasha city with the mean age (SD) of 61.8 (9.02) years old (50.8% females) to assess the association of gastrin and the pepsinogen (PG) I/II ratio with premalignant gastric lesions. Blood samples were taken for CBC, blood group, and serologic exams (PGI, PGII, and gastrin 17) from each subject. Expert gastroenterologists performed upper GI endoscopy and ROC curves were generated to determine appropriate cutoff points. Results: Mean values of PGI, PGII, PGI/PGII and gastrin were significantly different between patients with and without atrophy or metaplasia (P<0.05). To diagnose atrophy and intestinal metaplasia, a significantly higher AUC was observed for the PGI/PGII ratio (70 and 72%, respectively) compared to the PGI (56, 55%), PGII (63, 64%) and gastrin (59, 61%) (all p<0.001). Conclusions: Biomarker tests such as the PGI/II ratio can be used in the screening and diagnosis of subjects at high gastric cancer risk in our region.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.189-197
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• 2008

Purpose: Peritoneal lavage cytology is regarded as a useful diagnostic test for detecting intraperitoneal micrometastsis. However, there are currently no reports about cytological examination with $ThinPrep^{(R)}$ (CY), a newly introduced fluid-based diagnostic system, in patients with advanced gastric cancer (AGC). This study was performed to analyze the clinical significance of intraoperative peritoneal lavage for CY in AGC patients. Materials and Methods: 424 AGC patients were suspected to have serosal exposure macroscopically during surgery and they underwent intraoperative peritoneal lavage for CY between 2001 and 2006 at Korea Cancer Center Hospital. The clinical data, pathological data and CY results were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Results: The percentage of cytology positive results was 31.1%, and this was well correlated with the T-stage, N-stage and P-stage. The 3-year survival rates of CY0 and CY1 were 68.1% and 25.9%, respectively. According to the P-stage and CY, the 3-year survival rates were 71.1% in P0CY0, 38.9% in P0CY1, 38.5% in P1/2/3CY0 and 11.0% in P1/2/3CY1. Interestingly, both the P0CY1 and P1/2/3CY0 survival curves were similar figures, but they were significantly different from those of the other groups. Multivariate analysis indicated that CY was an independent, strong prognostic factor for survival, as well as sex, the T-stage, N-stage, P-stage, other metastasis and the serum CEA. CY1 was revealed as a risk factor for peritoneal recurrence in the curative resection group. Conclusion: The results certify indirectly that cytological examination using $ThinPrep^{(R)}$ is a very reliable diagnostic method for detecting intraperitoneal micrometastasis from the fact that it is not only a strong prognostic factor, but it is also a risk factor for peritoneal recurrence in AGC patients. Therefore intraoperative peritoneal lavage should be included in the routine intraoperative staging workup for AGC, and its result will provide a good target for the treatment of peritoneal micrometastasis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.2857-2860
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• 2016

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection is one of the important causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in Thailand, involved in the pathogenesis and leading to a development of HCC with or without cirrhotic changes of the liver. This study was aimed to investigate the predictive factors for HCC among CHB patients in a tertiary care center in Thailand. Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of CHB patients with or without HCC during the period of January 2009 and December 2014 at Thammasat University Hospital, Pathumthani, Thailand. Data on clinical characteristics, biochemical tests and radiologic findings were collected from review of medical records. Results: A total of 266 patients were diagnosed with CHB in Thammasat university hospital during the study period. However, clinical information of only 164/266 CHB patients (98 males, 66 females with mean age of 49.4 years) could be completely retrieved in this study. The prevalence of HCC in CHB infection in this study was 38/164 (23.2%). CHB patients with HCC had a mean age older than those without HCC (59.5 vs 47 years, P-value = 0.01). Furthermore, history of upper GI bleeding, tattooing, blood transfusion, and chronic alcoholism were significantly more common in CHB patients with HCC than patients without HCC (13.2% vs 3.2% P-value 0.03, OR = 4.6, 95%CI = 1.2-18.1, 20% vs 3.9%, P-value = 0.01, OR= 6.1, 95% CI= 1.6-23.6, 20% vs 6.3%, P-value = 0.03, OR = 3.8, 95%CI =1.1-12.7, 62.2% vs 30.3%, P-value <0.0001, OR = 3.7, 95%CI= 1.7-8.1 respectively). Interestingly, more CHB patients with HCC had evidence of cirrhosis than those without HCC (78.9% vs 20.4%, P-value <0.0001, OR = 14.6, 95%CI = 5.8-36.7). In CHB patients with HCC, surgical therapy provided longer survival than radiofrequency ablation (RFA) (72 vs 46.5 months, P-value= 0.04). The mean survival time after HCC diagnosis was 17.2 months. Conclusions: HCC remains a major problem among patients with CHB infection in Thailand. Possible risk factors are male gender, history of upper GI bleeding, chronic alcoholism, tattooing, blood transfusion and evidence of cirrhosis. For early stage HCC patients, surgical treatment provided longer survival time than RFA. Most HCC patients presented with advanced disease and had a grave prognosis. Appropriate screening of CHB patients at risk for HCC might be an appropriate approach for early detection and improvement of long-term outcomes.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.505-516
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate whether artificial intelligence (AI) for detecting breast cancer on mammography can improve the performance and time efficiency of radiologists reading mammograms. Materials and Methods: A commercial deep learning-based software for mammography was validated using external data collected from 200 patients, 100 each with and without breast cancer (40 with benign lesions and 60 without lesions) from one hospital. Ten readers, including five breast specialist radiologists (BSRs) and five general radiologists (GRs), assessed all mammography images using a seven-point scale to rate the likelihood of malignancy in two sessions, with and without the aid of the AI-based software, and the reading time was automatically recorded using a web-based reporting system. Two reading sessions were conducted with a two-month washout period in between. Differences in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, and reading time between reading with and without AI were analyzed, accounting for data clustering by readers when indicated. Results: The AUROC of the AI alone, BSR (average across five readers), and GR (average across five readers) groups was 0.915 (95% confidence interval, 0.876-0.954), 0.813 (0.756-0.870), and 0.684 (0.616-0.752), respectively. With AI assistance, the AUROC significantly increased to 0.884 (0.840-0.928) and 0.833 (0.779-0.887) in the BSR and GR groups, respectively (p = 0.007 and p < 0.001, respectively). Sensitivity was improved by AI assistance in both groups (74.6% vs. 88.6% in BSR, p < 0.001; 52.1% vs. 79.4% in GR, p < 0.001), but the specificity did not differ significantly (66.6% vs. 66.4% in BSR, p = 0.238; 70.8% vs. 70.0% in GR, p = 0.689). The average reading time pooled across readers was significantly decreased by AI assistance for BSRs (82.73 vs. 73.04 seconds, p < 0.001) but increased in GRs (35.44 vs. 42.52 seconds, p < 0.001). Conclusion: AI-based software improved the performance of radiologists regardless of their experience and affected the reading time.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2005

This study was performed to compare manual liquid-based preparation with conventional Papanicolaou tests in view of the cytologic diagnoses and specimen adequacy. The specimens of 5,979 women from 33 local clinics and 1 general hospital were prepared by both manual liquid-based preparation and conventional Papanicolaou test. The cytologic diagnoses and specimen adequacy were evaluated in Department of Fathology in Kyoungpook National University School of Medicine. A conventional Papanicolaou test was always prepared first, after that residual material on the sampling device was rinsed into a liquid preservative, and then thin-layer slides were prepared using manual method of liquid-based cervicovaginal cytology. Conventional and liquid-based slides were read independently, and cytologic diagnoses and specimen adequacy were classified using the Bethesda System. Of the cases, 5,763 (96.3%,) had the same interpretation, and there was no significant diagnostic difference in 5,853 (97.8%) cases. When evaluating cases with more than one diagnostic class difference, the manual liquid-based preparation demonstrated a statistically significant overall improvement (2.1%) in the detection of squamous intraepithelial lesion and invasive cancer. Using manual method of liquid-based preparation, there was 14.1%, reduction in unsatisfactory slides through excellent cellular presentation. In conclusion, the manual liquid-based preparation produces standardized quality, superior sensitivity and improved adequacy as compared to the conventional method.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.243-251
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• 2011

Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) on initial positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) and investigate the clinical value of SUVmax for early detection of locoregional recurrent disease after postoperative radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Materials and Methods: A total of 100 patients with locally advanced HNSCC received primary tumor excision and neck dissection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy. The MTV and SUVmax were measured from primary sites and neck nodes. The prognostic value of MTV and SUVmax were assessed using initial staging PET/CT (study A). Follow-up PET/CT scan available after postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy or radiotherapy were evaluated for the SUVmax value and correlated with locoregional recurrence (study B). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to define a threshold value of SUVmax with the highest accuracy for recurrent disease assessment. Results: High MTV (>41 mL) is negative prognostic factor for disease free survival (p = 0.041). Postradiation SUVmax was significantly correlated with locoregional recurrence (hazard ratio, 1.812; 95% confidence interval, 1.361 to 2.413; P < 0.001). A cutoff value of 5.38 from follow-up PET/CT was identified as having maximal accuracy for detecting locoregional recurrence by ROC analysis. Conclusion: MTV at staging work-up was significantly associated with disease free survival. The SUVmax value from follow-up PET/CT showed high diagnostic accuracy for the detection of locoregional recurrence in postoperatively irradiated HNSCC.