• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7669-7674
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• 2013

Background: The hypothesis that patients who primarily progress on two consecutive chemotherapy regimens without evidence of clinical benefit may opt for supportive care was investigated. The purpose was to determine the quality of life in recurrent ovarian cancer patients choosing to receive salvage chemotherapy in addition to supportive care or palliative care alone. A secondary objective was to evaluate factors that affect quality of life in ovarian cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in patients who had histological confirmed epithelial ovarian cancer and failed to respond to at least one regimen of chemotherapy, coming for treatment at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand over a six-month period from August 2012-March 2013. Each patient was asked to complete the FACT-G and a general personal questionnaire. The median quality of life score was analyzed. The Mann Whitney U Test was used to compare the difference between salvage chemotherapy and palliative care groups, and the Kruskal Wallis was used to evaluate other variables. Results: Thirty-eight ovarian cancer patients were identified who failed to respond to chemotherapy. Of the 38, 30 chose salvage chemotherapy and eight palliative care for further treatment. By histology the carcimnomas were predominantly endometrioid subtype and poorly differentiated. The majority of patients in this study had FIGO stage III, and ECOG status 0-1. The median quality of life score was 76.3 (35.8-94.0), with no significant differences between the groups. Factors associated with the quality of life were the ECOG score and number of chemotherapeutic courses. Conclusions: In the setting of refractory or recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer, patients who receive salvage chemotherapy have comparable quality of life scores with patients treated with palliative care alone, providing a contrast with previous studies.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.13-18
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• 2013

발세포병증은 발세포의 손상을 특징으로 하는 사구체질환이다. 발세포의 손상은 여러 사구체질환에서 관찰될 수 있으나, 미소변화질환과 FSGS에서 주요 병인으로 작용한다. 이 글에서는 FSGS에서 발세포 손상의 형태 변화와 분절경화의 유형을 설명하고자 한다. 발세포가 손상되면 형태 변화로 발돌기의 소실, 발세포 세포질 내 공포, 발세포하 낭 등이 관찰되며, 심하면 발세포의 탈락 및 자멸사가 관찰된다. 그러나 분절경화가 초래되기까지에는 일정 수준 이상의 발세포의 소실이 있어야 하며, 손상된 발세포는 동일한 사구체 소엽 내 주변 발세포로 손상을 전파하여 병변이 커지게 된다. FSGS는 광학현미경 소견을 기초로 NOS형, perihilar형, cellular형, tip형, collapsing형의 다섯 가지 유형으로 나뉜다. 각 아형에 따라 임상 경과나 스테로이드 치료에 대한 반응이 다르고 흔히 동반되는 임상 조건들도 다르다고 보고되었으나 이에 대하여는 아직도 논란이 있는 실정이다. 앞으로 FSGS 발생에 관여하는 유전 정보와 혈액 내 투과인자의 성분 등 관련된 인자들에 대한 체계적인 연구가 이루어지면 FSGS에서 관찰되는 조직 변화나 병태생리를 더 잘 설명할 수 있을 것으로 기대해 본다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.3703-3708
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• 2015

Background: The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a strong predictor of mortality in patients with colorectal, lung, gastric cancer, pancreatic and metastatic renal cell carcinoma. We here evaluated whether preoperative NLR is an independent prognostic factor for non-metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Materials and Methods: Data from 327 patients who underwent curative or palliative nephrectomy were evaluated retrospectively. In preoperative blood routine examination, neutrophils and lymphocytes were obtained. The predictive value of NLR for non-metastatic RCC was analyzed. Results: The NLR of 327 patients was $2.72{\pm}2.25$. NLR <1.7 and NLR ${\geq}1.7$ were classified as low and high NLR groups, respectively. Chi-square test showed that the preoperative NLR was significantly correlated with the tumor size (P=0.025), but not with the histological subtype (P=0.095)and the pT stage (P=0.283). Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Effects of NLR on OS (P=0.007) and DFS (P=0.011) were significant. To evaluate the independent prognostic significance of NLR, multivariate COX regression models were applied and identified increased NLR as an independent prognostic factor for OS (P=0.015), and DFS (P=0.019). Conclusions: Regarding patient survival, an increased NLR represented an independent risk factor, which might reflect a higher risk for severe cardiovascular and other comorbidities. An elevated blood NLR may be a biomarker of poor OS and DFS in patients with non-metastatic RCC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.1111-1113
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• 2012

The ER-/PR+ breast tumor may be the result of a false ER negative result. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in patient and tumor characteristics of the ER-/PR+ phenotype in an Asian setting. A total of 2629 breast cancer patients were categorized on the basis of their age, ethnicity, tumor hormonal receptor phenotype, grade and histological type. There were 1230 (46.8%) ER+/PR+, 306 (11.6%) ER+/PR-, 122 (4.6%) ER-/PR+ and 972 (37%) ER-/PR-. ER-/PR+ tumors were 2.5 times more likely to be younger than 50 years at diagnosis (OR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.72-3.67). Compared to ER+/PR+ tumors, the ER-/PR+ phenotype was twice more likely to be associated with grade 3 tumors (OR:2.02; 95%CI: 1.00-4.10). In contrast, compared to ER-/PR- tumors, the ER-/PR+ phenotype was 90% less likely to be associated with a grade 3 tumor (OR: 0.12; 95%CI:0.05-0.26), and more likely to have invasive lobular than invasive ductal histology (OR: 3.66; 95%CI: 1.47-9.11). These results show that the ER-/PR+ phenotype occurs in a younger age group and is associated with intermediate histopathological characteristics compared to ER+/PR+ and ER-/PR- tumors. This may imply that it is a distinct entity and not a technical artifact.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.1575-1579
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• 2014

Background: There is a close relationship between Helicobacter pylori (H pylori)-specific factors and different gastroduodenal diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of vacA d1, d2 genotypes in the H pylori isolates from patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and gastritis in East Azerbaijan region, where the incidence of gastric cancer (GC) is high. Strains isolated from this area are likely to be of European ancestry. Materials and Methods: In this study, genotyping of the vacA d region of 115 isolates obtained from patients with different gastrodoudenal diseases was accomplished by PCR methods. In addition to PCR amplification of H pylori 16S rDNA, rapid urease tests or histological examination were used to confirm the presence of H pylori in biopsy specimens. Data were collected and analyzed using SPSS version 19. Results: Of the total of 83 H pylori isolates, 36 (43.4%) contained the d1 allele and 47 (56.6%) were subtype d2. The results of the multiple linear/logistic regression analysis showed high correlation between allele d1 and gastric adenocarcinoma or PUD. Conclusions: This study suggests that the H pylori vacA d1 genotype helps predict risk for gastric adenocarcinoma and PUD in East Azerbaijan, Iran.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제66권1호
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• pp.42-46
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• 2009

폐암의 자연적 퇴화는 매우 드문 질환이다. 아직 그 기전은 불분명하다. 그러나 신체의 면역반응이 중요한 역할을 하는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이에 본 저자들은 폐의 편평 세포암 환자에서 항암치료 및 방사선 치료 등을 하지 않은 상태에서 자연적 퇴화가 발생한 증례를 경험하였기에 문헌 고찰과 함께 보고하는 바이다.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.189-195
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• 2016

Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is the most common oral cancer subtype with a maximum propensity for regional spread. Our objective was to study if p53 expression might have any correlation with aggressive patterns of invasion within oral tongue cancers as well as with the histologically identified degree of oral tongue dysplasia. p53 immunoexpression was studied using immunohistochemistry in early staged OTSCCs (n=155), oral tongue dysplasias, (n=29) and oral tongue normal specimens (n=10) and evaluated for correlations with histological and clinicopathological parameters. Our study (n=194) showed a pattern of p53 expression increasing with different grades of tongue dysplasia to different grades of invasive OTSCC (p=0.000). Among the OTSCC tumours, positive p53 expression was seen in 43.2% (67/155) and a higher p53 labelling index was significantly associated with increased Bryne's grade of the tumour invasive front (p=0.039) and increased tumour depth (p=0.018). Among the OTSCC patients with tobacco habits, (n=91), a higher p53 labelling index was significantly associated with increased risk of local recurrence (p=0.025) and with lymphovascular space involvement (p=0.014). Evaluation of p53 through varying degrees of dysplasia to oral tongue cancer indicates that p53 expression is linked to aggressive features of oral tongue cancers and tongue precancers entailing a closer monitoring in positive cases. Among the OTSCCs, p53 expression is associated with tumour aggressiveness correlating with increased grading of invasive tumour front and tumour depth.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권10호
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• pp.6109-6114
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• 2013

Aim: To determine whether beta-blockers (BBs) improve the overall survival (OS) of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Materials and Methods: The medical charts of 107 patients with metastatic NSCLC were retrospectively assessed. Thirty-five patients (BB group) using BBs during chemotherapy (CT) were compared with 72 controls [control=(C) group] who did not use BBs following the diagnosis of NSCLC. The histological tumor subtype, performance status (ECOG), age, gender, smoking status, comorbidities, other medications and chemotherapeutics that were received in any line of treatment were recorded. We compared the overall survival (OS) of the patients in the BB and C groups. Results: The mean age of the patients was 61 years (range 42-81 years) and all patients were administered CT. The BB group was more likely to have HT and IHD and was more likely to use RAS blockers (p<0.01 for all) compared with the C group, as expected. The mean follow-up time was 17.8 months (range 1-102 months) for the entire group. The most commonly prescribed BB agent was metoprolol (80% of cases). At the time of the analysis, 74 (69%) of all patients had died. In the univariate analysis the median overall survival (OS) was 19.25 (${\pm}2.87$) months (95%CI: 13.62-24.88) in the BB group and 13.20 (${\pm}2.37$) months (95%CI: 8.55-17.85) in the C group (p=0.017). However, the benefit of BBs on survival disappeared in the multivariate analysis. Conclusions: The use of BBs during CT may be associated with an improved OS for patients with metastatic NSCLC.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권4호
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• pp.1973-1978
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• 2016

Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that represents a major public health problem. The immunohistochemical determination of breast cancer subtypes with regard to estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) status can contribute to improved selection of therapy and patientcare. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of the molecular breast cancer subtypes and to assess their associations with classical clinicopathologic parameters for better therapeutic decisions in women with breast cancer in the Ivory Coast. Materials and Methods: Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded blocks of patients diagnosed with primary breast carcinoma were subjected to immunohistochemical assay for the assessment of ER/RP and HER2 expression. The one-way analysis of variance evaluated the difference between breast cancer subtypes and mean age of patients. The Chi-square Test was used to compare standard clinicopathologic prognostic parameters with tumor subtypes. Results. Among 302 patients, 57% were premenopausal and 43% were postmenopausal. The invasive ductal carcinoma not otherwise specified (IDC NOS) (82.8%) was the most frequent histological type, and the tumor grade 2 (56%) was predominant followed by grade 3 (20.9%). The proportion of positivity of ER, PR, and HER2 was 56%, 49%, and 15.6%, respectively. Half of patients of this study (51.6%) had luminal A breast tumor type followed by TN (32.1%). Other subtypes were luminal B (10.1% ) and non-luminal HER2+ (6.3%). Conclusions. The findings of the present study are in line with the literature and should assist in management of breast cancer in our country.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.1455-1461
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• 2015

Background: Young onset breast cancer (BC) has a worse outcome as compared to in the elderly. However, some studies have shown that BC in the elderly, despite indolent features, does also cause increase in mortality. In an attempt to compare clinic-pathological characteristics, BC subtypes and survival in patients with BC presenting at extremes of age, we performed a retrospective study. Materials and Methods: Patients were either ${\leq}40$ or ${\geq}70$ years old. Subtypes were defined using immunohistochemistry and histological grade. Chi-Square test was used for evaluation of categorical variables, and Kaplan-meier and log-rank for disease-specific survival (DSS) and disease free survival (DFS). Results: We analyzed 256 patients ${\leq}40$ and 366 patients ${\geq}70$. Younger patients presented with more aggressive disease, with less luminal A but more luminal B and triple negative (TN) subtype. With a median follow-up of 57.5 months, DFS at 5 years in younger patients was 72.3% vs 84.6% in the elderly (p=0.007). Luminal A and B disease presented with worse DFS in younger patients. The opposite was seen in the TN subgroup. Although we found no significant differences in DSS, older patients with TN tumors died of BC more frequently. This group also received less chemotherapy. Conclusions: Young patients present with more aggressive disease, this translating into worse DFS. However, elderly patients with TN disease represent a particular subpopulation with worse DFS and DSS, suggesting that chemotherapy should not be withheld only because of age.