• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.123-130
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• 2012

In this study, we evaluated the human papillomavirus (HPV) genotyping test called MolecuTech REBA HPV-$ID^{(R)}$ (YD Diagnostics, Seoul, Korea) for 704 women who also had cervical cytological evaluations by Thin Prep. The infection rate of high-risk HPV genotypes was 56.6% in patients with normal cytology, 59.8% in those with benign, low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, 51.4% in those with atypical squamous cells of uncertain significance, 92.3% in those with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and 94.1% in those with squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. HPV 16 was the most common genotype detected in any lesion, followed by HPV 53, 58, 33, 52, 45, 31, and 35, in order. The HPV DNA test with PCR-REBA is a very highly sensitive, but less specific, method. The infection rates and HPV genotype distribution of non-Korean people versus people from South Korea showed regional differences.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2705-2709
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• 2012

Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene polymorphisms for the prognosis of osteosarcoma patients receiving chemotherapy. Methods: A total of 159 patients were included in our study between January 2005 and December 2007., with follow-up until January 2012. Genotyping was based upon the duplex polymerase-chain-reaction with the PCR-CTPP method. Results: At the time of diagnosis, 15.4% of the patients presented with metastasis, while 22.3% developed metastasis during follow-up. At the time of final analysis on January 2012, the median follow-up was 45.5 months. Patients with null GSTM1 and GSTT1 had a higher event free survival rate than non-null genotype, but no significant association was found between the two genotypes and prognosis of osteosarcoma. Individuals with GSTP1 Val/Val genotype tended to live shorter than with the IIe/IIe genotype, and we found a significantly higher risk of death from osteosarcoma (adjusted HR=2.35, 95% CI=1.13-4.85). Conclusion: The GSTP1 gene polymorphism may have an important role in the prognosis of osteosarcoma patients with chemotherapy. Further analyses with larger samples and more genes encoding metabolizing and DNA repair enzymes are warranted.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2467-2471
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• 2012

Introduction: Although bleomycin/etoposide/cisplatinum (BEP) chemotherapy is established as the standard treatment for germ cell tumours, it requires significant experience in administration and toxicity management to maintain optimal dose intensity. A retrospective review of 30 patients was conducted at UKMMC to study treatment outcomes. Methods & Materials: Patients with GCTs and treated with at least two cycles of BEP chemotherapy between January 2003 and Oct 2009 were eligible for this study. Patients received 4-6 cycles of bleomycin 30,000IU IV D1, D8 & D15 and either etoposide $100mg/m^2$ IV D1-D5 and cisplatin $20mg/m^2$ IV D1-D5 (5 day BEP regimen) or etoposide $165mg/m^2$ D1-D3 and cisplatin $50mg/m^2$ D1-3 (3 day BEP regimen) every three weeks per cycle. All patients received prophylactic granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) from days 6 to 10 of each cycle. The overall response rates, 2 year progression-free survival and overall survival of the whole cohort were assessed. Results: Thirty patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Non-seminomatous GCTs comprised 93.3% of cases and gonadal and mediastinal primary sites were the most common. Sixty percent were classified as IGCCCG poor risk disease. Median follow-up was 26.6 months. The overall response rate (CR+PR) was 70%. The two year PFS and OS were 70% and 66%. There was a significant difference in terms of the overall response rate (85% vs 40%, p = 0.03) and in PFS (94.7% vs 50%, p = 0.003) between gonadal and extragonadal primary sites. Conclusion: It is possible to achieve outcomes similar to those in international clinical trials with close monitoring and good supportive care of patients undergoing BEP chemotherapy. There is a strong argument for patients with IGCCCG poor prognosis disease to be treated in specialist tertiary centres to optimize treatment outcomes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.315-322
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• 2015

Intracranial germ cell tumors (ICGCT) occur in 2-11% of children with brain tumors between 0-19 years of age. For treatment of germinoma, relatively low radiation doses with or without chemotherapy show excellent 10 year survival rate of 80-100%. Past studies showed that neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with focal radiotherapy resulted in unacceptably high rates of periventricular tumor recurrence. The use of generous radiation volume which covers the whole ventricular space with later boost treatment to primary site is considered as standard treatment of intracranial germinomas. For non-germinomatous germ cell tumors (NGGCT), 10-year overall survival rate is still much inferior than that of intracranial germinoma despite intensive chemotherapy and high-dose radiotherapy. Craniospinal radiotherapy combined with cisplatin-based chemotherapy provides the best treatment outcome for NGGCT; 60-70% of overall survival rate. There is a debate on the surgical role whether surgery can contribute to improved treatment outcome of NGGCT when added to combined chemoradiotherapy. Because higher dose of radiotherapy is required for treatment of NGGCT than for germinoma, it is tested whether whole ventricular irradiation can replace craniospinal irradiation in intermediate risk group of NGGCT to minimize radiation-related late toxicity in the recent studies. To minimize the treatment-related neural deficit and late sequelae while maintaining long-term survival rate of ICGCT patients, optimized administration of chemotherapy and radiotherapy should be selected. Use of technically upgraded radiotherapy modalities such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy or proton beam therapy is expected to bring an improved neurocognitive outcome with longitudinal assessment of the patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.469-473
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• 2013

Background: The purpose of this study is to examine the risk of uncontrolled chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) among patients receiving low emetogenic chemotherapy (LEC) with and without granisetron injection as the primary prophylaxis in addition to dexamethasone and metochlopramide. Materials and Methods: This was a single-centre, prospective cohort study. A total of 96 patients receiving LEC (52 with and 42 without granisetron) were randomly selected from the full patient list generated using the e-Hospital Information System (e-His). The rates of complete control (no CINV from days 1 to 5) and complete response (no nausea or vomiting in both acute and delayed phases) were identified through patient diaries which were adapted from the MASCC Antiemesis Tool (MAT). Selected covariates including gender, age, active alcohol consumption, morning sickness and previous chemotherapy history were controlled using the multiple logistic regression analyses. Results: Both groups showed significant difference with LEC regimens (p<0.001). No differences were found in age, gender, ethnic group and other baseline characteristics. The granisetron group indicated a higher complete response rate in acute emesis (adjusted OR: 0.1; 95%CI 0.02-0.85; p=0.034) than did the non-granisetron group. Both groups showed similar complete control and complete response rates for acute nausea, delayed nausea and delayed emesis. Conclusions: Granisetron injection used as the primary prophylaxis in LEC demonstrated limited roles in CINV control. Optimization of the guideline-recommended antiemetic regimens may serve as a less costly alternative to protect patients from uncontrolled acute emesis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1583-1588
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• 2016

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is considered to be a multifactorial disorder resulting from the interaction of several predisposing and protective genetic variants. PCOS is associated with low-grade chronic inflammation. Elevated levels of inflammatory markers including intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) are demonstrated in women with PCOS. Recent evidence indicates a significant linkage between a locus on chromosome 19p13 and multifactorial diseases that have an inflammatory component. The aim of the study was to assess the possible association of Gly241Arg polymorphism of ICAM-1 gene located on chromosome 19p13 in determining risk of PCOS in Kashmiri women. Materials and Methods: Gly241Arg SNP in DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes of 220 PCOS cases and 220 age matched non-PCOS healthy controls was analysed using allel specific PCR. Results: The genotype and allele frequency distributions of Gly241Arg SNP showed insignificant difference between the PCOS cases and control women, indicating no role of this SNP in PCOS susceptibility. The odds ratio for Arg/Arg genotype was 0.87 (95% CI=0.32-2.3) [P=0.79], for Gly/Arg genotype was 0.98 (95% CI= 0.66-1.47) [P=1] and for Arg/Arg+Gly/Arg genotype was 0.97 (95% CI=0.65-1.45) [P=0.92]. The genotypic frequencies of ICAM-1codon 241 showed statistically insignificant difference between cases and controls (${\chi}^2=0.07$; p=0.96) Nor the studied polymorphism was found to affect clinical and laboratory parameters significantly. Conclusions: Although Gly241Arg polymorphism have not shown significant association with PCOS. Further, specifically designed studies on large cohorts are required to conclusively establish any role of ICAM-1 gene polymorphisms in PCOS in our study.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1269-1276
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• 2016

Background: Tobacco consumption continues to be the leading cause of preventable deaths globally. The objective of this study was to examine the associaton of selected socio-demographic variables with current tobacco use in five countries that participated in the Phase II Global Adult Tobacco Survey in 2011 - 2012. Materials and Methods: We analysed internationally comparable representative household survey data from 33,482 respondents aged ${\geq}15years$ in Indonesia, Malaysia, Romania, Argentina and Nigeria for determinants of tobacco use within each country. Socio-demographic variables analysed included gender, age, residency, education, wealth index and awareness of smoking health consequences. Current tobacco use was defined as smoking or use of smokeless tobacco daily or occasionally. Results: The overall prevalence of tobacco use varied from 5.5% in Nigeria to 35.7% in Indonesia and was significantly higher among males than females in all five countries. Odds ratios for current tobacco use were significantly higher among males for all countries [with the greatest odds among Indonesian men (OR=67.4, 95% CI: 51.2-88.7)] and among urban dwellers in Romania. The odds of current tobacco use decreased as age increased for all countries except Nigeria where. The reverse was true for Argentina and Nigeria. Significant trends for decreasing tobacco use with increasing educational levels and wealth index were seen in Indonesia, Malaysia and Romania. Significant negative associations between current tobacco use and awareness of adverse health consequences of smoking were found in all countries except Argentina. Conclusions: Males and the socially and economically disadvantaged populations are at the greatest risk of tobacco use. Tobacco control interventions maybe tailored to this segment of population and incorporate educational interventions to increase knowledge of adverse health consequences of smoking.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.381-385
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• 2015

Background:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most common malignancy in Egypt. Data mining is a method of predictive analysis which can explore tremendous volumes of information to discover hidden patterns and relationships. Our aim here was to develop a non-invasive algorithm for prediction of HCC. Such an algorithm should be economical, reliable, easy to apply and acceptable by domain experts. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 315 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) related chronic liver disease (CLD); 135 HCC, 116 cirrhotic patients without HCC and 64 patients with chronic hepatitis C. Using data mining analysis, we constructed a decision tree learning algorithm to predict HCC. Results: The decision tree algorithm was able to predict HCC with recall (sensitivity) of 83.5% and precession (specificity) of 83.3% using only routine data. The correctly classified instances were 259 (82.2%), and the incorrectly classified instances were 56 (17.8%). Out of 29 attributes, serum alpha fetoprotein (AFP), with an optimal cutoff value of ${\geq}50.3ng/ml$ was selected as the best predictor of HCC. To a lesser extent, male sex, presence of cirrhosis, AST>64U/L, and ascites were variables associated with HCC. Conclusion: Data mining analysis allows discovery of hidden patterns and enables the development of models to predict HCC, utilizing routine data as an alternative to CT and liver biopsy. This study has highlighted a new cutoff for AFP (${\geq}50.3ng/ml$). Presence of a score of >2 risk variables (out of 5) can successfully predict HCC with a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 82%.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.2031-2033
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• 2016

Background: Symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) is an acquired B-cell malignant proliferation of antibody secreting plasma cells, characterized by end organ damage due to monoclonal immunoglobulin secretion. The aim of this study wa to determine the stage stratification according to an international scoring system in adult Pakistani MM patients at presentation. Materials and Methods: This single centre retrospective study extendedfrom January 2012 to December 2015. Data were retrieved from the departmental maintained records. Results: A total of 39 patients were diagnosed at our center with MM during the period of the study, 25 males and 14 females. Age ranged between 36 and 81 with a mean of $54.5{\pm}14.8$ and a median of 57 years. Common presenting complaints included fatigue (80.9%), backache (79.3%) and bone pain (66.2%). Overall, 9 patients were in ISS stage I (23%), 12 were in stage II (30.7%) and 18 were in stage III (46.1%). Out of the total, 29 (74.3%) had kappa immunoglobulin andthe remaining 10 (25.6%) had lambda type myelomas. IgG myeloma was commonest, seen in 26 (66.6%) followed by IgA in 11 (28.2%) with non secretory myeloma in one (2.5%) and light chain disease also in one patient (2.5%). Conclusions: MM in Pakistani patients is seen in a relatively young population with male predominance. Primarily patients are symptomatic and risk stratification revealed a predominance of advanced stage III disease in our setting.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.2739-2742
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• 2013

Background: This survey aim was to evaluate the epidemiology and outcomes of neuroblastoma patients in one the most important children referral hospitals in Iran as a model from developing countries. Materials and Methods: This retrospective, non-randomized analytic study was conducted on 219 newly diagnosed neuroblastoma cases. Results: The age of patients ranged from 1-156 months with the average of $40.5{\pm}2.44$, with a male/female ratio of 1.9/1. Of the total, 172 (78.5%) were children and 47 (21.5%) were infants The adrenals were the most common primary site (60%). Stage 4 at diagnosis accounted for about 54% of all enrolled patients. Infants had significantly better cumulative survival ($85{\pm}8%$) than children ($33{\pm}7%$) during the follow up period and the survival rate improved from $33{\pm}7%$ in 1974-1994 to $58{\pm}9%$ in 1995-2005. Conclusions: This study indicates that our patient population with neuroblastomas tends to have more advanced disease, perhaps with poor biologic markers, but our analysis shows that the outcomes have improved over 32 years although the overall survival of Iranian neuroblastoma patients is still lower than developed countries. Late diagnosis, inability to determine risk group during the years of study and using single protocol for all enrolled patients can be the reasons of lower survival rate.