Surgical treatment for cancer of the pancreatic head / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of surgical treatment for cancer of the pancreatic head.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of 96 patients with cancer of the pancreatic head admitted in our hospital from January 2002 to December 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. pancreatoduodenectomy was performed in 48 cases, extended pancreatoduodenectomy in 30 cases, and Roux-Y cholangiojejunostomy in 18 cases.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The 1, 2 and 3-year survival rates were 59.2%, 41.8% and 13.2%, respectively, in the patients treated with pancreatoduodenectomy, and 73.2%, 58.2% and 24.1%, respectively, in the patients treated with extended pancreatoduodenectomy. The 1, 2 and 3-year survival rates were 36.8%, 15.8% and 5.3%, respectively, in the patients with unresectable tumor who received radiotherapy and (or) chemotherapy in Roux-Y cholangiojejunostomy. The postoperative morbidity was 29.2%, 30.0% and 27.8% in the patients treated with pancreatoduodenectomy, extended pancreatoduodenectomy and Roux-Y cholangiojejunostomy, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Pancreatoduodenectomy is the most effective treatment. Extended pancreatoduodenectomy can improve the surgical resection rate, reduce the recurrence rate and improve the survival rate. Internal drainage is an important palliative measure.</p>

Expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA in tumor tissues and its corresponding peripheral blood expression in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Cancer-testis antigen (CTA) is a family of the most noticeable tumor antigens which could be potential tumor markers for cancer diagnosis. In this research we aimed to investigate the expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA, two members of the CTA family, in tissue and peripheral blood of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to assess their feasibility for the immunotherapy and diagnosis of HCC and the association of their expression levels with diverse clinical indicators.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty-six north Chinese patients with HCC and 30 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA in tumor tissues and corresponding levels in peripheral blood of patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive rates of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA expression were 61.1% (22/36) and 11.1% (4/36), respectively, in cancer tissues; 38.9% (14/36) and 5.6% (2/36), respectively, in the corresponding peripheral blood samples. No positive expression of either SSX-1 or NY-ESO-1 mRNA was detected in the samples of cancer-adjacent tissues, cirrhotic tissues, normal liver tissue or the peripheral blood of control patients. No significant relationship was found between the expression of these two genes and clinical indicators such as age, gender, tumor size, extent of differentiation, serum a-fetoprotein (AFP) level or infection with hepatitis B virus (P > 0.05). The short term recurrence rate was 46.2% (6/13) in patients whose peripheral blood expressed SSX-1 mRNA, while the recurrence rate in patients with negative SSX-1 mRNA was 28.6% (4/14).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 antigens might be new potentially promising targets for antigen-specific immunotherapy for HCC. High specific expression of SSX-1 and NY-ESO-1 mRNA suggested that we could apply them as tumor markers. The short term recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients whose peripheral blood expressed SSX-1 mRNA, suggesting that SSX-1 mRNA could be used as indicator for recurrence, metastasis and prognosis of HCC.</p>