ABSTRACT
Invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva is primarily a disease of postmenopausal women and thus is rarely associated with pregnancy. We have reported on a young woman under 40 years old with vulvar carcinoma, which occurred during the pregnancy but optimal treatment was delayed to the postpartum period. This 37-year-old woman was diagnosed with 3x3 cm vulvar lesion, 2 weeks after cesarean section, subsequent biopsy revealed squamous cell carcinoma. She had a history of an ulcer on her left labia minor at the third month of the pregnancy. She was treated by a modified radical vulvectomy and bilateral groin lymphadenectomy. She did not receive any additional treatments. Now after two years, she has had no recurrence of the disease. This case emphasizes on the need to consider malignancy as a differential diagnosis in vulvar lesions of pregnant young women
ABSTRACT
Sophora pachycarpa Schrenk ex C.A.Mey. belongs to the family Fabaceae. Some species of the genus Sophora have shown to possess anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing activities in cancer cells. However, there is no available information addressing this effect in S. pachycarpa. Here, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of methanol extract and different fractions obtained from S. pachycarpa root on different cancer cell lines including A549, HeLa, HL-60, MCF-7, and PC3 cell lines and leukocytes as non-malignant cells. Apoptotic cells were determined using PI staining of DNA fragmentation by flow cytometry [sub-Gl peak]. S. pachycarpa inhibited the growth of malignant cells in a dose-dependent manner. CH[2]C1[2] and EtOAc fractions showed the lowest IC[50] values ranging from 6 to 50 microg/mL in various cancer cell lines. HeLa cells as the most sensitive cells were chosen for further mechanistic studies. The sub-Gl peak in flow cytometry histogram of S. pachycarpa treated HeLa cells indicates apoptotic cell death in S. pachycarpa-'mduced toxicity. In conclusion, S. pachycarpa exerts cytotoxic effects in different cancer cell lines in which apoptosis plays an important role. Thus, S. pachycarpa could be considered as a potential chemotherapeutic agent in cancer treatment
ABSTRACT
Cancer is a major health problem worldwide and current therapies for cancer are often limited by short-term efficacy due to drug resistance. There has been much interest in the use of naturally occurring compounds with chemo-preventive and chemotherapeutic properties in the treatment of cancers. Rose is one of the most important groups of ornamental plants which their fruits and flowers are used in a wide variety of foods, nutritional products and different traditional medicines. In this study cytotoxic effect of Rosa damascena extract was evaluated on HeLa cell line. HeLa cells were cultured in DMEM medium and incubated with different concentrations of Rosa damascene [R. damascene] extract. Cell viability was quantitated by MTT assay. Rosa decreased cell viability in malignant cells in a concentration and time dependent manner. The IC50 values against HeLa were determined as 2135, 1540 and 305.1 micro g.ml[-1] after 24, 48 and 72h, respectively. It might be concluded that R. damascena could cause cell death in HeLa cells which could be also considered as a promising chemotherapeutic agent in cancer treatment in future