Expression and clinical significance of vascular endothelial growth factor-C and nm23-H1 in stage II and III colorectal carcinomas / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To discuss the expression and clinical significance of VEGF-C and nm23-H1 in stage II and III colorectal carcinomas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>SP immunohistochemical staining was employed to determine the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and nm23-H1 in the tumor tissues of 110 cases of stage II and III colorectal carcinomas and in the adjacent mucosal tissues of 53 cases as control, and analyze their correlation with cliniopathological features and prognosis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positive expression of VEGF-C in the carcinoma tissues was 71.8%, significantly higher than that in the adjacent mucosal tissues (22.6%, P < 0.001). The positive expression of nm23-H1 in the carcinoma tissues was 57.3%, significantly lower than that in the adjacent mucosal tissues (90.6%, P < 0.001). The expression of VEGF-C was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis (P < 0.05), and the nm23-H1 expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and pathological type (P < 0.05). The expression of VEGF-C and nm23-H1 did not show a significant correlation with age, gender, primary tumor site, tumor size and depth of invasion (P > 0.05). The VEGF-C expression was negatively related with nm23-H1 expression in colorectal carcinoma (r = -0.361, P < 0.001). The median overall survival (MOS) and median disease free survival (MDFS) of 110 patients with colorectal carcinoma were 55 and 48 months, respectively. The colorectal patients with different VEGF-C and nm23-H1 expression showed significant differences in the 5-year OS rate and 5-year DFS rate (P < 0.001). The patients with negative VEGF-C expression and positive nm23-H1 expression had a better prognosis.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The joint detection of VEGF-C and nm23-H1 expression is very promising in prediction of the prognosis of patients with stage II and III colorectal carcinoma. However, whether it can be used as a marker in prognosis judgment needs further investigation.</p>

Clinical characteristics and survival of peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified: a report of 57 cases / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To analyze the clinical characteristics and survival data of 57 patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma-not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The medical records of 57 patients with PTCL-NOS classified according to the revised REAL-WHO criteria, treated from Jan 1993 to Dec 2007 at the First and the Third affiliated Hospitals of Medical School of Xi'an Jiaotong University, were retrospectively evaluated by K-M univariate and COX multivariate analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>39 of the patients (68.4%) were males and 18 (31.6%) were females, aged 44 (3 - 88). Nine of the 57 patients (15.8%) were treated with chemo-radiotherapy, 43 (75.4%) with chemotherapy, 3 (5.3%) with radiotherapy, and 2 with supported treatment alone (2.5%). The overall response rate was 87.3%, with a complete remission (CR) rate of 60.0% in 55 evaluable cases. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 67.0%, 48.0% and 24.3%, respectively, with a median follow-up of 30.4 months (ranged 1-100 months). The median survival time (MST) was 36.0 months. Multivariate analysis showed that the prognostic index for T cell lymphoma (PIT) score was an independent prognostic factor for PTCL-NOS (P < 0.05), but bone marrow involvement, performance status, extranodal involvement, stage, B symptom were not independent prognostic factors.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Although conventional chemotherapy yields a high response rate for PTCL-NOS, the long-term survival is still low and further investigation for optional treatment is needed.</p>

A randomized phase II trial of docetaxel and doxorubicin in treatment for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who have failed previous platinum-based chemotherapy / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, toxicity and safety of doxorubicin combined with domestically produced docetaxel versus with taxotere, and to investigate whether these two regimens result in similar outcomes in the treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who failed previous platinum-based chemotherapy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eighty-eight NSCLC patients were enrolled into this clinical phase II trial. The patients randomly received either domestic docetaxel (study arm) or taxotere (control arm) at a dose of 70 mg/m2 on D2, while doxorubicin at a dose of 40 mg/m2 on D1 was administered in both groups. It was repeated every 3 weeks, totally for three cycles. No granulocyte colony-stimulating factor was used to prevent granulocytopenia. The response rate and toxicity were evaluated using World Health Organization toxicity scale and Karnofsky performance status scale.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 88 patients, 81 were evaluable in terms of efficacy. There was no complete responder in this series. The response rate (RR) was 17.1% in the study arm versus 7.5% in the control arm, and the clinical benefit rate (CBR) was 80.5% in the study group versus 72.5% in the control group. The most frequent grade 3 or 4 toxicities were neutropenia, leucopenia and gastrointestinal symptoms. Other toxicities such as alopecia and vomiting were mild and generally well tolerated. No fluid retention was noticed.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The administration of doxorubicin 40 mg/m2 on D1 combined with domestic docetaxel 70 mg/m2 on D2 is proved to be as effective and tolerable as with taxotere. The domestic drug docetaxel may be considered as an alternative for patients with non-small-cell lung cancer who failed previous platinum-based chemotherapy.</p>

Relationship between serum VEGF level and VEGF, COX-2 and MVD expression in breast cancer tissues / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the relationship between serum VEGF (sVEGF) level and VEGF, COX-2 and MVD expression in breast cancer, and to discuss their role in angiogensis of breast cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>sVEGF level was detected by ELISA in 68 preoperative breast cancer, 35 benign breast disease and 20 healthy women. The expression of VEGF, COX-2 and MVD was detected by immunohistochemical method in tissues of breast cancer and breast benign diseases, and to analyze the relationship of sVEGF, VEGF, COX-2 and MVD.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) sVEGF level in preoperative breast cancers was 306.51 pg/ml (interquartile range from 190.44 to 442.04 pg/ml), in benign diseases was 150.82 pg/ml (interquartile range from 82.36 to 212.34 pg/ml), and in healthy control was 105.93 pg/ml (interquartile range from 78.54 to 157.77 pg/ml). The sVEGF level of preoperative breast cancer group was significantly higher than that of breast benign disease group and healthy women (P = 0.001). (2) The VEGF expression positive rate in breast cancer (67.65%) was significantly higher than that in breast benign disease (44.12%) (P = 0.015). The COX-2 expression positive rate in breast cancer (42.86%) was significantly higher than that in breast benign disease (11.43%) (P = 0.002). (3) the COX-2 expression positive rate in sVEGF high level patients (56.00%) was significantly higher than that in sVEGF normal level patients (11.11%) (P = 0.024), and MVD in sVEGF high level patients (27.32 +/- 3.40) was also higher than that in sVEGF normal level patients (15.31 +/- 6.16) (P = 0.011). (4) The sVEGF level (322.09 +/- 79.31) of 68 breast cancer patients whose VEGF was positive in breast cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in VEGF negative group (222.47 +/- 73.53) (P = 0.017). (5) The COX-2 expression positive rate in VEGF positive expression group (65.21%) was significantly higher than that in VEGF negative expression group (18.18%) (P = 0.017). The MVD expression in COX-2 positive expression group (22.94 +/- 5.51) was significantly higher than that in COX-2 negative expression group (10.30 +/- 4.42) (P = 0.027).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>sVEGF level in breast cancer is significantly higher than that in breast benign disease and healthy women, and is correlated with the expression of COX-2 and MVD in breast cancer tissues.</p>

Docetaxel in the treatment of advanced breast cancer / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the efficacy, toxicity and safety of an new domestic docetaxel in the treatment of pretreated advanced breast cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Fourty-four breast cancer patients who had failed in first-line chemotherapy were included in this trial. They received docetaxel as the second-line chemotherapy. Docetaxel was administered alone at a dose of 70 mg/m2 every 3 weeks. The use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to prevent granulocytopenia was not permitted. The response rate and toxicity were evaluated by World Health Organization toxicity scale and performance status by Karnofsky scale.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 41 evaluable patients, 4 achieved complete response and 14 partial remission, with a response rate and clinical benefit rate of 43.9% and 85.4%, respectively. Grade 3 or grade 4 neutropenia developed in 42.9%, alopecia in 7.1% and vomiting in 4.8% of these patients. Fluid retention was not observed in this series.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Three-week administration of docetaxel alone at a dose of 70 mg/m2 is effective and tolerable. It provides an alternative for the pretreated advanced breast cancer patients.</p>