The effect of doxorubicin on the changes of serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE).

BACKGROUND: Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) is known to induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression. A recent study has shown that doxorubicin can repress hypoxic induction of VEGF expression in human cancer cells. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the combination effects of doxorubicin and TACE on the change of serum VEGF after TACE. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Thirty patients with unresectable HCC were assigned into two groups, the experiment group (n = 15) received TACE with doxorubicin (25-50 mg) plus mitomycin C (5-10 mg), and the control group (n = 15) received TACE with mitomycin C (5-10 mg). Serum VEGF before and after TACE (24 hour) was measured by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: Baseline serum VEGF was correlated with the size of tumor (r2 = 0.85; p = 0.03). In addition, serum VEGF was significantly elevated after TACE (p = 0.014). However; the change of serum VEGF after TACE is not statistically different in both groups (p = 0.72). At 2-years, the overall survival was 38% and 40% in the experiment and control group, respectively (p = 0.48). CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that doxorubicin improves neither the level of serum VEGF nor the survival in HCC patients treated with TACE.

Food behavior and folate status of hill-tribe schoolchildren and women of childbearing age on the northern border of Thailand.

An insight into the folate nutritional status of the population is important from a public health perspective. The protective effect of folate against neural tube defects (NTDs) is widely recognized. To assess the health and nutritional status, especially folate status, of vulnerable hill-tribe groups, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 197 schoolchildren and 136 women of childbearing age in Chaloem Phra Kiat District, Nan Province, Thailand. The nutritional status of the study group was investigated by dietary survey, and blood samples were taken to determine hematocrit, protein, and serum and red blood cell folate. Anthropometric measurements were taken to assess body size, composition and nutritional indexes. The health and nutritional status of the hill-tribe schoolchildren and women of childbearing age were found to be unacceptable, particularly inregard to folate status, which was indicated by low folate levels found in the blood samples, and in the intake of this micronutrient.

Preliminary clinical evaluation of a protein chip for tumor marker serodiagnosis of various cancers.

This preliminary study aimed to investigate sensitivity and specificity of a protein chip system for multi-tumor marker serodiagnosis of ten types of cancers, and to understand the possible clinical applications of this protein chip for the Thai population. The specific cancers diagnosed by this protein chip are lung, breast, liver, cervix, colo-rectal, stomach, ovary, esophagus, prostate and pancreas cancers. We analyzed 215 serum samples of which 165 were obtained from clinically confirmed cancer patients and 50 from healthy people with no evidence of cancer. The sensitivity and specificity of the protein chip were 82.4% and 94.0%, respectively. The success rate of the protein chip for detecting all 10 types of cancers varied from 57% to 100%. The value of the simultaneous measurement of multiple tumor markers using the protein chip for cancer screening lied in the higher sensitivity compared to using single tumor markers for each type of cancer. In short, protein chips may be useful in mass screening for cancer during health checkups as well as for metastasis follow-up of cancer patients.