Assessment of the cardiotoxicity of recombinant human endostatin using myocardial biochemical markers in cancer patients / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the value of the myocardial biochemical markers including creatine kinase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB), cardiac isoform of Tropnin-T (cTnT) and N-termimal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and electrocardiogram (ECG) in monitoring the cardiotoxicity of recombinant human endostatin (rh-endostatin) in cancer patients.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty cancer patients were divided into two groups and received rh-endostatin in addition to chemotherapy (group A, n=24) or chemotherapy only (Group B, n=24). Serum CK-MB, cTnT levels and plasma NT-proBNP levels were measured and the ECG was recorded in all the patients before and after each of the two therapy cycles.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In group A, serum CK-MB, cTnT and plasma NT-proBNP levels were significantly increased after the treatment in comparison with the baseline levels (P<0.05), but such increment was not observed in group B (P>0.05). With comparable baseline levels of CK-MB, cTnT and NT-proBNP before the treatment (P>0.05), patients in group A showed significantly higher levels of the indices than those in group B after each therapy cycle (P<0.05). Increased ECG abnormality were observed after rh-endostatin treatment in Group A (P<0.05) at a rate significantly higher than that of Group B after the second treatment cycle (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Rh-endostatin has definite cardiotoxicity, and detection of the myocardial biochemical markers of CK-MB, cTnT and NT-proBNP may help predict the occurrence of cardiotoxicity.</p>

Association of HER-2/neu expression with prognosis of gastric cancer / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association between the expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-2/neu gene and prognosis of gastric cancer.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of HER-2/neu in gastric cancer was detected by immunohistochemical technique and analyzed in relation with the follow-up and clinicopathologic data of the patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Thirty-two of the 103 gastric cancer specimens (31.1%) were positive for HER-2/neu, but whose expression was not found in benign gastric lesion and normal gastric mucosa. HER-2/neu expression was not correlated with the patients' sex, age, tumor size and location or the degree of differentiation (P>0.05), but with the depth of invasion, clinical stage, lymph node and distant metastasis of the tumor and survival of the patients (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HER-2/neu expression is closely related to invasion, metastasis and prognosis of gastric cancer and can be used to evaluate the biological behavior and prognosis of gastric cancer.</p>