Advances of quantitative systems pharmacology in antitumor drug research / 药学学报

The high mortality of tumor is one of the most urgent problems to be solved. However, the current clinical trials provide limited quantitative descriptions on dynamic changes of drug efficacy, which restrict the selection of dosing regimens. Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) is a new approach for precise treatment of tumors. It quantifies the network relationship between drug action and diseases by integrating the tumor growth and molecules, cells in vivo, thereby predicting the efficacy, toxicity, and mechanism of antitumor drugs as well as identifying predictive biomarkers. In this review, we provide an overview of definition of QSP, current approaches and typical applications in research of antitumor drugs to enhance our understanding of QSP.

Reproductive toxicity of 2,4-D butylate to male mice / 中国比较医学杂志

Objective To explore the reproductive toxicity of 2,4-D butylate to the testis in male mice.Methods Forty-eight ICR male mice were randomly divided into four groups : the control group, and three 2,4-D butylate experimental groups (10, 20, 40 mg/kg), 12 mice in each group.2,4-D butylate was intragastrically administered once a day and six days per week for five weeks .At the end of the exposure, the activities of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), Na+ K+-ATPase, Ca+ + Mg+ +-ATPase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) in testis homogenate were measured by spectrophotometry .Results The activity of T-AOC was gradually decreased with the increase of doses, with a significant difference between the high dose group and other groups .The activities of LDH in the moderate and high dose groups were significantly lower than those of the low dose group and control group , and there was a significant difference between the high dose group and moderate dose group .The activities of SDH in the testis was gradually decreased with the increase of the 2,4-D butylate dose, showing significant differences between the high dose group and the moderate dose and control groups , and between the high and moderate dose groups and the low dose group . The activities of Na +K +-ATPase in the moderate and high dose groups were significantly lower than that of the control and low dose group.The activities of Ca++Mg++-ATPase was significantly lower in the experimental groups than that in the control group.Conclusion Exposure to 2,4-D butylate has certain toxic effect on the testicular tissue in male mice .

Diagnosis and treatments for recurrent malignant tumors involving the carotid artery / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the diagnosis and treatment of the malignant tumor involving carotid artery.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 23 cases of recurrent malignant tumors involving the carotid artery were included in this study. For the primary cancers, 8 of 23 cases were laryngeal carcinomas, 10 hypopharyngeal carcinomas, 2 thyroid carcinomas, 1 tonsil carcinoma, 1 parotid gland carcinoma, and 1 hypopharyngeal sarcoma with the invasion of cervical esophagus. Detailed evaluation on each case was performed before treatment. The relations of recurrent tumors with neck blood vessels were determined with enhanced CT/CTA. Of 23 cases with recurrent malignant tumors involving the carotid artery, 16 cases received surgery and 7 cases received the palliative treatment without operation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Seven patients with palliative treatments died of hemorrhage from the invaded neck blood vessels, systemic failure or pulmonary metastasis in six months. Of 16 cases with surgery, recurrent tumors were completely excised in 14 cases and there were residual tumor tissues on artery walls in 2 cases. Within 16 surgical cases, 2 cases died of neck hemorrhoea after one week because of infection, 2 cases died of lung metastasis 8 months later, 3 cases died of neck local recurrence 1 year later, 2 cases died of lung metastasis after 2 years, 1 case died of neck local recurrence 2 years later and 1 case died of a heart attack 2 years later. The rest 5 cases were alive.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Enhancement CT/CTA can used in the evaluation for recurrent malignant tumors involving the carotid artery. Surgical treatments can be applied to some selected patients, which can improve the quality of life and survival time of the patients.</p>

Preliminary clinical research of cochlear implantation in elderly and pre-elderly patients with profound hearing loss / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the safety and efficacy of cochlear implantation among elderly patients with severe to profound hearing loss.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Eight pre-elderly and elderly patients with an medium age of 58 years who suffered from bilateral severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss received cochlear implantation between November 2008 and November 2009. The patients' tolerance to implant surgery and the occurrence of complications were observed. Three months after switch-on, aided threshold and speech performance were measured.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The surgery was uneventful in all cases with normal intraoperative neural response telemetry elicited. Three months after switch-on, average aided threshold across speech frequencies was 35 - 50 dB HL measured in sound field with warble tone. The results of speech audiometry showed large variation between individuals. Some patients achieved good performance in monosyllable recognition test, disyllables threshold test and sentences recognition test under both bubble noise and quiet conditions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Pre-elderly and elderly patients can endure a state of general anesthesia for cochlear surgery without complications. Cochlear implant can provide reconstruction of speech recognition capabilities for elderly patients suffering from severe to profound hearing loss. Cochlear implantation can improve the quality of life of elderly patients with hearing loss.</p>

Swallowing and laryngeal function preserving in surgical treatment of the head and neck tumors involving the tongue root / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the surgical technique which could preserve the swallowing and laryngeal function effectively in the malignant head and neck tumors involving the tongue root.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January 2003 to December 2008, 31 cases of malignant head and neck tumors involving the tongue base had been treated in this hospital were retrospectively analyzed. There were 27 males and 4 females in which 9 cases of primary malignant tumor were from the base of tongue; 3 cases were from the tonsil, 11 cases were from supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma and 8 cases were from hypopharyngeal carcinoma. Preserved the lingual artery of the reserved side and the normal tissue of the root of tongue according to the clinical anatomy of lingual artery during the operation. If preoperative CT had indicated that bilateral lingual arteries were involved, total glossectomy should have been done. The epiglottis, vocal cords and the ventricular band of larynx was preserved as much as possible for the mechanisms of laryngeal function.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In this group, residual tongue necrosis did not occurred. One case with total glossectomy didn't remove the trachea cannula. Five had total laryngectomy. The other 25 cases decannulated from 14th days to 90th days postoperatively. The time of oral feeding was started from 10th days to 31st days postoperatively. Two cases with hypopharyngeal carcinoma developed fistula, which were cured by dressing change. Two with root of tongue cancer and 1 with tonsil cancer had postoperative infection and healed in 2 weeks. The median follow-up time was 36 months, and the Kaplan-Meier 3-years and 5-years survival rates were 79.5% and 69.6% respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In the surgical treatments of the malignant head and neck tumors involving the base of tongue, the excisions and reconstructions of the primary tumor and the involved tongue base according to the clinical anatomy of lingual artery and the protection mechanisms of laryngeal function during the operation was one of the most effective technique to preserve the swallowing and laryngeal function.</p>