Effect of IL-11 in prevention and treatment of oral mucosal complications of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer / 国际肿瘤学杂志

Objective To explore an effective method for preventing and treating oral mucosal complications of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer. Methods Fifty head and neck cancer patients who were receiving radiotherapy were enrolled between March, 2008 and March, 2010. These patients were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group. During the radiotherapy, patients in the treatment group were given IL-11 in the form of atomization inhalation,whereas patients in the control group were not. Results IL-1 1 was well tolerated by the patients. It significantly decreased the level of oral mucosal complications and pains and improved patients' appetites ( P < 0.05 ). In addition, the duration of pain was significantly ( P <0.05 ) reduced from 4.5 ± 1.3 days ( in control group) to 2.3 ± 1.0 ( in treatment group), and the healing period was also significantly ( P < 0.05) reduced from 7.3 ± 1.5 days ( in control group) to 4.1 ± 1.7 ( in treatment group). Conclusion IL-11 is effective in preventing and treating oral mucosal complications of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer,relieving associated pains, and therefore improving patients' quality of life.

Inhibition of survival pathway could sensitize the tumor cells to chemotherapy / 中国癌症杂志

Purpose:To study whether the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt survival pathway could sensitize the response of tumor cells to some chemotherapyeutic agents. Methods:The different tumor cells has been treated with the combination of isoform specific Akt inhibitor and either adriamycin or camptothecin; the quantitation of the induction of apoptosis by drugs has been estimated with caspase 3 assay; immunoprecipitation western blotting has been used to evaluate the inhibition of the phosphorylation of different isoforms of Akt after the treatment. Results:①The inhibitors could reduce the phosphorylation of Threonine 308 and Serine 473 of isoform specific Akt. ②The inhibition of any one isoform specific Akt could not reverse the resistance of tumor cells tested to chemotherapeutic drugs, but it is not the same case if blocking of two isoforms of both Akt1 and Akt2 was done at the same time. ③The synergistic effects of Akt inhibitors is maybe relative to the level of endogenous PTEN(phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10) expression. Conclusions:It is required to inhibit two isoforms of both Akt1 and Akt2 in order to maximally sensitize the tumor cells to chemotherapy.