ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We report our experience with Indian patients who received palliative chemotherapy with/without cetuximab for recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN). METHODS: Data from 229 R/M SCCHN patients treated with cetuximab and chemotherapy (n = 140) or chemotherapy alone (n = 89) were retrospectively analyzed for response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety. RESULTS: Patients receiving cetuximab with chemotherapy demonstrated significant increase in RR (77.1% vs 44.9%, P = .0001), PFS (8.1 vs 6.1 months, P = .039), and OS (11.8 vs 8.0 months, P = .002) compared with patients receiving chemotherapy alone. Continuing cetuximab and changing chemotherapy combination (second line and beyond) in fit patients doubled OS (13.5 vs 6.1 months, P = .001). Adverse effects, except skin reactions (more in the cetuximab with chemotherapy group; P = .001), were similar in both groups. CONCLUSION: Adding cetuximab to chemotherapy improved ORR, PFS, and OS in Indian R/M SCCHN patients, and cetuximab was well tolerated.
Subject(s)
Head and Neck Neoplasms , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/adverse effects , Cetuximab/therapeutic use , Head and Neck Neoplasms/drug therapy , Humans , Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/drug therapy , Retrospective Studies , Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck/drug therapy , Tertiary HealthcareABSTRACT
A chromium and tannic acid resistance fungal strain was isolated from tannery effluent, and identified as Aspergillus niveus MCC 1318 based on its rDNA gene sequence. The MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of the isolate against chromium and tannic acid was found to be 200 ppm and 5% respectively. Optimization of physiochemical parameters for biosorption of chromium and tannic acid degradation was carried out by Plackett-Burman design followed by response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum chromium removal and tannic acid degradation was found to be 92 and 68% respectively by A. niveus. Chromium removal and tannic acid degradation was increased up to 11 and 6% respectively after optimization. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to investigate biosorption phenomena.
