Impact of gender and primary tumor location on outcome of patients with cutaneous melanoma.

Background. The survival of patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) depends on multiple factors whose role is continuously updated, as the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease progression are understood. This study intended to assess whether the patient's gender and tumor location affect the disease outcome. Methods. Between 2008 and 2012, 155 patients with cutaneous MM underwent various types of surgeries in our clinic. Patients were staged according to the 2009 TNM classification. There were 90 women and 65 men. Primary tumors were located as it follows head and neck region - 4.5%, limbs - 50.7% and trunk - 44.8%. The disease free and overall survival rates (DFS, OS) were estimated by using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results. Metastases developed in 52.3% of the males and 31.1% of the females (p=0.008). In univariate analysis, distant metastasis risk was significantly higher in men (p = 0.0472 for stage II patients and p = 0.0288 for stage III). In multivariate analysis, male gender almost doubled the risk of relapse (p = 0.044) and death (p = 0.022). Consequently, DFS and OS were significantly higher among females. Primary tumor location seemed to influence the melanoma spreading ability. Half of the trunk MM developed metastases while only a third of limbs MM did. The association between MM location and the recurrence risk was not random (p = 0.033). Conclusions. The patient gender represents an independent prognostic factor for both relapse and death. Although trunk MM had a significantly higher risk of metastasis than limbs MM, the location per se was not an independent prognostic factor for survival (p = 0.078). Abbreviations: MM = malignant melanoma, DFS = disease free survival, OS = overall survival, p = p value, AJCC = American Joint Commission on Cancer, CI = confidence interval.

The efficiency of biologic therapy in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVES: The following study aims to evaluate the monotherapy with biologic agents: Infliximab (IFX), Etanercept (ETA), Adalimumab (ADA) and Rituximab (RTX) in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: To achieve these objectives, the database of "Dr. I. Cantacuzino" Clinical Hospital, Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, was used. The study was retrospective and descriptive, covering 168 patients with RA, followed for 12 months, from January 2012 to January 2013. Admission criteria for the study were the following: patients diagnosed with RA according to ACR 1987/ EULAR 2010 criteria, disease activity score (DAS 28)> 5.1, positive inflammation tests, presence of RA refractory to classic remitting treatment administered at least 6 months prior to the initiation of biological therapy, on patients treated with RTX. They were considered non-responders after 6 months of treatment with anti tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNF) and decided to switch agents with anti CD-20. RESULTS: Comparing values between any two points in time (baseline - 6 months -12 months) for any type of therapy, there were significant decreases in the values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), reactive C protein (CRP) and disease activity score (DAS 28). There were no significant differences between therapies regarding ESR at 6 months (p = 0.070, ANOVA) and 12 months (p = 0.375, Kruskal-Wallis), significant differences were regarding CRP at 6 and 12 months (p = 0.000, Kruskal-Wallis) and DAS 28 at 6 months (p = 0.000, Kruskal- Wallis) and 12 months (p = 0.018, Kruskal-Wallis). CONCLUSION: All 4 therapies have proven efficient, prognostic markers decreasing gradually at 6 and 12 months.

Survival rates of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma.

RATIONALE: Malignant melanoma (MM) is the cutaneous neoplasia with the greatest mortality rates and one of the malignancies with the highest potential of dissemination. The prognosis of patients with metastatic MM is grim, with a 5-years survival rate between 5-19%, and is dictated by the location and the number of metastases. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to estimate the survival of patients with metastatic MM from our study and find out if the metastasis' location influences survival. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between 2008 and 2013, 155 patients with cutaneous MM were diagnosed in our clinic. All the patients were staged according to 2009 AJCC staging system. The median follow-up period was of 24 months. Survival was calculated by using the Kaplan-Meier method with a confidence level of 95%. 40.5% of the patients developed metastases in different organs, especially the brain. 80.6% of those with metastases died during the study. The median overall survival, estimated for the entire group of patients who developed metastases, was of 5.3 months. DISCUSSION: The influence of metastases distribution on the overall survival was examined and it was noticed that there were statistically significant differences between the risks of death of various groups of patients, depending on metastasis topography. Thus, the death probability of a patient with brain metastases is twice that of a patient with digestive metastasis, about 7 times higher than that of a patient with lung metastasis (p=0.0004) and 12 times higher than the death risk of a patient with extra-regional lymph nodes or subcutaneous metastasis (p=0.0000).

Prognostic significance of KRAS gene mutations in colorectal cancer--preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE: The prognostic significance of KRAS gene mutations, evaluated by using two methods in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective study involving 58 patients diagnosed with CRC and treated between 2003 and 2010 in the General and Esophageal Surgery Clinic of "Sf. Maria" Hospital, Bucharest. The macroscopic and microscopic examination of the resected specimens was also processed for genetic analysis in NIRDPBS, where KRAS status was determined by using two methods: PCR-RFLP and pyrosequencing. RESULTS: The clinical and biological parameters of the patients were assessed for 72 months in average. A relapse in 21 patients and a 5-year survival rate of 79.3% was discovered. The genetic analyses of KRAS gene found mutations in 22 cases (45.3%): 17 cases had mutations in codon 12, 5 cases in codon 13. The survival rate analyses of patients with wild KRAS gene compared with the patients carrying the mutation on codon 12 /13 revealed a superposition of the survival curve. The statistical analysis based on the TNM stage revealed different survival curves in stage I and II, shorter survival period in patients with KRAS mutation on codon 13 than in those with wild type gene (stage I--p_value=0.015; stage II--p_value=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: It was not found that KRAS gene status had any prognostic significance. Nevertheless, for stage I and II patients, the mutation found on codon 13 determined a statistic significant shorter survival rate than for those with wild type. The results obtained by using the pyrosequencing method for the determination of KRAS gene status proved that it represented a reliable and reproducible method.

Are HMGB1 protein expression and secretion markers of upper airways inflammatory diseases?

Taking into account the mechanisms at the origin of the airways inflammatory pathologies, our attention has been recently addressed to the study of HMGB1, a protein belonging to the group of alarmins. Alarmins are those molecules which in homeostatic conditions carry out specific metabolic and/or structural functions; furthermore, after a direct trauma or an infection, these molecules are released in the extracellular milieu becoming there activators of the innate immunity and powerful inflammatory factors. In a previous research we found in patients affected with chronic rhinosinusitis with/without nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) an increased expression of this protein in the nucleus of nasal mucosa epithelial cells. HMGB1 was overexpressed also as focal subepithelial infiltration and in the inflammatory cells of patients in comparison with controls. These results suggested a possible pathogenetic role of HMGB1 in CRSwNP. The aim of the present study was to investigate if the expression and localization (nuclear, cytoplasmic and extracellular) of the HMGB1 protein-cytokine is somehow related to the severity and complexity of the histological and clinical picture. We noticed values which have around statistical significance between nuclear HMGB1 and eosinophils infiltrate (p=0.0607) and between nuclear HMGB1 and inflammatory infiltrate (P=0.0524). Even more significant was the correlation between extra-cellular HMGB1 expression and the presence of allergic-hyper reactive conditions such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, NSADs intolerance, antibiotic allergy. HMGB1 was significantly more expressed in the nucleus (p=0.0499) and in the intercellular space (p=0.0380) in allergic patients than in non-allergic subjects and as extra-cellular infiltrate in patients with NSADs intolerance (p=0.0022). These results confirm the role of HMGB1 in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis with/without nasal polyposis; besides the higher extra-cellular expression in patients with a more severe clinical and inflammatory picture and the presence of associated co-morbidities suggests to seek for new compounds: these compounds, decreasing the extra-cellular release of this alarmin through a scavenger mechanism, could keep under control the inflammatory process without interfering with the nuclear transcriptional messengers.