ABSTRACT
Diagnosis of breast cancer by using sensitive and specific biomarkers is necessary. Cell- free DNA (cf-DNA) is a candidate biomarker in various cancers. Contrasting, shorted uniformed DNA released from apoptotic non-diseased cells, DNA released from malignant cells varies in size. DNA integrity is a ratio between 247 and 115 bp. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic values of cf-DNA using ALU -247 and ALU- 115 and DNA integrity in peripheral blood of breast cancer patients as a noninvasive marker. Also, to determine correlations between ALU-247 and ALU-115, DNA integrity, cancer antigen (CA )15-3 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with each other in breast cancer patients and in different stages of breast cancer. This study included 100 females, divided into 3 groups. The first group consisted of 20 apparently healthy females as the control group. The second group included 20 patients with benign breast lesions. The third group included 60 patients with breast cancer. Serum levels of both ALU-247 and ALU-115 as well as cf-DNA integrity were statistically significant higher in breast cancer patients as compared to the control group (p=0.018, p < 0.001 and p=0.009 respectively). Compared to the control group, ALU-247 had the best diagnostic sensitivity for diagnosis of breast cancer (86.78%) with 75% specificity with area under the curve of 0.848. We concluded that measuring ALU-247, ALU-115 and DNA integrity in peripheral blood would be a promising novel approach for diagnosis and early detection of breast cancer.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids , Female , Humans , Breast Neoplasms/diagnosis , Breast Neoplasms/genetics , Cell-Free Nucleic Acids/geneticsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIM: HD patients using dialysis catheters have been associated with chronic inflammatory state. In Egypt 6.6% of HD patients use catheters, of which short term catheters represent 59.6% and 40.4% with long-term catheters. In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of Taurolidine citrate and unfractionated heparin combination (Taurolock-hep500™) as a lock solution compared to unfractionated heparin alone on inflammatory markers, incidence of catheter related blood stream infections (CRBSI) and dialysis adequacy in HD patients with temporary HD catheters only, for 4 weeks duration. METHODS: Sixty ESRD patients from hemodialysis units in Ain-Shams University hospitals (ASUH) at the time of catheter insertion we enrolled in our study. They were randomized into two groups: Group 1: Thirty patients received Taurolock-hep500™ as a catheter lock solution at the end of each hemodialysis session. Group 2: Thirty patients received unfractionated heparin as a catheter lock solution. hsCRP and IL-6 were measured at baseline and 1 month after using the lock solutions. Blood cultures were done in patients who developed symptoms of catheter related infections. RESULTS: At the end of the study, Inflammatory markers were significantly higher in group 2 (p-value: 0.045, 0.001, and 0.018 for WBCs, hsCRP and IL-6, respectively). Group 1 had better dialysis adequacy assessed by URR (p-value: 0.007 and 0.001, respectively). CRBSI were demonstrated in nine patients in group 2 (30%) in contrast to one patient only in group 1(3.3%) (p-value: 0.006) with pseudomonas being the most common isolated organism (27.7%). CONCLUSION: Use of (Taurolock-hep500™) for temporary hemodialysis catheters was associated with lower levels of inflammation markers and lower incidence of CRBSI and better catheter performance.
