ABSTRACT
The relationship between sensitivity to anti-cancer agents and EGF receptor expression on squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells was investigated. The cytotoxicity of peplomycin (PEP) was correlated with the number of the EGF receptors expressed on the cancer cells, but no correlations were found between the cytotoxicity of adriamycin and cisplatin and EGF receptors. Addition of TNFalpha increased the number of EGF receptors in the SCC cell lines 1.5- to 2-fold. The cytotoxic effect of combined administration of PEP and TNFalpha was correlated with the number of EGF receptors, and produced a 2- to 5-fold increase in IC50 compared with administration of PEP alone. These observations suggest that EGF receptor expression is closely associated with the cytotoxic effect of PEP on SCC cells.
Subject(s)
Antibiotics, Antineoplastic/toxicity , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/drug therapy , ErbB Receptors/metabolism , Esophageal Neoplasms/drug therapy , Gingival Neoplasms/drug therapy , Peplomycin/toxicity , Tumor Cells, Cultured/drug effects , Vulvar Neoplasms/drug therapy , Antibodies, Monoclonal/therapeutic use , Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/metabolism , Cell Survival , Cisplatin/toxicity , Doxorubicin/toxicity , Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor , Esophageal Neoplasms/metabolism , Female , Gingival Neoplasms/metabolism , Humans , Regression Analysis , Tumor Cells, Cultured/metabolism , Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha/pharmacology , Vulvar Neoplasms/metabolismABSTRACT
TS-1, a novel oral anticancer agent, was administered to a 68-year-old male patient with a paraaortic lymph node metastasis, 42 x 28 mm in size, of gastric cancer. The patient received four courses of treatment. Each treatment course consisted of a four-week administration followed by two drug-free weeks. The daily dose was 120 mg for the first two courses and 100 mg for the last two. A partial response was obtained after completion of the first course and a complete response was observed after the second. As of February, 2000, eleven months after the first administration, no regrowth of the tumor was observed either radiographically or by tumor marker levels. Adverse effects included stomatitis (grade 1), neutropenia (grade 3) and anemia (grade 1), all of which were temporary and needed no treatment. The patient's QOL improved gradually after the treatment. He is now in a good health and undergoes regular check-ups.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use , Lymph Nodes/pathology , Stomach Neoplasms/drug therapy , Aged , Aorta , Drug Administration Schedule , Drug Combinations , Humans , Lymph Node Excision , Lymphatic Metastasis , Male , Oxonic Acid/administration & dosage , Pyridines/administration & dosage , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology , Stomach Neoplasms/surgery , Tegafur/administration & dosageABSTRACT
Two cases of recurrent breast cancer, for which combined therapy using toremifene and oral chemotherapeutic agents were effective, are reported. In case 1, high-dose toremifene (120 mg/day) and 5'-DFUR were administered to a forty-seven-year-old woman with lung metastasis of estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer, who had been previously treated with polychemotherapy and tamoxifen. A complete response was obtained after six months of treatment and this condition has remained for longer than one year. In case 2, a fifty-year-old woman developed liver and lung matastasis of breast cancer with increased tumor marker levels. Forty mg/day of toremifene and oral cyclophosphamide was started and transarterial embolization of the hepatic artery using lipiodol, adriamycin and mitomycin C was performed. Both hepatic and pulmonary metastasis disappeared, and the tumor maker level was normalized one month later. No regrowth of the tumors has been observed for more than six months. The chemosensitizing effect of toremifene might be responsible for the favorable effects on these matastases of breast cancer.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma/drug therapy , Adenocarcinoma/secondary , Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/therapeutic use , Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy , Lung Neoplasms/secondary , Toremifene/administration & dosage , Cyclophosphamide/administration & dosage , Female , Floxuridine/administration & dosage , Humans , Middle Aged , Mitomycin/administration & dosage , Remission Induction , Tamoxifen/administration & dosageABSTRACT
A new acylated anthocyanin was isolated from the red-purple flowers of Dendrobium 'Pramot' (phalaenopsis type cv) as a major anthocyanin. The structure of this pigment was determined to be cyanidin-3-O-malonyl)-beta-D-glucopyranoside) 7,3'-di-O-(6-O-(4-O-(beta-D- glucopyranosyl)oxybenzoyl)-beta-D-glucopyranoside) mainly based on the spectroscopic evidence.
Subject(s)
Anthocyanins/isolation & purification , Glycosides/isolation & purification , Plants/chemistry , Acylation , Anthocyanins/chemistry , Carbohydrate Sequence , Glycosides/chemistry , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , Molecular Sequence Data , Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom BombardmentABSTRACT
A 56-year-old man, tentatively diagnosed as having cardiomegaly, was found to have a large cyst in the left anterior mediastinum. At thoracotomy a multilocular cystic mass containing a colorless serous fluid was found and resected. Histologically, the cyst was lined with flattened epithelial cells, and thymic tissue was present in the cyst's wall; a diagnosis of thymic cyst was made. There were no malignant components or inflammatory changes. Sialylated Lewis X-i (SLX), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) and tissue polypeptide antigen (TPA) in the cystic fluid were markedly elevated, while the serum concentrations of these tumor markers were within the normal ranges. Immunohistochemical studies showed the epithelial cells lining the cyst to contain CA19-9 and SLX. The findings suggest the tumor markers to have originated in the thymic epithelium lining the cyst.
