Iranian Journal of Blood and Cancer
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Mar 2016

Cancer is one of the most fatal diseases in human beings which annually leads to death of 30000 individuals in Iran. Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is one of the major scientific challenges all around the world. It seems that increased incidence of several cancers such as colon and prostate and their mortality are connected with obesity. It is suggested that obesity and metabolic syndrome are associated with endocrine related cancers and ghrelin pathway may play a role in cancer progression. Ghrelin is a potent regulator of the growth hormone (GH)/ insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) axis, which is frequently implicated in the development of several neoplasms, including colon cancer. It has been reported that changed ghrelin level as a main regulator of energy homeostasis plays an important role in carcinogenesis. Also, antiproliferative effects of ghrelin in lung and breast carcinoma cell lines have been detected in some studies . In this paper, ghrelin and its role and function in cancer is discussed.

Recently the role of platelets in the tissue regeneration, wound healing and prevention and control of infections has been reported. We aimed to assess the antimicrobial effect of human platelet concentrate against six bacteria, commonly found in wound and hospital-acquired infections.
In vitro susceptibility to samples of 10 random human platelet concentrates was determined by disc diffusion method against Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris. The assay was performed in triplicate for each strain and the antibacterial activities were assessed by measuring the zones of inhibition at 20, 24 and 48 hours after incubation at 37 °C.
Human platelet concentrate showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis with the mean diameter zone of inhibition of 11.4±1.1 and 10.2±1.1 mm, respectively. Whereas, no activity was observed against Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Proteus vulgaris. Also, there was no significant difference in antibacterial effect of human platelet concentrate after 20, 24, and 48 hours.
Human platelet concentrate which is a biocompatible and safe product could be potentially useful in wound healing and hospital-acquired infections.

Imatinib mesylate is the first generation of Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and highly effective in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We aimed to evaluate thyroid function at baseline and at 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after initiation of Imatinib mesylate therapy in 20 newly diagnosed BCR-ABL positive CML patients.
This study was done during 2013-2014, 20 new cases with Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML without any underlying thyroid disorder or drug history interfering with Imatinib mesylate were enrolled. Thyroid function tests including serum Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), anti-thyroid peroxidase (Anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (Anti-Tg) were assessed at baseline and during follow-up.
Mean age at diagnosis was 60.4 years. 14 (70%) patients were male. Mean value for TSH, FT4, FT3, Anti-TPO, and Anti-Tg before treatment were 2.82 mIU/L, 1.39 ng/dl, 325.50 ng/dl, 30.35 IU/ml and 39.40 IU/ml, respectively. The mean value for TSH, FT4, FT3 and Anti-TPO 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation of Imatinib mesylate were not statistically significant.
Based on the results of the study, there was no significant change in thyroid function tests during treatment with Imatinib mesylate and all laboratory variables were in normal ranges.

Unsafe transfusion practices put patients at high risk of transfusion transmissible infections. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections (including Human Immunodeficiency Virus [HIV] 1 and 2, Hepatitis B Virus [HBV], Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and syphilis) during a period of 18 months among blood donors in the Blood Bank of Lady Hardinge Medical College.
The prevalence of markers of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis was evaluated among blood donors from January 2013 to June 2014. All donors who came to donate blood in the blood bank as well as voluntary donors who donated in the outreach blood donation camps were included in the study.
15713 donations were received. The overall seroprevalance of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis was 0.2%, 1.54%, 0.49%, and 1.45%, respectively. The seroprevalence of HBV, HCV and syphilis was 0.57%, 0.14%, and 0.53%, respectively amongst voluntary donors.
transfusion transmissible infections were less common among voluntary donors than those among replacement donors. Awareness of the general population about voluntary blood donation should be created to minimize the chances of spreading transfusion transmitted infections.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among Iranian women; however, its clinicopathological feature is uncertain. We pioneered a genetic counseling program among patients with breast cancer and their families in Isfahan. This is the first report of this program.
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study on women with breast cancer registered in Ala Cancer Control and Prevention Center (ACCPC)during 2014. The women and/or their first/second relatives were enrolled for genetic counseling, then their demographic and clinicopathological data were analyzed using SPSSsoftware.
The records of 258 patients with breast cancer and their families were studied. The mean age of the patients at diagnosis was 44.2 years (range: 25-71 years). Of these, 88 (34.1%) patients had ≤40 years at diagnosis. Only 2 (0.8%) patients were men. Also, 21 (8.1%) out of the 258 patients had died at the time of genetic counseling. Distant metastasis was found in 40 (15.5%) patients at diagnosis. The most common pathological feature of breast tumor was invasive ductal carcinoma (68.2%) and the rarest were sarcoma (0.4%) and papillary carcinoma (0.4%). Triple-negative molecular phenotype breast cancer was reported in 25 (9.7%) patients. Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) were negative in 32.2%, 27.1%, and 44.2% of the patients’ tumors, respectively. P53 had been checked in 41.5% of the patients of which about 70.1% were mutant. Overall, 895 cases of cancer were reported among the patients and their families (3.5 patients per family: range=1-9) of which breast, gastric, and colorectal cancers with an incidence of 43.9%, 8.3% and 5.5%, were the most common malignancies, respectively.
Early-onset breast cancer and positive family history for cancer were seen in a significant proportion of the patients in our center, indicating the importance of genetic counseling among the patients and their families.

Splenic infarction occurs due to occlusion of splenic vessels that leads to splenic tissue ischemia and necrosis. There are several reports regarding splenic infarction in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). Herein, we report a case of acute promyelocytic anemia (AML-M3) who presented with abdominal pain and splenic infarction.