International Journal of Cancer Management
Volume:14 Issue: 3, Mar 2021

The emergence of bone health maintenance in breast cancer patients is known as an indispensable aspect in survival and morbidity improvement; therefore, bisphosphonates play a substantial role in the prevention/delaying of cancer treatment induced bone loss and skeletal-related events (SREs) in these patients, although this drug can cause necrosis of the jaw. In this article, we aimed at summarizing updated evidence on bisphosphonates administration, biomarkers representative of the efficacy of bisphosphonate therapy, and bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) affection in patients involved in breast cancer.

Associated published articles were searched for in EMBASE, MEDLINE, CDSR, PubMed, Google Scholar, and CINAHL, using the following keywords or, in the case of PubMed database, medical subject headings (MeSH): ‘Diphosphonate’, ‘osteonecrosis’, ‘breast cancer’, and ‘biomarker’ in the abstract or title, and was limited by "clinical trials, meta-analysis and randomized controlled trial” published in English language from 2015 to 2020-09-15.

Bisphosphonates depicted remarkable advantages in improving SREs, skeletal morbidity rate (SMR), survival rate, and treatment-emergent adverse events in breast cancer patients in almost all aspects of breast cancer therapy, from adjuvant therapy for the early stage breast cancer to bone metastatic breast cancer (BMBC). The identification of breast cancer biomarkers that are capable of reflecting the outcomes of bisphosphonates therapy is a highly advantageous aid in the optimal utilization of these drugs. Breast cancer biomarkers such as MAF, DOCK4, CD73, TLR9, and CAPG/GIPC1 composite illustrated a significant correlation with bisphosphonates administration. Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) stands out as the most hazardous adverse event of the bisphosphonates with a rationally high incidence among breast cancer patients, which requires cautious prescription of bisphosphonates as well as regular dental health counseling for being prevented.

Bisphosphonates are great weapons in the arsenal of breast cancer treatment and, therefore, comprehensive studying of their features leads to the optimal and safe administration of them. Unfortunately, as this procedure can cause necrosis of the jaw, dental procedures should be performed in these patients before starting bisphosphonate treatment.

Numerous studies investigate finding new drug candidates with an increasing death rate caused by cancer. Nowadays, herbal medicine has been noticed again because of the many side effects of chemical drugs.

In the current study, anthocyanin and carotenoid types of compounds of Ocimum basilicum and Impatiens walleriana were determined and their cytotoxic effect on human gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) and human ovarian carcinoma (SKOV-3) cancer cell lines were investigated. The cytotoxic effect of I. walleriana on cancer cells has not been reported so far.

The amount of anthocyanin and carotenoid derivatives in these two plant species were investigated by biochemical tests, 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), and flow cytometry methods were applied for the cytotoxicity effect of the extracts on the AGS and SKOV3 cancer cell lines. Cell necrosis and apoptosis were determined by annexin V-fluorescent isothiocyanate/propidium iodide (FITC/PI) staining and quantification by flow cytometry.

O. basilicum and I. walleriana contained a noticeable amount of the mentioned compounds. According to the results, the lowest IC50 (Half- maximal inhibitory concentration) value with an amount of 2.5 ± 0.21 mg/mL that indicates the most cytotoxic extract on the AGS cancer cell line belonged to I. walleriana extract. Besides, the lowest IC50 value of O. basilicum was about 0.9 ± 0. 11 mg/mL on the SKOV3 cancer cell line. The flow cytometry analysis has also proved that the toxicity of O. basilicum is more than I. walleriana on the SKOV3 cell line and the toxicity of I. walleriana was higher than O. basilicum on the AGS cancer cell line.

O. basilicum and I. walleriana contain antioxidant compounds, which showed the cytotoxic effect on AGS and SKOV3 cancer cell lines. Further studies on animal models and subsequent trials are necessary for revealing the full potential of the extracts.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women and the seventh most common worldwide.

The present study aimed at investigating the usability of curemodels in analyzing patients’ survival. Besides, the factors affecting the long-term and short-term survival of the patients were determined, usingWeibull, log-logistic, and log-normalmodels.

The sample population of the study included 109 female patients with cervical cancer referred to Motahhari Hospital of Urmia (West Azerbaijan province) from 2004 to 2015. The cure survival analysis was used to determine the patients’ survival.

The mean and standard deviation age at diagnosis was 50.1 ± 11.7 years. The patients’ age, age at marriage, and the disease relapse were significant in the single-variable model on the long-term survival function of the patients. Moreover, the findings showed that Cured Log Logistic Parametric Model was more suitable for analyzing survival data in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The relapse variable was significant for all the parametric models.

Given the divided sample population into immune and susceptible groups, the mixture cure models can be used to analyze the long-term and short-term survival of the patients with cervical cancer. Moreover, these models can be used to recognize the factors affecting both groups simultaneously.

Choriocarcinoma (CC) is a rare malignant tumor of trophoblastic tissue. This tends to invade rapidly to the vasculature and metastasis to the lung, vagina, brain, and liver. CC can present with a variety of manifestations, such as hemoptysis, gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, and abnormal uterine bleeding. Commonly, the latent period to the development of CC is not more than 1 year after the antecedent molar or normal pregnancy. In this report, the patient developed CC about 32 months after her previous known pregnancy. We reported a rare case of gestational CC that occurred about 32 months after her antecedent pregnancy.

A 21-year-old admitted in shock with abnormal uterine bleeding, pain, and lower abdominal pain. The patient had one previous cesarean section 32 months prior to admission. The vaginal examination demonstrated a fused solid cervical mass with an irregular border measuring about 7 × 7 cm. In further workup, there was evidence of a 103 × 94 × 89 mm mass with the hemorrhagic area and central necrosis in the middle and lower segments of the uterus and cervix. The patient underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy and left side salpingo-oophorectomy. The diagnosis of CC was made after microscopic examination.

There are few case reports of choriocarcinoma with more than a year latent period after antecedent pregnancy. The strongest hypothesis is having asymptomatic pregnancy during the period between the last pregnancy and the development of CC. However, the possibility of non-gestational choriocarcinoma in such cases should be considered. Treatment with a single- or multiple-agent chemotherapy regimen should be immediately initiated after diagnosis in these cases.

Recently, the predictive value of lymph node ratio (LNR, the ratio of metastatic lymph nodes to total examined lymph nodes) has been evaluated in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies, including pancreatic cancer. However, there is not enough evidence about the prognostic value of this factor.

We aimed at determining the value of LNR in predicting the survival of patients who have undergone the Whipple procedure.

This cohort study was performed on 96 patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing the Whipple procedure during 2014 - 2019. Demographic, clinical, and pathological data of the patients were extracted from their records and patients’ survival status was determined through follow-up. LNR and its effect on survival was calculated using the Cox model.

Of the 96 eligible patients, 51 (53.13%) were men. The mean age of the patients was 57.1 ± 14.1 (range: 19 - 82) years. The median total lymph nodes examined was 7 (range: 1 - 27), and no metastatic lymph nodes were found in 57 (59.37%) patients. The median involved lymph nodes and LNR were 2 and 0.17, respectively. Patients with LNR > 0.20 had the lowest 1 and 3-year survival rates. Age (P = 0.04), surgical radial margin (P = 0.001), lymph node status (N0, N1) (P = 0.01), and LNR (P = 0.01) were the most important prognostic factors for survival.

LNR is a valuable indicator that can be used in patients with lymph node involvement as a prognostic factor for poor survival after the Whipple procedure. The lowest 1, 3, and 5-year survival rates were seen in patients with LNR > 0.20.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the most effective of all hematologic malignancies treatments, resulting in a significant improvement in survival rate.

This study aimed at determining the survival rate and factors affecting the survival in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, using the joint model.

This study was a retrospective cohort study, used for collecting data from patients with hematopoietic malignancies who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Taleghani Hospital (Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences), Tehran, Iran during the years 2007 and 2015 and were followed up till 2017. A Bayesian joint model of longitudinal and survival was chosen, using Win Bugs software.

A total of 395 patients were enrolled. The median overall survival was 6.3 years (95% CI (5.86, 6.76)). Eighty-one patients had died. The obtained results from this study manifested that age (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: (1.002, 1.04)) and pre-transplantation relapse (HR = 1.64, 95% CI: (1.09, 2.4)) have incremental impact on death after transplantation, while malignancy type (NHL (HR: 0.33, 95%CI: (0.152, 0.73)) and AML (HR: 0.62, 95% CI: (0.29, 0.7)) are also effective in reducing death after transplantation. Similarly, the correlation index between longitudinal and survival models proved to be significant (HR: 0.6, 95% CI: (0.0802, 0.37)).

This study showed that age, per-transplantation relapse, and malignancy type are the effective factors in the survival rate. Moreover, the link parameter between longitudinal response (WBC) and the survival indicated that an increase in WBC count leads to a decrease in the death risk.

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity and oral lichen planus (OLP) is considered a premalignant disease.

This study aims at comparing the salivary levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), C-reactive protein (CRP), and cancer antigen 125 (CA125) among cases with OSCC, OLP, and healthy persons.

In this case-control study, salivary markers were evaluated in 55 cases (15 patients with OSCC, 20 patients with OLP, and 20 healthy persons); non-stimulated saliva samples were collected from the patients and saliva markers were measured by the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The data were analyzed, using SPSS 21 software and ANOVA test and P < 0.05 was regarded as significant.

Salivary LDH and CA125 levels were significantly higher in OSCC and OLP patients compared to the control group (P < 0.05). Salivary CRP levels were significantly higher in OSCC patients compared to OLP patients (P < 0.05). Besides, salivary CRP levels were higher in OLP subjects than in the control group, but the difference was not significant (P = 0.56).

The identification of the salivary LDH, CA125, and CRP may provide a suitable non-invasive predictive tool for malignant changes. However, its use in clinical practice needs further research.

Rather body mass index (BMI) has a potential prognostic role in determining the outcome of patients suffering from colorectal cancer or not should be clear.

We aimed at determining the potential effects of BMI on the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.

In this cohort study, documents of 1550 patients with colorectal cancer between 2002 and 2020 from Omid hospital and Emam Reza hospital (Mashhad, Iran) databases were evaluated, retrospectively. The multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard regressions were used at the significance level of P < 0.05.

Nine hundred twenty patients included in the current study. Most of patients were categorized as normal weight (38.91%). The prevalence of underweight and overweight/obese were 26.19% and 34.9%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) based on BMI (OS: 108.2 ± 7.0 months for underweight, 124.0 ± 6.2 months for normal weight, and 130.9 ± 4.5 months for overweight/obese patients; P = 0.2 and DFS: 97.0 ± 6.5, 110.0 ± 5.6, and 113.7 ± 5.0, respectively; P = 0.3).

The BMI had no significant effect on long-term outcomes of patients with colorectal cancer. However, there was an insignificant trend to better outcome in patients with higher BMI comparing the underweight group