Multidisciplinary Cancer Investigation
Volume:5 Issue: 3, Jul 2021

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the efficacy and safety of iodine-125 implantation combined with gemcitabine in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer.

 PubMed,  Chinese  National  Knowledge  Infrastructure  database  (CNKI), Cochrane Library, Embase, and Wanfang database through Oct 2020 were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and retrospective studies assessing the efficacy and  safety  of  iodine-125  implantation  combined  with  gemcitabine  in  the  treatment  of advanced  pancreatic  cancer.  The  main  outcome  measures  included  the  overall  remission [complete  response  (CR)+partial  response  (PR)]  rate,  overall  survival  (OS),  hypofunction of the liver, clinical benefit response (CBR) rate, survival rate, and adverse events.

   Totally,   19   studies   involving   1496   patients   were   included   in   the   current systematic review and meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that efficacy and safety of  patients  treated  with  Iodine-125  combined  with  gemcitabine  were  superior  to  those undergoing  gemcitabine  alone:  overall  remission  (CR+PR)  rate  [odds  ratio  (OR)=3.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.40, 4.00; P<0.00001], OS [hazard ratio (HR)=0.56, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.68; P<0.00001], hypofunction of liver (OR=1.08, 95% CI: 0.67, 1.74; P=0.75), CBR rate (OR=3.85, 95% CI: 2.83, 5.22; P<0.00001), survival rate of six months (OR=3.44 95% CI: 1.83, 6.46) and survival rate of 12 months (OR=2.67, 95% CI: 1.68, 4.26). And there was no statistical association in adverse events between the groups.

   The   combination   of   iodine-125   seed   implantation   and   gemcitabine significantly prolonged the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer, compared with the gemcitabine alone, indicating a better prognosis.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a method of cancer treatment and potentially, two borono-L-phenylalanine (BPA) and sodium borocaptate (BSH) are used in BNCT as common boron carriers. Some previous studies have shown that the dose rate is directly related to boron concentration in the tissue. This study aimed to simulate the structure of boron carriers and brain tumor compounds according to the real clinical condition. Moreover, the effect of carrier concentration in tumor volume and boron concentration in carrierschr('39') structure would be numerically assessed.

First, a phantom is developed by FLUKAsimulation code to perform dosimetry aspects of Boron and carriers on a typical brain tumor. Moreover, the components of carriers were then simulated separately and the dosimetry parameters were assessed by changing the amount of boron in the carriers’ structure and by the carrierschr('39') concentration variations inside and around the tumor to mimic the real condition.

The results showed that by increasing boron inside the BPA structure from 5.17% to 50%, the dose will be increased up to 78.46%. In the BSH, tumor dose is raised to 9.06% by increasing the amount of boron concentration at carrier structure from 59% to 80%. Moreover, by enhancing the two carrierschr('39') concentration inside the tumor volume up to 30%, the dose value is increased up to 9.59% and 3.20% for BPA and BSH carriers, respectively.

The level of boron in the carrierchr('39')s structure and also carrierschr('39') concentration is highly remarkable on dose delivery inside tumor volume and surrounding tissues.

Extragenital tumors uncommonly affect the female genital tract and usually involve the ovaries (75-80%), while the uterus can harbor metastases in the context of a widely disseminated disease. The primary tumors are most often located in the breast (35%) or gastrointestinal tract (38%). Metastases to the uterine body usually involve the myometrium whereas those exclusively involving the endometrium are rare.

We report the case of a 50-year-old woman with endometrial metastasis from a colonic adenocarcinoma 6 years after the initial presentation.

Metastatic colon tumors can histologically present as a primary disease in the endometrium if the pathologist has little awareness to consider metastasis. The clinical history of disseminated metastases, the lack of CK7 expression at immunohistochemistry, and positive results for CK20 and nuclear CDX2 are helpful clues to support the diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma of colorectal origin.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death all over the world and breast cancer is the second common member of cancers worldwide. In this study, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) were synthesized; using hydroethanolic extract of Cucurbita pepo
L. fruit and evaluated for their antiproliferative and apoptotic activities against MCF-7 cell line.

Ag-NPs formation was characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Cytotoxicity and apoptosis responses were evaluated by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and dual acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/ EB) fluorescent staining, respectively.

Our results demonstrated the formation of Ag-NPs by Cucurbita pepo L. fruit extract discoloration to dark black. This transformation revealed their slightly aggregated shapes to quasi-spherical form with a mean diameter of 104 nm. The zeta potential value was -42.3 mV for any Ag-NPs. These results indicated the successful formation of Ag- NPs for cellular uptake. MTT results showed that Ag-NPs significantly decreased the viability and induced MCF-7 cells apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner; especially at concentrations of 50 and 250 μg/mL.

In conclusion, according to the results of the present study, biologically synthesized Ag-NPs induce apoptotic and cytotoxic effects against breast cancer cell lines in a dose-dependent manner.

One of the major side effects of chemotherapy is blood cell density reduction and changes in the immune system. The benefi of exercise interventions have been reported for cancer patients. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Pilates training on changes in hematological parameters in women with breast cancer.

In this randomized controlled trial, 24 women with breast cancer who were referred to health centers therapy and private clinics of Shiraz were selected and divided into two groups: Pilates training and control. The Pilates training group performed exercises for 10 weeks. Each week was compromised of 3 sessions; lasting 60 minutes. The control group performed only their daily activities during this period. Blood sampling and anthropometric measurements were performed before and after the training period. Data were analyzed by independent and dependent t-test.

The results showed that 10 weeks of Pilates training had no signifi effect on weight, body mass index, and waist to hip ratio in women with breast cancer. Pilates training had no signifi effect on white blood cell count, red blood cells (mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration), hemoglobin, hematocrit, and platelets in women with breast cancer.

It seems that more research is needed to investigate the effects of this type of exercise to achieve their benefi changes in hematological parameters and the immune system.