Basic and Clinical Cancer Research
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Summer- Autumn 2015

Oropharyngeal cancer is a significant cause of death and disability worldwide. In Iran it is the 13th and 17th most common cancer found in men and women, respectively. The aim of this study was to investigate etiological factors and clinical features of lesions related to oropharyngeal cancers over a 5-year period in Tehran. In this retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study, 256 cases were selected from 5 clinical and educational cancer centres. Study forms were completed by collecting information from medical records; incomplete files were filled in by contacting patients by phone. The International Classification of Disease for Oncology coding system (ICD-O) was used to determine the type of malignant lesion, and SPSS software was used for data analysis. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the most commonly identified lesion (70.3%). The most common site of malignancy in the mouth was the tongue (25.8%). The ratio of disease incidence in men compared with women was almost 2:1. The mean age of patients was 60 years. Alcohol, drug and tobacco consumption were the most important factors in the development of oropharyngeal cancer. The results of this study demonstrated that the most common malignancy in the mouth and pharynx was SCC. As with previous studies, we found that the ratio of disease occurrence was almost 2:1 for men compared with women. Referral of patients to specialized centres will make considerable progress towards controlling and managing these cancers.

Mycosis Fungoides (MF) is he most common and indolent form of Cutaneuse T-cell Lymphomas (CTCL), that usually occurs in old adults. To determine epidemiologic features and patients characteristics of MF in Isfahan (Iran). We performed a retrospective study in MF clinic of alzahra hospital that is the main center for treatment of MF patients in Isfahan (Iran) and evaluated clinicopathologic features. in 3 years 25 patients were referred to Alzahra MF clinic. 18 patients diagnosed as MF. Seven (38.9%) patients were male and 11 (61.1%) were female with male to female ratio of 1:1.57. The mean age of patients was 41.06 years. 88.9% of our patients were in stages ΙA and ΙB. most of our patients presented in early stages that were similar to other studies, while male: female ratio is different from other studies.

Lung cancer is still the leading cause of cancer-related deaths and most of them are normally diagnosed in late stages, So there is an urgent need to establish reliable tools for the identification at early stages of the disease. In this study, we use an eleven gene signature test to examine lung biopsy specimens for diagnostic, prognostic & therapeutic purposes. Bronchoscopy was performed to collect 102 fresh frozen specimens from 51 patients. 32 lung tumors & their adjacent normal tissues were examined along with biopsy specimens. In all specimens, total RNAs were isolated & after generating cDNA, were used for qRT-PCR analysis. The results indicate that the expressions of 3 oncogenes Bcl-2, k-ras & h-ras were significantly high (p<0.05) in surgically removed tumors as well as biopsy specimens compare to adjacent normal tissues. The differential expressions of these 3 genes were strikingly higher in cigarette using patients than nonsmokers. Considering the overall results of this study, it can be concluded that, lung tissue abnormalities other than cancer could cause the elevation of some oncogene expression. This study also verifies that smoking can definitely cause oncogenic mutation, activation &/or amplification; which is now a globally proven fact.

Chemotherapy is recognized as a primary cancer treatment method, but despite its benefits, it causes side-effects. The most important of these side-effects are nausea and vomiting. Given the simplicity of use of non-medicinal methods such as semi-sitting position, which can be performed by the patient alone, with the least effort and no side-effects, this method can be utilized to improve quality of life in women with breast cancer in hospitals and oncology clinics. However, there is little information about the effectiveness of non-medicinal methods mostly used by nurses. Thus, this study aimed to compare the effects of non-medicinal interventions on nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy in women with breast cancer. This study was a clinical trial, with a statistical population consisting of women with breast cancer undergoing treatment with three medicines; Cyclophosphamide, 5-fluorouracil, and Adriamycin. To collect data, the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and vomiting and nausea frequency questionnaire were used. Patients were randomly divided into two groups (30 each) of control and semi-sitting position. Intensity and frequency of nausea and vomiting were assessed and compared before, during, 8, 16, and 24 hours after the inception chemotherapy. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and t-test were used to assess the differences between the two groups. The significance level was considered less than 0.05. the results showed that the frequency and intensity of nausea in the control group were 14.43 and 3.09, respectively, and in the semi-sitting group 5.68 and 1.38, respectively. Also, the frequency and intensity of vomiting in the control group were 11.03 and 2.45, respectively, and in the half sitting group 4.8 and 1.10, respectively.Discussion and The study indicated the effectiveness of semi-sitting method in women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Ease of use, inexpensiveness, and lack of side-effects make the widespread use of this method much more practical.

Herbal medicine is a new complementary strategy for treating diseases such as cancer. However, its mechanism of action is not clear yet. This study investigates antitumor efficacy of Polygonum avicular extract on MCF-7 cell line. MCF-7 cells were treated with different concentrations of (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300,350 400 ng/µl) Polygonum avicular at different time intervals (6, 12, 24, and 48 hrs). In order to evaluate the expression level of FasL and Bcl2 genes, RT-PCR technique was employed. The obtained results demonstrate that expression of FasL gene was increased in Polygonum avicular treated cells in comparison to control group. Down-regulation of Bcl2 expression was observed during the treatment. Polygonum aviculare herbal extract may induce apoptosis through up-regulation of FasL and down-regulation of Bcl2 gene, however, its complete mechanism of action must be elucidated.