Oncology

Dale W, Mohile S, Hurria A, Biological, Clinical, and Psychosocial Correlates at the Interface of Cancer and Aging Research (U13), JNCI 2012

by William Dale

Palliative care needs of patients with cancer living in the community

by Dio Kavalieratos

Super competition as a possible mechanism to pioneer precancerous fields

by Eduardo Moreno Lampaya

Is cell competition relevant to cancer?

by Eduardo Moreno Lampaya

Drosophila SPARC is a self-protective signal expressed by loser cells during cell competition

by Eduardo Moreno Lampaya

Hurria, Mohile, Dale, Research Priorities in Geriatric Oncology, JNCCN, 2012

by William Dale

Current status of hormone receptor measurements in cancer patients.

by Alfredo Pirondini

Simultaneous Inhibition of SRC and STAT3 Induces an Apoptotic Response in Prostate Cancer Cells

by Ravi Dinakar

*For the FREE full text of this article, visit www.jes2s.com/pdfs/src.pdf

Authors:

Sherman Leung1,3, Elizabeth Duval2, and Olga Timofeeva4
Student1, Teacher2: Science, Mathematics, and Computer Science Magnet Program, Montgomery Blair High School
51 East Boulevard, Silver Spring, MD, 20901
Intern3, Mentor/Assistant Professor4: Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University
3800 Reservoir Road, N.W. Washington, DC 20007

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed
non-cutaneous cancer and the second leading
cause of... more Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed
non-cutaneous cancer and the second leading
cause of cancer-related deaths in American men.
Recent studies have suggested that sarcoma
inducing kinase (SRC) and its downstream
signaling targets are implicated in prostate cancer,
but the mechanisms behind how SRC inhibition
induces apoptosis are still poorly understood.
This study focused specifically on the interactions
between SRC and its one of its downstream targets,
Signal transducer and activator of transcription
3 (STAT3), in prostate cancer cells. Contrary to
studies on the SRC/STAT3 pathway, western
blotting showed that SRC inhibition had minimal
effects on phosphorlyated-STAT3 levels in DU145
prostate cancer cells. Simultaneous inhibition of
both SRC and STAT3 through PP2 (inhibits SRC
expression) and STAT3 siRNA, respectively, led
to more distinct poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase
1 (PARP-1) cleavage, a hallmark indicator of
apoptosis. qRT-PCR analysis showed a two-fold
and three-fold decrease between simultaneous
versus exclusive treatments in levels of induced
myeloid cell leukemia (MCL-1), a pro-survival
gene. Together, these findings suggest that the
inhibition of STAT3 through SRC is ineffective and
that the independent inhibition of STAT3 induces
a stronger apoptotic response. Additionally, the
study suggests that the simultaneous inhibition of
SRC and STAT3 may be a novel and promising
treatment for prostate cancer.

A Stone in a Spaghetti Bowl: Metaphors of Brain and Self in Clinical Medicine

by Sky Gross

In: Sociological Reflections on the Neurosciences
Edited by Martyn Pickersgill and Ira Van Keulen (Editors)
2011 available for pre-order, soon in paperback

This chapter presents findings of ethnographic work in a neuro-oncology
clinic in Israel. It is claimed that... more This chapter presents findings of ethnographic work in a neuro-oncology
clinic in Israel. It is claimed that patients, close-ones and physicians
engage in creating metaphorical visions of the brain and brain tumours
that reaffirm Cartesian dualism. The ‘brain talk’ involved visible and
spatial terms and results in a particular kind of objectification of the
organ of the self. The overbearing presence of visual media (i.e., magnetic
resonance imaging, computed tomography, angiographic studies) further
gave rise to particular forms of interactions with patients and physicians
where the ‘imageable’ (i.e., the image on the screen) became the
‘imaginable’ (i.e., the metaphor). The images mostly referred to a domain
of mundane objects: a meatball in a dish of spaghetti, a topping of olives
over a pizza, the surface of the moon, a stone, an egg, an animal, a dark
cloud. Furthermore, conversations with family members showed that
formal facts and informed compassion were substituted by concrete
representations. For them, and especially for the patient, these
representations redefined an ungraspable situation, where a tumour – an object – can so easily affect the organ of their subjectivity, into something
comprehensible through the materialistic, often mechanistic actions of
most mundane objects. This, however, also created alienated objects
within the boundaries of their own embodied selves. Patients, on the one
hand, did not reject their own sense of ‘own-ness’, of having a lifeworld
(lebenswelt) as subjective agents, but on the other, did talk about their
own interiors as being an ‘other’: an object visible, observable and
imaginable from a third-person standpoint – a standpoint drawing its
authority from biomedical epistemology and practice.

A Stone in a Spaghetti Bowl: Metaphors of Brain and Self in Clinical Medicine

by Sky Gross

In: Sociological Reflections on the Neurosciences
Edited by Martyn Pickersgill and Ira Van Keulen (Editors)
2011 available for pre-order, soon in paperback

This chapter presents findings of ethnographic work in a neuro-oncology
clinic in Israel. It is claimed that... more This chapter presents findings of ethnographic work in a neuro-oncology
clinic in Israel. It is claimed that patients, close-ones and physicians
engage in creating metaphorical visions of the brain and brain tumours
that reaffirm Cartesian dualism. The ‘brain talk’ involved visible and
spatial terms and results in a particular kind of objectification of the
organ of the self. The overbearing presence of visual media (i.e., magnetic
resonance imaging, computed tomography, angiographic studies) further
gave rise to particular forms of interactions with patients and physicians
where the ‘imageable’ (i.e., the image on the screen) became the
‘imaginable’ (i.e., the metaphor). The images mostly referred to a domain
of mundane objects: a meatball in a dish of spaghetti, a topping of olives
over a pizza, the surface of the moon, a stone, an egg, an animal, a dark
cloud. Furthermore, conversations with family members showed that
formal facts and informed compassion were substituted by concrete
representations. For them, and especially for the patient, these
representations redefined an ungraspable situation, where a tumour – an object – can so easily affect the organ of their subjectivity, into something
comprehensible through the materialistic, often mechanistic actions of
most mundane objects. This, however, also created alienated objects
within the boundaries of their own embodied selves. Patients, on the one
hand, did not reject their own sense of ‘own-ness’, of having a lifeworld
(lebenswelt) as subjective agents, but on the other, did talk about their
own interiors as being an ‘other’: an object visible, observable and
imaginable from a third-person standpoint – a standpoint drawing its
authority from biomedical epistemology and practice.

Objective acoustic-phonetic speech analysis in patients treated for oral or oropharyngeal cancer

by Hugo Quené

Co-authored with M.J. de Bruijn, L. ten Bosch, D.J. Kuik, J.A. Langendijk, C.R. Leemans & I.M. Verdonck-de Leeuw.
Published in Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 61 (3), 180-187 (2009).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000219953

Objective: Speech impairment often occurs in patients after treatment for head and neck cancer. New treatment... more Objective: Speech impairment often occurs in patients after treatment for head and neck cancer. New treatment modalities such as surgical reconstruction or (chemo)radiation techniques aim at sparing anatomical structures that are correlated with speech and swallowing. In randomized trials investigating efficacy of various treatment modalities or speech rehabilitation, objective speech analysis techniques may add to improve speech outcome assessment. The goal of the present study is to investigate the role of objective acoustic-phonetic analyses in a multidimensional speech assessment protocol.
Patients and Methods: Speech recordings of 51 patients (6 months after reconstructive surgery and postoperative radiotherapy for oral or oropharyngeal cancer) and of 18 control speakers were subjectively evaluated regarding intelligibility, nasal resonance, articulation, and patient-reported speech outcome (speech subscale of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Head and Neck 35 module). Acoustic-phonetic analyses were performed to calculate formant values of the vowels /a, i, u/, vowel space, air pressure release of /k/ and spectral slope of /x/.
Results: Intelligibility, articulation, and nasal resonance were best predicted by vowel space and /k/. Within patients, /k/ and /x/ differentiated tumor site and stage. Various objective speech parameters were related to speech problems as reported by patients.
Conclusion: Objective acoustic-phonetic analysis of speech of patients is feasible and contributes to further development of a speech assessment protocol.


Key Words: Head and neck cancer; Radiotherapy; Surgical reconstruction; Speech quality; Acoustic analysis

intracellular Caspase-Linked Chimeric Antigen Receptor

by Scott Tarone

The Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR), first devised by Gross et al in 1989 (1), has proven effective against cancer as... more The Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR), first devised by Gross et al in 1989 (1), has proven effective against cancer as well as immunosuppressive viruses. Landmark work done by Carl June M.D. et al. led to a recent clinical trial in which CD-19 specific-CAR transfected autologous T cells were reinfused to a patient with chemorefractory Chronic Lymphoid Leukemia (CLL). This patient, along with another in the same trial, achieved a complete response within 30 days and remained in remission 10 months after treatment. A specific immune system response was detected and memory effector cells were generated. The only high level toxic events were Tumor Lysis Syndrome and Hypogammaglobulinemia the later expected as the CAR was specific for CD19 which is expressed on all early B cells (2).  The historical significance of Dr. June's work notwithstanding, a limitation to this approach exists stemming from the fact that the peptide containing the epitope targeted by the CAR's variable region must exist on the surface of the tumor cells.  With the exception of hematopoietic cells, as exemplified in Dr. June's work, the peptide would preferentially be expressed only on tumor cells so off-tissue toxicity would be avoided.  An example of this, unfortunately, has occurred in another trial where a CAR specific for erbB-2 was used.  ErbB-2 is expressed on breast and colon cancer cells, but it is also found on healthy endothelial cells; one patient died just days after treatment and on-target/off-tissue events were postulated as the root cause of death (3).  I am proposing an approach that differs from the conventional in three ways: (i) directly targeting of tumor specific or associated antigens within the malignant cells with (ii) an antibody based biological agent (iii) linked to a constitutively active but inhibited form of an apoptosis effector that is released uninhibited upon the antibody binding its agonist.

Prevalence and predictors of anthracycline cardiotoxicity in children treated for acute myeloid leukaemia: Retrospective cohort study in a single centre in the United …

by Juliane Hardt

Temming P, Qureshi A, Hardt J, Leiper AD, Levitt G, Ancliff PJ, Webb DK.
Prevalence and predictors of anthracycline cardiotoxicity in children treated for acute myeloid leukaemia: retrospective cohort study in a single centre in the United Kingdom. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2011 Apr;56(4):625-30. doi: 10.1002/pbc.22908.

The second-look laparotomy for epithelial ovarian carcinoma

by Alfredo Pirondini

Co-authored with: L. Frigerio, L. Busci, S. Garsia, A. Ferrari.
Published in: "Italian Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics". Vol. 2, pag. 19-24. 1990.

Summary: Between 1975 and 1986, second look laparotomy (SLL) to evaluate desease status was performed in 87 patients... more Summary: Between 1975 and 1986, second look laparotomy (SLL) to evaluate desease status was performed in 87 patients originally presenting with epithelial ovarian carcinoma. Surgical and histologic assessment did not reveal persistent desease in 34 patients (39%). The 3-years survival, by Kaplan-Meier calculation, was 73.5% after negative SLL versus 32% after posotive SLL ( p< 0.01). Residual tumor (RT) was absent after original operation in 24 patients (35.8%), in 12 cases (17.9%) RT was less than 2 cm, and in 31 cases (46.2%) RT was more than 2 cm. Negative SLL is related to RT at primary surgery. The merit of reassessment surgery is the prognostic value of this procedure: the mortality at 3 years after primary surgery was 26.5% of cases with negative SLL and 68% after positive SLL( p< 0.01).

Development of laboratory hormone tests and their application in the monitoring of cancer patients.

by Alfredo Pirondini

Breast Cancer Prevention in Primary Health Care

by Amani Al Hajeri

الوقاية ضد سرطان الثدي في الرعاية الصحية الاولية
For citation: Al Hajeri A. Breast Cancer Prevention in Primary Health Care. Bahrain Medical Bulletin. 2011. 33(3):154-157.

Laryngeal embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in an adult - a case presentation in the eyes of geneticists and clinicians.

by Anna M. Czarnecka

Background

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a solid tumor, resulting from dysregulation of the skeletal myogenesis... more Background

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a solid tumor, resulting from dysregulation of the skeletal myogenesis program. For rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) with a predilection for the head and neck, genitourinary tract, extremities, trunk, retroperitoneum, the larynx is still an unusual site. Till now only several cases of this laryngeal tumor have been described in world literature in the adult population. The entire spectrum of genetic factors underlying RMS development and progression is unclear until today. Multiple signaling pathways seem to be involved in ERMS development and progression.

Case presentation

In this paper we report an interesting RMS case in which the disease was located within the glottic region. We report an embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx in 33 year-old man. After unsuccessful chemotherapy hemilaryngectomy was performed. In follow up CT no signs of recurrence were found. Recently patient is recurrence free for 62 months.

Conclusions

Considering the histological diagnosis and the highly aggressive nature of the lesion for optimal diagnosis positron electron tomography (PET) and computerized tomography (CT) of the neck and thorax should be performed. At this time surgical treatment with adjuvant radiotherapy seems to be the treatment of choice for this disease. Rhabdomyosarcoma of the larynx has a better prognosis than elsewhere in the body, probably because of its earlier recognition and accessibility to radical surgery.

Outcomes sensitive to nursing service quality in ambulatory cancer chemotherapy: systematic scoping review

by Peter Griffiths

Alison Richrdson
Rebecca Blackwell
Published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing. Contains the main findings of the report into nurse sensitive outcomes and indicators for ambulatory chemotherapy.

Abstract
Background
There is long standing interest in identifying patient outcomes that are sensitive to... more Abstract
Background
There is long standing interest in identifying patient outcomes that are sensitive to nursing care and an increasing number of systems that include outcomes in order to demonstrate or monitor the quality of nursing care.

Objective
We undertook scoping reviews of the literature in order to identify patient outcomes sensitive to the quality of nursing services in ambulatory cancer chemotherapy settings to guide the development of an outcomes-based quality measurement system.

Methods
A 2-stage scoping review to identify potential outcome areas which were subsequently assessed for their sensitivity to nursing was carried out. Data sources included the Cochrane Library, Medline, Embase, the British Nursing Index, Google and Google scholar.

Results
We identified a broad range of outcomes potentially sensitive to nursing. Individual trials support many nursing interventions but we found relatively little clear evidence of effect on outcomes derived from systematic reviews and no evidence associating characteristics of nursing services with outcomes.

Conclusion
The purpose of identifying a set of outcomes as specifically nurse-sensitive for quality measurement is to give clear responsibility and create an expectation of strong clinical leadership by nurses in terms of monitoring and acting on results. It is important to select those outcomes that nurses have most impact upon. Patient experience, nausea, vomiting, mucositis and safe medication administration were outcome areas most likely to yield sensitive measures of nursing service quality in ambulatory cancer chemotherapy.

Keywords: Quality measurement; Outcomes; Chemotherapy; Nursing; Clinical nurse specialists; Ambulatory care

Healing the Pain of Grief

by Daniel Keeran MSW

by Daniel Keeran, MSW, RMHC-S

GRIEF COUNSELING THEORY AND SKILLS COURSE ONLINE

In this practical online course you will learn what to say to help someone who is grieving and needs healing to move forward in life. The course text and assignments are included in tuition and are sent to you immediately as a PDF attached email file with a hard copy sent by regular mail. To Register visit http://www.counseling-skills.com

This article is an excerpt from the chapter entitled “Grief Counseling Skills” in Effective Counseling Skills: the... more This article is an excerpt from the chapter entitled “Grief Counseling Skills” in Effective Counseling Skills: the practical wording of therapeutic statements and processes. More practical skills are found in the following press release http://prlog.org/11645786

Daniel Keeran, MSW, has been a professional counselor and therapist for over 30 years. He has provided counseling and training to thousands of professionals and the public through his private practice, seminars, and online training courses.

To order the best-selling training manual "Effective Counseling Skills" go to http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Counseling-Skills-therapeutic-statements/dp/1442177993

Lack of compliance with national vaccination guidelines in oncology patients receiving radiation therapy.

by Dr. Gary Kao and Dr. Jay Dorsey

Yee SS, Dutta PR, Solin LJ, Vapiwala N, Kao GD.
SourceDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA.

Cancer patients are at increased risk for potentially life-threatening infections. Patient safety goals recently... more Cancer patients are at increased risk for potentially life-threatening infections. Patient safety goals recently issued by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines recommend vaccinations for all cancer patients over the age of 65 (for Pneumococcus) and 50 years of age (annually, for Influenza). The authors investigated vaccination practices in patients over a season of risk at a university-based outpatient cancer treatment clinic. Of 204 patients recruited, 196 (93%) completed the survey. Overall, 30% of patients reported never receiving the Influenza vaccine (33% of patients >50 years old), and 56% reported never receiving the Pneumococcal vaccine (30% of patients >65 years old). Only 7% of patients reported being asked or informed about vaccination by their oncologists. Substantial proportions of patients undergoing cancer treatment have not received vaccinations as recommended by national guidelines. The reasons cited for lack of compliance seem correctable, and doing so would potentially prevent mortality and morbidity, thereby improving the care of cancer patients. Recommended vaccinations may now include that for the Influenza A virus (H1N1).