Major depression occurs in a significant number of cancer patients, and there is evidence that cancer patients with depression do not receive adequate antidepressant treatment. In an uncontrolled pilot study, the authors assess the degree of depression and the quality of life after the initiation of antidepressant medication treatment in 12 depressed cancer patients who received adequate antidepressant drugs and in 10 depressed cancer patients who received inadequate antidepressant treatment. These preliminary findings suggest that cancer patients with major depression benefit from antidepressant medication treatment and may experience an improved psychosocial adjustment to cancer. Controlled clinical trials will be necessary to verify these preliminary findings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Studies on cholesterol ester formation and hydrolysis in liver disease: a selective review.

Plasma cholesterol esters are formed within the circulation by lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), an enzyme produced by the liver. Patients with hepatocellular disease have low plasma LCAT activity. This largely accounts for the decreased levels of cholesterol esters observed in such patients and appears due to impaired hepatic production of the enzyme. In contrast, activity of the LCAT reaction in patients with cholestasis seems variable and is the subject of controversy, largely because the influence of abnormal cholestatic lipoproteins on the reaction requires further clarification.Human liver contains a lysosomal cholesterol ester hydrolase (CEH) which may play an important role in hepatic cholesterol homeostasis. In patients with liver damage there is no concrete evidence of circulating CEH activity, but recent studies show elevated activity of hydrolase within the liver itself in acute hepatitis. Hepatic activity of another lysosomal enzyme, acid phosphatase, is not increased, suggesting that high CEH in hepatitic liver does not simply reflect a general increase in lysosomal enzymes. The pathogenesis and significance of altered CEH activity in liver disease require further study.

Acid Phosphatase↗