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Biomedical subjects

S Toma

Publications and source records attributed to S Toma.

172 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

[Alternating chemotherapy and daily multiple-fraction radiotherapy in the treatment of advanced spinocellular carcinoma of the head and neck].

From January 1987 to May 1988 sixteen pts with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck received a combined treatment based on an alternation of chemotherapy and MFD--radiotherapy. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of CDDP 20 mg/m2 and 5-FU 200 mg/m2 i.v. push, from day 1 to day 5 during weeks 1, 5 and 9. Radiotherapy was administered in two courses of 32 Gy each (total dose 64 Gy), during weeks 2-3 and 6-7. Each course was given in 2 fractions per day, five days per week. All sixteen patients could be evaluated for toxicity and fifteen for response. The following were observed: 7 CR, 6 PR, 1 SD and 1 PD. The overall response rate was 86.6%. Toxicity was high; 43.7% of the patients developed grade III-IV mucositis. These results suggest that CDDP and 5-FU alternating with MFD-radiotherapy is feasible, although new, less toxic scheduling must be determined.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of 17-beta-estradiol on doxorubicin cytotoxicity in human breast cancer cell culture.

Pre-treatment with 17-beta-estradiol appeared to improve the cytotoxic efficacy of doxorubicin on MCF-7 but not on ZR-75-1 and EVSA-T human breast cancer cell lines. MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 are both estrogen receptor-positive cell lines: however, only ZR-75-1 showed improved proliferation in the presence of estradiol. On the other hand MCF-7 appeared basically more resistant to doxorubicin compared to the other cell lines. The results indicate that estrogenic pre-treatment is a potential tool for partially overcoming human breast cell resistance to doxorubicin; moreover, they suggest that the mechanism of interaction could be not exclusively related to actual cytokinetics modulation.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Secretory carcinoma of the breast. Report of a case with fine needle aspiration biopsy.

A case of secretory carcinoma of the breast in a 48-year-old woman studied by fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is presented. The prominent intracytoplasmic vacuolization and numerous signet-ring forms and the presence of sheets of neoplastic cells with large intercellular spaces should permit its diagnosis in FNA specimens. The differential diagnosis of this rare lesion from other breast neoplasms that show similar features is discussed.

Biopsy, Needle↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A multifactorial analysis of different biological and clinical parameters in breast cancer.

Different biological and clinical parameters were correlated in a consecutive series of breast cancer patients. Age, tumor size, hormonal receptor status, grading and lymph nodal status (N) were taken into account. A linear logistic regression analysis was performed for 83 patients in whom all parameters were known. Lymph nodal involvement was observed more frequently in tumors with a diameter larger than 2 cm (RR = 3.83; p less than 0.05); it was also more frequently observed in undifferentiated tumors (G2-3), although these data were not significant (RR = 2.75). Neither age nor hormonal receptors were related to lymph nodal involvement. A significant relationship between age and estrogen receptors (ER) was found: younger women had a greater frequency of ER negative tumors (RR = 8.81; p less than 0.005). An opposite tendency was found as regards progesterone receptor status (PgR) (RR = 0.20; p less than 0.05), although these data require further confirmation. No obvious correlation was found between tumor size and hormonal receptor content, although in younger patients tumor size seems to influence ER levels: tumors larger than 2 cm were 1.43 times more often ER negative than tumors smaller than 2 cm. There was no correlation between ER and grading, although G3 tumors were found to be ER negative more frequently than others (RR = 1.71; ns) and showed a tendency to be PgR negative (RR greater than 3). Finally, tumors with lower ER levels were more frequently PgR negative (RR = 11.89; p less than 0.001).

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Different techniques for drug cytotoxicity evaluation on MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line.

Contrasting results have been reported following the use of different in vitro techniques for the evaluation of drug cytotoxicity on cultured cell lines. Our interest focuses on the evaluation of drug cytotoxicity on a ER+ breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). The present study compares the effect of Doxorubicin using the following different techniques: a dye exclusion test; cell growth after treatment, expressed either as slope of cell growth curves or as the number of cells in treated cultures as a percentage of the number of cells in control cultures at different time intervals after treatment; a clonogenic assay in liquid medium. The dye exclusion assay failed to demonstrate drug-related killing of cells. Our data from the present study support the relative superiority of clonogenic assay compared to other methods. However, the occasional use of different methods could by-pass the limitations of this assay, and, depending on the specific experimental conditions, could lead to a better definition of drug cell killing.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Efficacy of the association of 13-cis-retinoic acid (13cRA) and alpha-interferon 2a (alpha-IFN 2a) in moderate-severe cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN II-III): a pilot study.

Recent in vitro studies have suggested a possible therapeutic synergism between alpha-IFN 2a and 13cRA in certain neoplasias, while encouraging in vivo findings strongly support the enhanced effectiveness of the two agents when used in combination. The specific aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and the toxicity of the association of 13cRA and alpha-IFN 2a in patients with CIN II and CIN III who refused surgical treatment. Twenty-one patients (aged between 25 and 58 years), of which 14 were CIN II and 7 CIN III, entered the study. 13cRA (orally at 0.5-1 mg/Kg/day) and alpha-IFN 2a (intramuscular at 3x10(6) I.U./day for the first 15 days, then 3 times/week for the following four weeks) were administered simultaneously for eight consecutive weeks. 13/21 (62%) histologically verified objective responses (6 complete and 7 partial) were achieved. We also obtained 8 stable diseases. Compliance was generally good and no delays in therapy due to toxicity were recorded (except for two patients presenting WHO degree III cutaneous and mucosal toxicity which regressed one week after suspending treatment). Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) was initially detected in 16/21 (76%) patients, while HPV negativization after treatment was observed in 3/16 (19%). Although preliminary and requiring long-term assessment, the encouraging results of this study confirm the need for further investigation on the role of systemic medical therapy in the treatment of CINs.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell line by RAR and RXR selective retinoids.

Induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cell line by various retinoids was measured by cytofluorimetry and DNA fragmentation assay. Retinoids with marked or high selectivity for RAR alpha, RAR beta, RAR gamma or RXR alpha were tested. All these retinoids were capable of inducing apoptosis, in a dose- and time-dependent way. MCF-7 cell line expressed RAR alpha, RAR gamma and RXRs, but not RAR beta. Compared to untreated MCF-7 cells, after 2 days of incubation with each of the selective retinoids, a substantial increase in apoptotic cells was observed, even at the lowest concentration of 10(-8) M. Among the various analysed selective retinoids only slight differences were observed. All-trans retinoic acid and 13-cis retinoic acid induced apoptosis only after 6 days and 9-cis-retinoic acid after 4 days of incubation. Since all receptor selective retinoids substantially inducedapoptosis, it may be concluded that RAR alpha, RAR gamma and RXR alpha are able to mediate programmed cell death in the tested tumor cell line. Highly selective retinoid receptor agonists and antagonists may be useful for clarifying the function of retinoid receptors and for further progress in the field of cancer prevention and therapy by retinoids.

Apoptosis↗