Sexual dysfunction in female patients with anal cancer treated with curative intent: A systematic review of the literature.

Background And Purpose: Patients with anal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are treated with sphincter-preserving radiation therapy and concurrent chemotherapy, achieving excellent oncologic outcomes. Patients, however, may experience treatment-related morbidity including sexual dysfunction. The objective of this systematic review was to review the literature on sexual dysfunction in female patients treated for anal cancer and to identify knowledge gaps.

Quantitative ultrasound radiomics for therapy response monitoring in patients with locally advanced breast cancer: Multi-institutional study results.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is the standard of care for patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC). The study was conducted to investigate the utility of quantitative ultrasound (QUS) carried out during NAC to predict the final tumour response in a multi-institutional setting.

Methods: Fifty-nine patients with LABC were enrolled from three institutions in North America (Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (Toronto, Canada), MD Anderson Cancer Centre (Texas, USA), and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (Toronto, Canada)).

Quantitative ultrasound radiomics in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer: Results from multi-institutional study.

Background: This study was conducted in order to develop a model for predicting response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) using pretreatment quantitative ultrasound (QUS) radiomics.

Methods: This was a multicenter study involving four sites across North America, and appropriate approval was obtained from the individual ethics committees. Eighty-two patients with LABC were included for final analysis.

Cognitive function in breast cancer patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy.

Purpose: Breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy have complained of difficulties in their ability to remember, think, and concentrate. This study assessed whether there are differences in cognitive function between breast cancer patients treated with standard-dose adjuvant chemotherapy compared with healthy controls.

Patients And Methods: The High Sensitivity Cognitive Screen and the Profile of Mood States (POMS) were used to assess cognitive function and mood in a group of 107 women.

Oxidative stress and 1-methyl-2-nitroimidazole cytotoxicity.

The 2-nitroimidazoles have been used clinically to radiosensitize resistant hypoxic cells, but a dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy has restricted their therapeutic effectiveness. A model compound, 1-methyl-2-nitroimidazole (INO2), was used to investigate the possible role of oxidative stress in this normal tissue toxicity. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were 10-15 times more resistant to 20 mM INO2 under aerobic than hypoxic conditions.

Apoptosis and 1-methyl-2-nitroimidazole toxicity in CHO cells.

The time course and characteristics of the selective hypoxic cytotoxicity of the 2-nitroimidazole model compound 1-methyl-2-nitroimidazole (INO2) were analysed during prolonged time periods (up to 5 days post treatment). When control populations were seeded at the same cell density as drug-treated cells, they entered confluency at day 3 and underwent apoptosis at day 5, which appeared to be mediated by an autocrine mechanism. In subsequent studies of drug-treated cells, the seeding density of treated cells was adjusted to avoid this cell confluency effect.

Immortalisation of a human diploid fibroblast cell strain: a DT-diaphorase paradox.

Transfection of a normal human diploid fibroblast cell strain, GM38, with a simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen containing plasmid, yielded an immortal cell line, G38-8X, which had a similar sensitivity as the parental cell strain to the quinone-containing chemotherapeutic agent mitomycin C (MMC), under both aerobic and hypoxic exposure conditions. The activity level of DT-diaphorase was similar in both the parental GM38 and G38-8X cells. Although DT-diaphorase could be detected by Western blot analysis, using two mouse anti-human monoclonal antibodies, in GM38 cells, it was not detected in the G38-8X cells.

Differential cell death in immortalized and non-immortalized cells at confluency.

Rat embryo fibroblast cells that have been immortalized by viral transfection have an altered cell cycle control. These cells have been observed to die via an apoptotic death when grown to confluency which, in at least one of the cell line pairs studied, was independent of the presence of wildtype or mutant p53. This confluency-dependent apoptotic cell death was observed in thirteen of fourteen rodent and human cell lines tested.

Constitutive expression of P-glycoprotein as a determinant of loading with fluorescent calcium probes.

Determination of intracellular calcium levels in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells using the fluorescent calcium probe indo-1AM was hindered by the low level of accumulation of indo-1 in these cells. CHO cells are known to express basal levels of the multidrug resistance efflux pump P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Rhodamine-123, which is a known substrate of P-gp, was used to confirm the presence of P-gp in CHO cells.

Mechanism of the selective hypoxic cytotoxicity of 1-methyl-2-nitroimidazole.

2-Nitroimidazoles were introduced into radiation therapy to test their ability to radiosensitize hypoxic cells in solid human tumours. In addition, they are selectively reduced in hypoxic cells to form reactive metabolites that may be effective cytotoxins. 1-Methyl-2-nitroimidazole (INO2) was investigated as a model compound to study the mechanism of selective bioreduction in hypoxic cells.