Ulmus davidiana Nakai induces apoptosis and autophagy on non-small cell lung cancer cells.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Ulmus davidiana Nakai (UDN) is frequently used in the treatment of cancer in traditional oriental medicine. Although several reports indicate that UDN has inhibitory effects in some cancers, there has been no report on the inhibitory effects of UDN via both autophagy and apoptosis.

Materials And Methods: Cytotoxicity induced by UDN in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) H-1299 and H-460 cell lines was evaluated using the 2, 3-Bis (2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide inner salt (XTT) assay and trypan blue exclusion assay.

Is noncurative gastrectomy always a beneficial strategy for stage IV gastric cancer?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to suggest a treatment strategy for stage IV gastric cancer by investigating the behavioral difference between initially and recurrent metastatic disease.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of the patients who underwent chemotherapy alone for metastatic gastric cancer between January 2006 and September 2013. Patients were divided into those who underwent chemotherapy for metastatic disease since initial diagnosis (IM group) and for metastatic recurrence after curative surgery (RM group).

Imatinib Mesylate Dose Adjustment Based on Body Surface Area for CML Chronic Phase Patients Intolerant to Standard Dosage.

Aim: Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) chronic phase (CP) patients cannot tolerate a standard dose (400 mg/day) of imatinib mesylate (IM), sometimes needing a reduced dose. This study aimed to find convenient clinical indexes, rather than plasma trough levels of IM, to define the appropriate IM dosage.

Methods: Seventy CML CP patients who experienced an IM dose reduction, or a temporary cessation, were enrolled from 2002 to 2010.

Influence of socioeconomic status on survival and clinical outcomes in patients with advanced gastric cancer after chemotherapy.

Background: Socioeconomic inequalities are known to influence the survival of cancer patients due to differences in treatment modalities and disease extent at diagnosis. However, there are few studies regarding the influence of socioeconomic status on patient survival, especially after palliative chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer.

Patients And Methods: This retrospective study was performed on 138 advanced gastric cancer patients who received palliative chemotherapy.

Combination of gemcitabine and carboplatin as first line treatment in elderly patients or those unfit for cisplatin-based chemotherapy with advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary tract.

Purpose: Although cisplatin-based chemotherapy is the standard of care for advanced transitional cell carcinoma, tolerability is a challenging issue in unfit patients. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy, toxicity, and tolerability of the combination of gemcitabine and carboplatin in unfit patients with advanced transitional cell carcinoma.

Methods: Thirty-one patients who had advanced transitional cell carcinoma and one of the following clinical features were evaluated: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status equal or greater than 2, age older the 75 years or estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml/min.

The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and the effects of chemotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

Purpose: Several reports have shown a better prognosis in gastric cancer patients who are positive for Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection compared with negative cases. However, there are currently no studies that investigate the relationship between HP infection and the effects of chemotherapy in gastric cancer patients. In this study, we report the relationship between HP infection and chemotherapy effects in patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer.

Mitomycin-C, 5-fluorouracil, and leucovorin as a salvage therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.

Aim: There is no further treatment option for metastatic colon patients who are refractory to standard chemotherapy and to whom novel biological agents are not available. We evaluated the outcomes of mitomycin-C, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin in patients with metastatic colon cancer previously treated with oxaliplatin/5-FU/leucovorin and irinotecan/5-FU/leucovorin.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 46 patients who had received mitomycin-C/5FU/leucovorin between March 2008 and December 2009.

Treatment results including more than third-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Recently, third-line chemotherapy for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) was accepted as a reasonable therapeutic option in patients with a favorable performance status. In practice, however, palliative chemotherapy has been performed for patients with a favorable performance status, even after third-line chemotherapy. Although multiple cycles of palliative chemotherapy were performed for these patients, there are little data of observation for courses of treatment from first-line to the last chemotherapy.

Concurrent chemoradiation followed by adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Korea.

Purpose: Concomitant approach using cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has shown an excellent local control rate and significantly reduced distant metastasis in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, optimal schedule and dosing of chemotherapy still need to be developed to reduce distant metastasis. This retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy, toxicity, and tolerability of a concurrent chemoradiation therapy (CCRT) regimen using cisplatin and 5-FU followed by adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) in patients with locoregionally advanced NPC.

The suggestion of a risk stratification system for febrile neutropenia in patients with hematologic disease.

We analyzed the prognostic factors from 259 cases of febrile neutropenia occurring in 137 patients with hematologic disease. Based on multivariate analysis, significant prognostic factors are recovery of neutropenia, respiratory infection, baseline serum albumin, baseline bicarbonate, baseline CRP, and CRP on the fifth day after antibiotic treatment. From these variables, we derived a predictive model for the prognosis of febrile neutropenia using baseline serum albumin, bicarbonate, and CRP, which could be easily checked before chemotherapy.

Association of single nucleotide polymorphisms in PIM-1 gene with the risk of Korean lung cancer.

Purpose: The expression of the PIM-1 gene, which is a proto-oncogene that encodes a serine/threonine kinase, is associated with multiple cellular functions such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis. In particular, several studies have reported that the PIM-1 gene is associated with the development of lymphoma, leukemia and prostate cancer. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PIM-1 gene and the risk of lung cancer occurrence in the Korean population.

Clinical factors related to suspected second primary lung cancer development in patients with head and neck cancer.

Purpose: The rate of second primary lung cancer development for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) has been noted. The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence and clinical features of suspected second primary lung cancer that developed in patients with primary HNC.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 469 patients who were newly diagnosed with HNC at the Korea University Medical Center between January 2000 and December 2006.

A multicenter phase II study of gemcitabine and S-1 combination chemotherapy in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: To confirm the efficacy and toxicity of gemcitabine and S-1 combination chemotherapy when used as a first-line therapy in patients with unresectable pancreatic cancer.

Methods: Patients with locally advanced or metastatic or recurrent pancreatic adenocarcinoma, which was histologically or cytologically proven, with at least one measurable lesion were eligible for the study. Gemcitabine at a dose of 1,000 mg/m2 was intravenously given over 30 min on days 1 and 8, while S-1 at a dose of 40 mg/m2 was orally given twice daily from day 1 to 14, and the cycle was repeated every 3 weeks.

Increased serum 90K and Galectin-3 expression are associated with advanced stage and a worse prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas.

The role of 90K and galectin-3 in cell-to-extracellular matrix adhesion and tumor metastasis has been reported, but little is known about their role in the prognosis and extranodal involvement of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL). Thus, we measured serum 90K concentration by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and tissue expression of galectin-3 by immunohistochemistry in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients. The mean serum 90K concentration was higher in DLBCL than in healthy controls (1,408.

Absolute CD4+ cell count using a plastic microchip and a microscopic cell counter.

We have designed and evaluated the performance of a simple, rapid, and affordable method for counting CD4(+) T-cells with the use of plastic microchips. This new system is an adaptation of a "no-lyse, no-wash," volumetric single platform assay, and absolute CD4(+) counts are determined with the use of a microscopic scanning cell counter. To assess the CD4(+) count test precision and linearity of the system, measured CD4(+) counts were compared with two other reference assays (single and dual platform flow cytometry) with the use of 123 clinical samples including samples obtained from 35 HIV-infected patients, and artificially diluted samples.

Docetaxel and epirubicin salvage regimen in relapsed anthracycline-sensitive metastatic breast cancer patients after anthracycline-containing adjuvant therapy.

Our aim in this paper is to verify the efficacy and safety of a epirubicin and docetaxel salvage regimen for anthracycline sensitive metastatic breast cancer patients who have relapsed after anthracycline-containing adjuvant therapy. Thirty-two metastatic breast cancer patients were treated with epirubicin and docetaxel every 21 days. Of the 31 evaluable patients, there were 13/31 (41.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms of IGFBP-3 gene and lung cancer risk in a Korean population.

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) is a putative tumor suppressor and inhibits the mitogenic and antiapoptotic activity of insulin-like growth factor (IGF) by blocking the binding to its receptors or by IGF-independent manner. Epidemiological studies have suggested that serum level of IGFBP-3 is associated with lung cancer risk. The present study was conducted to evaluate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IGFBP-3 gene and susceptibility to lung cancer and the effect of the SNPs on the serum levels of IGFBP-3, total IGF-I and free IGF-I in a Korean population.

Treatment outcomes of oxaliplatin, 5-FU, and leucovorin as salvage therapy for patients with advanced or metastatic gastric cancer: a retrospective analysis.

Purpose: We performed a single-institution retrospective study to evaluate the efficacy and toxicities of oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin (LV) combination chemotherapy as salvage treatment in patients with metastatic or advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: Sixty-two patients with advanced gastric cancer previously treated were eligible for the study. Patients received oxaliplatin 100 mg/m(2) and LV 100 mg/m(2) (2-h intravenous infusion) followed by 5-FU 2,400 mg/m(2) (46-h continuous infusion) every 2 weeks, and responses were assessed after every three cycles.

Putative association of the single nucleotide polymorphisms in RASSF1A promoter with Korean lung cancer.

The RASSF1 gene, a putative tumor suppressor gene located on human chromosome 3p21, has attracted a great deal of attention because of frequent allelic loss and gene silencing via promoter hypermethylation in a variety of human malignancies. To evaluate the role of RASSF1A gene in lung cancer risk, genotypes of the RASSF1A promoter region (-710 C>T and -392T>C) were determined in 410 lung cancer patients and 410 normal subjects. Furthermore, to examine potential effects of the common haplotypes (C-C, T-T and C-T haplotypes) on RASSF1A transcription, luciferase reporter assays were performed in H2009 and H358 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines.

Epirubicin, cisplatin, oral UFT, and leucovorin combination chemotherapy in advanced and metastatic esophageal cancer.

Background: The purpose of treatment in patients with advanced and metastatic esophageal cancer is to improve symptoms and maintain quality of life. Recently, the regimen including epirubicin, cisplatin, and 5-FU (ECF) has been used with protracted venous infusion (PVI), and has been reported to be an effective treatment for advanced and metastatic esophagogastric cancer. However, complications and the inconvenience associated with PVI cannot be justified for the treatment of advanced esophageal cancer.

Lack of association of fragile histidine triad (FHIT) polymorphisms with lung cancer in the Korean population.

The fragile histidine triad (FHIT), which was located on chromosome 3p14.2, was currently considered a promising candidate for a tumor suppressor gene. FHIT performed a crucial function in the tumorigenesis of lung cancer.