Publications by authors named "Joao Evangelista Bezerra-Neto"

Background: Preclinical studies have suggested that metformin has anti-tumour effects, likely due to blockage of mammalian target of rapamycin pathway through adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and decreased insulin levels. A retrospective study showed that metformin added to everolimus to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus offered longer progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NET).

Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of metformin monotherapy in patients with advanced/metastatic well-differentiated NET (WD-NET) of gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) or pulmonary origin.

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Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy that is associated with a dismal prognosis. Pan-genomic studies have demonstrated the involvement of and genes in adrenocortical tumorigenesis. Our aims were to evaluate the protein expression of and in a cohort of 82 adults with ACC and to establish their prognostic value.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive type of cancer with no significant treatment advancements, making the search for new prognostic biomarkers crucial.
  • - The study focused on Sterol-O-acyl transferase 1 (SOAT1), which is linked to cholesterol metabolism, finding that strong expression of SOAT1 in ACC tumors indicates a worse prognosis and is associated with aggressive cancer features.
  • - The research revealed that high SOAT1 levels can predict lower overall survival and recurrence-free survival in ACC patients, emphasizing its potential as a significant biomarker for assessing clinical outcomes.
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Rationale: In the setting of metastatic or locally advanced adrenocortical carcinoma, a limited number of therapies are available and their efficacy is generally below modest. The backbone of treatment remains surgery, even for metastatic disease, whenever it is possible, and mitotane. Chemotherapy can be used with limited results.

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Malignancy must be considered in the management of adrenal lesions, including those incidentally identified on imaging studies. Adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs) are rare tumors with an estimated annual incidence of 0.7-2 cases per year and a worldwide prevalence of 4-12 cases per million/year.

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Background: Exosomes isolated from plasma of patients with sepsis may induce vascular apoptosis and myocardial dysfunction by mechanisms related to inflammation and oxidative stress. Despite previous studies demonstrating that these vesicles contain genetic material related to cellular communication, their molecular cargo during sepsis is relatively unknown. In this study, we evaluated the presence of microRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) related to inflammatory response and redox metabolism in exosomes of patients with septic shock.

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Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and high-grade extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas (EPNEC) share similar histopathological features and treatment, but outcomes may differ. We evaluated in our study the expression of biomarkers associated with response rate (RR) to chemotherapy and overall survival (OS) for these entities.

Materials And Methods: This is a multicentre retrospective analysis of advanced EPNEC and SCLC patients treated with platinum-based chemotherapy.

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Neuroendocrine tumours are a heterogeneous group of diseases with a significant variety of diagnostic tests and treatment modalities. Guidelines were developed by North American and European groups to recommend their best management. However, local particularities and relativisms found worldwide led us to create Brazilian guidelines.

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Background: Observational and preclinical studies have suggested that metformin has antitumor effects in solid tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the effects of metformin in CRC have not been tested in clinical trials.

Patients And Methods: This was a single-center, single-arm phase 2 clinical trial where histologically confirmed CRC patients with measurable and progressing metastatic disease previously treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), irinotecan, oxaliplatin, and an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (if the tumor was RAS wild type) were enrolled to receive metformin 850 mg orally continuously 2 times a day plus 5-FU 425 mg/m and leucovorin 50 mg intravenously weekly until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or withdrawal of consent.

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