Does pretreatment seropositivity to human papillomavirus have prognostic significance for head and neck cancers?

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a risk factor for head and neck cancers (HNC), yet HPV-associated tumors have better prognosis than HPV-negative tumors.

Methods: We evaluated whether pretreatment presence of antibodies to HPV capsids [virus-like particles (VLP)] or to HPV-16 oncoproteins E6 and E7 was a predictor of HPV-positive HNC and clinical outcomes. Sera from 156 HNC patients were tested for antibodies to HPV-16-derived antigens using ELISA.

Presentation, prognostic factors and patterns of failure in adult rhabdomyosarcoma.

Purpose: The purpose of our study is to retrospectively review our institutional experience with adult rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) to determine presentation, prognostic factors and patterns of failure in this disease.

Materials And Methods: All patients >/= 16 years with a diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma were retrospectively reviewed. Tumors were classified according to the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS) staging and grouping system.

Prevalence of human papillomavirus in the oral cavity/oropharynx in a large population of children and adolescents.

Objective: Human papillomavirus (HPV) in the oral cavity or oropharynx is associated with an increased risk of laryngeal papillomatosis, head and neck cancer, and cervical and other genital cancers. We evaluated the prevalence of HPV DNA in the oral cavity/oropharynx in a cross section of children aged 2 weeks to 20 years.

Methods: A risk factor questionnaire and oral exfoliated cells were collected from children (N = 1235).

Human papillomavirus seropositivity and risks of head and neck cancer.

We examined antibody response to VLP HPV-16, HPV-16 E6 and E7 antibodies as potential seromarkers of HPV-related head and neck cancer (HNC). The study included 204 HNC cases and 326 controls evaluated for HPV presence in sera using ELISAs for anti-HPV VLP antibodies and HPV-16 E6 and/or E7 antibodies, and in tumor tissue using PCR and DNA sequencing. Anti-HPV-16 VLP was detected in 33.

Overexpression of manganese or copper-zinc superoxide dismutase inhibits breast cancer growth.

We have studied the effects of overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a tumor suppressor protein that dismutes superoxide radical to H2O2, on breast cancer cell growth in vitro and xenograft growth in vivo. No previous work has directly compared the growth-suppressive effects of manganese SOD (MnSOD) and copper-zinc SOD (CuZnSOD). We hypothesized that either adenoviral MnSOD (AdMnSOD) or adenoviral CuZnSOD (AdCuZnSOD) gene therapy would suppress the growth of human breast cancer cells.

Neutropenia and febrile neutropenia in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with doxorubicin (Adriamycin), bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy.

When uncomplicated neutropenia during doxorubicin (Adriamycin), bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma is encountered, it is unclear whether or not treatment should be modified. In the present study, we determined the incidence of neutropenia, febrile neutropenia, and the relationship of febrile neutropenia to grade III/IV neutropenia and dose modification, in a large university patient population. We reviewed the charts of patients diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2002 who were treated with ABVD chemotherapy, and seen at the University of Iowa with complete diagnosis, staging, and treatment dosing records.

Metastatic progression of pancreatic cancer: changes in antioxidant enzymes and cell growth.

Pancreatic cancer has a dismal prognosis due to the fact that patients present late when metastatic disease is already present. Previous studies have demonstrated that pancreatic cancer cells have decreased levels of MnSOD, which correlates well with increased rates of tumor cell proliferation. Recently, we have found that nude mice injected with MIA PaCa-2 human pancreatic cancer cells in the flank occasionally develop ascites and intra-abdominal metastatic deposits.

The pattern of clinical breast cancer metastasis correlates with a single nucleotide polymorphism in the C1qA component of complement.

Complement is one of primary defense mechanisms against intravascular microorganisms and could play a role in the immune response to malignancy and hence its clinical behavior. We evaluated if the sole coding polymorphism of C1qA associates with outcome in patients with breast carcinoma. Genotyping for C1qA[276A/G] was performed in 63 breast cancer subjects with localized tumor and compared with that in 38 breast cancer subjects with metastasis.

Head and neck cancer associated with herpes simplex virus 1 and 2 and other risk factors.

We investigated whether herpes simplex viruses, HSV-1 and HSV-2, are cofactors of head and neck cancer (HNC) in association with tobacco, alcohol, or HPV-16 infection. The study included 164 HNC cases and 295 controls. Serologic tests were used to distinguish HSV-1 and HSV-2.

Social support, psychological distress, and natural killer cell activity in ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Psychosocial stress has been related to impaired immunity in cancer patients. However, the extent to which these relationships exist in immune cells in the tumor microenvironment in humans has not been explored. We examined relationships among distress, social support, and natural killer (NK) cell activity in ovarian cancer patients in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), ascitic fluid, and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL).

Gonorrhea and chlamydia infection among women visiting family planning clinics: racial variation in prevalence and predictors.

Context: Black women are disproportionately infected with gonorrhea and chlamydia. Because of the potential impact of these infections on women's reproductive health, it is important to determine whether different factors are predictive of infection in women of different races.

Methods: Data from 31,762 women aged 15-24 who were tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia at Missouri family planning clinics in 2001 were used to calculate the prevalence of each infection by selected variables.

The relationship of molecular markers of p53 function and angiogenesis to prognosis of stage I epithelial ovarian cancer.

Purpose: Multiple angiogenic factors may influence tumor progression and metastasis. Several are modified by the p53 gene. We sought to identify molecular markers for high-risk stage I epithelial ovarian cancers.

Response assessment of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma by integrated International Workshop Criteria and fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography.

Purpose: To determine whether a response classification based on integration of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) into the International Workshop Criteria (IWC) provides a more accurate response assessment than IWC alone in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Patients And Methods: Fifty-four patients with aggressive NHL who underwent FDG-PET and computed tomography 1 to 16 weeks after four to eight cycles of chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone were assessed for complete response (CR), unconfirmed CR (CRu), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), and progressive disease (PD) by the IWC and by integrated IWC and FDG-PET (IWC+PET). Progression-free survival (PFS) was also compared between IWC- and IWC+PET-assigned response designations.

Initial clinical experience with frameless radiosurgery for patients with intracranial metastases.

Purpose: To review the initial clinical experience with frameless stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for treating intracranial metastatic disease.

Methods And Materials: Sixty-four patients received frameless SRS for intracranial metastatic disease. Minimum follow-up was 6 months with none lost to follow-up.

Alcohol dehydrogenase 3 and risk of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck.

In order to examine the association between alcohol dehydrogenase 3 (ADH3) genotypes and risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC), we conducted a hospital based case-control study including 348 cases and 330 controls. DNA isolated from exfoliated cells from the oral cavity were genotyped for ADH3 polymorphisms using PCR followed by SspI digestion. Odds ratios (OR) and hazards ratios (HR) were done by unconditional logistic regression and Cox regression.

Comparison of proposed frameworks for grouping polychlorinated biphenyl congener data applied to a case-control pilot study of prostate cancer.

Although the commercial synthesis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) has been banned in the United States for several decades, they are persistent in the environment with exposure mainly being through diet. The biologic and toxic effects of PCBs and their metabolites are due in part to their ability to interact with several cellular and nuclear receptors, thereby altering signaling pathways and gene transcription. These effects include endocrine modulation and disruption.

Efficacy of beta-lapachone in pancreatic cancer treatment: exploiting the novel, therapeutic target NQO1.

NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1) is elevated in human pancreatic cancers. We hypothesized that beta-lapachone, a novel 1,2-naphthoquinone with potential antitumor activity in cancer cells expressing elevated levels of NQO1, would induce cytotoxicity in pancreatic cancer cells, wherein this two-electron reductase was recently found elevated. beta-lapachone decreased clonogenic cell survival, metabolic cell viability, and anchorage- independent growth in soft agar.

Inhibition of cell growth by overexpression of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) in human pancreatic carcinoma.

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) levels have been found to be low in human pancreatic cancer [Pancreas 26, (2003), 23] and human pancreatic cancer cell lines [Cancer Res. 63, (2003), 1297] when compared to normal human pancreas. We hypothesized that stable overexpression of pancreatic cancer cells with MnSOD cDNA would alter the malignant phenotype.

Manganese superoxide dismutase overexpression inhibits the growth of androgen-independent prostate cancer cells.

This study investigates the role of the antioxidant enzyme manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) in androgen-independent human prostate cancer (PC-3) cells' growth rate in vitro and in vivo. MnSOD levels were found to be lower in parental PC-3 cells compared to nonmalignant, immortalized human prostate epithelial cells (P69SV40T). To unravel the role of MnSOD in the prostate cancer phenotype, PC-3 cells were stably transfected with MnSOD cDNA plasmid.

Overexpression of manganese superoxide dismutase promotes the survival of prostate cancer cells exposed to hyperthermia.

It has been hypothesized that exposure of cells to hyperthermia results in an increased flux of reactive oxygen species (ROS), primarily superoxide anion radicals, and that increasing antioxidant enzyme levels will result in protection of cells from the toxicity of these ROS. In this study, the prostate cancer cell line, PC-3, and its manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD)-overexpressing clones were subjected to hyperthermia (43 degrees C, 1 h). Increased expression of MnSOD increased the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP).

The value of postoperative radiotherapy in childhood nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma.

Objective: To determine the value of postoperative radiotherapy (RT) in the management of nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma (NRSTS) of childhood.

Procedure: From 1964 to 2000, 62 children with a median age of 14 years were seen at the University of Iowa and underwent a wide local excision for non-metastatic NRSTS. Tumors were high grade in 36 (58%) and >5 cm in 24 (39%).

Treatment of pancreatic cancer cells with dicumarol induces cytotoxicity and oxidative stress.

Nad(p)h: quinone oxidoreductase (NQO(1)) catalyzes the two-electron reduction of quinones to hydroquinones. This reaction is believed to prevent the one-electron reduction of quinones that would result in redox cycling with generation of superoxide (O(2)(.-)).

Human papillomavirus in oral exfoliated cells and risk of head and neck cancer.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been associated with the development of head and neck cancers. In this study, we investigated whether the risk factors for head and neck cancer in relation to HPV infection are different from those in the absence of HPV infection and whether HPV detected in oral exfoliated cells is an independent predictor of head and neck cancer risk.

Methods: We conducted a case-control study in 201 head and neck cancer case patients and 333 control subjects, frequency matched for age and sex.

Redox regulation of pancreatic cancer cell growth: role of glutathione peroxidase in the suppression of the malignant phenotype.

Pancreatic cancer has low levels of antioxidant enzymes including manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), which converts superoxide radical (O(2)(*-)) into hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), which converts H(2)O(2) into water. Recent studies have demonstrated that overexpression of MnSOD has a tumor-suppressive effect in pancreatic cancer. However, GPx overexpression has been shown to reverse the tumor cell growth inhibition caused by MnSOD overexpression in other types of cancer.

Age, sexual behavior and human papillomavirus infection in oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers.

There are few well-established patient risk factors associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in cancers of the oral cavity and oropharynx. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were significant different risk factors and tumor characteristics between HPV-positive and HPV-negative cancer cases. HPV was evaluated in cancer tissue and exfoliated oral cells of 193 oral cavity/oropharynx cancer patients using PCR and direct DNA sequencing.