[Oral cancer screening: what can the healthcare system do to reduce the burden of disease?].

Due to its high incidence and mortality, oral cancer makes a group of diseases of public health importance. Oral screening is a simple three-step procedure: the first step is questioning the patient about his/her smoking/drinking habits, secondly, visual inspection of the oral cavity, and finally, palpation of regional lymph nodes. If precancerous conditions or any form of oral cancer are suspected, the task is to send the examined person to oral clinical care.

[Ancient schwannoma of the cauda equina].

Összefoglaló. A cauda equina daganatai a leggyakrabban lumbagós panaszokkal jelentkeznek. Általában késői stádiumban ismerik fel őket, mivel lassan növekednek, az anatómiai környezet tágas, a megjelenő tünetek nem specifikusak, valamint az érintett betegek többsége fiatal és egyébként egészséges.

[Anticancer drug research in Hungary, 1950-2000].

The present review about the history of anticancer drug research in Hungary intends to call attention to the importance of studies on their mode of action. Several lines of evidence suggest that clinically usable oncopharmacological properties could be revealed by this way. Among the numerous compounds certain alkylating sugar alcohols and 2'-deoxyuridine derivatives were submitted to detailed investigations concerning their mode of action.

[Barrier- and autophagic functions of the intestinal epithelia: role of disturbances in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease].

Crohn's disease is a widely known debilitating chronic inflammatory disease, mostly affecting terminal ileum and/or colon. Epidemiological, familial and twin studies suggest that genetic factors play an important role in susceptibility to the disease. Clinical observations suggest that ill-defined environmental factors also play a part.

[Host defense peptides and peptidomimetics as new weapons for cancer treatment].

Host defence peptides (HDP) produced by almost all species of living organisms and widely recognized as antimicrobial antibiotics have also proved to be capable of killing a wide variety of cancer cells. In this respect they have many advantages over conventional cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. They seem to kill cancer cells by effects on plasma membranes and/or the membranes of mitochondria.

[Role of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) and pattern recognition receptors (PRR) in the intestinal mucosa homeostasis].

Homeostasis and integrity of bowel mucosa is assured by well controlled mechanical, biochemical and immunological mechanisms. First line of defense is presented by the antimicrobial peptides (AMP), which form a continuous layer on the bowel surface, produced by intestinal specific (Paneth) and non-specific epithelial cells. AMPs have a significant antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral, as well as immunomodulatory effects.

[Characteristics of the main groups of human host-defensive peptides].

In humans the three main groups of antimicrobial peptides are the defensins, the cathelicidins and the histatins. They differ widely in their biochemical properties and in the spectrum of their antimicrobial activities. For quite a while they were regarded only as new-type antimicrobial agents.

[Physiologic and pathophysiologic significance of antimicrobial (host defensive) small peptides].

Antimicrobial peptides are typically small cationic and amphiphilic molecules, which exhibit a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity. These peptides are seen as an important and ancient mechanism of defence for most living organisms. Some of these peptides are produced constitutively whereas others are induced by exogenous microbial products or by proinflammatory cytokines.

Fermented wheat germ extract (avemar) inhibits adjuvant arthritis.

Anti-inflammatory efficacy of the fermented wheat germ extract (FWGE, Avemar) in the rat adjuvant arthritis (AA) model was examined. To Wistar rats with AA, different doses of FWGE and anti-inflammatory drugs (indomethacin, dexamethasone) as monotherapies were administered and FWGE and either diclofenac or dexamethasone were also given in combination. Besides plethysmographies of the paws, histological investigations of synovial tissues were also performed along with detection of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes.

A path or a new road in laboratory diagnostics? Biological mass spectrometry: facts and perspectives.

Proteins in tissues and biofluids and their many attributes define the proteome. Proteome can be directly correlated to known diseases and histological regions allowing the diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression as well predicting the patient's response to specific treatments. Proteomics performs large-scale, high-throughput characterization of the human proteome, among others by biological mass spectrometry.

Platelet-mimicry of cancer cells: epiphenomenon with clinical significance.

Stem cell mimicry of cancer cells has been known for a long time and is considered to be responsible for ectopic gene expressions. The stem cell characteristics of tumor cells are shown to be involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transition and in the phenomenon of vascular mimicry. Certain cancer types acquire a geno-phenotype closely resembling the platelets and express several megakaryocytic genes (adhesion receptors alpha IIb beta 3, thrombin receptor and PECAM/CD 31 and/or platelet-type 12-LOX) able to activate the coagulation cascade or the platelets themselves.

Role of elastin-matrix interactions in tumor progression.

Data from the literature now indicate that cancer cells can specifically interact with the unique extracellular matrix protein, elastin. The interaction is mediated by two elastin-binding proteins (EBP), S-gal/EBP (organized into the elasin receptor/elastonectin complex) and galectin-3, components of two laminin receptors. Studies revealed that the expression of both EBPs is closely associated to the invasive/metastatic potential of various cancer types.

Proteoglycans and tumor progression: Janus-faced molecules with contradictory functions in cancer.

Understanding the details of the molecular mechanism of tumor dissemination revealed that several proteoglycan species are involved in the process but their role can be described as Janus-faced. One level of proteoglycan alterations is at the expression of their genes coding for the core protein. Characteristically, in progressing tumors two patterns emerged: loss or neoexpression of surface proteoglycans (PG) depending on the initial expression pattern of the cell type of origin.

Marker Enzymes of Rat Chemical Hepatocarcinogenesis in Human Liver Tumors.

Reduced glucose-6-phosphatase, increased GGT activity and reduction of cytochrome P-450 content are considered to be markers of chemical hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. The significance of these changes were studied in certain human liver lesions; adenoma, focal nodular hyperplasia and hepatocellular carcinoma all developed in non-cirrhotic livers. Enzymes showed normal values in 4 out of 5 adenomas, in 2/13 FNH and in 4/18 HCC samples.

Modification of Acute and Chronic Liver Damage by Thiazolidine Compounds.

As high sulfhydril levels were shown to reduce the action of agents causing tissueinjury, increasing glutathion concentrations may have cytoprotective potential. In this study the hepatoprotective effects of several derivatives of 4carboxy5,5dimethyl thiazolidine, a modulator of glutathion metabolism were studied in rat liver damaged with CCl4. It was found that 4(S) carboxy 5,5dimethyl2 (5'nitro2furyl) thiazolidine (dimethylthiazolidinenitrofuran: DTNF) had the most significant hepatoprotective action; therefore it was subjected to detailed investigation in various models for acute and chronic liver injury.