Clinical relevance of thymidine kinase for the diagnosis, therapy monitoring and prognosis of non-operable lung cancer.

Background: Whether thymidine kinase (TK) is considered a new diagnostic biomarker in lung cancer depends on it being superior to or adding further information to already established tumor markers. Here, we investigated its relevance in diagnosis, therapy monitoring and prognosis of patients with diverse forms of lung cancer.

Patients And Methods: Pretherapeutic TK concentrations were analyzed by radioimmunoassay in serum of 181 patients with advanced lung cancer (53 small cell lung cancer (SCLC), 128 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)), 40 with benign lung diseases, 44 with benign non-lung-related diseases and 29 healthy controls.

Ambulatory-based standardized therapy for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis: experience from Nepal, 2005-2006.

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe treatment outcomes for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) outpatients on a standardized regimen in Nepal.

Methodology: Data on pulmonary MDR-TB patients enrolled for treatment in the Green Light Committee-approved National Programme between 15 September 2005 and 15 September 2006 were studied. Standardized regimen was used (8Z-Km-Ofx-Eto-Cs/16Z-Ofx-Eto-Cs) for a maximum of 32 months and follow-up was by smear and culture.

Nucleosomes, ProGRP, NSE, CYFRA 21-1, and CEA in monitoring first-line chemotherapy of small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: Besides new therapeutic drugs, effective diagnostic tools indicating early the efficacy of therapy are required to improve the individual management of patients with nonoperable cancer diseases.

Experimental Design: In prospectively collected sera of 128 patients with newly diagnosed small cell lung cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy, the courses of nucleosomes, progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), cytokeratin-19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1), and carcinoembryonic antigen were investigated and correlated with therapy response objectified by computed tomography before start of the third treatment course.

Results: In univariate analyses, high levels and insufficient decreases of nucleosomes, ProGRP, NSE, and CYFRA 21-1 during the first and second cycles of therapy correlated with poor outcome.

Clinical relevance of circulating nucleosomes in cancer.

Nucleosomes, complexes of DNA and histone proteins, are released during cell death into the blood circulation. Elevated serum and plasma levels have been found in various forms of cancer, but also in autoimmune diseases and acute situations such as stroke, trauma, and during sepsis. Here, the clinical relevance of circulating nucleosomes for diagnosis, staging, prognosis, and therapeutic monitoring of cancer is reviewed.

Nucleosomes and CYFRA 21-1 indicate tumor response after one cycle of chemotherapy in recurrent non-small cell lung cancer.

The increasing panel of systemic therapies enables the individual management of cancer patients, even in advanced stages. However, diagnostic tools indicating early the efficacy of therapy are still needed. In prospectively collected sera of 161 patients with recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) receiving second-line chemotherapy, the courses of nucleosomes, cytokeratin-19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) were investigated and correlated with therapy response.

Candidate biomarkers for discrimination between infection and disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is controlled by an efficacious immune response in about 90% of infected individuals who do not develop disease. Although essential mediators of protection, e.g.

Early and specific prediction of the therapeutic efficacy in non-small cell lung cancer patients by nucleosomal DNA and cytokeratin-19 fragments.

Facing an era of promising new antitumor therapies, predictors of therapy response are needed for the individual management of treatment. In sera collected prospectively from 311 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer receiving first-line chemotherapy, changes in nucleosomal DNA fragments, cytokeratin-19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), and progastrin-releasing peptide (ProGRP) were investigated and correlated with therapy response. In univariate analysis, high levels, slower and incomplete decline in nucleosomal DNA, CYFRA 21-1, and CEA predicted poor outcome.

Ras-associated small GTPase 33A, a novel T cell factor, is down-regulated in patients with tuberculosis.

Ras-associated small GTPases (Rabs) are specific regulators of intracellular vesicle trafficking. Interference with host cell vesicular transport is a hallmark of many intracellular pathogens, including the notable example Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We performed, by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, gene-expression analyses for selected Rab molecules in peripheral-blood mononuclear cells from patients with tuberculosis (TB) and healthy control subjects, to identify candidate genes that are critically involved in the host immune response.

Circulating nucleosomes predict the response to chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: We investigated the potential of circulating, nucleosomal DNA for the early prediction of the efficacy of chemotherapy in patients with advanced lung cancer.

Experimental Design: In serum of 212 patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer (stages III and IV) undergoing chemotherapy, nucleosomes (ELISA, Roche) were measured at days 1, 3, 5, and 8 of the first cycle and before each new therapeutic cycle. Additionally, carcinoembryonic antigen and cytokeratin 19 fragments (CYFRA 21-1; Elecsys, Roche) were determined before each cycle.