[Biochemical parameters in the diagnosis of nephrotoxicity of antineoplastic chemotherapy in children].

The investigation was concerned with the role of enzymouria in the assessment of nephrotoxic effects identified in 19 children with malignant solid tumors who received cisplatin polychemotherapy in a dose of 100 mg/sq.m or iphosphamide in a dose 9 g/sq.m.

[Prostaglandins of series E in morphologic variants of osteogenic sarcoma and evaluation of the degree of therapeutic pathomorphism of the tumor].

The content of prostaglandins E (PGE) is studied in osteogenic sarcomas from 191 patients. The level of PGE after a neo-adjuvant therapy of osteogenic sarcoma depends upon the individual susceptibility to the drug. Inverse correlation is found between the PGE content in the tumor and the degree of therapeutic pathomorphosis when adriamycin and methotrexate are used before the operation.

[Selenium in blood serum and in tumors of patients with benign and malignant bone neoplasms].

The content of selenium in the serum and bones was compared in persons having no neoplasms and in patients with malignant and benign bone tumors. The mean level of selenium in the healthy femoral bone was 81 micrograms/kg, with more predominant accumulation in the epiphysis than in the metaphysis and diaphysis and with higher concentrations in the periosteum than in the cambial layer. The normal mean bone/serum selenium ratio was 0.

[Estrogen receptors in the tissues of the marginal periodontium of patients with chronic generalized periodontitis].

Biopsy of the periodontal tissues was carried out in 29 patients with chronic generalized periodontitis in order to detect sex steroid receptors. Estrogen receptors in different levels were found in 58.6% of biopsy specimens.

[Proteolytic enzyme activity in stomach cancer patients with various prognoses].

Activity of lysosomal proteinases cathepsin B, L and D was studied in tissues of malignant tumors, cancer and normal lymph nodes and mucosal membrane obtained from 18 patients with gastric cancer. The enzymatic activity was distinctly higher in cancer tissues as compared with controls. Activity of cathepsin D was increased in tissues with diminished rate of the tumor differentiation, with pronounced cancer invasion and metastases to regional lymph nodes--the group of highly negative prognosis.

[Hypophyseal hormones in young patients with breast cancer].

Hypophyseal hormones were studied in comparison with cellular and humoral immunity in young and middle aged females with breast cancer and controls matched by age. No correlation existed between LH concentrations and cellular, humoral immunological parameters in young breast cancer patients. Basal secretion of FSH directly correlated with the activation markers expression (antigens CD30, CD38) only in young patients.

[Hormonal disorders in women with prosopalgia in osteochondrosis of the cervical spine and the possible means for their correction].

Radioimmunoassay was employed to determine basal levels of LH, FSH, prolactin, total testosterone and 17 beta-estradiol in plasma from 52 pre- or postmenopausal women with prosopalgia consequent to cervical osteochondrosis. The measurements were made before and after laser treatment. Different from the control, basal levels of the hormones and the trends in their changes due to laser therapy depended on the patients' age and the disease stage.

[Biochemical parameters in the comprehensive diagnosis of lung cancer].

Biochemical characteristics of blood serum were studied in 310 patients with lung cancer (stage I-IV), 188 cases of non-malignant pathology od the lung and 35 healthy subjects. Mean levels of total sialic acids, lipid-bound sialic acids, neuron-specific enolase and lactate depydrogenase in blood serum of cancer patients were significantly higher than those in control groups. Mean neuron-specific enolase concentrations in small cell carcinoma of the lung were significantly higher than those in squamous cell and glandular carcinoma and carcinoid.

[Effects of dexamethasone on Ca++-response of bone marrow lymphoblasts in acute leukemia].

The FURA-2/AM fluorescence dye was used to investigate the influence of dexamethasone treatment on the basal and mitogen-mediated levels of free ions of calcium ([Ca++]i) in the lymphoblast cytoplasm from bone marrow of patients suffering acute leukemia. Treatment with dexamethasone in the dose of 2 microM was shown to significantly stimulate the increase of the basal level of [Ca++]i and to inhibit the Ca++ response of cells to concanavalin A (25 micrograms/ml). Inhibition by dexamethasone was more pronounced after 30 min preincubation of lymphoblasts with a glucocorticoid.

[Cathepsin D activity in gastric cancer].

The levels of activity of cathepsin D were compared in neoplastic and normal gastric mucosa in 42 patients, aged 39-78, at different stages of the disease. A relationship was established between cathepsin D activity and main clinico-morphological characteristics of stomach tumor: cathepsin D activity was found to increase with decreasing differentiation and increasing depth of invasion and metastatic spreading of tumor tissue. Possible involvement of proteolytic enzymes and, in particular, an aspartyl proteinase--cathepsin D--in the mechanisms of invasion and metastatic spreading of neoplasms is discussed.

[Sex steroid hormone receptors in the cytosolic fraction of cancer and leukoplakia of the oral mucosa].

The paper deals with the studies of sexual steroidal hormone receptors in the tumor cytosolic fraction in 37 patients with squamous cell carcinoma and in 18 patients from leukoplakia foci in the oral mucosa. One or two types of androgen and estrogen receptors were detected in the tumor cytosolic fraction in most female (75%) and male (62%) patients with squamous cell carcinoma. The detection rate and the mean values of androgen and estrogen receptors in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral mucosa were associated with sex, age, disease stage, type of growth and site of a tumor.

[The characteristics of prostaglandin E synthesis in epithelial ovarian tumors].

Comparative investigation of prostaglandin E (PGE) levels in primary malignant and benign epithelial tumors, metastases, and normal tissue of the ovaries has revealed more significant variations in PGE levels in malignant tumors than in benign ones. PGE content was reliably higher in adenocarcinomas as against benign tumors and normal ovarian tissue. No noticeable differences in PGE levels of benign tumors and normal tissue were revealed.