Brain natriuretic peptide precursor (NT-pro-BNP) levels predict for clinical benefit to sunitinib treatment in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

Background: Sunitinib is an oral, multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been approved for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Although the majority of sunitinib-treated patients receive a clinical benefit, almost a third of the patients will not respond. Currently there is no available marker that can predict for response in these patients.

Matrix metalloproteinases and proangiogenic factors in testicular germ cell tumors.

Purpose: Testicular cancer is the most frequent solid tumor in young male adults and a disease with elusive pathogenesis. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of matrix metalloproteinases and angiogenic factors in the pathogenesis of testicular germ cell tumors (GCTs).

Methods: Between 2003 and 2006 we measured the serum levels of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP-2), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), platelet derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) and angiopoietin 2 (Ang-2) in 50 patients with testicular GCTs, at baseline, one month after the completion of the second cycle of chemotherapy and one year after the completion of chemotherapy, and in 16 male age-matched controls at baseline.

Sunitinib treatment for patients with clear-cell metastatic renal cell carcinoma: clinical outcomes and plasma angiogenesis markers.

Background: Sunitinib is a protein tyrosine kinase-inhibitor targeting VEGFR, c-kit and PDGFR. It has been approved for the treatment of metastatic renal-cell carcinoma and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Although it has been shown to prolong disease-free and overall survival in renal-cell carcinoma patients, only 70% of the treated population receive a clinical benefit (CB) from the treatment.

Adult granulosa cell tumors of the ovary: a clinicopathological study of 34 patients by the Hellenic Cooperative Oncology Group (HeCOG).

Background: Granulosa cell tumors (GCT) are rare malignant neoplasms of the ovaries with, usually, indolent biological behavior.

Patients And Methods: The epidemiological, clinical and pathological features of 34 patients with adult GCT, from the registry of the HeCOG, were analyzed retrospectively for their prognostic significance.

Results: The median age was 51 years with post- to premenopausal ratio=l.

Prognostic factors in patients with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective analysis.

Background: Most patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma are diagnosed with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic disease. The aim of this study was to investigate possible prognostic factors of survival in such patients.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and fifteen patients were studied retrospectively.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy versus concurrent chemoradiotherapy for larynx preservation in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer.

Purpose: The efficacy and toxicity of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy and concurrent chemoradiotherapy and their impact on larynx preservation have been studied in patients with advanced (stage III, IVa, and IVb) squamous cell cancer of the larynx.

Patients And Methods: Fifty patients were treated with either 2-4 cycles of induction chemotherapy with cisplatin 100 mg/m(2), day 1 and infusional 5-fluorouracil (5-FU 1000 mg/m(2), days 1-5), followed by radiotherapy 70 Gy, 1.8-2 Gy per fraction, or concurrent chemoradiotherapy (the above-mentioned radiotherapy concurrently with carboplatin 300 mg/m(2) every 21 days or weekly paclitaxel 80 mg/m(2)).

A phase III randomized study comparing paclitaxel and cisplatin versus cyclophosphamide and cisplatin in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

Aim: To assess progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer receiving the combination of cisplatin (75 mg/m(2) i.v.) and cyclophosphamide (700 mg/m(2) i.

A prospective randomized study of irinotecan (CPT-11), leucovorin (LV) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU) versus leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma.

The purpose of this study was to compare the activity and toxicity of an irinotecan (CPT-11), leucovorin (LV) and 5-fluorouracil (5FU) combination with a standard regimen of 5FU and LV, in patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma. One hundred and sixty patients were randomized; 80 patients (group A) received LV 20 mg/m(2) bolus i.v.

Insulin resistance, growth factors and cytokine levels in overweight women with breast cancer before and after chemotherapy.

Objective: To evaluate insulin values, insulin resistance, growth factors and cytokine levels in women suffering from breast cancer and the effect of chemotherapy on these parameters.

Design: In a prospective study, glucose and insulin values were determined in ten previously undiagnosed diabetic postmenopausal women with stage IV breast cancer (hepatic metastases excluded) during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) carried out after a glucose load of 75 g. At baseline, leptin, Interleukin-1 (IL-1), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-8 (IL-8), Insulin-Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), Tumor-Necrosis-Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) and Platelet Derived Growth Factor (PDGF) levels were also determined using appropriate methodolody.

Gemcitabine in combination with vinorelbine for heavily pretreated advanced breast cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the activity and toxicity of gemcitabine and vinorelbine in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), previously treated with anthracyclines alone or with taxanes.

Patients And Methods: A total of 86 pretreated patients with MBC (median age 62 years), entered the study. Thirty-six patients had been pretreated with anthracyclines and 8 were resistant.

Third-line hormonal treatment with exemestane in postmenopausal patients with advanced breast cancer progressing on letrozole or anastrozole. A phase II trial conducted by the Hellenic Group of Oncology (HELGO).

Aims And Background: The understanding of hormonal therapies in postmenopausal women with metastatic breast cancer has advanced greatly in the past several decades. With the introduction of orally active, potent and selective third-generation aromatase inhibitors (anastrozole, letrozole and exemestane), approaches to the treatment of hormone-sensitive advanced breast cancer are undergoing reevaluation. For treatment of advanced or metastatic disease that has progressed on tamoxifen, all three agents are active.

Gemcitabine combined with 5-fluorouracil for the treatment of advanced carcinoma of the pancreas.

Background: Gemcitabine is an active agent in pancreatic cancer, showing clinical synergy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The aim of the study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the combination of gemcitabine and 5-FU in patients with advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

Patients And Methods: Forty-two patients (median age, 62 years), with advanced or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, were enrolled in the study.

NSC 290205-based therapy in murine pancreatic adenocarcinoma PAN02 in combination with adriamycin (ADR).

Background: NSC 290205 (A) is a hybrid synthetic antitumor ester, which combines a D-lactam derivative of androsterone and nitrogen mustard. In this study, the antitumor activity of A in combination with ADR (AHOP) was investigated in comparison with the standard CHOP regimen.

Materials And Methods: PAN02 adenocarcinoma was used in this study.

Serum CYFRA 21-1 in patients with invasive bladder cancer and its relevance as a tumor marker during chemotherapy.

Purpose: Previous studies have shown that serum levels of the degradation products of cytokeratins could be used as surrogate markers in the diagnosis and followup of patients with solid tumors, including tumors of the bladder.

Materials And Methods: The soluble cytokeratin 19 fragment CYFRA 21-1 was measured by solid phase radioimmunoassay in the serum of 142 patients with invasive transitional cell cancer of the bladder. Of the patients 56 had clinical stage I to III locally confined disease (T1-4aN0M0) and 86 had stage IV metastatic disease with lymph node and/or distant metastases.

Non-invasive cardiologic findings in patients with malignant melanoma*.

Although malignant melanoma has a great propensity (38-50%) for cardiac involvement, as indicated by autopsy findings, cardiac metastases are rarely identified ante-mortem. The aim of this study was to record abnormal electrocardiographic and echocardiographic findings in patients with malignant melanoma. One hundred and eighty-five consecutive patients (male/female, 99/86; mean age, 59.

Combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy during conception and first two trimesters of gestation in a woman with metastatic breast cancer.

A 33-year-old woman with T(4c)N(3) breast cancer with metastases in the skeleton (M(1)) received five cycles of 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC regimen) before conception and during the first trimester. Salvage radiotherapy (28 Gy) was delivered during the 17th week. Tamoxifen and zolendronic acid were also administered throughout the second and third trimesters.

A hypothesis on the role of insulin-like growth factor I in testicular germ cell tumours.

It has already been established that the growth effects of growth hormone (GH) are mediated through insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Recent studies demonstrated a relationship between IGF-I levels and various types of cancer, namely colon, prostate, breast, brain and lung cancer. In addition, many experimental observations documented a participation of the IGF-I system in tumourigenesis through enhanced cell proliferation rate, anti-apoptotic functions and stimulation of neovascularization.

Weekly gemcitabine for the treatment of biliary tract and gallbladder cancer.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of weekly administration of gemcitabine treatment in chemotherapy-naïve patients with advanced biliary tract and gallbladder cancer.

Patients And Methods: Gemcitabine at a dose of 800 mg/m2 was administered weekly as a 30-min infusion to patients with previously operated, histologically confirmed, metastatic, or unresectable locally advanced cholangiocarcinoma. Treatment was continued until unacceptable toxicity or disease progression.

5-Fluorouracil and cisplatin in the treatment of advanced oral cancer.

The benefit of the effect of chemotherapy in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell tumors have been demonstrated by recent meta-analyses of randomized studies. However, the role of chemotherapy-especially in advanced oral cancer-is not fully clear, because of the very small amount of phase II literature available. From January 1994 to December 2000, a total of 44 pts aged 33-75 years (mean age 60 years) with advanced and histologically proved squamous cell carcinoma's of the oral cavity received at least one chemotherapy course.

Surgical adjuvant therapy of rectal carcinoma: a controlled evaluation of leucovorin, 5-fluorouracil and radiation therapy with or without interferon-alpha2b.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine whether the efficacy of the combination of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), leucovorin (LV) and radiation therapy (RT) could be improved by the addition of interferon-alpha2b (IFN-alpha) in patients who have had a 'curative' resection, for rectal adenocarcinoma (Dukes' B2/C; T3 N0, T4 N0, N1-3).

Patients And Methods: A total of 207 eligible patients with a performance status of 0 or 1 were randomized postoperatively between days 21 and 70 to one of the two treatment groups: group A, LV 20 mg/m2 i.v.

Adjuvant systemic therapy protocol for Dukes' B2 and C resectable colon carcinoma.

Aims And Background: Trials of adjuvant systemic therapy in high risk patients with Dukes' B2 and C colon cancer utilizing 5-fluorouracil-based regimens have been ongoing since the 1960s. The aim of this study was to compare the combination of 5-FU and leucovorin with the combination of 5-FU and alfa-2b interferon (IFN) in patients who had undergone "curative" resection foronocarcinoma.

Study Design: A total of 322 patients with histologically proven adenocarcinoma of the colon, Dukes' stage B2 and C, were entered in the study.

Testicular tumor metastatic to the nose. A case report.

In this paper we present an uncommon tumor found in the nasal cavity, the result of a metastasis from primary tumor of testis (embryonal carcinoma) in a young patient of 24 years of age. For this uncommon tumor we discuss the case with the Greek and foreign bibliography.

Malignant cardiac tamponade in women with breast cancer treated by pericardiocentesis and intrapericardial administration of triethylenethiophosphoramide (thiotepa).

We treated 19 women with malignant cardiac tamponade due to advanced breast cancer with subxiphoid pericardiocentesis and local thiotepa instillation. The method has no serious side effects, prevents pericardial fluid reaccumulation, and, combined with systemic adjuvant therapy, prolongs survival.

Synchronous anorectal malignant melanoma and rectal adenocarcinoma: report of a case.

Background: Synchronous neoplasms of the rectum are an uncommon condition. The situation becomes more rare when tumors are of different origin. To the authors' knowledge, synchronous anorectal melanoma and adenocarcinoma of the rectum have not been reported in the literature before.