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Selected Articles from the October 15, 2006 Issue
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View the Table of Contents for the October 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.
Kaur et al.
Page 6194
Accumulating evidence suggests the beneficial effects of fruits and vegetables consumption in lowering the risk of various cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Chemoprevention of CRC by dietary approach constitutes a novel strategy to check uncontrolled cell growth and cell cycle progression, and suppress apoptosis resistance. Kaur et al. reported the in vitro and in vivo efficacy of grape seed extract (GSE, ~89% procyanidins) against human CRC cells. They identified cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor Cip1/p21 as a potential target for GSE, as GSE strongly up-regulated Cip1/p21 in CRC cells both in vitro and in vivo. The clinically significant observation of antitumor activity of oral GSE without any toxicity in a CRC xenograft model could have relevance for human CRC chemoprevention.
Yoshino et al.
Page 6116
Bcl-2 inhibits apoptosis, and its overexpression is associated with hormone- refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Taxane-induced Bcl-2 phosphorylation abolishes the antiapoptotic effect of Bcl-2. Treatment of PC-3 cells with taxanes has been shown to induce Bcl-2 phosphorylation and apoptosis. Considering that cancer cells that overexpressed Bcl-2 are sensitive to taxane-induced apoptosis, therapeutic response of HRPC treated with taxanes may depend on Bcl-2 expression. Therefore, Yoshino examined the relationship between Bcl-2 expression and therapeutic response of taxane-based chemotherapy in HRPC. Bcl-2 expression was an independent predictor for cause-specific survival. Bcl-2 expression could identify HRPC patients who may benefit from taxane-based chemotherapy.
Hurria et al.
Page 6100
Older patients constitute the majority of patients with cancer; however, there have been few studies that have focused on the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of chemotherapy in the older patient population. In this study, Hurria et al. report on the pharmacokinetics of weekly docetaxel in a cohort of older patients with metastatic cancer and explore the relationship of pharmacokinetic parameters, Erythromycin Breath Test (EBT) results, age, geriatric assessment parameters, and toxicity to therapy. There were no statistically significant age-related differences in weekly docetaxel pharmacokinetics. Over half of these older patients experienced a grade 3 or greater toxicity at the 35 mg/m2 starting dose; however there was no association between grade 3 or greater toxicity and EBT results or docetaxel pharmacokinetics.
Streubel et al.
Page 6023
Subclinical dissemination as well as persistence after therapy may be difficult to assess on clinical and histologic examinations in patients with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. Streubel et al. analyzed 316 biopsies from 21 patients with t(11;18)+ MALT lymphomas by RT-PCR and correlated the results with the clinical and histologic data. Histologic-molecular correlation was good at the time of diagnosis, whereas discrepancies increased after therapy and clinical and histologic complete remission. A watch and wait strategy may be feasible for patients with clinical and histologic remission and positive RT-PCR results, as conversion to negative RT-PCR takes longer than complete remission on conventional histology. The ongoing presence of t(11;18)(q21;q21) does not necessarily imply a negative prognostic factor and should not lead to therapeutic interventions in the absence of clinical/histologic relapse.
Setoyama et al.
Page 5972
The clinical significance of isolated tumor cells (ITC) in blood has not been clearly established, particularly during follow-up in cancer patients. Setoyama et al. conducted a longitudinal analysis of ITC in blood during follow-up in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) to clarify the clinical significance of ITC in comparison with tumor markers, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), or SCC. ITC in blood was examined by real-time RT-PCR with the use of CEA mRNA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for CEA mRNA were higher than those for serum CEA or SCC. In multivariate analysis, CEA mRNA positivity was an independent factor for disease-free interval. The investigators believe that ITC in blood will be a new marker for recurrence in ESCC.