MIDDLE EAST JOURNAL OF CANCER
Year:2010 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:10

As the leading cause of cancer deaths among women breast cancer remains a medical and social challenge, as well as a major public health problem….

Esophageal cancer is the second and third most common malignancy in Iranian males and females, respectively, claiming lives of approximately 5800 Iranians each year. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is presently the most common type accounting for about 90% of all esophageal cancers in Iran. Recent studies have shown that there is a gradual increase in the incidence of adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus along with gastric cardia adenocarcinoma.Thirty-five years ago, the age standardizied rate (ASR) of esophageal SCC in the city of Gonbad (Golestan Province, northeast of Iran) was found to be one of the highest rates for any single cancer that had been reported worldwide (ASR >100/105/year). Recent studies have shown that the incidence of SCC in Gonbad has declined to less than half of what it was in the past. This decline in the incidence of esophageal SCC parallels an improvement in the socioeconomic situation of people living in this region. According to recent cancer registry data in Iran there is still an obvious intracountry variability between the incidence of esophageal cancer in the south with an ASR of 3 for males and 2 for females in Kerman and 43 and 36 in the northeastern province of Golestan. The reasons for this very high rate of SCC in northeastern Iran have been the subject of several studies during the past 35 years. According to results of these studies the suspected risk factors are: low intake of fruits and vegetables, drinking hot tea, consumption of opium products and tobacco, H.pylori infection in the stomach, using unhealthy drinking water from cisterns and genetic susceptibility. The main suspected mutagens are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and N-nitroso compounds. In order to embark primary and secondary prevention of this fatal cancer, further prospective studies are presently underway in the region. The Golestan esophageal cancer cohort study which follows of 50,000 subjects is on going. We expect simple and feasible evidence based preventive strategies to be implemented in the future according to the results of this study.

Introduction: Cytotoxic T-cell lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) is a member of the super family of immunoglobulins that are mainly expressed by activated T cells. It is established that blockade of CTLA-4 receptors leads to the enhancement of an immune response. Different polymorphisms of the CTLA-4 gene have been described which cause increased susceptibility to various malignancies such as lymphoma or multiple myeloma. Considering that bladder cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers worldwide, we have evaluated the role of CTLA-4 gene polymorphism at position +49 A/G in the formation or progression of bladder cancer in southern Iran. Materials and Methods: Atotal of 226 individuals between February 2005 and June 2006 were included and placed into two subgroups: patients diagnosed with bladder cancer and a control group. Demographic data and risk factors were collected from both groups. The DNA of all subjects was extracted from their blood samples. Different genotypes of the CTLA-4 gene were determined using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) technique and data were compared in both groups by using Pearson's chi-square test.Results: The prevalence of AA, AG and GG genotypes at position 49, according to the PCR-RFLP method, were 57.5%, 37.2% and 5.3% in the control group, respectively. In the patient group, the prevalence of these genotypes was: AAin 57.5%, AG in 32.7% and GG in 9.8%. Statistical analysis of data showed no significant difference in both groups (P value=0.40). Also there was no correlation between different genotypes of the CTLA-4 gene and invasiveness of the disease in our cases.Conclusion: Although polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene at position 49 of exon-1 increases susceptibility to several malignancies, our study showed no relationship between polymorphism at this position and genetic susceptibility to the development of bladder cancer, nor was there any association with disease progression.

Background: Alternative splicing of the Fas transcript can produce a natural secreted isoform of this molecule. Some cancer cells can also produce soluble Fas (sFas) which may have suppressive effects on the immune system's anti-tumor response. Elevated concentrations of sFas have been detected in the sera of patients with different malignancies.Materials and Methods: The concentrations of sFas in sera of patients with head and neck carcinoma (HNC, n=98) and healthy individuals (n=30) were measured by Sandwich ELISA and compared to values obtained six months after surgical removal of the tumor (n=48). Data were correlated with different clinical findings of the patients.Results: sFas concentrations in the sera of HNC patients were found to be significantly higher in patients with different tumor stages. sFas concentration did not correlate with age or tumor invasiveness, however a higher concentration of sFas was found in the sera of patients who had higher tumor grades. Surgical removal of tumors in patients resulted in a substantial decrease in sFas concentration.Conclusion: The initial rise in sFas concentration in the sera of HNC patients and its consequent decrease could be regarded as a sign of tumor suppressive mechanisms. Additional studies are needed to fully elucidate this mechanism however these findings might show the prospective use of such biomarkers to determine disease prognosis and even immunotherapeutic applications.

Introduction: Pancreatic cancer has not been well studied, especially in developing countries. Materials and Methods: We studied the variations in genetic mutations in pancreatic adenocarcinoma between Moroccan and Egyptian populations. The molecular pathology of 30 tumors from a large hospital in Casablanca, Morocco were examined and compared with the findings of 44 tumors from the Gharbiah Governate in Egypt. K-ras mutations in codons12 and 13 in addition to p53 mutations in exons 5-8 were evaluated.Results: Overall, differences in the rates of K-ras mutations were not statistically significant (48.00 and 34.09%, respectively); however differences in rates of p53 mutations were statistically significant with p53 mutations more common in Moroccan tumors than in Egyptian tumors (46.67 and 16.28%, respectively). G®T mutations of the K-ras gene were most commonly seen Egyptian tumors, whereas G®A mutations were the most common type of mutations in Moroccan tumors. Logistic regression analysis showed that a p53 mutation in any exon as well as a p53 mutation in exon 5 predicted the country of residence and those mutations occurred more frequently in Moroccan patients.Conclusion: Our study shows that differences exist within the Arab population in the molecular pathology of both the K-ras and p53 genes. Further studies are necessary to clarify the differences in molecular pathways of pancreatic cancer in the Middle East and to investigate the role of environmental and/or genetic factors related to those pathways.

Shortly after detection of a new emerging swine flu, H1N1, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the pandemic level of phase 6 had begun. This meant that the world would face the first infectious pandemic of the twenty first century. The unique nature of this type of influenza has lead to more than 414,000 laboratory confirmed cases of H1N1 and greater than 6,000 deaths reported to WHO just 42 weeks after the onset of the pandemic….

The main obstacle facing cancer preventive strategies worldwide is a lack of well conducted epidemiological studies to guide local and international efforts for disease control. In Lebanon, long due political strain has added yet another obstacle to the development of methodologies aiming to collect data on cancer epidemiology. However, through several efforts dated from the 1960s the picture is becoming clearer. We herein review the outcome of all such efforts and their interpretation as a guide for future preventive strategies.

Meningioma is usually a benign central nervous system (CNS) tumor. Metastasis is rare; however if it does occur the most metastatic sites are the liver and lungs. Here, two cases of CNS meningioma with metastasis to cervical lymph nodes are reported. The first case, a 48 year-old man developed cervical lymph node metastasis nine years after primary tumor diagnosis. The second case, a 23 year-old woman with parietal lobe meningioma, developed lymph node metastasis in the neck nine months after the diagnosis of meningioma.

This report describes a rare intra-articular benign tumor, lipoma arborescens, of the knee joint in a 21 year-old female. The patient suffered from left knee joint swelling for five years with occasional pain. Swelling was soft and boggy in the suprapatellar area. Motion of joint was complete. No abnormality was detected in any laboratory tests. MRI showed a large soft tissue density in the suprapatellar area with high signal intensity on T1 and T2 weighted images. Operative arthroscopy revealed a creamy brown hypertrophied synovium with diffuse papillary processes characterized by villous proliferation of the synovium infiltrated by mature fat tissue, chronic inflammatory cells and vessels as seen in the pathologic slides. Lipoma arborescens or villous lipomatous proliferation of the synovial membrane should be distinguished from other similar lipomatoid conditions such as synovial lipoma and Hoffa disease. Lipoma arborescens should be considered in patients with painless, slowly progressive swelling of a joint, especially the knee.

Case Presentation: A 70 year-old man presented to the Radiation Oncology Department of Nemazee Hospital affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, with a large tumor- like lesion on his face (Figure 1). The patient developed the lesion five years prior to his referral.