Cancer Science & Therapy

Hepatocellular carcinoma is a common primary hepatic malignancy in the Asian countries. The prognosis of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma is very poor if left untreated. Despite the rare occurrence, sinonasal metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma usually implies an advanced disease stage with dismal outcome. Herein we present a case of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma involving the nasal cavity. This 55-year-old male patient refused standard therapy after the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. After a palliative excision for the nasal tumor, the patient died of multiple metastatic diseases. A special consideration should be given to such unusual manifestations of extrahepatic metastases. Promptly clinical evaluation and appropriate intervention for symptomatic palliation are necessary for these terminally ill patients.

The genesis of many solid cancers is a complex, multistep process that includes cellular neoplastic transformation, resistance to apoptosis, loss of control of cell cycle, angiogenesis and acquisition of invasive properties. Among a number of factors, the simultaneous existence of chronic inflammatory mechanism and downregulation of antioxidant defense mechanism of cells are emerging major causes of neoplastic transformation and the progression of many solid cancers. The Longer the inflammation persists, higher the risk of developing many age related malignancies such as organs of colon, stomach and prostate etc. Concurrent occurrence of these processes that may affects DNA mutations in cells by excessive generation of free radicals, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and other active intermediates that exceed the limit of the cells ability to neutralize it. Chronic inflammatory conditions may activate a variety of pro-tumorigenic activities, such as stimulation of proliferative pathway, chemotactic activity, increased invasive potential of cells and angiogenesis. However, many of the antioxidant or cellular redox molecules play a crucial role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and response to oxidative damage but down-regulation of some of the cellular molecules of this process may leads to malignant transformation. We provide an overview of the possible mechanism(s) of interaction of pro-inflammatory factors in down-regulating the antioxidant and cellular redox mechanism(s) making cells susceptible to carcinogenesis. The elucidation of specific effects and interactions of these factors may provide the opportunity for the identification of new target molecules at early stage of human malignancies.

Background: Gastric signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC) is a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in which the tumour cells invade singly or in small groups. The incidence of SRC has been reported in china as 13.9% (662 patients of 4,759) [1]. It is reported to occur more frequent among women and young patients. A regimen of epirubicin, cisplatin, and infused fluorouracil (ECF) improves survival among patients with incurable locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma. Case presentation: A 38-year-old female presented with a 3 weeks history of epigastralgia. Her medical history was unremarkable. The endoscopic findings of the stomach revealed an infiltrative lesion, which the guided biopsy yielded a positive pathologic diagnosis of signet ring cell carcinoma. Diagnostic imaging with an abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a gastric thickening, with lymph nodes. Induction chemotherapy was recommended, based on 6 cycles of ECX (Epirubicin 50 mg/m2, Cisplatin 60 mg/m2, Capecitabine 625 mg/m2). The total gastrectomy specimen showed a pathological complete response. The patient, who is always followed in consultation, is in complete remission 19 months after the diagnosis Conclusion: SRC is a distinctive histological type of gastric cancer. The ECX or EOX (epirubicin, oxaliplatine, capecitabine) remains the standard treatment of advanced primary gastric signet-ring cell carcinoma. Our case illustrates a complete pathologic response to ECX, which confirmed the effectiveness of this protocol on this histology.

Background: The potential problems related to the use of formalin in histopathology, such as health hazards, deterioration of nucleic acids are well-known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the utilization of a Carnoy's solution fixation in comparison with formalin on subsequent tissue sectioning and histochemical staining. Materials and Methods: Corresponding sections of 25 tissue biopsies of rabbit's different organs were fixed in Carnoy's solution and in 10% neutral buffered formalin. Samples were processed using the conventional method and then stained applying five histochemical methods. The degree of the quality of the staining was assessed for each method by scoring system (1-10) depending on comparison of the stained tissue sections with illustrated photomicrographs. Results: For the quality of cutting, the best quality was obtained by Formalin (mean = 4.76) then Carnoy's fixative (mean =3.84). The best quality of Haematoxylin and Eosin staining was obtained by formalin (mean =5.28) then Carnoy's (mean = 4.00). For Alcian blue and Perl's Prussian blue, the best staining qualities were obtained by Formalin (mean = 4.76 and 5.64 respectively) followed by Carnoy's (mean = 2.88 and 3.92 respectively). For periodic Acid Schiff's the best staining quality was obtained following Carnoy's fixation (mean = 4.52) then, the formalin (mean = 3.76). Conclusion: Although, Carnoy's fluid is a save fixative and can rapidly penetrate the tissues, but it can't be a substitute for formalin.

In this study an attempt was made to find out new tissue specific lectin from the seeds of Canavalia gladiata and to investigate whether this could be used as biological markers in haematological malignancies. Lectin binding studies showed that Lymphoid leukemias such as ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia) and CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia) cells did not show any reactivity with CGL (Canavalia gladiata lectin). Blast cells of myeloid leukemias showed varying intensities of staining. Kruskal Wallis One Way ANOVA showed significance in expression of the lectin with different types of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Lectin cytochemical studies in leukemia revealed its usefulness in differentiating lymphoid leukemias from myeloid leukemias.