Showing papers on "Cancer published in 1979"

Role of Superoxide dismutase in cancer: a review.

Abstract: Diminished amounts of manganese-containing superoxide dismutase have been found in all the tumors examined to date. Lowered amounts of the copper-zinc-containing superoxide dismutase have been found in many, but not all, tumors. At the same time, tumors have been shown to produce superoxide radicals. It is shown how diminished enzyme activities along with radical production may lead to many of the observed properties of cancer cells. The apparent exploitation of the differences between normal and cancer cell superoxide dismutase activity in the treatment of cancer is discussed.

A review and update

Abstract: Alcoholism is related to the development of several human and experimental cancers. The possible mechanisms by which alcohol might induce cancer are reviewed together with the pertinent experimental data including the equivocal role of nitrosamines. Well known human cancers clearly related to alcoholism include head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, but the evidence linking alcohol and pancreatic cancer or alcohol and colorectal cancer is much weaker. There are hints that alcohol may be one important factor in individuals who develop multiple primary cancers.

Diet and cancer

Abstract: Summary The effect of diet on cancers of the lung, esophagus, stomach, colon, breast, and cervix is reviewed, based on a series of studies in Japan. Individual and community cancer plans are discussed with special reference to diet. It is our hope to develop an effective and essential community cancer plan with an emphasis on lifestyle improvement. This includes proper management of problems of smoking, drinking, diet, and nutrition and the sound growth of supporting industries for each of these items. It is believed that these are the real bases of an individual cancer plan.

Collaborative United Kingdom-Australasian study of cancer in patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs.

Abstract: A collaborative study including centres in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand was instituted in 1970 to determine the incidence of cancer in patients treated for at least three months with azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, or chlorambucil. Follow-up of 3823 renal transplant recipients showed an almost 60-fold increase of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma together with an excess of squamous-cell skin cancer and mesenchymal tumours. A series of 1349 patients without transplants showed an excess of the same tumours, though to a less extent. These preliminary findings provide no clear evidence that immunosuppressive drugs produce the increased risk of most of the common cancers that might be expected from the simplest interpretation of impaired "immunosurveillance."

A review of the epidemiology of human breast cancer

Abstract: A comprehensive review of what was known of the epidemiology of breast cancer as of the early 1970s was published by MacMahon et al. in 1973. This review covers the major aspects of the epidemiology of breast cancer included in the 1973 review and additionally emphasizes recently reported work. Attention is directed to the following: magnitude of the problem in the U.S.; demographic characteristics of breast cancer cases; international variation; laterality of breast cancer; reproductive variables; benign breast diseases; multiple primary cancers involving the breast and other sites; familial aggregation and genetics; endogenous hormones (estrogens progesterone prolactin androgens and thyroid); exogenous estrogens; diet; body build; radiation; exposure to radiation in screening for breast cancer; mammographic parenchymal patterns; viruses; other exposures of current interest (reserpine hair dyes); and breast cancer in males. The high incidence and mortality rates and the detrimental impact on the quality of life of those affected indicate that breast cancer in the U.S. continues to be a serious problem for women. An annual age-adjusted incidence rate of 84.9/100000 women was reported for the 1973-1976 years; the annual age-adjusted mortality rate among women in the U.S. was 27.7/100000 over this same time period. From these figures it may be estimated that each year in the U.S. almost 100000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed and over 30000 deaths occur. Age specific incidence rates increase rapidly with age until about 45-50 years of age after which they continue to increase but at a slower rate. In addition to age a few other risk factors including a history of bilateral premenopausal breast cancer in a 1st degree relative a history of breast cancer in the contralateral breast and residence from an early age in North America compared to Asia are associated with large relative risks. Other risk factors including whether or not an oophorectomy has been performed age at 1st birth a history of fibrocystic disease previous exposure to high levels of radiation in the chest socioeconomic status obesity and a previous cancer in the ovary or endometrium are associated with relative risks of at least 2 but less than 4-fold. Finally age at menarche age at menopause marital status place of residence and the white compared to the black race are associated with small but real differentials in risk.

Risk factors for cancer of the testis in young men.

Abstract: An individual matched case-control study of testis cancer in 131 men under age 40 was conducted to investigate antecedent risk factors including events during prenatal life. Ten patients were born with an undescended testis compared to only two controls (p less equal to 0.02), a previously reported risk factor. Two new risk factors were uncovered: six patients-mothers received hormones during the index pregnancy compared to only one control-mother, and eight patient-mothers and two control-mothers reported excessive nausea as a complication of the index pregnancy. A hypothesis linking these three factors is presented: viz, that a major risk factor for testis cancer is a relative excess of certain hormones (in particular estrogen) at the time of differentiation of the testes.

Endometrial cancer and estrogen use. Report of a large case-control study.

Abstract: Our case-control study of the relation between estrogen use and endometrial cancer involved 451 cases and 888 controls. The overall risk of endometrial carcinoma was sixfold for estrogen users as compared with nonusers; long-term users (greater than five years) had a 15-fold risk. Excess risk was present for both diethylstilberstrol and conjugated estrogens. The risk associated with cyclic use was as great as that for continuous use. Increased risk was associated with estrogen use for all histologic grades of the tumor. The risk of advanced-stage carcinoma was fourfold for estrogen users, but rhe confidence interval was wide, and this question requires further study. Finally, this investigation contradicts the speculation that the association between this cancer and estrogen use can be explained by swifter diagnosis for estrogen users, misclassification of estrogen-related hyperplasia or treatment of early symptoms of the tumor with estrogen.

The anticancer drugs

Abstract: PART I: PRINCIPLES OF CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY 1. The cancer problem 2. Some milestones in the development of cancer chemotherapy 3. Determinants of drug responsiveness 4. Resistance to anticancer drugs PART II: THE ANTICANCER DRUGS 5. Antimetabolites 6. Covalent DNA binding drugs 7. Non-covalent DNA binding drugs 8. Inhibitors of chromatin function 9. Drugs affecting endocrine function PART III: CLINICAL CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY 10. Choice of drugs for cencer chemotherapy PART IV: NEW DIRECTIONS IN CANCER CHEMOTHERAPY 11. Anticancer drug development 12. Biological treatments of cancer 13. Potential targets for new anticancer drugs

Risk factor analysis in differentiated thyroid cancer

Abstract: Six hundred patients with primary differentiated thyroid carcinoma had follow-up studies for a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 45 years. Recurrence rate and death rate were significantly different in defined high-risk and low-risk groups of patients. These basic risk groups were defined by age and sex alone; low risk consisted of men 40 years of age and younger and women 50 years of age and younger whereas the high-risk group were older patients. Recurrence and death rates in patients at high risk were 33% and 27% while respective figures for patients at low risk were 11% and 4%. In more recent years these results have shown significant improvement. Basic risk group definition outweighed the effect of pathologic type, local disease extension, type of treatment, and site of recurrence or metastasis. For instance, radioactive iodine cured 70% of patients at low risk with metastatic disease but only 10% of patients at high risk. Less aggressive biologic behavior of thyroid cancer before the age of menopause implies that an estrogen-rich milieu may alter the effects of initiating and promoting factors in carcinogenesis. It also suggests that therapeutic trials of estrogen be undertaken in progressive metastatic differentiated thyroid cancer. Cancer 43:810–820, 1979.

Normal tissue and solid tumor effects of hyperthermia in animal models and clinical trials.

Abstract: Localized hyperthermia therapy by high-energy radio-frequency waves was evaluated in malignant and adjacent normal tissue of 30 patients with 10 types of cancer Hyperthermia was delivered to superficial and deep visceral cancers in awake patients who had refractory disease Histological and clinical responses were recorded serially Toxicity tests in dogs, sheep, and pigs showed that progressive necrosis of normal and cancer tissue occurred at temperatures above 45 degrees C (113 degrees F) However, as normal tissues approached this temperature, intrinsic heat dissipation occurred (possibly due to augmented blood flow) so that temperatures below 45 degrees C could be maintained, whereas most solid tumors did not have this adaptive capacity and could be heated to 50 degrees C (122 degrees F) with virtually no injury to normal organs, sc tissue, or skin To date, 69 treatments have been administered to 36 tumors in the 30 patients Selective heating was observed in both primary and metastatic tumors located in surface tissues and internal organs Response appeared to be related to tumor size in that differential heating was possible more often in the larger lesions In tumors successfully heated, moderate to marked necrosis occurred Radio-frequency hyperthermia appears to be a safe and potentially useful form of therapy for selected cancer patients While other cancer treatments are more effective for small tumors, hyperthermia may be uniquely beneficial against larger lesions

Breast cancer missed by mammography.

Abstract: Because a "negative" mammogram that is followed by a biopsy diagnostic of cancer is a matter of deep concern, a retrospective review was conducted of 48 such missed diagnoses at four Breast Cancer Detection Centers. The study group comprised 40,000 women participating in breast cancer screening examinations. From 3,271 biopsies during screening, 499 cancers had been found. Biopsies in the interval between screening examinations totaled 630 and yielded 48 malignancies. These 48 interval cancers were studied in an attempt to discover why they were not found on the preceding mammographic examination. Three major categories of error were disclosed and each is discussed: (1) poor radiographic technique; (2) absence of radiographic criteria of cancer; (3a) obvious oversight by the radiologist; and (3b) lack of recognition of subtle radiographic signs. This last reason is discussed in detail in the belief that better recognition of these indirect radiographic signs will lead to more accurate diagnoses, particularly in early cancers.

Prognostic value of estrogen receptors in primary breast cancer.

Abstract: This study was designed to determine whether the estrogen receptor (ER) status of a primary breast cancer has prognostic value and how this information compares with the information gained from lymph node status at masectomy 335 primary breast carcinomas were tested for ER in tumor cytosol fractions Of the 335 177 contained ER and 158 contained no significant amounts of ER; the respective percentages of ER positive and negative tumors were 528 and 472 151 patients experienced carcinoma spread to the regional lymph nodes (484%) and 161 had no detectable metastases (516%) There was no connection between lymph node status and receptor status The ER status was correlated with disease-free interval survival and site of recurrent disease ER positive carcinomas had a longer disease-free interval longer survival (calculated from time of mastectomy to death) and longer time interval between recurrence and death Lymph node status at mastectomy also influenced these parameters ER positive cancers had significantly better chance of survival independent of lymph node status ERs also delayed recurrence in lymph-node-positive carcinomas; this advantage deteriorated with increasing time from operation ER positive or negative primary carcinomas showed no predilection for spread to any particular site however The significant differences in this report were P < 01

Oesophageal cancer studies in the Caspian Littoral of Iran: results of a case-control study.

Abstract: The results are presented of a case-control study conducted in the north of Iran. The main aim was to study factors identified in a previous study as potentially causally related to cancer of the oesophagus. Other tumours (lung, stomach, breast, large bowel, larynx and pharynx) were included to distinguish findings specific for oesophageal cancer from general characteristics of cancer patients, due for example to ascertainment bias, and to verify that expected associations, such as between lung cancer and cigarette smoking, would emerge under the prevailing field conditions. Two controls were chosen per case, matched for village of residence, age, sex and language group, Reinterviewing was performed to a limited extent to assess the accuracy of replies to questionnaires. The following were found not to be associated with oesophageal cancer: consumption of sheep's milk and yoghurt, sesame oil, chewing of nass, making of carpets, use of pregnancy diets, salting and sun-drying of meat and use of wild spinach. The use of opium, bread and tea could not be assessed in the retrospective framework. Strongly associated with risk of oesophageal cancer were low socio-economic status and low intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. The two factors each had an independent effect, and were more marked for oesophageal cancer than for the other tumours.

Inhibition of spontaneous breast cancer formation in female C3H(Avy/a) mice by long-term treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone.

Abstract: Long-term p.o. treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone, an adrenal steroid found in subnormal plasma concentrations in women predisposed to develop breast cancer, inhibits the formation of spontaneous mammary cancer in female C3H (Avy/a) mice.

Alcohol-related Diseases and Carcinogenesis

Abstract: Possible mechanisms whereby alcohol abuse and alcohol-related diseases may promote the development of cancer are analyzed. The mechanisms discussed include: (a) contact-related local effects on the upper gastrointestinal tract; (b) the presence of low levels of carcinogens in alcoholic beverages; (c) induction of microsomal enzymes involved in carcinogen metabolism; (d) various types of cellular injury produced by ethanol and its metabolites and their relationship to cancer, particularly in the liver; (e) the nutritional disturbances frequently associated with alcohol abuse. The relationship between alcohol-induced cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma is also discussed, and case histories of patients seen at the Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center with hepatocellular carcinoma in the absence of cirrhosis are reviewed. Data are presented demonstrating the induction, by chronic ethanol consumption, of microsomal enzymes which convert procarcinogens to carcinogens. These data were derived from experiments in which the ability of microsomes isolated from liver, intestine, and lung tissues of ethanol-fed and control rats to activate several test carcinogens was examined in the Ames Salmonella-mutagenicity test. The hypothesis is presented that ethanol-mediated induction of enzyme systems which activate procarcinogens to carcinogens in various tissues contributes to the enhanced incidence of cancer in the alcoholic.

Metastases From Carcinoma of Mammary Gland: An Autopsy Study

Abstract: Information on metastases from carcinoma of the mammary gland in an autopsy study of 707 cases occurring in white women over a 15-year period are presented and tabulated. Multiple primary cancers occurred in 19% of the cases. Of the 137 cases that exhibit more than one neoplastic malignancy, 31 (23%) were present in the contralateral mammary gland. Seventy patients had no metastasis from the mammary cancer at the time of death, and 55 of these patients had another cancer. Additional information has been added concerning the frequency of metastasis in parathyroid and thymus. When a parathyroid contains a metastasis, extensive metastases were noted in many organs and thus represents a late stage of the cancer.

Steroid receptors in breast cancer

Abstract: Knowledge of the steroid receptor content of human breast cancer is important for proper diagnosis and for deciding the proper treatment for metastatic disease. Few patients whose breast cancers lack estrogen receptor will benefit from endocrine therapy, while more than half of patients with estrophilin-rich cancers will obtain objective remissions. The probability of objective response to endocrine therapy increases with an increase in the quantity of estrogen receptor in the cancer. Furthermore, patients whose cancers have both estrogen and progestin receptors have a better probability of response than patients whose lesions have only one of the receptors present, although even in such cases the response rate is higher than that seen in patients whose tumors lack both receptors. The data currently available suggest that receptor assays carried out on the primary tumor can be used for prediction of subsequent response to endocrine therapy, even at a later time of recurrent disease. Nonetheless, while sequential assays of receptors in lesions from the same patients are likely to be in agreement, when changes occur they tend to be reductions in amount of receptor or loss of receptor during disease progression . Breast cancer patients with receptor-positive tumors appear to have longer disease-free intervals and prolonged survival when compared with patients whose cancers lack ER, but clearly a part of the prolonged survival relates to response to endocrine therapies. Receptor positivity is frequently associated with well-differentiated tumors, while more poorly differentiated cancers, as well as medullary tumors, in general, and possibly cancers with significant lymphocytic infiltration, are more likely to be receptor negative. While there are some problems reproducing the exact quantitative receptor results among various laboratories assaying the same breast cancer, standard biochemical assays are still the only clinically proven and generally accepted procedure for assessing receptor status of a tumor. Histochemical assays based both on the steroid content of a tumor or using steroid-protein fluorescein complexes, while showing some correlation with standard biochemical assays for estrogen receptor, do not appear to detect receptor protein itself and can not be used instead of standard receptor assays. With the recent availability of monoclonal antibodies to the estrogen receptor, newer assays based on immunochemical procedures are under development and can be expected to provide simpler, less expensive, and more useful biochemical as well as immunohistochemical methods for receptor determination.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Cancer therapy with ultrasound: a historical review.

Abstract: The 45-year history of research in cancer therapy involving ultrasound may be divided into the four periods of initiation, enthusiasm, pessimism and revival. There have been three approaches to the subject: studies have sought to measure the effects on tumors of a) ultrasound alone; b) ultrasound in combination with radiotherapy, and c) ultrasound in combination with chemotherapy. With the first approach the results have varied. In some cases, decreased growth rates or regressions of tumors have been reported; in other cases, either no effect has been observed or growth has been increased. With the second approach, for some tumors, combined treatment has produced greater effects on tumors than has x-ray alone, whereas in other tumors the addition of ultrasound has produced no change. With the third approach, enhancement of the effects of drugs has been observed in melanoma and mouse tumor cells treated with ultrasound and several anticancer drugs. The mechanism of action in most (but not all) cases has appeared to be absorption heating. The potential of ultrasound to provide local tumor control and to enhance other therapy modes has motivated the current efforts by several groups to further study and understand it actions on malignancies.

Lack of Evidence for Cancer Due to Use of Metronidazole

Abstract: Experimental studies have shown that metronidazole is carcinogenic in rodents and mutagenic in bacteria. In 771 women given metronidazole for the treatment of vaginal trichomoniasis, more cancers developed than had been expected after exclusion of carcinoma of one uterine cervix (observed, 24 cases; expected on the basis of the Connecticut Tumor Registry, 21.7; expected on the basis of the Third National Cancer Survey, 18.4). However, the excess was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The observed and expected numbers of breast-cancer cases were the same, but four lung-cancer cases were observed, whereas 0.6 would have been expected. This finding is confounded by the fact that all four lung cancers developed in women who were smokers. Overall, we observed no appreciable increase in cases of cancer. (N Engl J Med 301:519–522, 1979)

Retinoids and cancer

Abstract: The early and recent investigations in the field of retinoids and cancer are reviewed. The retinoids, including natural vitamin A compounds and their synthetic analogs, present a new class of substances exerting a prophylactic and a therapeutic effect both in certain experimental tumor models and in certain clinical conditions of preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions. Because of a particular physiological mechanism of action, the retinoids offer a new approach to the cancer problem, which is different from those of surgery, X-ray therapy, conventional chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.