Xi Yan

Clinical characteristics of 45 patients with invasive pulmonary aspergillosis: retrospective analysis of 1711 lung cancer cases.

Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a common complication in patients with hematologic malignancies. Patients with solid tumors also are at risk for IA because they may develop neutropenia as a result of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, studies of IA in patients with solid tumors are rare. In this study, the risk factors and clinical characteristics of pulmonary infection and death mediated by invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) as complications in patients with lung cancer were determined.

Gene therapy with the angiogenesis inhibitor endostatin in an orthotopic lung cancer murine model.

Angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth of solid tumors. To date, no information has been acquired on the effectiveness of gene therapy in the orthotopic lung cancer model of syngeneic immunocompetent mice treated with an angiogenesis inhibitor. Here, we report the establishment of such a model in which Lewis lung carcinoma (LL/2) cell suspensions were orthotopically inoculated into the lung parenchyma of C57BL/6 mice, which were also injected with a recombinant adenoviral vector delivering the human endostatin gene (Ad-hE). We found that orthotopic implantation of LL/2 cells into the lung parenchyma produced a solitary tumor nodule in the lung followed by remote mediastinal lymph node metastasis. Conditioned medium from Ad-hE-transfected LL/2 cells apparently inhibited proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The level of endostatin protein in serum could be identified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Treatment with Ad-hE resulted in inhibition of tumor growth and prolongation of survival time of tumor-bearing mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that intratumoral angiogenesis was significantly suppressed. Furthermore, the finding of angiogenesis inhibition was also supported by measuring the number of circulating endothelial cells (CECs). Apoptotic cells were found to be increased within tumor tissues from mice treated with Ad-hE. In addition, treatment with Ad-hE combined with cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) enhanced antitumor activity. These observations provide further evidence of the antitumor effect of endostatin gene therapy, and may be of importance for further exploration of potential application of this combined approach in the treatment of human lung cancer as well as other solid tumors.

Effect of endostatin on preventing postoperative progression of distant metastasis in a murine lung cancer model

AIMS AND BACKGROUND The relapse and metastasis of cancer remain a predominant cause of death after surgical removal of the primary tumor. There is a positive linkage between the postoperative upregulation of systemic angiogenic activity and distant tumor metastasis. In the present study, we established a spontaneous metastasis model and investigated whether antiangiogenic therapy using endostatin could prevent the progression of distant metastasis after removal of the primary tumor. METHODS Female C57BL/6 mice were implanted subcutaneously with 1 × 106 Lewis lung cancer cells. Twenty days after implantation of the cancer cells, the primary tumor was removed and the mice were randomly divided into three groups. The NS group received normal saline, the L-ES group received 3 mg/kg endostatin, and the H-ES group received 20 mg/kg endostatin intravenously daily for 10 days. The effect of endostatin on lung metastases and the survival time of the mice were observed. Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry were carried out to assess the angiogenic activity. The serum endostatin levels in peripheral blood were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS The mean number of metastatic pulmonary nodules and the mean net lung weight in the NS, L-ES and H-ES groups was 10.2, 2.8 and 4.0, and 0.55 g, 0.31 g and 0.36 g, respectively. The difference between the NS group and the endostatin-treated groups was statistically significant (P <0.05). The endostatin-treated mice showed prolonged overall survival (P <0.05). Compared with the NS group, the endostatin-treated groups had lower levels of circulating endothelial cells in peripheral blood and showed a decrease in microvessel density in the metastatic tumors, with a more marked reduction in the L-ES group (P <0.05). The systemic presence of endostatin was gradually increased with the continued administration of endostatin to the mice. CONCLUSIONS Antiangiogenic therapy with endostatin is effective in inhibiting the postoperative progression of distant metastasis.

Survey on breast cancer patients in China toward breast‐conserving surgery

Objective: We sought to investigate attitudes toward breast‐conserving therapy (BCS) in early‐stage breast cancer (EBC) patients from P. R. China and assess the factors influencing their decision.

Low‐dose endostatin normalizes the structure and function of tumor vasculature and improves the delivery and anti‐tumor efficacy of cytotoxic drugs in a lung cancer xenograft murine model

Introduction:  To some extent endostatin normalizes tumor vasculature. However, the optimum time window and optimum drug dose for tumor vascular normalization need to be explored. Here we investigate the effect of low‐dose endostatin on the structure and function of tumor vasculature and the delivery and anti‐tumor efficacy of cytotoxic drugs.

The role of palliative chemotherapy for terminally ill patients with advanced NSCLC

Background:  To evaluate the conditions of palliative chemotherapy in terminally ill patients with advanced non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to discuss the potential factors that affect the prognosis of these patients.

Metastatic pancreatic cancer response to treatment with cetuximab and gemcitabine plus capecitabine: a case report and review of the literature.

The treatment of pancreatic cancer remains a formidable challenge to clinicians. Here we describe the case of a 57-year-old man with metastatic pancreatic cancer who received combination treatment with cetuximab and capecitabine plus gemcitabine for four cycles. Repeat CT scan showed that the size of both the primary tumor in the pancreas and the metastatic lesions in the liver had shrunk significantly. Rapid reduction of the serum CA19-9 level was observed, and no serious toxic events occurred. The patient had a progression-free survival of eight months at the time we wrote this paper. The combination of cetuximab and capecitabine plus gemcitabine may be a useful therapy in metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Polarization of tumor-associated macrophage is associated with tumor vascular normalization by endostatin

Vascular normalization is an emerging concept in cancer treatment, but its precise mechanisms are not completely understood. The polarization of tumor‐associated macrophages (TAMs) is important in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. However, little is known about the effect of anti‐angiogenic agents on the polarization of tumor‐associated macrophages. Therefore, we explore the changes of TAMs polarization in the development of tumor vascular normalization induced by endostatin.

CXCR2 is a novel cancer stem-like cell marker for triple-negative breast cancer

Background Breast cancer is the leading cause of mortality from cancer in women worldwide, and cancer stem-like cell (CSC) is responsible for failure treatment of breast cancer. It plays an important role in resistant disease and metastasis. CD44/CD24 and ALDH are well-accepted protein markers of breast CSC, and it was reported that distinct subtypes of breast CSC were identified by the 2 markers. It is possible that there are various kinds of breast CSC which could be identified by different markers, and CSC markers utilized at present are not enough to fully understand breast CSC. Finding out more novel CSC markers is necessary. CXCR2 is involved in breast cancer metastasis, treatment resistance, and recurrence and has positive cross-talk with known breast CSC protein markers. It can be concluded that CXCR2 is related to breast CSC, and further study is in need. Results In this study, we assessed expression of CXCR2 with immunohistochemistry in breast cancer tissues from 37 patients and discovered that level of CXCR2 was significantly lower in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) compared with non-TNBC. CXCR2 expression decreased in estrogen receptor-negative or HER2-negative breast cancer, but not progesterone receptor-negative counterparts. By immunofluorescence, we observed high coexpression rate of CXCR2 and CSC-related proteins, including NANOG and SOX2. To prove our speculation that CXCR2 was a novel CSC marker for TNBC, we used 4T1 cell, which is a TNBC cell line, to analyze CXCR2-positive subpopulations and observed that CXCR2-positive 4T1 cells showed characteristics of CSC, including resistance to cisplatinum, radiation, and hypoxia, low proportion (around 1%), much more tumor xenografts, tumor spherule formation, and higher levels of CSC-related mRNA compared with CXCR2-negative cells. Conclusion CXCR2 is an acceptable and newly discovered CSC marker for only TNBC.

P02-130 Patients’ attitude to breast conserving surgery for breast cancer in West China

Background There seems to be geographical differences in decisions about breast conserving surgery (BCS) in breast cancer patients. This study was to evaluate patients’ attitude to BCS and to assess the factors affecting cancer practice in West China. Methods A structured questionnaire was distributed to 184 patients, eliciting information about the patients’ characteristics, occupation, education, family life, recognition of illness, knowledge about BCS, the main means of gaining surgery information, selecting surgery approaches, preferences to breast reservation. Results In all, 163 patients completed the questionnaire. The results indicated that only 7.4% of patients received BCS and 23% of the remaining patients desired to have BCS and the affecting factors were significantly associated with their family life, recognition of illness and the main means of gaining surgery information (P Conclusions The findings indicate that breast cancer patients in West China do not take BCS as the first choice as the best treatment method. It is warranted that further study of more patients, attitude of patients’ partners and physicians to BCS.