The purpose of this prospective randomized clinical study was to compare the outcomes of mosaic type autologous osteochondral transplantation (OAT) and microfracture (MF) procedures for the treatment of the articular cartilage defects of the knee joint in athletes. Between 1998 and 2002, a total of 57 athletes with a mean age of 24.3 years and with a symptomatic lesion of the articular cartilage in the knee were randomized to undergo either OAT or MF procedure. There were 28 athletes in OAT group and 29 in MF group. Patients were evaluated using a modified Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) scores, MRI and clinical assessment after 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after the surgery. According to the modified HSS and ICRS scores, functional and objective assessment showed that 96% had excellent or good results after OAT compared with 52% after MF procedure (P<0.001). In 12, 24 and 36 months after the operations, the HSS and ICRS showed statistically significantly better results in the OAT group (P=0.03; P=0.006; P=0.006). Twenty-six (93%) athletes following OAT and fifteen (52%) athletes following MF returned to sports activities at the preinjury level at an average of 6.5 months (range, 4-8 months) after the operations. At an average of 37.1 months follow-up, our prospective, randomized, clinical study in athletes has shown significant superiority of the OAT over MF for the repair of articular cartilage defects in the knee.

BackgroundNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains the most common cause of cancer related death worldwide. Tumor-infiltrating macrophages are believed to play an important role in growth, progression, and metastasis of tumors. In NSCLC, the role of macrophages remains controversial; therefore, we aimed to evaluate the distribution of macrophages (M1 and M2) in tumor islets and stroma and to analyze their relations to patients’ survival.MethodsLung tissue specimens from 80 NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection for NSCLC (pathological stage I-III) and 16 control group subjects who underwent surgery because of recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax were analyzed. Immunohistochemical double staining of CD68/iNOS (markers for M1 macrophages) and CD68/CD163 (markers for M2 macrophages) was performed and evaluated in a blinded manner. The numbers of M1 and M2 macrophages in tumor islets and stroma were counted manually.ResultsPredominant infiltration of M1 and M2 macrophages was observed in the tumor stroma compared with the tumor islets. M2 macrophages predominated over M1 macrophages in the tumor tissue. Tumor islets-infiltrating M1 macrophages and the number of total tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophages were independent predictors of patients survival: high infiltration of M1 macrophages in tumor islets was associated with increased overall survival in NSCLC (P < 0.05); high infiltration of total M2 macrophages in tumor (islets and stroma) was associated with reduced overall survival in NSCLC (P < 0.05).ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that high infiltration of M1 macrophages in the tumor islets and low infiltration of total tumor-infiltrating M2 macrophages were associated with improved NSCLC patients’ survival.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01955343, registered on September 27, 2013

The study aimed to determine and compare cadmium (Cd) concentration in different biological media of breast cancer and benign breast tumor patients. Methods Concentration of Cd was determined in breast tissue, urine and blood of 57 breast cancer and 51 benign tumor patients. Two samples of breast tissue from each patient, i.e. tumor and healthy tissue were taken for the analysis. Cd in biological media was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry (Perkin-Elmer, Zeeman 3030). Results The mean Cd concentration in breast cancer patients was 0.053 µg/g (95% CI=0.042-0.065) for tumor sample and 0.02 µg/g (95% CI=0.014-0.026) for healthy breast tissue sample (p<0.001). In benign tumor patients the figures were following: 0.037 µg/g (95% CI=0.023-0.051) and 0.032 µg/g (95% CI=0.018-0.047) (p>0.05). Cd content in malignant tumor significantly differed from that in benign tumor (p<0.01). Cancer patients with positive estrogenreceptors had significantly greater concentration of breast tissue Cd compared to patients with negative estrogenreceptors (p=0.035). Adjusted for creatinine Cd in urine was significantly higher in cancer patients than in controls (p<0.001). In cancer patients a positive Spearman's correlation was found between Cd in tumor and healthy breast tissue, blood (r=0.44 and r=0.39, respectively, p<0.01). Correlation between Cd in urine of cancer patients and number of cigarettes smoked during lifetime was suggestive (r=0.59, p=0.075). Conclusion The data obtained show higher concentration of cadmium in breast tumor and urine of cancer patients and support a possible relationship between cadmium and breast cancer.

BackgroundThe extent of angiogenesis is an important prognostic factor for colorectal carcinoma, however, there are few studies concerning changes in angiogenesis with radiotherapy (RTX). Our aim was to investigate changes in tumor angiogenesis influenced by radiotherapy to assess the prognostic value of angiogenesis the microvessel density (MVD) in overall survival after radiotherapy.MethodsTumor specimens were taken from 101 patients resected for rectal cancer. The patients were divided into three groups according to the treatment they received before surgery (not treated, a short course, or long course of RTX). Tumor specimens were paraffin-embedded and immunohistochemistry was performed with primary antibody against CD-34 to count MVD.ResultsMVD was significantly lower in the group of patients treated with a long course of RTX (p <0.025). The mean MVD for the long RTX group was 134.8; for the short RTX group – 192.5; and for those not treated with RTX – 193.0. There were no significant statistical correlations between MVD and age, sex, grade of tumor differentiation (G) and tumor size (T) in those untreated with RTX. In long RTX group we found a significant prognostic rate for MVD when the density cut off was near 130 with 92.3% sensitivity and 64.7% specificity. When the MVD was lower than a cut off of 130, the survival period significantly increased (p = 0.001), the mortality rate is significantly higher if the MVD is higher than 130 (microvessel/mm2) (1953.047; p = 0.002), if the histological grade is moderate/poor (127.407; p = 0.013), if the tumor is T3/T4 (111.618; p = 0.014), and if the patient is male (17.92; p = 0.034) adjusted by other variable in model.ConclusionOur results show that a long course of radiotherapy significantly decreased angiogenesis in rectal cancer tissue. MVD was found to be a favourable marker for tumor behaviour during RTX and a predictor of overall survival after long course of RTX. Further investigations are now needed to determine the changes in angiogenesis during a shorter course of RTX.

BackgroundDifferent subsets of tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes are believed to play essential role in the immune response to cancer cells. The data of these cells in NSCLC are relatively rare and controversial therefore we aimed to evaluate the infiltration patterns of Foxp3 + CD4+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in NSCLC and to analyze their relations to survival.MethodsLung tissue specimens from 80 newly diagnosed and untreated patients who underwent surgery for NSCLC (stages I-III), and 16 control group subjects, who underwent surgery due to recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax, were analyzed. Foxp3 + CD4+, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in tumor stroma and islets were evaluated immunohistochemically. All statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20.0.ResultsTumor infiltrating CD4+, CD8+ T cells were associated with neither overall survival nor disease-free survival. The presence of high tumor stroma infiltrating Foxp3 + CD4+ T cells was independently associated with improved NSCLC patients overall survival (P < 0.05).ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that tumor infiltrating Foxp3 + CD4+ T cells are associated with improved NSCLC patients' survival. In addition our findings highlight a tendency of high CD4+/CD8+ and CD8+/Foxp3 + CD4+ T cells ratio in prolonged NSCLC patients' survival.