In order to investigate the effect of kefir consumption on mucositis induced by 5-FU based chemotherapy (CT), we monitored the systemic immune response by measurement of the serum proinflammatory cytokine levels and we evaluated the anti-microbial effect of kefir with an agar diffusion method. Forty patients with colorectal cancer were included in this randomized prospective study. On the first 5 days of each CT cycle, the study group received oral lavage with kefir and then swallowed 250 ml of kefir while control group received oral lavage with 0.09% NaCl twice a day. Before and after every cycle of CT, the oral mucosa was assessed. Serum proinflammatory cytokine levels were evaluated before the initiation and after the third and the sixth cycle. Kefir was administered in 99 out of 205 courses. Mucositis developed in 27.3% of the courses given with kefir administration and in 21.7% of the courses given with 0.9% NaCl oral rinses. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). When we compared the serum proinflammatory cytokine levels of the two groups at the baseline and following the third and the sixth cycles, we again found no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05). Kefir consumption at the mentioned doses made no statistically significant effect on serum proinflammatory cytokine levels and on the incidence of mucositis development in cancer patients. Under in vitro conditions, kefir inhibits only Staphylococcus epidermidis.
MAPK is a significant prognostic and predictive factor in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. Furthermore, the level of staining among those with a positive MAPK expression may play a prognostic role at different stages of relapse. Further translational research is required to elucidate molecular mechanisms of tumor proliferation in this subset of patients.
Interleukins (ILs) are known to play a fundamental role in cancer. We investigated the serum levels of IL-8 and IL-12, in breast cancer patients, and their relationship with the prognostic parameters and therapy. Forty eight patients with pathologically verified breast carcinoma and 21 healthy controls were enrolled into the study. Serum samples were obtained at baseline and after two cycles of chemotherapy. Serum IL-8 and IL-12 levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). There was no significant difference in the baseline serum IL-8 and IL-12 levels between breast cancer patients and healthy controls (p = 0.365 and p = 0.871, respectively), no significant correlation between the prognostic parameters and the serum IL-8, IL-12 levels. However, in the subgroup consisting of metastatic breast cancer patients, baseline serum IL-8 levels were significantly higher compared with non-metastatic disease (p = 0.047). Anthracycline-based chemotherapy and the addition of taxane did not change the levels of both serum IL-8 and IL-12. Serum IL-8 level may be useful in determining metastatic breast cancer. Larger studies are needed to confirm this finding.
Cell adhesion is a basic count in inter- and intra-cellular communication and plays an important role in tumor progression. This study was conducted to investigate the serum levels of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) and E-selectin in patients with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the relationships with known prognostic parameters and therapy. These serum factors were measured of 57 NSCLC patients pathologically verified before and after chemotherapy in comparison with 24 healthy controls by using ELISA method. Serum levels of ICAM-1 were increased significantly in NSCLC patients compared with the healthy controls (P = 0.006). However, serum E-selectin levels were not significantly different from healthy control groups (0.643). No statistically significant relationships were found between investigated all serum parameters and various characteristics of patients, and the diseases such as stage and tumor burden. Likewise, we also found no correlation between serum ICAM-1 and E-selectin (P = 0.78). We found that serum ICAM-1 levels were decreased owing to the chemotherapy effect, independently from chemotherapy response. However, serum E-selectin levels were not changed by the chemotherapy effect. The median survival of all patients was 11.9 months and 1-year survival rate was 47.6%. We found that patients performance status (P = 0.013), age (P = 0.015), and weight loss (P = 0.007) were prognostic factors for survival. Serum E-selectin levels showed a trend (P = 0.08) related to worse prognosis, however serum ICAM-1 levels were determined as ineffective on survival (P = 0.11). Multivariate analysis revealed that only weight loss (P = 0.005) and E-selectin levels (P = 0.002) remained as an independent prognostic factor for survival in patients with advanced NSCLC. In conclusion, our data suggest that higher serum ICAM-1 can be useful for diagnosis while E-selectin levels have prognostic significance and could be a potential prognostic factor in NSCLC patients.
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