BackgroundOverall therapeutic outcomes of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are poor. The dendritic cell (DC) immunotherapy has been developed as a new strategy for the treatment of lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, safety and immunologic responses in use in mature, antigen-pulsed autologous DC vaccine in NSCLC patients.MethodsFive HLA-A2 patients with inoperable stage III or IV NSCLC were selected to receive two doses of 5 × 107 DC cells administered subcutaneous and intravenously two times at two week intervals. The immunologic response, safety and tolerability to the vaccine were evaluated by the lymphoproliferation assay and clinical and laboratorial evolution, respectively.ResultsThe dose of the vaccine has shown to be safe and well tolerated. The lymphoproliferation assay showed an improvement in the specific immune response after the immunization, with a significant response after the second dose (p = 0.005). This response was not long lasting and a tendency to reduction two weeks after the second dose of the vaccine was observed. Two patients had a survival almost twice greater than the expected average and were the only ones that expressed HER-2 and CEA together.ConclusionDespite the small sample size, the results on the immune response, safety and tolerability, combined with the results of other studies, are encouraging to the conduction of a large clinical trial with multiples doses in patients with early lung cancer who underwent surgical treatment.Trial RegistrationCurrent Controlled Trials: ISRCTN45563569

The GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes reduce the effects of exposure to cytotoxic agents. Both genes have a null variant allele in which the entire gene is absent. On the other hand, a common polymorphism of the tumour suppressor P53 gene results in either arginine (A) or proline (P) at amino-acid position 72. The A and P alleles code proteins with distinct functions in apoptosis and DNA repair and have been associated with variable risks for several cancers. However, their roles in multiple myeloma (MM) are still unknown. We tested in study whether the GSTM1, GSTT1 and P53 genotypes altered the risk for MM in Brazilian patients. Genomic DNA from 106 patients and 230 controls were analysed by polymerase chain reaction-based methods for identification of the genotypes. Similar frequencies of the GSTM1, GSTT1 and P53 genotypes were seen in patients and controls. Individuals with the distinct genotypes had similar risks for disease. In contrast, an excess of the GSTM1 null (45.1 vs 17.2%, P = 0.009), the P53 PP+AP (70.4 vs 44.8%, P = 0.041) and the GSTM1 null plus P53 PP+AP (29.6 vs 10.3%, P = 0.004) genotypes were seen in MM patients at stage III compared with those at stages I + II. Our data suggest that the GSTM1, GSTT1 and P53 genotypes do not influence the risk for MM. However, the inherited presence of the variant codon 72 P53 allele, described here for the first time, and the absence of the GSTM1 detoxification pathway, seem to act in disease progression in our country.

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Objective: To estimate and compare the frequency of CYP1A1*2A gene polymorphisms in a Brazilian population and determine the possible contribution of these genetic variations to lung cancer risk. Methods: The study population included 200 patients with lung cancer, and the control group consisted of 264 blood donors. Genomic DNA was obtained from peripheral blood samples. The PCR-RFLP method was used for analysis of the CYP1A1*2A gene. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the lung cancer patients and the controls in terms of the distribution of CYP1A1*2A polymorphisms (p = 0.49). A multivariate logistic regression model analysis by ethnic group revealed that, within the lung cancer group, the CYP1A1*2A genotype CC plus TC was more common among the African-Brazilian patients than among the White patients (adjusted OR = 3.19; 95% CI: 1.53-6.65). Conclusions: The CYP1A1*2A gene cannot be linked with lung cancer risk in Brazilian patients at this time. Larger epidemiologic studies are needed in order to establish whether the CC plus TC polymorphism increases the risk of lung cancer in African-Brazilians.

In tumor-bearing rats, most of the serum amino acids are used for synthesis and oxidation processes by the neoplastic tissue. In the present study, the effect of Walker 256 carcinoma growth on the intestinal absorption of leucine, methionine and glucose was investigated in newly weaned and mature rats. Food intake and carcass weight were decreased in newly weaned (NT) and mature (MT) rats bearing Walker 256 tumor in comparison with control animals (NC and MC). The tumor/carcass weight ratio was higher in NT than in MT rats, whereas nitrogen balance was significantly decreased in both as compared to control animals. Glucose absorption was significantly reduced in MT rats (MT = 47.3 ± 4.9 vs MC = 99.8 ± 5.3 nmol min -1 cm -1 , Kruskal-Wallis test, P<0.05) but this fact did not hamper the evolution of cancer. There was a significant increase in methionine absorption in both groups (NT = 4.2 ± 0.3 and MT = 2.0 ± 0.1 vs NC = 3.7 ± 0.1 and MC = 1.2 ± 0.2 nmol min -1 cm -1 , Kruskal-Wallis test, P<0.05), whereas leucine absorption was increased only in young tumor-bearing rats (NT = 8.6 ± 0.2 vs NC = 7.7 ± 0.4 nmol min -1 cm -1 , Kruskal-Wallis test, P<0.05), suggesting that these metabolites are being used for synthesis and oxidation processes by the neoplastic cells, which might ensure their rapid proliferation especially in NT rats.