Since p63 is thought to be a marker of stem cells and may act as an oncogene, our data support the idea that BRCA1 acts as stem cell regulator.

unitermos key words resumoIntrodução: A incidência do câncer bucal no Brasil é uma das mais altas do mundo. Objetivos: Avaliar o perfil, os fatores de risco e a sobrevida de pacientes diagnosticados com carcinoma epidermóide oral entre 1982 e 2002 em uma população brasileira. Material e método: Idade, gênero, local da lesão, história pregressa, consumo de tabaco e bebidas alcoólicas, exposição actínica, traumatismo por prótese, recidivas, metástases e sobrevida foram obtidos dos prontuários. Resultados: Dos 340 pacientes 84,4% eram homens e 15,6%, mulheres (5,4:1). As lesões linguais foram as mais freqüentes (27,9%). Vinte por cento dos pacientes relataram traumatismo por prótese e em 73,8% das lesões em lábio inferior foi relatada exposição actínica desprotegida. Não houve diferença entre as regiões anatômicas e o consumo de tabaco em relação a recidivas, metástases regionais e metástases à distância. O tempo médio de história pregressa foi de 13 meses, havendo diferença entre as regiões anatômicas. A sobrevida em cinco anos foi de 24%. A sobrevida dos pacientes com recidivas e/ou metástases variou conforme a idade analisada ( 60 ou > 60 anos), mas não houve diferença quanto à história pregressa e às regiões anatômicas. A discrepância homem/mulher encontrada foi alta, diminuindo conforme o aumento da idade. O consumo de tabaco e álcool é elevado nessa população, mas não influenciou as recidivas e as metástases da doença. Foi grande o tempo de evolução das lesões até a procura pelo serviço. Conclusões: Os baixos índices de sobrevida refletem a necessidade de uma maior atenção ao câncer bucal nessa população.

It has been proposed that iron overload may adversely affect liver disease outcome. The recent identification of 2 mutations in the HFE gene related to hereditary haemochromatosis (Cys282Tyr and His63Asp) provided an opportunity to test whether they are associated with hepatic iron accumulation and the activity and severity of liver disease in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. We investigated the prevalence of HFE mutations in 135 male patients with chronic HCV hepatitis, and correlated genotype distribution with different parameters of iron status and the activity and severity of liver disease. Of these 135 patients, 6 (4.4%) carried Cys282Tyr and 32 (23.7%) carried His63Asp, frequencies which were similar to those observed in healthy controls. Serum iron levels and transferrin saturation (but not ferritin levels or liver iron content) were significantly higher in carriers than in non-carriers of HFE mutations. No difference was observed in serum ALT, AST and GGT levels between carriers and non-carriers. Finally, scores for necroinflammatory activity and fibrosis in the liver were significantly higher in HFE carriers than in non-carriers. Patients with chronic HCV infection carrying HFE mutations tend to present more evident body iron accumulation and a higher degree of necroinflammatory activity and fibrosis in the liver. HFE gene mutations might be an additional factor to be considered among those implicated in the determination of a worse prognosis of the liver disease in chronic HCV infection.

p53 overexpression is associated with a larger number of metastases and is correlated with a poor outcome as well as decreased intensity in p63 immunoexpression.

Elevated TS and liver iron deposits were frequent in non-cirrhotic HBV patients. Iron deposits were mainly mild and associated with higher activity and severity of liver disease, but not with HFE mutations.

Prior studies show that melatonin enhances the immune response. This study investigated the possible therapeutic effects of melatonin during the course of Trypanosoma cruzi infection. T. cruzi-infected male Wistar rats were orally treated with 5 mg/kg body weight/day of melatonin. Animals treated with melatonin showed a significant reduction in the number of blood trypomastigotes during the acute phase of infection compared with untreated animals (P<0.05). A significant increase in leucocytes numbers during the peak of parasitaemia was also observed (P<0.05). Moreover, both prior and concomitant treatment with melatonin increased interleukin-2 levels, especially 9 days postinfection (P<0.05). Histopathological observations of heart tissue revealed that melatonin administration also resulted in fewer and smaller amastigote burdens, and less inflammatory infiltrate and tissue disorganization, indicating a reduced parasitism of this tissue. These results show that melatonin is effective in controlling parasite replication and suggest that melatonin might serve as an effective therapeutic agent in the treatment of American trypanosomiasis.

The results show a correlated spectral response that can be explained based on the combined effect of light penetration on biological tissues and the biomolecular excitation efficiency for each wavelength used.

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