This article is a review the clinical effectiveness of PDT in the treatment of Barrett's esophagus and the following cancers: esophageal, gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic, and colon. This review highlights the clinical responses to PDT and discusses the possibility of enhancing the efficacy of treatment by combination with targeted therapy.
Here we present the results of comparative immunoenzyme assay of the initial serum levels of VEGF in breast cancer patients (stages T1N0M0 and T2N0M0) and apparently healthy women (controls). It was found that VEGF concentrations in the serum of patients with breast cancer stages T1N0M0 and T2N0M0 significantly surpassed the control levels. Increased levels of VEGF surpassing the threshold values were more often observed in patients with T2N0M0 breast cancer compared to patients with T1N0M0 tumor. At the same time, this marker cannot be used in the diagnostics of this disease because in only 21.4% patients serum level of VEGF surpassed the upper boundary for this growth factor observed in the serum of control women. Serum concentration of VEGF in patients with stages T1N0M0 and T2N0M0 breast cancer did not depend on patient's age and reproductive function and receptor status of the primary tumor (estrogen and progesterone receptors), but was closely associated with tumor histogenesis and differentiation degree. Significantly higher levels of VEGF were observed in patients with lobular infiltrative breast carcinoma compared to patients with ductal tumors and in patients with low-differentiated tumors compared to highly and moderately differentiated tumors. High initial concentrations of VEGF (>300 pg/ml) were more often detected in patients with T2N0M0 breast cancer developing relapses within the first 3 years of follow-up compared to patients without relapses during the corresponding period (p=0.001). These findings suggest that serum level of VEGF in patients with T2N0M0 breast cancer before treatment can be used as an additional marker in parallel with standard clinical and morphological signs of the disease for more precise prognosis of early relapse (during the first 3 years of follow-up).
Vascular endothelium is the main organ, suffering from diabetes mellitus (DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). In this review, the role of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in the regeneration of the endothelium and in the formation of new blood vessels is considered. Mechanisms of migration and mobilization of EPCs from the bone marrow to the damage zone are described. The analyzed data show that CVD and DM cause the decrease in the number and the disturbance of the function of EPCs. The data on the heterogeneity of the population of EPCs are presented in article. The various combinations of surface markers for identification of these cells are assessed. At the same time, protocols for the identification of EPCs have not been developed, which confirms the relevance of the search for the phenotype of EPCs, which would be adopted as the standard.
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