Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Paraneoplastic syndromes are caused by hormones or other substances produced by cancer cells and may be the first sign of cancer. A wide range of paraneoplastic syndromes, including endocrine, neurologic, and cutaneous disorders, occurs in patients with cancer. More than 30 cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes have been identified; this article reviews some of the more common syndromes--acanthosis nigricans, Paget's Disease, acquired ichthyosis, telangiectasia, hypertrichosis lanuginosa acquisita, erythroderma, Bazex's Syndrome, and necrotizing migratory erythema. When these syndromes are diagnosed during the course of a malignancy, professional caregivers may misinterpret them as indicative of metastatic disease or other disorders and patients may be misdiagnosed and not receive optimal treatment. Paraneoplastic syndromes also compromise quality of life by often causing skin impairment and discomfort. Therefore, nurses must be aware of the signs and symptoms of these cutaneous disorders and know how to care for patients with paraneoplastic syndromes.
 ...
PMID:Cutaneous paraneoplastic syndromes. 1189 23

A 62-year-old woman was referred to our psychiatric hospital by the municipal health office, because she was in such a neglected condition that she was a danger to herself. Initially, it was suspected that she was suffering from dementia or psychosis. X-rays led to the suspicion of bronchial carcinoma. Consequently, the mental changes were interpreted as probable effects of metastases to the brain. There was not enough time, however, to check the patient thoroughly to find the actual cause of her altered personality. The patient developed a high fever (up to 42 degrees C). A few days later, she died of cardiorespiratory failure with severe abscess-forming obstructive pneumonia. An autopsy confirmed the bronchial carcinoma. However, metastases were only found in the hilar lymph nodes. No metastases were detectable in the CNS, either macroscopically or microscopically. The neuropathological examination of the brain revealed multiple system degeneration. The striking microscopic findings (a large number of typical apoptotic figures visible with the light microscope in ganglion cells, lack of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies in the oligodendroglia and an unusually strong monocytic reaction (so-called reactive satellitosis) indicated that the disease course had been very rapid. Perhaps these were early steps in the evolution of a multisystem atrophy. A kind of time-lapse effect, as it were, revealed simultaneously individual details of the pathogenetic course, which would have disappeared in the usual long course of the disease and thus could not have been observed, even with the most up-to-date molecular methods. It is very likely that this was a paraneoplastic syndrome.
 ...
PMID:A case of rapidly progressive multiple system degeneration: morphological findings and pathogenetic implications. 1190 11

A 12-year-old Cocker Spaniel with an oral malignant melanoma was evaluated for progressive lethargy and anorexia. No metastases were identified during antemortem evaluation, but severe hypercalcemia was evident. Antemortem diagnostic testing failed to identify a cause for the hypercalcemia. No neoplasms other than the melanoma were identified on postmortem examination. Serum parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration was markedly high, and the melanoma had moderate to marked immunostaining for this protein. Paraneoplastic syndromes are rare in dogs with malignant melanoma.
 ...
PMID:Hypercalcemia and high parathyroid hormone-related protein concentration associated with malignant melanoma in a dog. 1211 91

Although an aggressive phenotype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is known to frequently be associated with inflammatory paraneoplastic syndrome including serum C-reactive protein (CRP) elevation, the molecular mechanism underlying this clinical phenomenon as well as what yields the malignant phenotype leading to the progression of RCC has yet to be elucidated. Based on the increased level of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 in advanced cases of RCC, a cytokine-inducible transcription factor, namely, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B), may thus play a role in the progression of RCC. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) was carried out to determine the activity of NF-kappa B. Out of 45 cases of RCC, 15 cases (33%) showed a >200% increase in the NF-kappa B activity in comparison with that seen in normal renal tissue. In locally advanced cases (> or =pT3), 64% (9/14) showed an increased activity whereas it was only observed in 19% (6/31) of localized cases (< or =pT2). All three cases with metastases showed an increased NF-kappa B activity. The NF-kappa B activity determined by EMSA was further confirmed by an immunohistochemical analysis using an antibody recognizing the nuclear localization signal (NLS) in p65 subunit of NF-kappa B. The serum CRP elevation correlated with the increased NF-kappa B activation, and therefore NF-kappa B may be a causative transcription factor of inflammatory paraneoplastic syndrome. A high NF-kappa B activity was associated with an increased expression of both the p65 and p50 subunits of NF-kappa B and a concomitant decreased expression of I kappa B alpha. No functional mutations of the I kappa B alpha gene were detected. The NF-kappa B activity may therefore be a late event in carcinogenesis related to tumor development, thereby representing a possible molecular target in the treatment of RCC.
 ...
PMID:Increased nuclear factor-kappa B activation is related to the tumor development of renal cell carcinoma. 1266 95

Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is a paraneoplastic syndrome consisting of digital clubbing, polyarthralgias, and periostosis that sometimes accompanies primary bronchogenic carcinoma and other pulmonary malignancies. We report a case of HOA as the initial manifestation of pulmonary metastases in a 42-year-old woman with malignant phyllodes tumor of the breast. Since the treatment for malignancy-associated HOA is targeted at the underlying neoplasm, it is important to make the diagnosis in a timely fashion so that appropriate therapy may be initiated without delay. HOA symptoms generally improve, as they did in our patient, if the cancer responds to treatment. The pathophysiology of HOA is poorly understood, but a role for tumor-associated humoral mediators has been postulated. The hypothesized mechanisms underlying HOA are reviewed, and evidence for a prominent role for platelet-derived growth factor in mediating this syndrome is examined. This unusual case illustrates the importance of suspecting HOA in a patient with a history of cancer who presents with otherwise unexplained polyarthralgias.
 ...
PMID:Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy associated with metastatic phyllodes tumor. 1271 85

Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is a paraneoplastic syndrome characterized by periosteal formation and arthritis and usually accompanied by clubbing ofthe digits. Many malignancies have been associated with HOA/clubbing, most being lung cancer and lung metastatic cancer. We herein present a 53-year-old man with lung metastasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). HOA occurred one year after the metastasis. Reviewing the literature, only five cases of RCC with HOA have been reported. If their clinical history was traceable, they consistently had disease progression. We reviewed the pathogenesis of HOA/clubbing and linked the prognosis of RCC to relevant cytokines. Therefore, HOA not only heralds a progression of disease but suggests a probable therapeutic choice by targeting some cytokines.
 ...
PMID:Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy associated with disease progression in renal cell carcinoma. 1272 77

Renal cell carcinomas are known to extend into the renal vein and inferior vena cava, but cardiac metastases are rare and usually clinically silent. In the case described here, there was evidence of right ventricular outflow obstruction, associated with a metastatic renal tumour in the right ventricular wall protruding into the ventricular cavity. The patient had presented years earlier with an ulnar neuropathy, for which the tumour may have been responsible. This case highlights the need to consider an underlying paraneoplastic syndrome in a patient presenting with neuropathy, because appropriate investigation could have led to early detection and possible cure of the renal lesion. When renal cell carcinoma is confined to the renal parenchyma, five-year survival is up to 70%, but this falls to 5% in the presence of distant metastases.
 ...
PMID:Cardiac metastasis from a renal cell carcinoma. 1284 53

A study was conducted of anterior chamber aqueous flare intensity in patients with esophagogastric malignancies. The subjects included 79 patients with upper alimentary tract malignancies (69 scheduled for surgery for the underlining cancer and 10 with metastases), 47 patients with stable ocular sarcoidosis, and 46 age-matched healthy volunteers. A laser cell-flare meter was used to measure flare intensity in patients and healthy controls. The average flare intensity before surgery in patients with cancer was 10.7 +/- 4.9 photon counts/millisecond (pc/ms), which was not statistically significantly different from that in patients with sarcoidosis (11.9 +/- 8.3 pc/ms) but was significantly higher (p < 0.0001) than that in healthy volunteers (4.3 +/- 1.3 pc/ms). The average flare intensity after surgery in patients with carcinomas was 7.5 +/- 2.5 pc/ms, which was significantly (p < 0.0001) lower than the preoperative value. These results suggest that alterations in aqueous flare intensity might represent a paraneoplastic syndrome in patients with esophagogastric carcinoma. If so, measurements of flare intensity may be helpful in the differential diagnosis and evaluation of the disease course of digestive tract cancer.
 ...
PMID:Paraneoplastic aqueous flare intensity in patients with esophagogastric carcinoma. 1285 36

Clinically manifest hyperthyroidism is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome in patients with excessive HCG production due to testicular cancer. A 40-year-old patient with right testicular cancer (teratoma, embryonal cell carcinoma), diffuse pulmonary metastases and high serum HCG levels presented with symptomatic hyperthyroidism. The patient received immediately thyrostatic therapy and 4 cycles of PEI chemotherapy (Cisplatin, Etoposide, Ifosfamide). Thyroid function had returned to normal by the beginning of the second course of chemotherapy. After right orchiectomy and resection of residual pulmonary masses which revealed vital tumor cells, two additional courses of chemotherapy were performed. The patient is well and without evidence of disease 11 months after therapy. All patients with testicular cancer and excessive HCG production should be evaluated for biochemical and clinical signs of hyperthyroidism and treated accordingly with antithyroidal medication and immediate cytoreductive chemotherapy.
 ...
PMID:[Paraneoplastic hyperthyroidism in a patient with metastasizing teratocarcinoma and excessively high HCG]. 1457 89

Cancers that cause disturbances of organs or tissues remote from the site of the tumor or its metastases are called paraneoplastic syndromes. The nervous system can be affected at virtually any site, including the neuromuscular junction (e.g., Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, myasthenia gravis). Paraneoplastic syndromes affecting the central nervous system are characterized by (1) high titers of antibodies that react with both the cancer and the affected portion of the nervous system, (2) specifically reacting T cells in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid, and (3) autopsy evidence of neuronal destruction, inflammatory infiltrates, and antibody penetration. Clinically, paraneoplastic syndromes affecting the central nervous system are usually subacute in onset, rapid in evolution, and cause severe damage, but generally stabilize after several months with or without treatment. Immune suppression does not appear to be particularly effective in treating these disorders. Treatment of the underlying cancer sometimes ameliorates symptoms.
 ...
PMID:Immunology of paraneoplastic syndromes: overview. 1459 73


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>