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 685,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

From this brief review is should be evident that the hereditary varieties of common cancers are characterized by a high degree of genetic heterogeneity. The specific types of hereditary cancers can be identified by focusing on the histologic types and sites of involvement, not only of the primary neoplasm, but also of associated neoplasms and associated conditions or stigmata, as well as by focusing on the age of the patient at the time of diagnosis, tumor localization and frequency, and the mode of inheritance. Identification of specific types of hereditary cancers has important utility as a means of isolating homogeneous groups of patients and unaffected relatives for studies aimed at elucidating the mechanisms of carcinogenesis.
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PMID:Familial cancer and cancer families. 34 50

To evaluate the immunologic surveillance theory of cancer, we reviewed the epidemiologic observations that have been made on cancer risk among population groups with immune deficiency. Lymphoproliferative neoplasms predominate in various groups, most notably renal transplant recipients treated with immunosuppressive agents and patients with primary immunodeficiency syndromes. In some immune disorders, specific forms of nonlymphoid neoplasia seem to occur excessively, although the patterns are not clear-cut or consistent. The available epidemiologic evidence fails to support the concept that immunosurveillance mechanisms are generally involved in carcinogenesis but does provide clues to immunologic processes that may predispose to particular neoplasms.
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PMID:Immunosurveillance and cancer: epidemiologic observations. 34

Environmental lung injury may take the form of acute tracheobronchitis, asthma, pulmonary edema, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, allergic pneumonitis, fibrosing alveolitis, pleurisy, and neoplastic disease. Environmental factors eliciting these responses include irritant gases and fumes, oxidants, organic allergens, inorganic dust, bacterial enzymes, and high partial pressures of oxygen. The basic pulmonary reactions to these toxic agents--bronchoconstriction, vasoconstriction, increased vascular permeability, inflammation, carcinogenesis--may be mediated, aggravated, or modulated by biologically active substances. These humoral agents include biogenic amines (e.g. histamine): peptides (e.g., bradykinin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and spasmogenic lung peptide); enzymes (e.g., proteases, superoxide dismutase, and mixed function oxidases); and acidic lipids (e.g., prostaglandins, prostaglandin endoperoxides, and thromboxanes).
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PMID:Environmental injury of the lung: role of humoral mediators. 35 83

Saccharin is carcinogenic for the urinary bladder in rats and mice, and most likely is carcinogenic in human beings. The neoplasms of the urinary bladder are malignant and invade and metastasize. Male rats are more susceptible to urinary bladder carcinogenesis than female rats. Rats exposed as fetuses develop neoplasms more readily than rats exposed as weanlings. The lesions in the urinary bladder go through the stages of hyperplasia, hyperplastic nodules, and later carcinomas. The male of the human species ingesting saccharin, as for rats, is more susceptible to carcinogenesis of the urinary bladder than the female. Neoplasms of the urinary bladder in rats were not caused by stones, parasites, sodium, or impurities. There is a cocarcinogenic effect between saccharin and methylnitrosurea for the urinary bladder. Even through carcinomas of the urinary bladder are present in rats given the higher doses of saccharin, one was observed in a female rat given 0.5%. Chronic renal disease develops in rats ingesting saccharin. The disease is more advanced at the lower doses than at the higher doses, suggesting that saccharin at the lower doses does not reach the urinary bladder. Early neoplasms are seen in the renal pelvis of rats given the higher doses of saccharin. The risk ratios for urinary bladder carcinomas in human beings increase with both frequency andduration of saccharin usage. Benign and malignant neoplasms at all sites are significantly increased in mice and rats ingesting the higher doses of saccharin. These neoplasms are present in the reproductive and hematopoietic systems, and to a lesser extent in the lungs, vascular system and squamous epithelium. Neoplasms in some organs develop with the lower doses of saccharin. Lymphosarcomas of the lung are significantly increased in rats given 0.01% saccharin. Chronic renal disease in rats given saccharin interferes with the health and life span and consequently with development of neoplasms. Saccharin initiates neoplasms of the skin when its application is followed by croton oil. Epidemiological studies have not been done for neoplasms other than the urinary bladder in human beings.
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PMID:Carcinogenicity of saccharin. 36 8

Although it is commonly said that only a small proportion of childhood cancers are caused by environmental exposures, much has been learned about exogenous carcinogens through study of their effects or noneffects in children: 1. Ionizing radiation poses some risk no matter how small the dose. 2. Concepts about the viral etiology of cancer have had to be adapted to fit observations in children concerning candidate viruses. 3. Transplacental chemical carcinogenesis has become a reality and poses an increasing threat as chemical pollution worsens. 4. Questions have been raised about the risk of breast feeding in (at present) rare instances when the mother has been heavily exposed to chemicals that are excreted in the fat of breast milk. 5. A few drugs administered to children induce cancers within the pediatric age-span. The pediatrician must take action not only against exogenous agents that induce cancer while the patient is under his care, but also against exposures that begin in utero and lie latent or accumulate throughout life to give rise to cancers in the years or decades ahead. There is much more to carcinogenesis than the effects of the environment. Important information has been gained about the origins of cancer and about human biology in general through studies of children who are unusually susceptible to certain forms of neoplasia. Knowing the mechanisms involved may lead to new modes of treatment, to screening tests for environmental carcinogens or to methods for detecting cancer early enough for treatment to be life-saving.
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PMID:Environmental causes of cancer in childhood. 36 43

A well-documented rationale exists for the study of the induction of cancer at the cellular level. Transformation can be quantitated; its frequency follows a linear relationship with dose and is consistent with a "one-hit" phenomenon. Transformed colonies do produce transformed lines with attributes of neoplastic cells including the production of tumors; in vitro activity correlates with in vivo activity to provide evidence that chemically induced carcinogenesis can be studied in vitro. In vitro techniques utilizing mammalian cells in culture have made possible the rapid evaluation of carcinogenicity of agents in man's environment. Neoplastic transformation is inductive and not the result of the selection of preexisting tumor cells. The addition of a host-mediated step in the bioassay makes it possible to decrease the number of false negatives, which may result from the requirement for metabolic activation of the chemical. Thus the in vitro studies described have a high probability of providing practical methods for determining which chemicals in use have a potential of producing cancer. Furthermore, the nature of the cell-target insult interaction can be determined, as well as the chemical nature of the ultimate carcinogen, the degree to which any agent acts alone, be it a chemical, a virus, or irradiation, and the extent to which one agent interacts with another from the same or a different category of carcinogens. Sequential treatment involving chemicals, viruses, and radiation are important, since combinations of various agents may be responsible for an increased risk of cancer in laboratory animals and human populations. The use of multiple agents may also lead to different but specific new types of assays to use for surveillance of our environment for carcinogenic agents. Pretreatment of Syrian golden hamster embryo cells with either X-irradiation or methyl methanesulfonate, but not UV-irradiation, increases the frequency of chemical transformation as does posttreatment with caffeine. Most, if not all, chemical carcinogens will increase the sensitivity of hamster embryo cells to transformation by a carcinogenic simian adenovirus SA7. The enhancement of virus transformation is related to both the length of chemical treatment and the interval between chemical and viral addition. The mechanism of transformation enhancement by various agents has yet to be explained. They may affect a number of molecular processes or cause a modification of existing DNA and thus provide an explanation for carcinogenesis; in fact, in some systems some of these agents may also show mutagenic activity and produce chromosomal aberrations, However, although DNA is the critical site for a mutagen, the critical target(s) of chemical carcinogens is still unknown.
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PMID:In vitro carcinogenesis with cells in early passage. 37 16

Neither immunologic nor genetic concepts of carcinogenesis have yet been decisively confirmed, and epigenetic theories, as formulated so far, are either non-predictive or insufficiently consistent with morphologic and experimental evidence. Computing data, concerned with carcinogenic mechanisms and neoplastic changes at the level of the endoplasmic reticulum, may lead to a new coherent understanding of tumor pathogenesis. Carcinogenic agents initiate biophysical perturbations, chemical alterations and conformational transitions in the membrane lattice of the endoplasmic reticulum. Foremost among the resulting neoplastic changes is an increased, irreversible separation of polyribosomes from membranes of the ergastoplasm. The carcinogenic process, apparently, deletes a protein required for polysome attachment. Since microsomal cytochromes can be synthesized by membrane-bound polysomes only, the translation of genetic information for their biosynthesis is irreversibly restricted. A similar, self-perpetuating deficiency may be postulated for the polysome attachment protein. Activities, depending on cytochromes P-450 and b5, are hampered, e.g. those of the monoxygenase system. Cholesterogenesis is derepressed. Ratios of phospholipids/cholesterol are decreased, and lipid-protein complexes, altered both in structure and function. Another distinct effect of the membrane-polysome separation is the unmasking of thiol-disulfide exchange enzymes which, in turn, stimulate the biosyntehsis of proteins and of deoxyribonucleotides involved in cell replication.
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PMID:Microsomal aspects of carcinogenesis and neoplasia. 37 54

Clinical observations and epidemiologic studies indicate that the sun is the primary stimus for most human skin can formation. However, investigations directly confirming this association as well as defining the action spectra, time-dose relationships, energy level requirements, etc., have been confined to animal experimentation. Studies in which gross methods are used indicate that the experimental carcinogenic action spectrum falls primarily between 280 and 320 nm. Quantitative studies and tumor promotion investigations indicate that UV-induced cancer formation begins with the initial exposure. Heat, wind, and moisture stimulate UV carcinogenesis. Also, exogenous chemicals may influence carcinogenesis as photosensitizers such as 8-MOP, as additive carcinogens as noted with DMBA, or as promoters as described for Croton oil, retinoic acid, and BCNU. Qualitative studies indicate that progressive alterations occur in the epidermal-dermal basement membrane and dermal conncecive tissue and mucopolysaccharides associated with the progressive development of epidermal cancers. Malignant melanomas have also been induced experimentally in hairless mice with UV energy. Mechanistically, immunologic alterations and effects on DNA have received the most attention. Tumor-specific antigenicity as well as antigen deletion has been demonstrated. Immune suppression by antilymphocyte serum and certain chemicals has led to stimulation of tumor development. Perhaps the most exciting new information relates to the demonstration that chronically UV-irradiated mice have not rejected highly antigenic UV-induced cancers. This indicated that UV irradiation specifically altered the immunologic responses of the animals to these tumors. Within recent years, the influence of DNA injury and repair on cutaneous carcinogenesis has received a great deal of attention. This has been partly due to the demonstration of defective repair of UV-induced DNA damage in patients with XP. The primary photosensitive problem in these patients is an inordinate sensitivity to the carcinogenic effects of sunlight. However, correlation of DNA injury and repair directly with cancer formation has not been accomplished.
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PMID:Photocarcinogenesis: a review. 38 36

A series of studies pertaining to perinatal carcinogenesis have been reviewed. Their main objective was development and definition of a sensitivity biologic model for carcinogenicity screening. Data were summarized on factors modifying the carcinogenic response of various tissues following transplacental, neonatal-infant, or adult exposure of (B57BL/6J X C3HeB/FeJ)F1 mice to a single administration of ENU. In addition, tumor response of mice treated during specific perinatal age periods with DEN, BP, aflatoxin B1, benzidine . 2HCl, DDT, dieldrin, and safrole were analyzed. The results revealed that the age of the animals at the time of carcinogenic exposure has been the most effective modulator of carcinogenesis in liver, lung, stomach, ovary, and lymphoreticular tissues. Infancy proved to be the most susceptible period to carcinogenesis as demonstrated by a great variety of tissues that responded to treatment and the incidence of tumors which developed. Depending on the nature of carcinogen, variation in organ sites undergoing carcinogenesis was considerable, apparently due to difference in their enzymatic competence to activate and metabolize the agent. Thus a single treatment with ENU, a spontaneously activated type of procarcinogen, induced 59 primary types of tumors in 22 tissues. In contrast, treatment of infants by procarcinogens requiring enzymatic activation led to development of tumors only at a limited number of tissue sites. However, regardless of the type of carcinogen used, the liver consistently responded with development of tumors. Detailed morphologic and biologic evaluations of the induced liver tumors demonstrated in addition to the benign neoplastic variety, the presence of the frank malignant tumors. The character of tumors was dependent not only on carcinogenicity of the agent used but also on the age of mice at the time of carcinogenic treatment. Perinatally induced primary liver tumors showed greater tendency to metastasize and were more readily transplantable into an isogeneic host than those induced at later age periods. Data showed the advantage of prenatal and/or postnatal treatment in combination of life-long exposures to test agents as a more sensitive bioassay system in comparison with solely postweaning treatment. Because the early age period is the most sensitivity life phase to carcinogenesis, it appears to be a good model for prescreening various potential carcinogens, especially when only small amounts of test substances are available. The importance of the proper relationship of such bioassay to the other test systems regarding assessment of potential human risk has been emphasized.
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PMID:Neoplastic response of mouse tissues during perinatal age periods and its significance in chemical carcinogenesis. 38 63

The carcinogenic process is usually multifactor in its causation and multistep in its evolution. It is likely that entirely different molecular mechanisms underlie the many steps in this process. In contrast to initiating carcinogens, the action of the tumor-promoting phorbol esters does not appear to involve covalent binding to cellular DNA and they are not mutagenic. Recent studies in cell culture have revealed two interesting biologic effects of the phorbol esters and related macrocyclic plant diterpenes. The first is that at nanomolar concentrations they induce several changes that resemble those seen in cells transformed by chemical carcinogens or tumor viruses. These include altered morphology and increased saturation density, altered cell surface fucose-glycopeptides, decrease in the LETS protein, increased transport of deoxyglucose, and increased levels of plasminogen activator and ornithine decarboxylase. In transformed cells exposed to phorbol esters the expression of these features is further accentuated. Phorbol esters do not induce normal cells to grow in agar but they do enhance the growth in agar of certain transformed cells. The second effect of the phorbol esters is inhibition of terminal differentiation. This effect extends to a variety of programs of differentiation and is reversible when the agent is removed. With certain cell culture systems induction of differentiation, rather than inhibition, is observed. Both the transformation mimetic and the differentiation effects are exerted by plant diterpenes that have tumor-promoting activity but not by congeners that lack such activity. The primary target of phorbol esters appears to be the cell membrane. Early membrane-related effects include enhanced uptake of 2-deoxyglucose and other nutrients, altered cell adhesion, induction of arachidonic acid release and prostaglandin synthesis, inhibition of the binding of epidermal growth factor to cell surface receptors, altered lipid metabolism, and modifications in the activities of other cell surface receptors. A model of "two stage" carcinogenesis encompassing the known molecular and cellular effects of initiating carcinogens and tumor promoters is presented. According to this model, initiating carcinogens induce stable alterations in the cellular genome but these are not manifested until tumor promoters modulate programs of gene expression and induce the clonal outgrowth of the initiated cell.
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PMID:Action of phorbol esters in cell culture: mimicry of transformation, altered differentiation, and effects on cell membranes. 39 70


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