Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0242379 (lung cancer)
 71,905 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

One of the most widely studied carcinogenic agents in the environment is the polycyclic hydrocarbon, benzo(a) pyrene. As a component of soot from the inefficient combustion of coal, its association with cancer can be traced back 200 years, but its possible relevance to lung cancer as a widely distributed air relevance to lung cancer as a widely distributed air pollutant has been investigated only during the past 25 years. Domestic coal fires have been shown to be important sources, and smaller amounts come from industrial sources and from motor vehicles. There is evidence now that the concentration of benzo (a) pyrene in large towns in Britain has decreased by a factor of about ten during the last few decades, as a result of changing heating methods and smoke control. In view of the overwhelming effect of cigarette smoking, it is difficult to determine whether the benzo(a)pyrene content of the air has had any importnat effect on the development of lung cancer, but careful analysis of trends in mortality may now throw some light on this. Among other materials with carcinogenic properties that may be dispersed into the general air, asbestos is the one that has been investigated most thoroughly. The association between exposure to asbestos and the development of lung cancer and mesothelioma of the pleura has been clearly demonstrated among people occupationally exposed to the dust, but as far as the general public is concerned, any risk may be limited to the immediate vicinity of major sources. These and other hazards demonstrated among occupational gropus serve as a warning however to maintain careful scutiny of urban air pollutants in relation to the acetiology of cancer.
 ...
PMID:Coal fires, industrial emissions and motor vehicles as sources of environmental carcinogens. 6 45

Six cases of primary lung cancer that closely mimic malignant pleural mesothelioma clinically and anatomically are compared with four proven cases of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Findings on roentgenograms of the chest, clinical history, and gross examination of the lung specimens are not helpful in distinguishing between these two neoplasms. Microscopic examination of the hematoxylin and eosin-stained tissues is often inconclusive. Tissues were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, PAS with and without diastase treatment (DPAS), mucicarmine, alcian blue, toluidine blue, and colloidal iron with and without digestion by testicular hyaluronidase. Among these histochemical methods, DPAS was found to be particularly useful in distinguishing the primary lung cancers from the mesotheliomas. All primary lung cancers except one showed DPAS-positive material (mucin) in both the cytoplasm of the cancer cells and within the lumina of neoplastic glands. In contrast, none of the mesotheliomas showed the presence of DPAS-positive material. Histologically, all lung cancers were glandular. Five were classified as bronchiolar carcinoma, the remaining one as poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. In two of the bronchiolar carcinomas, a small subpleural primary focus was demonstrated. This finding suggests a possible origin of these cancers as a small subpleural tumor that became widely disseminated via the subpleural lymphatics. This form of primary lung cancer possesses sufficient gross and microscopic characteristics that recognition should be given to it as a variant of primary lung cancer, with emphasis on differentiating it from pleural mesothelioma.
 ...
PMID:Pseudomesotheliomatous carcinoma of the lung. A variant of peripheral lung cancer. 17 52

For 43 poorly differentiated lung carcinomas we compared cytopathologic diagnoses made on specimens obtained prior to biopsy with histologic and electron microscopic diagnoses. Tissues were obtained by transbronchial biopsy, mediastinoscopy o pulmonary resection. Cytologies, tissues and electron micrographs were reviewed independently and blindly by five pathologists and one cytotechnologist. The cytologic, histologic and electron microscopic diagnoses agreed in 27 cases (62.7%), including adenocarcinoma (12), squamous carcinoma (five), oat cell carcinoma (six), mesothelioma (two) and adenosquamous carcinoma (two). In 14 cases the cytopathologic diagnoses had more accurately reflected the cell type ultimately diagnosed by electron microscopy than had the histologic diagnoses. Of ten poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas, eight had been interpreted as large-cell undifferentiated carcinomas, one as squamous carcinoma and one as poorly differentiated carcinoma histologically. Four poorly differentiated squamous carcinomas had been histologically diagnosed as giant cell, oat cell, undifferentiated carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. In these cases the previous cytologic diagnoses had been in agreement with the ultimate electron microscopic interpretation. The accuracy of cytodiagnoses may exceed that of histologic diagnoses in poorly differentiated lung cancer.
 ...
PMID:Cytologic, histologic and electron microscopic correlations in poorly differentiated primary lung carcinoma. A study of 43 cases. 23 65

Among a cohort of 544 men with at least 20 years of employment in chrysotile mining and milling at Thetford Mines, Canada, 16% of the deaths were from lung cancer and 15% from asbestosis. The excess over expected deaths from these causes account for 43 of 178 deaths in the group. The risk of death of asbestosis, at equal times fron onset of exposure, is very similar in miners and millers, factory workmen and insulators. The ratio of observed to expected deaths from lung cancer is similar in the miners and millers and factory workers, but higher in insulators. The risk of death of mesothelioma in miners and millers is decidedly less than the other two groups. The exact causes of the reduced risk in this category are not yet completely clarified.
 ...
PMID:Long-term mortality experience of chrysotile miners and millers in Thetford Mines, Quebec. 29 61

In several large groups of workers employed in chemical plants, chest x-ray abnormalities (small irregular opacities and/or pleural changes) of the type known to be induced by asbestos were found in a proportion of those examined. A cross-sectional study of maintenance workers in a large chemical plant was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of asbestosis; 185 workers were examined. Radiologic evidence of parenchymal interstitial fibrosis was found in 24% of those examined; in 10% of workers, parenchymal fibrosis was the only abnormality. Pleural fibrosis and/or calcification was found in the absence of parenchymal fibrosis in 14% of cases; in another 14% of workers, both parenchymal and pleural abnormalities were detected. The prevalence was significantly higher in those employed 20 or more years. Pleural abnormalities were more prevalent than were parenchymal changes. The increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma remains to be studied.
 ...
PMID:Asbestos disease in maintenance workers of the chemical industry. 29 63

The mortality from 1946 to 1975 of over 900 North Italian chrysotile asbestos workers first employed between 1930 and 1965 has been studied. Nine deaths were certified as attributable to asbestosis, and eleven to lung cancer. One death was attributed to mesothelioma of pleura but this diagnosis was not supported by histological examination. Comparison with the national figures for all Italy did not reveal an excess of deaths from lung cancer but during the last quinquennium of observation, the SMR for lung cancer rose to 206. Simulation experiments enabled a dust index in fibre/years to be attached to each man in the cohort. All but two of the deaths from lung cancer occurred in the higher exposure group. The relative risk of lung cancer in this group was 2.89. The eleven workers who died from lung cancer were all cigarette smokers. A further period of observation is required to monitor the mortality of the surviving workers.
 ...
PMID:Mortality of chrysotile asbestos workers at the Balangero Mine, Northern Italy. 50 Jul 77

1. Pleural fluid contained protein-bound hyaluronic acid, protein-bound chondroitin sulfate, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, undersulfated chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate. The composition of acid glycosaminoglycans in pleural fluid seems to reflect the rate of biosynthesis and degradation of these polysaccharides at some sites which are closely related to the pleural cavity. 2. A possibility was suggested that hyaluronic acid was synthesized in pleural tissue and was excreted shortly thereafter into the surroundings, as evidenced by experiments with rabbit pleural tissue. 3. In human, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate and heparan sulfate were found in thickened pleurae caused by lung cancer, in those caused by asbestosis and also in tumor tissues of pleural mesothelioma. The molecular size of hyaluronic acid from pleural mesothelioma was found to be larger than that from human unbilical cord. 4. Quantification and histochemical study of acid glycosaminoglycans demonstrated that the quantity of hyaluronic acid in tissue specimens of mesothelioma by far exceeded that in non-mesothelioma cases (statistically significant). 5. Thus a possibility was suggested that histochemical investigation together with microquantitation of hyaluronic acid in pleural tissue may prove to be an efficient means of differential diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma. 6. Definite conclusion on the relationship between the fluctuation with time in quantity of acid glycosaminoglycans of the effusions and etiology of pleurisy awaits further investigations.
 ...
PMID:A study on acid glycosaminoglycans in pleural diseases. 54 21

Of 210 patients who underwent pleurodesis with iodized talc or kaolin 14 to 40 years previously, all but 11 were traced. There was no increased incidence of lung cancer and no case of mesothelioma.
 ...
PMID:A survey of the long-term effects of talc and kaolin pleurodesis. Research Committee of the British Thoracic Association and the Medical Research Council Pneumoconiosis Unit. 55 61

Quantitative impairment of lymphocyte responses to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) has been demonstrated in six (21%) out of twenty-eight patients with asbestos-associated pulmonary fibrosis, in comparison with a group of unexposed normal controls. The impairment tended to occur in patients with fairly severe fibrosis, comparatively short duration of exposure to asbestos dust and with increases in serum immunoglobulin levels. One patient with asbestosis and an associated bronchial carcinoma also had depressed lymphocyte responses to PHA. These findings suggest a relationship between defective T-lymphocyte function and the fibrotic response in asbestosis. Whether it is also linked with the development of lung cancer, occurring either before or at a pre-clinical stage of tumour growth, and is of value in identifying patients especially at risk should now be explored in longitudinal studies. However, eight out of ten patients with asbestos-associated pleural mesothelioma and without lung fibrosis showed no evidence of impaired cellular immunity, either by in vitro testing with PHA or by vivo delayed hypersensitivity skin testing, indicating that impaired T-lymphocyte function is unlikely to be a common finding in all types of asbestos-associated malignancy.
 ...
PMID:Lymphocyte responses to phytohaemagglutinin in patients with asbestosis and pleural mesothelioma. 64 28

Adriamycin is a new anticancer antibiotic with a wide spectrum of activity against solid tumours. The results obtained with this agent in 159 patients with histologically confirmed advanced metastastic malignancies are reported. Encouraging results were obtained in patients with sarcomas of bone and soft tissue (12/22). Response was also seen in mesothelioma (3/9) and lung cancer (5/15). A variety of other neoplasms was also treated and results obtained in neuroblastoma, testicular tumours, stomach carcinoma, breast cancer and nephroblastoma are reported. Treatment is discussed, with reference to response rates and toxicity. Results in 72 patients with advanced breast cancer, who received adriamycin in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents, are presented. Seventeen patients with primary liver cancer were also treated with adriamycin. To date, this is the only chemotherapeutic agent that appears to significantly improve survival times in patients with this resistant form of cancer. The prophylactic use of adriamycin against osteogenic sarcoma is also discussed.
 ...
PMID:Adriamycin in the treatment of cancer. 125 Dec 78


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