Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Plasma retinol levels and toxicity were evaluated in thirteen metastatic breast cancer patients treated orally with high-dose (300,000 I.U./day) retinyl acetate in combination with oral tamoxifen. Following the first dose of the drug, there was a drop of plasma retinol concentrations followed by a recovery to the pre-treatment levels and by a further increase to reach a plateau six to eight hours after drug administration. During the first two months of treatment cumulative increase of plasma retinol was seen, and long-term systemic concentrations in the +50-60% range level were maintained by the treatment. The toxicity observed was acceptable and included gastrointestinal symptoms, skin toxicity and headache. These toxicities could be related to the long-term increase of retinol systemic concentrations. We concluded that the daily dose of 300,000 I.U. retinyl acetate can be administered to cancer patients over a period of several months, is well tolerated and yields a substantial increase of systemic retinol.
 ...
PMID:Plasma retinol levels and side effects following high-dose retinyl acetate in breast cancer patients. 321 64

Vitamin A or its synthetic analogues are potent in controlling cell differentiation and in preventing epithelial cancer in experimental animals. Although some community-based studies have found that high serum retinol levels in prediagnostic sera were associated with reduced risk for cancer, other reports in humans have not confirmed this finding. This study is to evaluate the preoperative serum vitamin A level in breast cancer patients in Taiwan. The serum specimens were collected from 106 female cases of breast cancer (aged 30 to 70 years), 32 female cases of benign breast disease (aged 29 to 57 years), and 40 healthy females (aged 22 to 52 years). The serum vitamin A levels were measured by colorimetic analysis. The results showed the mean value of the vitamin A level was 140.4 +/- 65.7 micrograms/dl in the breast cancer group comparing to 145.2 +/- 44.2 micrograms/dl in the benign breast disease group, 144.0 +/- 30.0 micrograms/dl in the control group (P > 0.05). The characteristics of the breast cancer group were analyzed and they revealed that serum vitamin A levels did not bear statistically significant differences in age, duration, steroid receptor, tumor size and menopausal state. (P > 0.05) In conclusion, the serum vitamin A levels were not decreased in early breast cancer patients. The serum vitamin A levels were significantly decreased in the metastatic breast cancer group, especially in liver metastatic women. (P < 0.05). Postoperative vitamin A supplement may have potential benefit to metastatic breast cancer patients.
 ...
PMID:Serum vitamin A level in breast cancer patients. 983 62