Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0596263 (carcinogenesis)
 64,820 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumor that predominantly afflicts men over 50 years of age. Nearly 3000 MPMs are reported annually in the United States with the incidence expected to rise into the new millenium. Over the past 40 years, MPM has been unequivocally linked to asbestos exposure worldwide. Recently, however, a new theory on the carcinogenesis of this tumor has been proposed with the isolation of a simian virus (SV 40)-like gene sequence in mesothelioma tumor cells. The clinical presentation of MPM is variable, although most patients typically present with dyspnea, chest pain, or pleural effusion. Obtaining a diagnosis of MPM has been greatly assisted by video-assisted surgery and the use of immunohistochemistry and electron microscopic techniques, which help distinguish MPM from other tumor pathologies such as adenocarcinoma. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging have been also useful for determining tumor burden and resectability. Traditionally, strategies for the treatment of MPM have included supportive care, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Survival with supportive care alone ranges between 4 and 12 months. Single-modality therapy using traditional approaches (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) alone has failed to improve patient survival significantly. Recently, results using a multimodality approach have been favorable. In particular, cytoreductive surgery (pleuropneumonectomy) followed by sequential chemotherapy and radiotherapy have demonstrated improved survival, especially for patients with epithelial histology, negative resection margins, and no metastases to extrapleural lymph nodes. Innovative therapies such as the use of photodynamic, targeted cytokines and gene therapy are currently being investigated for management of MPM.
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PMID:Treatment of malignant mesothelioma. 1133 24

South Asians living in Western societies show a greater risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) than the indigenous Caucasian population, probably related to the change to a Westernised lifestyle and an associated genetic susceptibility. Modulation of DNA damage and mutation caused by polymorphisms in detoxification enzymes, including the glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), is a well-established risk factor for tobacco-related carcinogenesis, and a similar change in cellular damage may be involved in the risk of vascular disease associated with tobacco smoking. In this study we examined whether polymorphisms in GST genes influence the risk of CAD in a case-control group of South Asians, following our recent observation of such an association in Caucasians from the same region of the UK. Blood was obtained from 170 patients of South Asian origin admitted for angiographic investigation of chest pain and from 203 controls. Patients were subdivided into those with and without previous acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and DNA was analysed for deletions in the GSTM1 and GSTT1 genes. An association was found between the prevalence of the GSTM1 null genotype and the risk of developing CAD in this study population. The frequency of the null genotype was 52.7% in healthy controls and 41.2% in patients (odds ratio [OR] 0.63, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.42-0.95, p = 0.029). The effect was similar in subjects with or without a prior history of AMI. The association was also independent of smoking history, with both non-smokers and smokers showing a similar pattern of genotype distribution, the frequency of the null genotype being 51.2% in controls versus 37.0% in patients in 'never' smokers (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.33-0.94, p = 0.037) and 60.0% in controls versus 46.2% in patients in 'ever' smokers (OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.25-1.28, p = 0.223). The association remained after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index and the presence or absence of stenosis. No significant associations were observed between the GSTT1 genotype and cardiovascular disease (chi(2) test, p > 0.1). The results of this study indicate that the GSTM1 null genotype is protective against both CAD and AMI. However, further study is required in order to elucidate the, as yet unexplained, mechanisms underlying this association.
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PMID:Association between the risk of coronary artery disease in South Asians and a deletion polymorphism in glutathione S-transferase M1. 1251 35

Since the 1960's, CS has become the main riot control agent in use by police and army forces throughout the world. The first post-exposure symptom is a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat. At a later stage, lacrimation, rhinorrhea, conjunctivitis, sore throat and salivation appear. These symptoms are followed by chest pain and dry cough, and if the substance is swallowed, it may cause nausea and vomiting. This article reviews the physical properties of CS, the main dispersing techniques, the clinical signs and symptoms of exposure, including information on mutagenicity, carcinogenesis, pregnancy safety, and will introduce guidelines for treatment after exposure.
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PMID:[Medical aspects of the lacrimator CS]. 1285 35

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disorder caused by a single nucleotide substitution in the beta-globin gene. The clinical heterogeneity observed in SCD patients has been attributed to environmental and genetic factors. The patients are subjected to increased oxidative stress, particularly during vaso-occlusive crises and acute chest pain. Another possible cause of oxidative stress in SCD is the high concentration of iron in the patients' plasma. The increase in oxidative stress could be a relevant risk factor for mutagenesis and carcinogenesis. Studies on the frequency of basal chromosomal aberrations in cultured lymphocytes from SCD patients have not been reported so far. In order to contribute to the understanding of the role of the different biomarkers and their relationship with the extremely variable clinical manifestation of SCD, we investigated the frequency of chromosome damage in peripheral lymphocytes from sickle cells patients and healthy controls. We found an increased frequency of chromosome damage and percentage of aberrant metaphases in these patients when compared with control subjects, even at basal values (p<0.05). In the cytogenetic sensitivity assay, the results showed that these patients presented a marked decrease in the mitotic index values compared with healthy controls. Cisplatin-induced chromosomal damage in lymphocytes from these patients was significantly higher than the frequency measured in healthy controls. The results obtained in the present study showed that more investigations are needed in order to elucidate the susceptibility to genomic instability of SCD patients.
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PMID:Sensitivity to cisplatin-induced mutations and elevated chromosomal aberrations in lymphocytes from sickle cell disease patients. 1838 38

Aim: Small single-stranded non-coding RNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in carcinogenesis through degrading target mRNAs. However, the diagnostic value of miRNAs was not explored in lung cancers. In this study, a support-vector-machine (SVM) model for diagnosis of lung cancer was established based on plasma miRNAs biomarkers, clinical symptoms and epidemiology material. Methods: The expressions of plasma miRNA were examined with SYBR Green-based quantitative real-time PCR. Results: We identified that the expressions of 10 plasma miRNAs (miR-21, miR-20a, miR-210, miR-145, miR-126, miR-223, miR-197, miR-30a, miR-30d, miR-25), smoking status, fever, cough, chest pain or tightness, bloody phlegm, haemoptysis, were significantly different between lung cancer and control groups (P<0.05). The accuracies of the combined SVM, miRNAs SVM, symptom SVM, combined Fisher, miRNAs Fisher and symptom Fisher were 96.34%, 80.49%, 84.15%, 84.15%, 75.61%, and 80.49%, respectively; AUC of these six model were 0.976, 0.841, 0.838, 0.865, 0.750, and 0.801, respectively. The accuracy and AUC of combined SVM were higher than the other 5 models (P<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings indicate that SVM model based on plasma miRNAs biomarkers may serve as a novel, accurate, noninvasive method for auxiliary diagnosis of lung cancer.
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PMID:Diagnostic Value of Plasma MicroRNAs for Lung Cancer Using Support Vector Machine Model. 3160 61