Revista de investigación traslacional en oncología

Colorectal cancer is the second cause of death in Spain (20% diagnosed in stage IV), improving survival in recent years thanks to chemotherapy and metastatic surgeries. With regard to a patient diagnosed with native stage IV KRAS colon adenocarcinoma (peritoneal, hepatic), the subject of cytoreduction with HIPEC (intraperitoneal hyperthermic chemotherapy) and the factors that influence the tumor response are reviewed.

In spite of ovarian cancer mortality rates have tended to level off and decrease during the last years in several countries, the disease is still the gynecological cancer with the highest death rate. The current therapies for ovarian cancer include surgery and chemotherapy based on platinum and a taxane. Nevertheless, these therapies are only efficient at the first stages of the disease and the treatments are lack of specificity, further contributing to the high mortality rates of ovarian cancer. The adult laying hen is a very interesting model for studying the development of the epithelial ovarian cancer since hen develops intense ovulation, spontaneous ovarian cancers and metabolic progression similar to women. It is known that normal chicken cells and human cells have no metabolic pathway for NeuGc biosynthesis due to a partial deletion in the gene that encodes CMP-Neu5Ac hydroxylase. Gangliosides are interesting type of molecules, different from proteins that have been identified as tumor antigens. Mammalian cells have these types of glycosphingolipids on their plasmatic membranes. Due to gangliosides are over-expressed in many tumors compared with the corresponding normal tissues, they are considered as very attractive compounds for immunotherapy, attributing to them a very important role in the growth and metastatic tumor processes. The aim of this study is to elucidate by immunohistochemistry the existence of NeuGc-GM3 in hen ovarian cancers. Slides with normal and cancer ovarian tissues from 3.5 years old chickens were incubated with the very specific anti- NeuGcGM3 ganglioside 14F7 Mab for immunohistochemical studies. These studies showed that the 14F7 Mab immunorecognition was mainly evidenced in epithelial ovarian tumors and not in normal tissues. The presence of NeuGc-containing gangliosides in chicken and human epithelial ovarian cancers makes the chicken an interesting and relevant animal model for further experimental and translational investigations on ganglioside based immunotherapy.

There is much evidence that gliomas are caused by progressive ischemia, followed by increasing and prolonged hypoxia very close to the subventricular zone. In this way, hypoxia on immature glial cells is the primary cause in gliomas genesis. The ischemic process caused by atherosclerosis, anatomical variants of the arteries in the affected area and associated with carcinogenic agents are the harmful factors. While cytotoxic hypoxia triggers a reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction in the glial progenitor cells. Consequently, cellular impairment caused by ROS alters the cell cycle phases and provokes genesis of low-grade glioma. Subsequently, its progression causes angiogenesis and higher-grade cancer cells. Then, the vascular recanalization through aspirin is the indicated therapy to reduce the ischemic process by increasing blood flow and oxygen in the affected zone. Therefore, we must fight against the genesis of atherosclerosis and thus decrease the incidence of “neurodegenerative” diseases and cancer.

The purpose of this study was to identify effects of abdominal skin massage and warming therapy on the pain and anxiety to breast cancer patients who underwent hormone injections. The results of this study indicate that abdominal skin massage and warming therapy were highly effective in alleviating pain and anxiety in patients who underwent hormone injections.