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Cervical cancer (CC) is a leading cause of death in women worldwide. Radiation therapy (RT) for CC is an effective alternative, but its toxicity remains challenging. Blueberry is amongst the most commonly consumed berries in the United States. We previously showed that resveratrol, a compound in red grapes, can be used as a radiosensitizer for prostate cancer. In this study, we found that the percentage of colonies, PCNA expression level and the OD value of cells from the CC cell line SiHa were all decreased in RT/Blueberry Extract (BE) group when compared to those in the RT alone group. Furthermore, TUNEL+ cells and the relative caspase-3 activity in the CC cells were increased in the RT/BE group compared to those in the RT alone group. The anti-proliferative effect of RT/BE on cancer cells correlated with downregulation of pro-proliferative molecules cyclin D and cyclin E. The pro-apoptotic effect of RT/BE correlated with upregulation of the pro-apoptotic molecule TRAIL. Thus, BE sensitizes SiHa cells to RT by inhibition of proliferation and promotion of apoptosis, suggesting that blueberry might be used as a potential radiosensitizer to treat CC.

Rhabdomyomatous mesenchymal hamartoma (RMH) is a rare congenital lesion of the dermis and subdermis. It has been described predominantly in newborns, with 30 cases reported in the English literature. Typically, it appears as a skin tag, papule, nodule or a mass involving the face or sternal notch. A 28-day-old girl presented with a 1.4×0.8 cm soft skin tag in the right sternoclavicular area. Physical examination revealed no congenital anomalies. A shaved biopsy showed that the core of the lesion contained striated muscle fibers mixed with hair follicles and sebaceous and eccrine glands. Thin epidermis lined the outside of the tag. We report a patient with a RMH in a site not previously reported and discuss the differential diagnosis.

Leiomyosarcomas of the breast are rare tumors. Less than 15 such cases have been reported in the literature so far. In this paper authors describe a case of leiomyosarcoma of a female breast presenting as a firm lobulated mass, mimicking a phylloid tumor radiographically. By fine needle aspiration biopsy, on the smears discohesive malignant looking cells were conclusive to a poorly differentiated invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast. The mastectomy specimen contained a lobulated mass, microscopically showing a partly epithelioid spindle cell tumor, immunoreactive for vimentin, desmin, smooth muscle actin antibodies, and negative for epithelial markers, hormone and growth factor receptors. Axillary lymph nodes were free of tumor. A primary leiomyosarcoma of the breast was diagnosed.

To investigate the relativity of MGMT(O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) gene methylation from patients with protein expression and osteosarcoma necrosis rate after chemotherapy. Fifty-one oteosarcoma tissues were collected, Methylation of MGMT gene promoter was detected by methylation-specific PCR method, and protein expression of MGMT was examined by immunohistochemistry procedure, the relationship between methylated MGMT gene expression and patients response to chemotherapy was analyzed. The positive ratio of methylation MGMT gene promoter in 51 patients was 23.5% (12 in 51). Negative percentage of protein expression of MGMT was 27.5% (14 in 51). It seemed that methylation of MGMT gene in osteosarcoma tissues had no evident relationship with the patient’s age, sexuality, and the size and type of neoplasms, etc. The necrosis rates of methylated MGMT of osteosarcoma (tumor grade from I to IV) were 0 (0/51), 3.9% (2/51), 5.9% (3/51), 13.7% (7/51), respectively. In contrast, the necrosis rates of unmethylated MGMT of osteosarcoma (tumor grade from I to IV) were 45.1% (23/51), 25.5% (13/51), 3.9% (2/51), 2.0% (1/51), respectively. It suggest that methylated and unmethylated MGMT gene of osteosarcoma have significant difference in protein expression. The unmethylated MGMT gene has higher positive protein expression (u = −4.92, P < 0.001). Methylation of MGMT gene has higher tumor necrosis rate in osteosarcoma patients. Methylation in MGMT promoter may be important for judging the effect of chemotherapy in Osteosarcoma patients.

As high sulfhydril levels were shown to reduce the action of agents causing tissue-injury, increasing glutathion concentrations may have cytoprotective potential. In this study the hepatoprotective effects of several derivatives of 4-carboxy-5,5-dimethyl thiazolidine, a modulator of glutathion metabolism were studied in rat liver damaged with CC14. It was found that 4(S) carboxy 5,5-dimethyl-2 (5′-nitro-2-furyl) thiazolidine (dimethyl-thiazolidine-nitrofuran: DTNF) had the most significant hepatoprotective action; therefore it was subjected to detailed investigation in various models for acute and chronic liver injury. This compound was shown to ameliorate allylalcohol induced liver injury in rats, galactosamine induced hepatitis of mice and CC14 induced chronic liver damage in rats. Our study on protein synthesis in primary hepatocyte suspension culture showed that cell injury induced by CCI4 could be reduced in the presence of this thiazolidine compound.

The −1131C is a naturally occurring variant of the apolipoprotein A5 (ApoA5) gene, which has been shown to associate with increased triglyceride levels. This variant has also been shown to confer risk for development of ischemic heart disease and stroke. The gene is in linkage disequilibrium with factors known to correlate with impaired glucose homeostasis. These observations prompted us to study the prevalence of the ApoA5 –1131C allele in patients with metabolic syndrome. A total of 201 metabolic syndrome patients and 210 controls were studied. In both groups the triglyceride levels of patients with −1131C allele were significantly increased compared to the subjects with −1131T allele (3.22 ±0.43 mmol/1 vs. 2.24 ±0.12 mmol/1, p<0.01 in the metabolic syndrome patients; 2.10 ±0.19 mmol/1 vs. 1.22 ±0.05 mmol/1, p<0.01 in the controls). In metabolic syndrome patients the prevalence of the ApoA5 –1131C variant was increased compared to the healthy controls (11% vs. 6.20%). Multiplex regression analysis model adjusted for age, gender, serum total cholesterol levels, acute myocardial infarction and stroke events revealed that the examined ApoA5 variant confers risk for the development of metabolic syndrome: the odds ratio at 95% confidence interval was 3.622 (1.200–10.936), p=0.02. Our findings strongly suggest that this variant is a risk factor for the development of hypertriglyceridemia and metabolic syndrome.

Merlin, the protein product of NF2 gene, is one of the most versatile tumor suppressors capable of integrating different mechanisms that regulate cell proliferation, motility, survival and signaling pathways underlying and governing those mechanisms. Merlin is considered a member of the band 4.1 families of cytoskeleton-associated proteins also called ERM family and acts as tumor suppressor. The main cause for transformation of Schwann cells into schwannomas is credited to the inactivation of the neurofibromin 2 (NF2) gene and the consecutive loss of its protein merlin. Recent scientific advances improved our understanding of pathogenic mechanisms involving NF2 gene. The present review brings genetic properties of NF2 gene, molecular characteristics of merlin, summarizes mutational spectra and explains merlin’s multifunctional roles regarding its involvement in neurofibromatosis associated tumorigenesis.

Breast cancer in the young is considered a special clinical presentation of the disease. Sixty-nine breast cancer cases diagnosed at or before the age of 35 were analyzed for common morphological and immunophenotypical features of basal-like carcinomas. Sixteen carcinomas displayed the immunophenotypical characteristics (estrogen receptor and HER2 negativity and positivity for at least one of the following basal markers: cytokeratin 5 or 14, epidermal growth factor receptor, p63) of basal-like carcinomas, and most of them demonstrated characteristic histological features (pushing borders, lymphocytic peritumoral infiltrate, central hypocellular zone or necrosis, high mitotic rate) too. These tumors were more likely to be high-molecular-weight cytokeratin: 34betaE12 and p53 positive by immunohistochemistry. The presence of a basal-like phenotype can be important as concerns systemic treatment issues and could theoretically be associated with a higher rate of BRCA1 mutations in the young, because of the overlap of BRCA1 mutation associated breast carcinomas and the basal-like phenotype.

Genetic variations in DNA repair genes may affect DNA repair capacity therefore increase risk for cancer. In our study, we evaluted the relation between DNA repair gene polymorphisms XRCC1 rs1799782, rs25487, rs25489; XPC rs2228000, rs2228001; XPD rs1799793, rs13181; XRCC3 rs861539; RAD51B rs10483813, rs1314913 and breast cancer risk for 202 Turkish cases in total, in which 102 patients with breast cancer and 100 controls. Genotyping of the DNA samples was carried out by multiplex PCR and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry with time of flight measurement (MALDI-TOF) using Sequenom MassARRAY 4 analyzer. Genotype and allele distributions were calculated between the groups. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. rs25487 AA genotype and A allele was found to be increased in the control group (respectively, OR 0.16 95% CI 0.02–1.06, p = 0.058; OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.01–2.36, p = 0.043) and rs861539 T allele was found to be decreased in the patient group (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.01–2.30, p = 0.049). No association with breast cancer was found for the remaining SNPs. Our findings suggest that XRCC1 rs25487 AA genotype and A allele, XRCC3 rs861539 T allele may have protective effects in breast cancer for Turkish population.