Preventive Effects of Zoledronic Acid on Bone Metastasis in Mice Injected with Human Breast Cancer Cells

Bisphosphonates are used routinely to reduce bone-related events in breast cancer patients with bone metastasis. We evaluated the effects of zoledronic acid, a third generation, nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate, to prevent bone metastasis in breast cancer. Zoledronic acid or vehicle alone was administered to nude mice either simultaneously or after intracardiac injection of human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Nude mice treated with zoledronic acid at early time points showed a lower incidence of bone metastases than did vehicle-treated nude mice, but these differences were not statistically significant. Only 37.5% of mice treated with zoledronic acid at the time of tumor cell inoculation developed bone metastases compared to over 51.8% of mice receiving vehicle alone (P = 0.304). Cell count of apoptosis confirmed by immunohistochemical staining in metastatic bone tissue significantly increased in the zoledronic acid-treated groups compared to non-treated group (1,018.3 vs 282.0; P = 0.046). However, metastatic tumor cells, which invade soft tissue around the bone, did not show extensive apoptosis; there were no differences between the zoledronic acid-treated and control groups. These results suggest that zoledronic acid increases apoptosis of metastatic breast tumor cells in the bone and could therefore reduce metastatic tumor burden. These results support the use of zoledronic acid to reduce the incidence of bone metastasis in breast cancer

Prognostic Significance of Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND:In patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms and haplotypes are reported to be associated with survival. We hypothesized that a similar association would be observed in patients with head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS:In a post-hoc analysis of our previous prospective cohort study, VDR polymorphisms including Cdx2 G/A (rs11568820), FokI C/T (rs10735810), BsmI A/G (rs1544410), ApaI G/T (rs7976091), and TaqI T/C (rs731236) were genotyped by sequencing in 204 consecutive patients with HNSCC who underwent tumor resection. Progression-free survival was compared between VDR polymorphisms using Kaplan-Meier survival curves with log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for age, gender, smoking status, primary tumor sites, postoperative stages, existence of residual tumor, and postoperative treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy. RESULTS:During a median follow-up of 1,047 days, tumor progression and death occurred in 76 (37.3%) and 27 (13.2%) patients, respectively. The FokI T/T genotype was associated with poor progression-free survival: median survival for T/T was 265 days compared with 1,127 days for C/C or C/T (log-rank test: P = 0.0004; adjusted hazard ratio, 3.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.62 to 5.67; P = 0.001). In contrast, the other polymorphisms (Cdx2, BsmI, ApaI, TaqI) showed no significant association with progression-free survival. The A-T-G (Cdx2-FokI-ApaI) haplotype demonstrated a significant association with a higher progression rate (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION:These results suggest that VDR polymorphisms and haplotypes may be associated with prognosis in patients with HNSCC, although the sample size is not large enough to draw definitive conclusions

Le financement informel. Problématique, typologie et évaluation à partir d'enquêtes à Marrakech et dans le Sud marocain

El Abdaimi Mohamed. Le financement informel. Problématique, typologie et évaluation à partir d'enquêtes à Marrakech et dans le Sud marocain. In: Tiers-Monde, tome 30, n°120, 1989. pp. 869-879