Role of circulating mirnas in therapeutic response in epithelial ovarian cancer: A systematic revision

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most lethal cancers worldwide, mostly due to nonspecific symptoms and a lack of screening tests, which, taken together, contribute to delayed diagnosis and treatment. The current clinical biomarker is serum CA-125, which allows the identification of most advanced primary and relapsed disease and correlates with disease burden; however, as well highlighted in the literature, CA-125 often lacks sensitivity and specificity, and is not helpful in monitoring chemotherapeutic response or in predicting the risk of relapse. Given that, the identification of novel biomarkers able to foster more precise medical approaches and the personalization of patient management represents an unmet clinical requirement. In this context, circulating miRNAs may represent an interesting opportunity as they can be easily detected in all biological fluids. This is particularly relevant when looking for non-invasive approaches that can be repeated over time, with no pain and stress for the oncological patient. Given that, the present review aims to describe the circulating miRNAs currently identified as associated with therapeutic treatments in OC and presents a complete overview of the available evidence

Synthesis, molecular modeling and biological evaluation of two new chicoric acid analogs

Two conformationally constrained compounds similar to chicoric acid but lacking the catechol and carboxyl groups were prepared. In these analogues, the single bond between the two caffeoyl fragments has been replaced with a chiral oxirane ring and both aromatic residues modified protecting completely or partially the catechol moiety as methyl ether. Preliminary molecular modelling studies carried out on the two analogues showed interactions near the active site of HIV integrase; however, in comparison with raltegravir, the biological evaluation confirmed that CAA-1 and CAA-2 were unable to inhibit infection at lower concentration

Malignant Bowel Obstruction in Ovarian Cancer Recurrence: The Role of Palliative Surgery in a Decision-Making Process

Background: Malignant bowel obstruction (MBO) is often the latest stage in ovarian cancer (OC). The therapy of this condition ranges from medical waiting to surgery. The objective of this pilot study is to compare the two strategies so that we can provide a path forward for future studies. Methods: From 700 women diagnosed with OC in the database of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology we crossed the names of those admitted by the emergency services of the IRCSS Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria of Bologna, Italy. We selected MBO patients with a history of OC as the only neoplastic condition and compared the results between medical conduct and surgery to restore intestinal transit. Results: Of the 700 women in our database, 36 were eligible for study according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria: 9 in surgery group and 27 in medical group. Surgical conduct (tumor biopsy and stoma) appears to be resolutory for the obstruction and have a better result than medical therapy regarding recurrence of MBO, despite the development of greater complications. Relapses of MBOs occurred in 11% of surgical patients and 44% of medical patients (p = 0.0714). Furthermore, after surgical treatment, five patients (55%) experienced postoperative complications; in four cases, severe anemia requiring blood transfusion, while one patient developed post-surgical sepsis, which evolved into multiple organ failure and death. Of the 9 patients treated surgically, 2 (22%) were given surgery as a first choice. In most cases (78%), surgery was decided upon when medical treatment failed. The only discriminative factor appears to be age. The length of hospitalization increased with the patient’s age (p = 0.0181) as statistically significant factors for a worse outcome in surgery. Conclusions: MBO requires complex and multidisciplinary management where different factors need to be considered before initiating surgical therapy. Future studies are needed to deal with this complex problem

Mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus in Italy : temporal trends and determinants of infection

In order to analyse temporal trends in vertical transmission rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and determinant of congenital HIV infection in Italy, we have considered data from a network of hospitals co-operating in the Italian Collaborative Study on HIV infection in pregnancy, conducted between 1988 and 1995. A total of 1040 women entered the study. The HIV-1 status of the babies was known in 848 cases (81.5%). Transmission rates were highest in the period 1988\u20131991, then tended to decrease and in 1995 the rate was 9.7 per 100 children (this finding, however, was based on only six infected children and the trend was not statistically significant). Considering the overall series, the risk of vertical HIV transmission was higher in women with low CD4 count in pregnancy [odds ratio (OR) <400 versus \u2a7e400 1.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1\u20132.9]. In comparison with vaginal delivery the risk of transmission was 0.3 (95% CI 0.1\u20130.5) and 0.6 (95% CI 0.3\u20131.2) respectively for elective and emergency delivery. In comparison with women who delivered at term (\u2a7e37 gestation weeks) the OR of HIV infection of the babies for the whole series was 2.2 (95% CI 1.3\u20133.6) in women who delivered preterm. Similar findings emerged when the analysis was conducted considering, separately, subjects observed in the period 1988\u20131991 and 1992\u20131995. The frequency of Caesarean section increased from 26.5% of deliveries in 1988\u20131991 to 36.2% in 1992\u20131995. Consequently, most temporal differences disappeared after standardization for mode of delivery, but the rate in 1995 was still lower than in 1988\u20131994