738 research outputs found
Bleomycin-induced pneumonitis
The cytotoxic agent bleomycin is feared for its induction of sometimes
fatal pulmonary toxicity, also known as bleomycin-induced pneumonitis
(BIP). The central event in the development of BIP is endothelial damage
of the lung vasculature due to bleomycin-induced cytokines and free
radicals. Ultimately, BIP can progress in lung fibrosis. The diagnosis is
established by a combination of clinical symptoms, radiographic
alterations, and pulmonary function test results, while other disorders
resembling BIP have to be excluded. Pulmonary function assessments most
suitable for detecting BIP are those reflecting lung volumes. The widely
used transfer capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide appeared recently
not to be specific when bleomycin is used in a polychemotherapeutic
regimen. There are no proven effective treatments for BIP in humans,
although corticosteroids are widely applied. When patients survive BIP,
they almost always recover completely with normalization of radiographic
and pulmonary function abnormalities. This review focuses on BIP,
especially on the pathogenesis, risk factors, and its detection
Tijd om persoonlijk te worden
Rede,
in verkorte vorm uitgesproken
ter gelegenheid van het aanvaarden
van het ambt van bijzonder hoogleraar met als
leeropdracht Translationele Medische Oncologie
aan het Erasmus MC, faculteit van de
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
op 20 april 201
Aplastic anaemia: a review
Aplastic anaemia is featured by bone marrow hypocellularity and peripheral
pancytopenia and is a potentially fatal disease. In recent years, insight
in it pathogenesis has increased. It appears that activated autoreactive T
lymphocytes induce apoptosis of haematopoietic stem cells resulting in a
hypocellular bone marrow. Nowadays, it can be treated by stem cell
transplantation or immunosuppressive therapy. This review focuses on the
pathophysiology and treatment of aplastic anaemia
De rol van circulerende tumorcellen bij het urotheelcarcinoom van de blaas
Patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder have a 50 % chance to develop distant metastases despite curative local treatment. Reliable markers that predict the risk of developing metastases or that could be used to determine whether or not perioperative systemic treatment should be given are lacking. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are cancer cells that are present in the blood stream of patients with solid tumors and originate from tumor lesions that are present in the body. The enumeration of CTCs is an attractive option to assess the chance to develop distant metastases in individual patients. Here, we set out to review the most relevant literature to date regarding the clinical value of CTCs in bladder cancer. Moreover, the CirGuidance study is presented, which is the first interventional trial, which uses CTCs to guide treatment choices regarding the administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with muscle-invasive urothelial cell carcinoma
Diagnostic applications of cell-free and circulating tumor cell-associated miRNAs in cancer patients
Summary:
Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have rapidly developed as important cancer biomarkers after their enumeration proved to be prognostic in metastatic breast, colorectal and prostate cancer, and their rise or decline after the first cycle of therapy showed to predict therapy response. Besides mere counting, CTCs can be isolated and subsequently analyzed using various molecular applications, including miRNA expression analysis. Recently, miRNA expression profiling in primary tumors has yielded promising results. However, establishing miRNA expression in the circulation likely has advantages over determination in primary tumor tissue, further augmenting the potential applications of miRNA determination in oncology. Additionally to CTC-associated miRNAs, free circulating miRNAs have been identified in whole blood, plasma and serum.
Since determination of miRNAs in peripheral blood, either cell-free or CTC-associated, is expected to become important in oncology, especially when linked to and interpreted together with epithelial CTCs, this review focuses on measuring miRNAs in the circulation of cancer patients
Moving molecular targeted drug therapy towards personalized medicine: Issues related to clinical trial design
With the event of new Molecular targets, clinical trial design requirements to perform these trials are changing. This paper discusses some of the considerations that need to be taken into account when designing a trial, including those trials that assess combinations of targets
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