The differential effect of the immune system in breast cancer

Cancer cure with immunotherapy is an innovative step towards cancer treatment with better survivability, but it is mostly dependent on the response of the patient’s immune system to the immunotherapeutic approach. This descriptive review article emphasizes the conventional and advanced treatment modalities currently available for breast cancer management. This review also highlights the clinical management of breast cancer concerning immune response especially to unravel the prospects for manipulation of immune cells: such as lymphocytes, including T-cells, T-regulatory cells and natural killer cells, and others like macrophages, dendritic cells, and the panel of interleukins or interferons released by them which has made a significant impact on breast cancer research. In addition, an effort was made to emphasize the different clinical trials and their future implication for the reduction of breast cancer cases. Overall, an attempt has been made to shed light on the possibilities of immunotherapeutics in breast cancer care, as well as the role of immune response in the incidence, aggressiveness, and survival of breast cancer

Infection of human papillomaviruses in cancers of different human organ sites

Clinico-epidemiological and molecular studies have established the casual link between Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection and cervical cancer as also association of HPV infection with several other cancers. In India, cervical cancer is a leading cancer among women and almost all cases of cervical cancer show prevalence of High Risk (HR)-HPV infection. HPV has been also detected in a significant proportion of oral, esophageal, anal, vaginal, vulvar, and penile cancer and in a small percentage of lung, laryngeal, and stomach cancer in India. Due to lack of organized HPV screening program, insufficient infrastructure and trained manpower and inadequacy in cancer registries, there are not much data available on the countrywide HPV prevalence and its type distribution in different cancers in India. Forthcoming introduction of recently developed HPV vaccines in India given a new urgency to know the prevalence and distribution of various HPV types in different organ sites for the management and monitoring of vaccination program and its impact on prevalence of other cancers. This review, summarizes studies on the prevalence of HPV infection in cancers of different organ sites in India

Causes and Reasons of Insect Decline and the Way Forward

There are lot of reasons and causes of insect decline. The main causes of insect decline is attributed to habitat destruction, land use changes, deforestation, intensive agriculture, urbanization, pollution, climate change, introduction of invasive insect species, application of pesticides, mass trapping of insects using pheromones and light traps, pathological problems on various insects, and introduction of exotic honey bees in new areas that compete with the native bees for resource portioning and other management techniques for pest management, and even not leaving any pest residue for predators and parasitoids for their survival. The use of chemical insecticides against target or non-target organisms is major cause for insect decline. The diseases and decline of the important pollinators is still a mistry for colony collapse disorder. To overcome the cause of insect decline, various conservation techniques to be adopted and augmentation of artificial nesting and feeding structures, use of green pesticides, maintaining the proper pest defender ratio (P:D), policies and reaching to political audience at global level and other factors already discussed in the chapter may be helpful for mitigating the insect decline and especially for the pollinators, a key insect for life

A multinational review : oesophageal cancer in low to middle-income countries

Oesophageal cancer (OC) is an aggressive neoplasm that manifests in the gastrointestinal tract and is the result of numerous factors that can contribute to the development of the disease. These may include old age, nutritional deficiencies, oesophageal obstruction and food ingestion difficulties. Environmental factors serve a large role in increasing the risk of developing OC. Two factors that serve an increasing risk of developing OC are the use of tobacco and the consumption of alcohol. Genetic factors also exhibit a large effect on the risk of developing OC, for example, the causative genes in Black Africans differ from other races. OC is 3‑4 times more common among men than women. OC has been previously reported in >450 000 individuals worldwide, and its incidence is increasing. The current review compares OC in low to middle‑income countries with developed countries. The incidence of OC, particularly squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is high in low and middle‑income countries. In developed countries, the incidence of SCC is low compared with adenocarcinoma. The majority of OC cases are diagnosed in the late stages of the disease, leading to high mortality rates. The current review aimed to discuss factors that contribute to the development of this disease in different geographical areas and genetic mechanisms governing these findings. The current review also aims to discuss the preventative treatment options for the disease, and also discusses the diagnosis and surveillance in five LMICs, including South Africa, China, Tanzania, India and Brazil.The Medical Research Council of South Africahttp://www.spandidos-publications.com/olam2021Internal MedicineObstetrics and Gynaecolog

Transcription factor AP-1 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: Alterations in activity and expression during Human Papillomavirus infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) region of India. A substantial proportion of esophageal carcinoma is associated with infection of high-risk HPV type 16 and HPV18, the oncogenic expression of which is controlled by host cell transcription factor Activator Protein-1 (AP-1). We, therefore, have investigated the role of DNA binding and expression pattern of AP-1 in esophageal cancer with or without HPV infection.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy five histopathologically-confirmed esophageal cancer and an equal number of corresponding adjacent normal tissue biopsies from Kashmir were analyzed for HPV infection, DNA binding activity and expression of AP-1 family of proteins by PCR, gel shift assay and immunoblotting respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A high DNA binding activity and elevated expression of AP-1 proteins were observed in esophageal cancer, which differed between HPV positive (19%) and HPV negative (81%) carcinomas. While JunB, c-Fos and Fra-1 were the major contributors to AP-1 binding activity in HPV negative cases, Fra-1 was completely absent in HPV16 positive cancers. Comparison of AP-1 family proteins demonstrated high expression of JunD and c-Fos in HPV positive tumors, but interestingly, Fra-1 expression was extremely low or nil in these tumor tissues.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Differential AP-1 binding activity and expression of its specific proteins between HPV - positive and HPV - negative cases indicate that AP-1 may play an important role during HPV-induced esophageal carcinogenesis.</p

HPV &amp; HPV vaccination: issues in developing countries

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women worldwide causing most cancer related deaths in women in developing countries including India. The most predominant etiological factor for cervical cancer is persistent infection of certain high-risk types of human papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs), while low-risk types are associated with benign cervical lesions and genital warts. In India, the most common (98%) oncogenic types are HPV types 16 and 18 with HPV 16 exclusively (80-90%) prevalent. Two recently developed virus-like particle (VLP) based prophylactic HPV vaccines, quadrivalent Gardasil (HPV 16/18/6/11) and Cervarix (HPV 16/18) offer great promise. Several other therapeutic vaccines are also in clinical trials and are yet to establish their efficacy. The use of already developed VLP vaccines in resource-poor regions is limited by several factors, most importantly the high cost of the vaccine. Therefore efforts are being made in India to develop cost-effective second-generation vaccines. Besides cost, there are several socio-cultural and ethical issues involved with the implementation of already developed vaccines including the acceptability of HPV vaccination by preadolescent girls and their parents in India

Prospects and prejudices of human papillomavirus vaccines in India

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer and a leading cause of cancer deaths among women in developing countries. The disease is caused due to persistent infection of one or more of about 15 high-risk human papillomaviruses (HR-HPVs), most commonly by HPV types 16/18. In India, over 98% of cervical cancer cases harbor HPV infection and HPV 16 is the type exclusively (80-90%) prevalent. Unlike the West, HPV infection is most common in women in their third decade (26-35 years) of sexual activity and invasive cancer also arises much later with a peak at about 45-55 years of age. Recently, two successful prophylactic HPV vaccines, a quadrivalent (HPV16/18/6/11) 'Gardasil' by Merck and a bivalent (HPV16/18) 'Cervarix' by GSK have been developed. Several other approaches including plant-based edible, pentameric capsomere-based intranasal and DNA-based vaccines have also been employed to develop prophylactic vaccines. Also, several therapeutic vaccines either protein/peptide based or DNA based are in clinical trials but are yet to establish their efficacy. Though there are several issues regarding implementation of the already developed vaccines in resource limited countries, efforts are being made to develop cost-effective second-generation vaccines. If cost minimized, HPV related new technologies involved in screening tests and vaccines are expected to reduce incidence of cervical cancer and deaths it causes in women from developing countries

Association analysis of p16 (CDKN2A) and RB1 polymorphisms with susceptibility to cervical cancer in Indian population

The potent tumor suppressors P16 and RB1 are the key regulators of cell cycle machinery in eukaryotes. Polymorphisms in these genes play an important role in the outcome of various diseases including cancer. In the present study, we evaluated the association of p16 and RB1 polymorphisms with cervical cancer susceptibility in Indian population. We screened 150 histologically confirmed cervical cancer cases along with equal number of healthy controls with normal cervical cytology. PCR-RFLP method was employed for genotyping of SNPs in p16 C540G (rs11515), C580T (rs3088440) in the 3'-UTR of exon 3 and RB1 A153104G (rs4151580) located in the intron 18 and confirmed by direct sequencing. Both patients and controls were screened for HPV infection. In this case-control study 84.67% (127/150) of cases were found to be positive for HPV DNA sequence. Women carrying p16 C540G carrier genotypes 540 (CG/GG) may have protective effect for the development of cervical cancer (P = 0.0001, OR = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.17-0.56). And SNP at C580T of p16 gene was found to be negatively associated with the risk of cervical cancer (P = 0.0004, OR = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.002-0.63). p16 (540C/580T) has emerged as a major risk haplotype (P = 0.033, OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.05-2.07) whereas p16 (540G/580T) as a chief protective haplotype (P = 0.014, OR = 0.39, 95% CI = 0.18-0.83) for the development of cervical cancer among Indian women. Contrary to this, SNP at A153104G of RB1 gene showed statistically significant association (P = 0.035, OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.06-2.68) with increased susceptibility for the development of cervical cancer. Our results suggest that single nucleotide polymorphisms in p16, RB1 genes may affect the susceptibility to cervical cancer collectively