TWIST1 Gene expression as a biomarker for predicting primary doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer

Doxorubicin is one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents for adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer. In the studies focused on finding biomarkers to predict the response of the patients and tumors to the drugs used, the Twist transcription factor has been suggested as a candidate biomarker for predicting chemo-resistance of breast tumors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between TWIST transcription factor expression and the effectiveness of doxorubicin treatment on directly taken primary tumor samples from chemotherapy-naive breast cancer patients. Twenty-six primary breast tumor samples taken from 26 different breast cancer patients were included in this study. Adenosine triphosphate tumor chemo-sensitivity assay (ATP-TCA) has been used to determine tumor response to doxorubicin and real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used for analyzing the TWIST1 gene expression of tumors. There was a significant difference in TWIST gene expression between responder and non responder tumors (p <0.05). The TWIST gene expression of the drug-resistant group was higher than the responsive group. This difference was not dependent on the histopathological features of tumors. In conclusion, compatible with earlier studies that have been performed with cell lines, the current study supports the role of higher TWIST gene expression as a biomarker for predicting the response of breast tumors to chemo-therapeutic agent doxorubicin

Effects of intraperitoneal glycerol and flax oil administration on colonic anastomosis healing.

Effects of Intraperitoneal glycerol and flax oil on colonic anastomosis healing process was studied. Thirty female Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups. Each rat underwent segmental colonic resection with single-layer anastomosis. In group-1, the anastomotic line was covered with 9%NaCl, in group-2 with glycerol, and in group-3 with flax oil. The rats were sacrificed on postoperative day 10. Anastomosis burst pressures, tissue hydoxyproline levels and anastomosis histopathological characteristics were evaluated. We observed no statistical differences among all groups in mean bursting pressures (p=0.767). The mean hydroxyprolin level of group 1 was statistically lower than group 2 and 3 (p=0.0001) but no difference between them 3 (p=0.436). Histopathologic evaluation results were not statistically different in all groups. The p values were 0.664 for inflammation, 0.638 for neovascularization, 0.381 for fibroblast ingrowth, and 0.295 for collagen deposition. Glycerol and flax oil are not harmful to the colonic anastomosis healing process. On the contrary, they increase mean tissue levels of hydroxyproline, which is directly related to anastostomotic healing. These liquids securely applicable for colonic anastomosis performed peritoneal cavities

Favorable outcome with sentinel lymph node biopsy alone after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in clinically node positive breast cancer at diagnosis: Turkish Multicentric NEOSENTI-TURK MF-18-02-study.

Purpose: Factors affecting local outcome were evaluated in patients with clinically node-positive (cN+) breast cancer at diagnosis, who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Methods: Between 2004 and 2018, 303 cytopathology-proven cN (+) patients in a multicentric registry, who received NAC and underwent SLNB alone were analysed. All patients had regional nodal irradiation. Results: Median age was 46 (23-70). Of those, 211 patients had ypN0 disease (69.6%), whereas 92 pa-tients had ypN (+) disease including 19 (20.6%) isolated tumor cells (ITC), 33 micrometastases (35.9%) and 40 macrometastases (43.5%). At a median follow-up of 36 months (24-172), one patient (0.3%) with macrometastatic SLN was found to have locoregional recurrence as chest wall and supraclavicular LN metastases at the 60th month. Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) and disease specific survival (DSS) rates were 87% and 95%, respectively. Patients with cT3/4 (HR = 2.41, 95% CI; 1.14-5.07), non-luminal molecular pathology (HR = 2.60, 95% CI, 1.16-5.82), and non-pCR in the breast (HR = 2.11, 95% CI, 0.89-5.01) were found to have an increased HR compared to others in 5-year DFS. However, no dif-ference could be found between ypN0 and ypN ITC and micrometastasis (HR = 1.23, 95% CI, 0.44-3.47), whereas there was a slight increase in HR of patients with ypN macrometastasis versus ypN0 (HR = 1.91, 95% CI, 0.63-5.79). Conclusion: ALND could be avoided in meticulously selected cN (+) patients who underwent SLNB after NAC having breast and/or nodal pCR, cT1-2, or low volume residual nodal disease with luminal pa-thology, as long as axillary radiotherapy is provided. (c) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Supplementary Material for: A Retrospective analysis of 83 patients with testicular mass who underwent testis-sparing surgery: The Eurasian Uro-oncology Association Multicenter Study*

ABSTRACT Introduction: Herein,we analyzed the histopathological, oncologic and functional outcomes of TSS in patient with distinct risk for testicular cancer. Methods: This is a multicenter retrospective study on consecutive patients who underwent TSS. Patients were categorized in high- or low-risk Testicular Germ Cell Tumor(TGCT) according to the presence/absence of features compatible with Testicular Dysgenesis Syndrome(TDS). Histology was categorized per size and risk groups. Results: TSS was performed in 83 patients(86 tumors) of them, 27 in the high-risk group. Fifty-nine patients had a non-tumoral contralateral testis present. Sixty masses and 26 mases were benign and TGCTs respectively. No statistical differences were observed in mean age(30.9±10.32 years), pathological tumor size(14.67 ± 6.7 mm) between risk groups or between benign and malignant tumors(p=0.608). When categorized per risk groups 22(73.3%) and 4(7.1%) of the TSS specimens were malignant in the high- and low-risk patient groups respectively.Univariate analysis showed that the only independent variable significantly related to malignant outcome was previous history of TGCT. During a mean follow-up of 25.5±22.7 months no patient developed systemic disease. Local recurrence was detected in 5 patients and received RO. Postoperative testosterone levels remained normal in 88% of those patients with normal preoperative level. No ED was reported in patients with benign lesions. Conclusion: TSS is a safe and feasible approach with adequate cancer control and preservation of sexual function is possible in 2/3 of patients harboring malignancy. Incidence of TGCT varies extremely between patients at high and low risk for TGCT requiring a careful consideration and counseling