Tehran University Medical Journal

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Gastric cancer is one of the most common diseases of digestive system with a low 5-year survival rate and metastasis is the main cause of death. Multi-factors, such as changes in molecular pathways and deregulation of cells are involved in the disease development. Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway (EGFR) which is associated with cell proliferation and survival can influence cancer development. EGFR function is governed by its genetic polymorphism thus, we aimed to study the tyrosine kinase domain gene mutations of the receptor in patients with gastric cancer.
Methods : In this experimental study, 123 subjects (83 patients with gastric cancer and 40 normal subjects) were investigated in north of Iran for EGFR gene polymorphisms during 1 year. Genomic DNA was extracted by DNA extraction kit according to the manufacture's protocol. Polymerase chain reaction single-stranded conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and silver staining were performed for investigating EGFR gene polymorphisms.
Results : The participants included 72 men and 44 women. Gene polymorphism in exon 18 was present in 10% of the study population but SSCP pattern in exon 19 did not show different migrate bands neither in patients nor in normal subjects.
Conclusion: It seems that screening for tyrosine kinas gene polymorphism of epidermal growth factor receptor in patients with gastric cancer and use of tyrosine kinas inhibitors could be useful in the prevention of disease progress and improvement of treatment process for a better quality of life in these patients.

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Background: Cancer is a multistep process that develops very rapidly after its onset. Previous studies have confirmed antitumor effects of curcumin (1,7-bis (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione diferuloylmethane) that can potentially prevent colon cancer development with low side-effects. Different methods have been performed to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of curcumin among which dendrosome, a nanoparticle created by Sarbolouki et al. was used in this study. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of dendrosomal curcumin on rat colon cancer.

Methods: In this study which was performed in Cancer Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010 year, forty rats were equally divided into control, curcumin and curcumin-dendrosome groups. Animals received azoxymethane (15 mg/kg s.c.), a carcinogen, once a week for two weeks. Curcumin (0.2%) and curcumin-dendrosome were administered to the respective animals 2 weeks before the first and 14 weeks after the last azoxymethane injections. Eventually, colorectal specimens from tumoral and adjacent non-tumoral mucosal tissues were fixed in 10% formaldehyde, and passaged and embedded in paraffin. Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies were performed on the specimens.

Results: The mean number of lesions, nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, epithelial stratification, loss of nuclear polarity, goblet depletion, structural abnormality and beta-catenin expression were higher in the control group compared to curcumin and curcumin-dendrosome groups. These parameters had significantly decreased in the dendrosomal curcumin group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The present study shows that dendrosome can be used as a suitable nanoparticle to increase curcumin efficiency in the prevention or treatment of colon cancer.

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Background: Nowadays, cancer is one of the main causes of mortality in the world and many mutagens are the cause of death in millions of patients. Due to the side effects of anticancer drugs, scientists are in search of natural drugs with fewer side effects and more therapeutic efficacy. This study aims to, firstly, investigate the antimutgenic effects of different Aloe vera gel and latex extracts on mutated Salmonella typhimurium bacterium by using Ames test and to, secondly, study the probable effects of the habitat conditions on the antimutagenic effects of the plant.

Methods: After preparing different Aloe vera gel and latex extracts, the antimutagenic effects of the extracts were evaluated by Ames test. In this test, a mutated strain of S. typhimurium was grown on culture media containing a minimum of salt and glucose in the presence of a mutagen substance (NaN3). Subsequently, only those bacteria that had turned HIS+ by reverse mutation formed colonies. As different alcoholic and aqueous extracts of Aloe vera reduced reversed mutations, the difference between the means of revertant mutants per plate was calculated by one-way ANOVA using SPSS software (version 18).

Results: The ethanol extracts of latex from Karaj had a maximum (91%) and aqueous extract from Dezfoul had a minimum (42%) percentage of inhibition.

Conclusion: Maximum percentage of inhibition was observed in the extracts of the plant cultivated in Karaj reflecting the impact of environmental conditions on the construction of antioxidant compounds in plants.

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Background: Regarding the immunomodulatory effects of lactobacillus bacteria, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of oral administration of Lactobacillus reuteri, as probiotic bacteria, on natural killer cell cytotoxicity and tumor-specific lymphocyte proliferation in Balb/c mice with breast adenocarcinoma.

Methods: A total of 30 female mice, aged 6- 8 weeks and with a weight of approximately 17- 19 g, were randomly divided into two groups of 15 mice. The case group received Lactobacillus reuteri at a dose of 2.7× 108 bacteria in half a milliliter of sterile phosphate buffer saline (PBS) and the control group only received PBS. The probiotic group received the regimen for two weeks prior to tumor transplantation, as they did for 30 days after transplantation with three-day intervals and durations of seven days. For the evaluation of natural killer cell cytotoxicity and also tumor-specific lymphocyte proliferation response, LDH and BrdU assays were performed respectively according to the manufacturers' instructions.

Results: The study showed that the mice in the case group which were receiving Lactobacillus reuteri had statistically significant differences in the replication of tumor -specific lymphocytes, natural killer cell cytotoxicity and delayed hypersensitivity responses Compared to the mice in the control group.

Conclusion: Daily consumption of probiotics seems to regulate the immune system and consequently it can be helpful in people with cancer. Moreover, consumption of probiotics in healthy individuals can also boost the efficiency of the immune system against a variety of abnormalities.

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Background: Patients with endometrial or ovarian cancer have an increased risk for breast or colon cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the individual and age-related characteristics of patients with a combination of these malignancies.

Methods: In this retrospective descriptive study, we reviewed the medical records of 100 patients admitted for endometrial or ovarian cancer in Rasol Akram, Akbarabadi and Firozgar educational Hospitals in Tehran, Iran, during 2010- 2011. Colon polyps were evaluated by immunohistochemistry assay.

Results: The mean age, weight and BMI of the patients were 50.21, 65.9 and 26.07, respectively. Among 100 cases participating in this study, five (5%) patients had colon polyps. All the five cases with colon polyp had positive familial histories of ovarian cancer.

Conclusion: With considering the low prevalence of colorectal polyps among women with ovarian and endometrial cancers, patient's follow-up for screening test is not recommended.

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Background: Probiotic microorganisms are living normal flora of human body that have nutritional value and health benefits when administered in adequate amounts. The health benefits include prevention of bacterial diarrhea, skin eczema and recently understood, prevention and control of various cancers, as well. Different mechanisms such as stimulating the immune system, modifying the composition of gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract normal flora and prevention of the carcinogenic activity of fecal enzymes have been identified for their probiotic activity. Due to the high density of the normal flora in the gut and also preferentially sporadic nature of colorectal cancers, these cancers are among the main candidates of treatment trials with probiotics. In this study, direct effects of probiotic lactobacilli on colon cancer tumor cells were studied.

Methods: Supernatant fluid and bacterial extracts were prepared and CaCo-2 cells were treated by these materials. Subsequently, the effects of the aforesaid elements were evaluated on cell proliferation, cell necrosis and cell apoptosis by MTT assay, LDH assay and caspase-3 activity.

Results: The supernatants of lactobacilli decreased cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis but they did not have any effect on cell necrosis. In contrast, when cancerous cells were treated by lactobacilli extract, it lead to cell necrosis in addition to reduction in cell proliferation and increase in cell apoptosis.

Conclusion: The use of lactobacillus probiotics may reduce proliferation of tumor cells in the early stages of colorectal cancers.

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Background: Multifocality, multicentricity and extension beyond the prostate capsule are all characteristics of prostatic adenocarcinoma that may escape diagnosis by conventional CT scanning or MRI. This study was designed to assess the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in prostatic carcinoma and its compatibility with prostatic specific antigen (PSA) as the conventional method.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited 139 patients with previous radical prostatectomy referring to Radiology department of Hazrate-e-Rasul Hospital during the first half of 2011 for the evaluation of local recurrence. Traditionally, local recurrence is defined as serum PSA concentration >0.2 ng/dl. We used 1.5-tesla Siemens Avanto MRI unit with endorectal coil and measured creatine, choline and citrate levels before calculating choline-creatine/citrate ratio. Correlation between MRS findings with PSA concentration was evaluated in regards to the multiple levels of the previously mentioned ratio.
Results: Local recurrence was found in 107 (77%) patients based on PSA levels. The mean values for serum PSA levels and creatine-choline/citrate ratio were significantly different in patients with and without local recurrence. Creatine-choline/citrate ratios greater than 50, 100 and 150 (as different cut-off points of recurrence) were respectively seen in 104, 102 and 97 patients and agreement ratio between MRS and PSA in these levels were 94.1%, 94.4% and 85.1%, respectively. Correlation coefficient between these two methods was 0.481.
Conclusion: MRS is a valuable tool for evaluating recurrence inpatients with prostate cancer treated by radical prostatectomy and it is in good agreement with serum PSA levels.

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Background: Gastric cancer is an important health problem across the world. Chemotherapy in combination with local treatment is the standard treatment for locally advanced gastroesophageal junction (EGJ) cancers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate response and tolerability to neoadjuvant regimen combining epirobicin, oxaliplatin and capecitabin (EOX) in locoregionally advanced gastric cancer.
Methods: We recruited 28 patients with histologically confirmed advanced gastric or EGJ adenocarcinoma in this study performed in the Cancer Institute of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran, Iran in 2010-2011. Staging workup included chest and abdominal computed tomography (CT) scans, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), measurement of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), complete blood cell count (CBC), and liver and renal function tests. After three treatment cycles with EOX regimen, we evaluated response to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy by performing endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and chest and abdominal CT scans.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 56.64±11.08 years (ranging from 37 to 78 years). Most patients were classified as having stage III (98.8%) cancer before chemotherapy while most were classified as stage II (57.14%) after the treatment. Only 28.5% of tumors were resectable before chemotherapy, but 82.1% of them were resectable upon the treatment. 75% of tumors were downstaged after chemotherapy.
Conclusion: Regarding the acceptable response and downstaging of tumors and low toxicity of EOX regimen in locoregionally advanced gastric cancer, evaluation of this regimen as a neoadjuvant chemotherapy in larger phase III clinical trials in Iranian patients would be both necessary and logical.

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Background: The high number of breast cancer patients who receive radiation therapy after surgery has caused many to think about a shorter period of radiotherapy, which can significantly reduce the radiotherapy machine time, labor hours, and fewer patient visits. This study was designed to evaluate the acute skin effects and cosmetic outcomes of short course radiotherapy in early-stage breast cancer in comparison with the conventional treatment method.
Methods: Fifty-two patients with operable breast cancer (pT1-3pN0M0) who underwent breast conservation surgery in Tehran Cancer Institute during January 2011 to January 2012, were randomly assigned to undergo radiotherapy by either receiving conventional treatment (dose: 50 Gy in 25 fractions) with subsequent electron boost or a short-course hypofractionated radiotherapy (dose: 42.5 Gy in 16 fractions) and a subsequent electron boost.
Results: There were no skin changes during the first or the second week of treatment in the two groups. Cutaneous complications began after the third week as grade 1 skin toxicity after termination of the short-course radiotherapy but there were no difference in complication rate after four weeks of treatment. Six months and one year after treatment, there were no differences in terms of skin complications or cosmetic outcomes between the two groups.
Conclusion: Although the use of a whole-breast irradiation with a hypofractionated schedule was associated with desirable outcomes, in term of skin toxicity and cosmetics, but longer follow-up periods with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these results.

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Background: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second cause of cancer mortality in men. Although histopathological examination is the gold-standard for its diagnosis, tendency toward less invasive methods is growing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between choline plus creatine- to-citrate ratio in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) with the invasion of prostate cancer in a series of patients with prostate cancer.
Methods: Totally, 200 patients with pathologically proven prostate cancer were enrolled in this cross-sectional study by a non-probability sampling method in Hazrat Rasul Akram Hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2009-2010. Pathological staging was the gold standard for the diagnosis of prostate cancer while the patients underwent MRS for choline plus creatine- to-citrate ratio determination. MRS and pathological results were compared and analyzed.
Results: The mean (±SD) values of choline plus creatine- to-citrate ratio in patients with Gleason scores less than 3, 3 to 4 and greater than 4 were 245.8±146.8, 427.1±173.6 and 427.1±173.6, respectively (P<0.001). The mean (±SD) values of choline plus creatine- to-citrate ratio in patients with PSA levels less than 4, 4 to 10 and greater than 10 were 180.7±58.3, 247±93.5 and 385.1±106.6, respectively (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Choline plus creatine- to-citrate ratio determined by magnetic resonance spectroscopy has a significant relationship with the degree of invasion of prostate cancer and can be used for the staging of the disease.

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Cancer is one of the main reasons of mortality worldwide, and more than 90 percent of cancer deaths are due to metastasis. Although primary tumors are curable using chemical adjuvant therapy or surgery, metastatic tumors are mostly incurable. This resistance shows the high rate of mortality among patients with metastatic disease. Being a sequential event, metastasis is a subtle and intricate process in which tumor cells undergo a plenty of changes and acquire the capacity of migration, invasion, survival and self-renewal which all are necessary for metastasis to happen. The key point in recognition and cure in invasive cancers is to identify critical genes, proteins and pathways involved, and show their relation with each other and the disease. Forming metastasis needs favorable genetic and microenvironmental elements of tumor cells and distant tissue, respectively. Unfavorable conditions in each steps of this process lead to arresting metastasis and subsequent dormancy, which is the most important phenomenon in relapse. In this review, benefiting from tens of reliable and recently identified data and personal experiences, it has been tried to draw new patterns associated with metastasis for further investigation. Determining genes, proteins and microenvironmental factors that affect metastasis, in a sequential manner, can help better understanding of this lethal process and subsequently a prosperous treatment.

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Background: Several reports indicate that the probiotics can increase body resistance against malignant tumors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Lactobaci-llus reuteri Persian type culture collection (PTCC) 1655 in preventing tumor growth, improving weight and survival rate in mice with breast cancer.
Methods: Twenty mice, the BALB/c at six weeks age, weighing approximately 17 gram were divided into two groups. Oral administration of 500 micro liters of Lactobacillus reuteri suspension performed for the first group 14 days before tumor transplantation. The second group (control) received the same volume of phosphate buffer saline (PBS). Then the mice had tumor transplantation surgery. Lactobacillus reuteri was prescribed in the first group in seven-day period and three-day interruption pattern. At the same time the second group (control) received PBS. This process was continued until 45 day. The tumor growth, histology and body weight were evaluated in both group and the mortality of mice was recorded.
Results: In the mice transplanted tumors that had received probiotics, tumor growth decreased in comparison with control group. In this group the body weight increased (P>0/05). In addition, the survival of these mice had significantly increased compared to control group (P=0.002). The evaluation of tumor tissue also showed increased immune system function in mice receiving the probiotic (P>0/05).
Conclusion: Lactobacillus reuteri can improve immune system function and have an important role to help treatment of cancer.

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Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of extracted cell walls from Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus paracasei as probiotic bacteria (isolated from common carp intestine) on K562 and the role of cell concentration on the results of MTT [3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5- Diphenyl tetrazolium Bromide] test.
Methods: For this purpose, bacteria were cultured in specific medium (MRS broth) at anaerobic condition for 24-48 hour. After incubation period culture medium was centri-fuged, then the cells were washed twice with PBS buffer to remove additional medium. Finally, collected bacterial cell disrupted by Sonication and cell walls were separated from other components by centrifugation. After that, different concentrations of cell walls (500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 µg/ml) were prepared in RPMI medium for each bacteria, separately. Then anticancer properties of the cell walls were determined in vitro at 12, 24, 48 and 72 h, also the effect of K562 concentration was assayed with MTT technique.
Results: The results showed extracted cell wall from both probiotic statistically (P=0.098) have anti turmeric properties in K562 and their properties will arise in relation with concentration. As well as, we found that the number of cell had not any affect on the result of MTT assay.
Conclusion: We conclude that the cytotoxicity property of extracted cell wall is related in the type of bacteria, but this anticancer property would warrant further study on the clinical application of extracted cell wall.

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Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide and in Iran. Conventional therapies are surgery and chemotherapy. Current studies are evaluating natural compounds in inhibiting growth of cancer cell. In this study isolated peptide melittin with 26 amino acids from bee venom and its impact on the viability and proliferation of gastric cancer cells was investigated.
Methods: At first melittin was purified from honeybee venom using a reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP- HPLC) and C18 column. In order to investigate whether melittin, a 26 amino acids peptide which is the main components of honeybee venom, inhibits proliferation of human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line (AGS cells), MTT ((3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay was performed. Hemolytic assay carried out in order to confirm the biologic activity of the isolated melittin. AGS cells were plated in a 96-well plate and treated with serially diluted concentrations of melittin for 6 and 12 hours. The mortality of the cells was measured via MTT assay at 540 nm.
Results: The obtained chromatogram from RP-HPLC showed that melittin comprises 50% of the studied bee venom. SDS-PAGE analysis of melittin fraction confirmed purity of isolated melittin. Hemolytic activity assay indicates that isolated melittin shows a strong hemolytic activity (HD50=0.5). MTT assay showed that melittin strongly inhibits proliferation of gastric cancer cells at concentrations more than 2µg/ml. This inhibitory effect is dependent to melittin concentration and incubation time.
Conclusion: This study provides evidence that melittin inhibits proliferation of the gastric cancer cells. Results showed that isolated melittin from honey bee venom have cytotoxic effect on AGS cell line with a trend of increasing cytotoxicity with increasing concentration and incubation time.

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Background: McGill pain questionnaire is the most useful standard tools for assessing pain. McGill pain questionnaire contains 78-word descriptive of the 20 subclasses form-ing in three main sensory, affective and evaluative domains. Due to cultural differences, the questionnaire has been translated into several languages. This study aimed to transl-ate MPQ into Persian language and assess its reliability, validity and acceptability in patients with cancer.
Methods: The study performed in Medical Oncology Department of Cancer Institute in Imam Khomeini Hospital in the Spring 2012. After translation of MPQ by two experts fluent in English, Persian version was returned to English. Then that backward transla-tion was compared with the original questionnaire and words that did not match were reviewed.  Patients with different types of cancer who suffering from chronic pain were admitted in our study. They did not receive any kind of pain killer drugs during the pre-vious 24 hours. There was no restriction of age, sex, education, type of cancer or treat-ment modality. The reliability and validity of Persian-McGill pain questionnaire after interviewing patients was assessed by test–retest reliability and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha).
Results: In total, 84 patients were interviewed and 30 patients who were available after 24 hour with the same condition recomplete the questionnaire. Cronbach’alpha of each domain was in 0.622-0.743 and total Crobach’s alpha (n=84) was 0.85. Evaluative aspect has only one subgroup and because of this, it is not have Crobach’s alpha. The stability coefficient (n=30) in all areas (sensory, emotional, and other domains) were 0.812-0.964. Stability coefficient among the 20 Persian McGill Pain Questionnaire (PMPQ) subclasses showed significant and reliable relationships over time for all groups.
Conclusion: This study is the first study that assessed psychometric properties and use-fulness of the MPQ in Iranian patients with cancer, showed that it is a potentially useful measure with a high validity and reliability standards.

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Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Non-coding RNAs especially miRNAs have important regulatory roles in cancer. MiRNAs are 21-24 nucleotides which have different levels of expression between tumors and normal tissues. In this study, we have analyzed expression level of miR-520d in three different groups of breast cancer.
Methods: Fifty nine samples were divided into different groups according to their immunohistochemistry (IHC) classification: estrogen receptor (ER) positive and/or progesterone receptor (PR) positive group (as group I) human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive group (as group II) and Triple negative group (as group III). After small RNA extraction from tissues, cDNAs were synthesized and Real time RT-PCR carried out using DNA binding dye. Expression levels were analyzed by LinRegPCR and REST software.
Results: MiR-520d under- expressed in all of three different groups. The expression ratio in groups I ,II, and III were 0.193, 0.167, 0.21, respectively, but only the result from group II was significant (P=0.017). According to the different clinicopathological status of breast cancer, miR-520d underexpressed significantly not only in patients with metastatic lymph node (P=0.019) but also in patients which have cancer at stage III (P=0.036). 
Conclusion: In this study, we found that miR-520d possibly acts as a tumor suppressor. It may be useful for diagnosis of tumor from normal tissue. In addition, miR-520d significantly underexpressed in HER-2 positive group of breast cancers. Therefore, it may be useful as an additional diagnostic test in this group of breast tumors along with other biomarkers.

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Background: Curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric, has the ability to inhibit the carcinogenic pathways, and thus can prevent or postpone the carcinogenic process in different animal species. Retention time of curcumin is short due to the quick excretion of the body, so, the therapeutic effects of curcumin are restricted resulting in short-term retention in the plasma. Therefore, several methods are used for increasing the efficien-cy of curcumin in plasma and tissues. The present study is designed to evaluate the effects of the anti-proliferative and anti-carcinogenic of nano-curcumin in rat colon cancer.
Methods: In this study which was performed in Cancer Research Center of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2012. Thirty rats have divided into control, curcumin and nano-curcumin groups. All animals received azoxymethane (15 mg/kg, s.c) as a carcinogen, once a week for two consecutive weeks. Animals received curcumin 0.2% and nano-curcumin 2 weeks before azoxymethane injection up to 14 weeks after the last injection of azoxymethane in curcumin and nano-curcumin groups, respectively. At the end of experiment, the colorectal specimens from all mucosal lesions were obtained for histo-and-immunohistochemical (Ki-67 and COX-2) studies.
Results: The cytological and morphological changes of the cells in nano-curcumin group were significantly lower compared to other groups (P<0.05). In addition, the Ki-67 and COX-2 proteins expression was lower in the nano-curcumin group in compare-son with the curcumin and control groups (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The results indicate that the using a suitable nanoparticle can be appropria-tely resolved the low bioavailability of curcumin. This can be an important method to use of natural products in the prevention and/or treatment of cancer.

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Background: Breast cancer is one of the most important causes of death in women. One of the various gene expression involved in breast cancer is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) gene expression increases. Factors of dietary affect on regulation of hormone secretion and the rate of breast cancer. One of these factors is amount and type of fats in diet. Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) and Docosah-exaenoic acid (DHA) are members of poly unsaturated fatty acids. In this study, effects of dietary GLA and DHA alone or together with paclitaxel on treatment of mice mammary carcinoma has been evaluated.
Methods: Thirty female balb/c mice were divided in six groups randomly. Carcinoma-tous mass induced by tumor implantation method. Spontaneous breast adenocarcinoma of mice were used as tumor stock. The tumors of these mice were removed aseptically, dissected into 0.5 cm3 pieces. These pieces were transplanted subcutaneously into their right flank. GLA and DHA added to the mice diet two week prior to tumor implanta-tion. At the end of intervention, tumors were removed and HER2 gene expression was measured. The weight of animal and tumor volume measured weekly.
Results: It was not significant change in the weight of animals that consumed DHA and DHA with taxol. Tumor volume in those groups that received corn oil with taxol (P<0.01), DHA (P<0.05) and DHA with taxol (P<0.001) showed significant decrease in comparison with control group. HER2 gene expression in DHA with taxol decreased significantly in comparison with control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Consumption of DHA oil with taxol causes decrease the volume of carcin-oma mass. The future studies with large number of sample is needed to support this finding.

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Background: Prostate cancer is the third leading cause of death and is the most common cause of cancer in elderly men. Regarding to the low accuracy of screening methods such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA), Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) and trans rectal ultrasound (TRUS) in detection and localization of tumor, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) attracted many attentions in the past years. DWI reveals micro-molecular diffusion, which is the Brownian motion of the spins in biologic tissues. This technique can delineate pathologic lesions with high tissue contrast against generally suppressed background signal. In this paper, the value of DWI in detection of prostate cancer is studied.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the studied population are suspicious patients to prostate cancer based on high Prostatic Specific Antigen level or abnormal Digital Rectal Examination who refered for prostate biopsy to radiology department of Hazrat-e- Rasoul Hospital during the year 2011. The results of DWI are compared to biopsy results for all patients.
Results: Eighty five patients are selected. The DWI sensitivity in detecting of prostate cancer is 100%, specificity 97.1% and positive and negative predictive values are 89.5% and 100%, respectively. The results showed that if DWI reports the prostate cancer as negative, the result was highly reliable and if it reports as positive, although the report was not 100% reliable, but it still had high reliability, more than 90%.
Conclusion: DWI had high accuracy in detecting prostate cancer for patients with cancer. Also the accuracy of this method for patients without prostate cancer was acceptable compared to the other common methods.

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Background : Chemotherapy-induced nausea (CIN) in the anticipatory and acute phase is the most common side effect in cancer therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ginger capsules on the alleviation of this problem.

Methods : This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed on 80 women with breast cancer between August till December 2009 in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran. These patients underwent one-day chemotherapy regime and suffering from chemotherapy-induced nausea. After obtaining written consent, samples were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. Two groups were matched based on the age and emetic effects of chemotherapy drugs used. The intervention group received ginger capsules (250 mg, orally) four times a day (1 gr/d) and the same samples from the placebo group received starch capsules (250 mg, orally) for three days before to three days after chemotherapy. To measure the effect of capsules a three-part questionnaire was used, so the samples filled every night out these tools. After collecting the information, the gathered data were analyzed by statistical tests like Fisher’s exact, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-square using version 8 of STATA software.

Results : The mean ± SD of age in the intervention and placebo groups were 41.8 ± 8.4 and 45.1 ± 10 years, respectively. Results indicated that the severity and number of nausea in the anticipatory phase were significantly lower in the ginger group compared with placebo group (P=0.0008, P=0.0007, respectively). Also, the intensity (P=0.0001) and number (P=0.0001) of nausea in the acute phase were significantly lower in the ginger group. On the other hand, taking ginger capsules compared with placebo did not result in any major complications.

Conclusion: Consuming ginger root powder capsules (1 gr/d) from three days before chemotherapy till three days after it in combination with the standard anti-emetic regimen can help to reduce the anticipatory and acute nausea.