Payam Izadpanahi; Kazem Anvari; Mitra Fazl Ersi
Abstract
In this research Glioblastoma has been studied as one of the most common brain tumors and a short review of the available therapeutic methods have presented including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and particularly adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide, as the most effective developed treatment. ...
Read More
In this research Glioblastoma has been studied as one of the most common brain tumors and a short review of the available therapeutic methods have presented including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and particularly adjuvant chemotherapy with temozolomide, as the most effective developed treatment. Moreover, MGMT gene promoter methylation has been introduced as an important predictive factor of treatment response to temozolamide. The different mechanisms of methylation and the available literature on its association with patient survival and disease recurrence have been summarized. Taken together, Glioblastoma is a tumor in which the MGMT gene expression can potentially deliver the highest amount of data in comparison to other tumors; as almost every related study has emphasized on the direct association between MGMT methylation and patient survival. Regarding this debate, the pseudoprogression pattern in Glioblastoma patients and the laboratory methods studying MGMT gene methylation have been examined. At the end of this review, the obstacles to its development have been briefly mentioned.
Kazem Anvari; Azam Anvari; Mehdi Silanian Toosi
Abstract
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies, worldwide. It is important to find out what prognostic factors can facilitate diagnosis, optimize therapeutic decisions, and improve the survival of these patients. Despite improvements in surgical techniques combined ...
Read More
Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies, worldwide. It is important to find out what prognostic factors can facilitate diagnosis, optimize therapeutic decisions, and improve the survival of these patients. Despite improvements in surgical techniques combined with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, the novel therapies such as small molecule inhibitors of tyrosine kinases (TKIs) and humanized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are very much needed. On the other hand, neoadjuvant chemotherapy which may improve the outcome is accompanied by toxicity by destruction of normal cells. Side effects may be avoided by developing therapies that specifically target molecular characteristics of tumors. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of tyrosine kinases receptors widely distributed in human epithelial cell membrane. Genetic polymorphisms in EGFR genes influence cell cycle progression, angiogenesis, apoptosis and metastasis. EGFR mutations are mostly observed in lung tumors; curiously they are more prevalent in Asian women diagnosed with adenocarcinoma. Also, esophageal SCC shows a relatively high incidence of EGFR (33%) and/or HER2 (31%) overexpression. Patients who carry these mutations in EGFR have been founded tending to have a better response to gefitinib, an EGFR-TKI, whereas patients with the wild-type genotype show a better response to conventional chemotherapy. Therefore, finding clinical characteristics and environmental interactions with EGFR can affect on investigations about novel anti-cancer therapies like monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy and studies which identify patients who may benefit from EGFR targeted therapies. Hence, it may be effective on the improvement of prognosis in these patients.