Role of endoglin and VEGF family expression in colorectal cancer prognosis and anti-angiogenic therapies

Colorectal cancer(CRC)is one of the cancer models and most of the carcinogenic steps are presently well understood.Therefore,successful preventive measures are currently used in medical practice.However,CRC is still an important public health problem as it is the third most common cancer and the fourth most frequent cause of cancer death worldwide.Nowadays,pathologic stage is a unique and well-recognized prognostic indicator,however,more accurate indicators of the biologic behavior of CRC are expected to improve the specificity of medical treatment.Angiogenesis plays an important role in the growth and progression of cancer but its role as a prognostic factor is still controversial.Probably the most important clinical implication of tumor angiogenesis is the development of anti-angiogenic therapy.The goal of this review is to critically evaluate the role of angiogenic markers,assessed by either endoglin-related microvessel density or expression of vascular endothelial growth factor family members in the CRC setting and discuss the role of these angiogenic markers in antiangiogenic therapies.

Characterization of monocarboxylate transporter activity in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM: To assess the immunoexpression of hypoxia-related markers in samples from cirrhosis and primary and metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Evaluation of HPV Molecular Tests in Primary Screening for Cervical Cancer in Brazil

Background: Incorporation of HPV tests into cervical cancer screening programs may be advantageous over conventional cytology, especially in developing nations, where the largest burden of cervical cancer is observed. Objectives: To conduct an evaluation of commercially available molecular HPV tests in Brazilian women. Study design: Two groups were recruited: group A was composed of 511 women referred to the clinics because of a previous abnormal Pap test while group B consisted of 2464 subjects under routine screening. Cervical samples were collected using SurePath liquid cytology (LBC) device, and split into aliquots which were submitted to molecular testing by Hybrid Capture and cobas HPV. Colposcopy and biopsies were made according to the standard guidelines, directed by cytological diagnosis. Results: Prevalence of HSIL was 5.97% and 0.7% in Group A and B respectively. High-Risk HPV DNA was found in about 9% of group B women, while in group A this frequency was 24%. Having CIN3+ as the study end-point, the negative predictive values for molecular methods were above 99.8%. All “in-situ” and invasive cervical carcinomas were detected by both HPV nucleic acid assays. Conclusion: Use of HPV DNA testing was feasible and highly sensitive in cancer screening settings of Brazil.

HPV Vaccination in Young Girls from Developing Countries: What Are the Barriers for Its Implementation? A Systematic Review

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women living in developing countries that account high HPV incidence and mortality rates. Vaccinating girls between 9 and 14 years old is supposed to be the most cost-effective public health approach against cervical cancer. This systematic review aims to assess the application and coverage of the HPV vaccine in developing countries and identify the main challenges for the introduction of the vaccine in these settings. Eligible studies were selected according to the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. To determine the quality of the studies was employed the STROBE checklist. This review included seven studies, encompassing the analysis of 19 countries and 112,116 girls aged from 9 to 18 years old. The coverage of HPV vaccination ranged from 13.8% to 107.4%, with most of the programs having more than 60% of coverage, which reflects a high percentage of vaccinated girls. The main challenges were lack of knowledge and worries about the vaccine, insufficient financial resources and staff workers, lack of community involvement and dissemination of important information about HPV. In developing countries that implemented the HPV vaccine, high coverage rates were achieved, despite sociocultural, economic and political challenges. In the future, studies that analyze the coverage rates after the elimination of the barriers and the repercussions on the mortality rates should be conducted, so that more developing countries have the opportunity to efficiently implement the vaccine.

Urothelial bladder cancer progression: lessons learned from the bench

Urothelial bladder carcinoma(UBC)is an intricate malignancy with a variable natural history and clinical behavior.Despite developments in diagnosis/prognosis refi nement and treatment modalities,the recurrence rate is high,and progression from non-muscle to muscle invasive UBC commonly leads to metastasis.Moreover,patients with muscle-invasive or extra-vesical disease often fail the standard chemotherapy treatment,and overall survival rates are poor.Thus,UBC remains a challenge in the oncology fi eld,representing an ideal candidate for research on biomarkers that could identify patients at increased risk of recurrence,progression,and chemo-refractoriness.However,progress toward personalized medicine has been hampered by the unique genetic complexity of UBC.Recent genome-wide expression and sequencing studies have brought new insights into its molecular features,pathogenesis and clinical diversity,revealing a landscape where classical pathology is intersected by the novel and heterogeneous molecular groups.Hence,it seems plausible to postulate that only an integrated signature of prognostic/predictive biomarkers inherent in different cancer hallmarks will reach clinical validation.In this review,we have summarized ours and others’research into novel putative biomarkers of progression and chemoresistance that encompass several hallmarks of cancer:tumor neovascularization,invasion and metastasis,and energy metabolism reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment.