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Background and Aim: A matched-pair comparison was performed to compare the efficacy and safety of sublobar resection versus radiotherapy for high-risk elderly patients with Stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Patients and Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE and manual searches. The meta-analysis was performed to compare overall survival, pattern of failure, and toxicity among the homogeneous studies. Subdivided analyses were also performed., Results: Sixteen studies containing 11540 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Among these studies, 9 were propensity-score matched (PSM) cohort studies, and 7 were cohort studies. Sublobar resection, compared with radiotherapy (either conventional fraction radiation therapy or stereotactic body radiation therapy), significantly improved the overall survival regardless in both PSM and non-PSM analyses (all p < 0.05). However, the difference in the pattern of failure and toxicity were not significant (all p > 0.05)., Conclusions: Sublobar resection was associated with improved outcomes in high-risk elderly patients with Stage I NSCLC, which supports the need to compare both treatments in large prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trials.

Objective: We have identified a SNP within the seed-binding region for miR-502 in the 3'-UTR of the SET8 gene that codes for a methyltransferase for histone H4. SET8 methylates TP53 and thus regulates cell proliferation and genome stability. This study is to investigate the role for this SNP and its interaction with the TP53 codon 72 SNP in the age of onset of breast cancer., Methods: We conducted a case-only study of 1, 110 breast cancer cases. PCR-RFLP was used for SNP genotyping. Ages of onset of breast cancer among different genotypes were analyzed using SAS software., Results: Our analysis revealed that the SET8 CC and TP53 GG genotypes were independently associated with earlier age of onset of breast cancer in an allele-dose dependent manner. Moreover, individuals with both SET8 CC and p53 GG genotypes developed cancer at age of 47.74 years, compared with 54.55 years for individuals with both SET8 TT and TP53 CC genotypes., Conclusions: miR-502-binding SNP in SET8 may modulate SET8 expression and contribute to early development of breast cancer either independently or together with the TP53 codon 72 SNP.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy, safety and survival of combination of carboplatin plus paclitaxel as neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for patients with locally advanced triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and explore an optimal regimen for TNBC., Methods: Patients with core needle biopsy confirmed pathological diagnosis of IIA ∼ IIIC invasive breast cancer, negative for estrogen and progesterone receptors and HER2 by immunohistochemistry, and with indication for NACT were eligible in this study. The biopsy tumor tissues were tested for CK5/6, CK14, EGFR and Ki67. The patients received paclitaxel 175 mg/m(2) on day 1, carboplatin at an area under the curve 5 mg×min/ml on day 2 of every 21 days. The clinical response was evaluated every 2 cycles according to Standard RECIST 1.0 criteria and surgery was done after four to six cycles. Pathological complete remission (pCR) was defined if absence of invasive tumor in the breast and axillary lymph nodes samples or residual carcinoma in situ only., Results: Overall, thirty-one patients were enrolled from January 2008 to November 2010. The median age was 51 years and 83.9% of the patients were diagnosed as stage IIB to IIIC diseases. 30 Patients completed chemotherapy as planed while one patient changed regimen due to paclitaxel allergy. Twenty-eight patients could be evaluated for clinical efficacy, of which CR, PR, SD, PD were achieved in 4, 20, 3 and 1 women, respectively. The objective response rate was 85.7%. The expression rate of CK5/6, CK14 and EGFR were 88.9% (24/27), 59.3% (16/27) and 63% (17/27), respectively. Among 27 patients who received modified radical mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery, 11 patients obtained pCR, with a pCR rate of 40.7% (95%CI 22.2% - 59.3%). Five of six CK5/6- and CK14-positive patients achieved pCR. All the 31 patients could be evaluated for toxicity according to the NCI-CTC v3.0 criteria. The major toxicities were neutropenia (93.5%), vomiting (45.2%) and ALT/AST increase (32.3%), and grade 3-4 toxicities accounted for 74.2%, 3.2%, 0, respectively. Until December 2011, at a median follow-up of 28.9 months (range 5 - 47.9), eight patients developed recurrence including 5 patients died. Among 11 patients with pCR, one suffered from lung metastasis at 45 months after diagnosis and survived with tumor until now. The other ten were alive and disease free. The 3-year DFS and OS were 62% and 74.7%, respectively., Conclusions: As a neoadjuvant treatment for triple-negative breast cancer, carboplatin plus paclitaxel regimen achieves notable higher objective response rate and pCR rate compared with the anthracycline plus paclitaxel regimen reported in the literature, and is well tolerable. It is an optimized regimen for TNBC.

The clinical success of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) as therapeutic agents has prompted great interest in their further development and clinical testing for a wide variety of malignancies. However, most studies have focused on the efficacy of TKI, and few studies have been done on the criteria for their discontinuation. The current standard for drug discontinuation is "until progression", based on change in tumor size. However, tumor size is not related to the gene expression which determines the efficacy of TKI in the final analysis, and it is also difficult to make a thorough and correct prediction based on tumor size when the TKI is discontinued. Nevertheless, clinical evaluation of the criteria for TKI discontinuation is still in its early days. Some promising findings have started to emerge. With the improving knowledge of EGFR and its inhibitors, it is expected that the criteria for discontinuation of EGFR inhibitor therapy will become clearer.

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity, specificity of touch imprint cytology (TIC), and to compare its conformity rate with histopathology, to observe the consistence of immunocytochemistry (ICC) with immunohistochemistry (IHC), and to assess the diagnostic value of TIC prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer., Methods: 289 cases of TIC and 287 cases with core needle biopsy (CNB) histopathology accumulated from October 2005 to October 2008 in our hospital were included in this study. One hundred ninety cases TIC results were compared with that of final histopathology. 64 cases were tested for ER, PR, HER-2 by immunocytochemistry., Results: Twenty-four benign cases and 263 malignant cases were diagnosed. 4 specimens were unsatisfactory. False negative rate and unsatisfactory rate were 1.4%, both, and false positive rate was 0.35%. The accuracy rate of TIC and CNB was 95.8% and 95.3%, respectively (P = 0.804). The sensitivity of TIC and CNB was 96.2% and 95.0% (P = 0.601), specificity 87.5% and 100% (P = 0.471) were found, when compared with the results of routine histopathology. 52 cases had a control with IHC of CNB in 64 ICC, and 43 cases had a final histopathology IHC. The ICC conformity rate of ER, PR, HER-2 with IHC of CNB was 86.5%, 75.0%, 78.8%, and that with IHC of final histopathology was 88.4%, 74.4%, 75.6%, respectively. The conformity rate of IHC between CNB and final histopathology was 83.7%, 74.4%, 76.5%, respectively. There was no significant statistical difference between them., Conclusion: Compared with routine CNB histopathology, TIC has a high accuracy and sensitivity, and can provide a rapid and reliable cytological diagnosis to complement CNB for breast lesions. The conformity rates are high in ER, PR, HER-2 expression between ICC and IHC. ICC of TIC can be used to determine the estrogen and progesterone receptor levels in breast cancer before neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objective: To analyze the trend of the incidence of prostate cancer in urban Tianjin area between 1981 and 2004 so as to provide scientific rationales for the prevention and control of prostate cancer., Methods: The data of prostate cancer cases were provided by the Tianjin Cancer Registry. The SAS system V9 was used to calculate the crude incidence, age-adjusted incidence and age specific incidence of prostate cancer in Tianjin between 1981 and 2004. And the Join point 3.0 software was used to analyze secular trends., Results: Between 1981 and 2004, a total of 1060 prostate cancer cases were diagnosed in Tianjin. And the age-adjusted incidence rate was 2.84/100 000 in 2004. The incidence of prostate cancer showed 3 incremental stages during the 24-year period at an annual average of 4.02%. An aging trend was observed for prostate cancer patients. The elder patients had a faster increment in incidence. Specifically, it increased annually at 4.63% for age group 65 - 74 year versus 5.18% for age group 75 years or more., Conclusion: Despite a low incidence of prostate cancer in Tianjin, it is increasing at a fast rate. The prevention and control of prostate cancer should be strengthened.

Objective: To investigate the histological criteria of breast cancer response to neoadjuvant therapy., Methods: One hundred and fifty-four cases of breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant therapy were collected from June, 2005 to June, 2007 and the clinical data were analyzed. All patients were operated on within 4 weeks after neoadjuvant therapy. All specimens were assessed by the standard method of Miller and Payne (MP) grading system. The response to neoadjuvant therapy were assessed by two pathologists independently, using MP grading system and common grading system separately., Results: The response rate using the MP grading system were grade 1 in 12 cases (7.8%), grade 2 in 33 cases (21.4%), grade 3 in 64 cases (41.6%), grade 4 in 31 cases (20.1%) and grade 5 in 14 cases (9.1%). Using the common grading system, the response were mild in 51 cases (33.1%), moderate in 71 cases (46.1%) and severe in 32 cases (20.8%). MP grading system may be related to common grading system (chi2 = 186.660, P < 0.01). Follow up information were available in 147 cases, with 14 cases showing recurrence, metastasis or death from the disease. The MP grading system may be related to the outcome (chi2 = 11.612, P = 0.020), but not the common grading system (chi2 = 0.881, P = 0.644)., Conclusion: MP grading system may be one of the prognostic factors in the neoadjuvant therapy of breast cancer.

Objective: To assess the diagnostic value of core needle biopsy (CNB) before neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer., Methods: One hundred and nineteen breast cancer cases underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy in our hospital during the period from June, 2005 to January, 2007 were analyzed. CNB was carried out before starting chemotherapy. The hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of CNB taken before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were reviewed independently by two pathologists, and the rate of consistency was verified., Results: Amongst the 119 cases studied, 110 cases were confirmed to be carcinoma, including 105 cases of invasive carcinoma and 5 cases of ductal carcinoma-in-situ. The rate of consistency was 97.22% (105/108)., Conclusion: CNB has important value in distinguishing benign from malignant lesions, as well as in confirming the diagnosis of invasive carcinoma before starting neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objective: To find out the mechanism of Tangfukang on the diabetic nephropathy(DN)., Method: A Model of streptorotocin diabetic rats was used. The expressions of the AGEs, ICAM-1, IV-C and FN were observed in renal cortex of diabetic rats with immunohistochemical method. The level of the IL-1 beta in blood serum was measured by radioimmunoassay method and the level of TNF was determined in blood serum by ELISA method. Aminoguanidine was selected as the control medicine which could inhibit the expression of monenzymatic glycosylation end products of protein. All the results were compared to analyze the effect of Tangfukang on monenzymatic glycosylation of protein and cytokine expression in early diabetic nephropathy rats., Results: Both Tangfukang and aminoguanidine significantly decreased the expression of AGEs, but Tangfukang was greatly superior to aminoguanidine in suppressing the expression of cytokine like ICAM-1, IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha and the ingredients of extracellular matrix like IV-C, FN., Conclusion: It may be the partical mechanism of Tangfukang to suppress the monenzymatic glycosylation of protein and to reduce the expression of cytokine in diabetes. The effect of Tangfukang is superior to that of aminoguanidine.