Malignant neoplasms arising in endometriosis

Article Abstract:

Endometriosis is a condition in which cells that normally line the inside of the uterus grow and function elsewhere in the body. In the medical literature, there have been reports of 195 cases of endometrial tissue transforming into cancer. However, the actual incidence is not known since in many cases, the originating endometrial tissue is destroyed. The diagnostic criteria for cancer arising from endometriosis include that: both cancerous and noncancerous endometrial tissue is present in the same ovary; and the cancer has originated from endometrial tissue and not from another source. Ten additional cases of cancer arising from endometriosis are reported, along with a review of all reported cases. The ovary was the primary site in 165 (79 percent) of the cases. The remainder of the cases (44 patients, 21 percent) appeared in sites outside of the ovaries, mainly the pelvis, rectum, colon, and vagina. The types of cancer represented included endometrioid adenocarcinoma (69 percent of the cancers), clear-cell carcinoma (13.5 percent), sarcoma (11.6 percent), and rare-cell types (6 percent). The tumors were generally low-grade and confined to the endometrial tissue area. Radiation therapy was useful in controlling tumors confined to the pelvic region, but was less useful in patients with disease spread (metastasis) outside of the pelvic region. Chemotherapy was useful in treating only one patient. Of the 14 patients receiving postoperative progestin therapy, 77 percent have survived at least five years. Of the 86 patients available for follow-up, 57 had cancer confined to the ovary (65 percent five-year survival), 11 had cancer outside of the ovary but confined to the site of origin (100 percent five-year survival) and 18 had the cancer in the abdominal cavity (10 percent five-year survival). Cancer originating from endometriosis should be removed surgically followed by progestin therapy to suppress residual endometrial tissue. It is also concluded that the risk of cancer developing from endometriosis may be higher than was previously believed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Causes of, Complications and side effects, Carcinogenesis, Endometriosis

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Synergistic effect of combined intraperitoneal cisplatin and cytosine arabinoside in a murine ovarian cancer model

Article Abstract:

Ovarian cancer has the lowest survival rate of all cancers affecting reproductive structures. Although ovarian cancers are often detected in advanced stages, most of the cancer is restricted to the abdominal cavity. Peritoneal administration of chemotherapy, delivered directly into the abdominal cavity, allows the cancer cells to be exposed to higher, more toxic concentrations of the cancer-fighting drugs. Cisplatin and cytosine chemotherapeutic agents have a combined action when they are given together in laboratory studies of cancer cells. This synergistic effect was studied in ovarian cancer cells produced in laboratory mice. The survival of tumor-bearing mice was prolonged when cisplatin was given alone, but not when cytosine was given alone. When cytosine and cisplatin were combined, the prolonged survival of the mice was greater than when either agent was given alone. When the combined drugs were administered only once, 50 percent of the mice survived 80 days. When the drugs were given in combination for three days, 100 percent survived for 120 days. The synergistic effect of cisplatin and cytosine prolonged survival of laboratory mice with ovarian cancer cells after the agents were administered peritoneally. A human trial of cisplatin and cytosine given in combination peritoneally for three days is warranted in women with ovarian cancer. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Models, Case studies, Evaluation, Cancer, Chemotherapy, Cisplatin, Drug synergism, Cytarabine

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Lymphocyte activation by recombinant interleukin-2 in ovarian cancer patients

Article Abstract:

Blood samples from fifty patients with ovarian cancer were tested for the presence of killer lymphocytes, which act against cancer cells, before and after the samples were exposed to recombinant interleukin-2. In 42 patients, the samples were taken from blood near the ovary; in the remaining eight, samples were taken from the membrane of the uterine tubes (peritoneal cavity). Virtually none of the lymphocytes from either group possessed the ability to recognize and attack disease. In the blood taken from near the ovarian cancer, treatment with interleukin-2 increased the cell-killing ability of the blood lymphocytes by two to five times. In the blood from the peritoneal cavity, exposure to interleukin-2 did not generate killer cell activity against the ovarian cancer cells.

Measurement, Physiological aspects, Interleukins, Lymphocytes

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