Descriptive epidemiology of common female cancers in the north East India--a hospital based study

A Review of the Epidemiology of Breast Cancer in Asia: Focus on Risk Factors

Background and Aim:

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women. To date, regional differences in breast cancer risk factors have not been identified. The aim of our review was to gain a better understanding of the role of risk factors in women with breast cancer in Asia.

Methods:

We conducted a PubMed search on 15 March 2016, for journal articles published in English between 2011 and 2016, which reported data for human subjects in Asia with a diagnosis of breast cancer. Search terms included breast neoplasm, epidemiology, Asia, prevalence, incidence, risk and cost of illness. Studies of any design were included, except for review articles and meta-analyses, which were excluded to avoid duplication of data. No exclusions were made based on breast cancer treatment. We reported the results using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results:

A total of 776 abstracts were retrieved. After screening against the eligibility criteria, 562 abstracts were excluded. The remaining 214 abstracts, which were published between 2013 and 2015, were included in this review. Results were summarized and reported under three categories: incidence, prevalence or outcomes for breast cancer in Asia; modifiable risk factors; and non-modifiable risk factors. We found that the increased risk of breast cancer among participants from Asia was associated with older age, family history of breast cancer, early menarche, late menopause, high body mass index, being obese or overweight, exposure to tobacco smoke, and high dietary intake of fats or fatty foods. In contrast, intake of dietary fruits, vegetables, and plant- and soy-based products was associated with a decreased breast cancer risk. While based on limited data, when compared to women from the United States, women from Asia had a decreased risk of breast cancer.

Conclusions:

This review of 214 abstracts of studies in Asia, published between 2013 and 2015, confirmed the relevance of known non-modifiable and modifiable risk factors for women with breast cancer.

SNHG1 Long Noncoding RNA is Potentially Up-Regulated in Colorectal Adenocarcinoma

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common types of cancer worldwide. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in CRC initiation and progression is remained to be unknown. It seems that lncRNAs, as the main and lengthy functional transcripts of the genome, have important roles in different cancers such as CRC. CRC-related lncRNAs are reported to be involved in diverse molecular processes such as metastasis, invasion, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. This study was aimed to analyse the expression level of lncRNA SNHG1 in colorectal adenocarcinoma and normal tissues. We performed an in silico analysis on a large cohort and confirmed the results by experimental analysis of clinical samples through real-time PCR. Our findings demonstrated that that SNHG1 is potentially overexpressed in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. The expression level of SNHG1 was shown to be potentially associated with clinicopathological features of tumors. The current study suggests the potential role of SNHG1 in colon cancer progression.

Intra-Operative Frozen Sections for Ovarian Tumors – A Tertiary Center Experience

Background: Accuracy of diagnosis with intra-operative frozen sections is extremely important in the evaluation of ovarian tumors so that appropriate surgical procedures can be selected. Study design: All patients who with intra-operative frozen sections for ovarian masses in a tertiary center over nine years from June 2008 until April 2017 were reviewed. Frozen section diagnosis and final histopathological reports were compared. Main outcome measures: Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of intra-operative frozen section as compared to final histopathological results for ovarian tumors. Results: A total of 92 cases were recruited for final evaluation. The frozen section diagnoses were comparable with the final histopathological reports in 83.7% of cases. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value for benign and malignant ovarian tumors were 95.6%, 85.1%, 86.0% and 95.2% and 69.2%, 100%, 100% and 89.2% respectively. For borderline ovarian tumors, the sensitivity and specificity were 76.2% and 88.7%, respectively; the positive predictive value was 66.7% and the negative predictive value was 92.7%. Conclusion: The accuracy of intra-operative frozen section diagnoses for ovarian tumors is high and this approach remains a reliable option in assessing ovarian masses intra-operatively.

DNA Repair Mechanism Gene, XRCC1A ( Arg194Trp) but not XRCC3 ( Thr241Met) Polymorphism Increased the Risk of Breast Cancer in Premenopausal Females: A Case-Control Study in Northeastern Region of India

X-ray repair cross complementary group gene is one of the most studied candidate gene involved in different types of cancers. Studies have shown that X-ray repair cross complementary genes are significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer in females. Moreover, studies have revealed that X-ray repair cross complementary gene polymorphism significantly varies between and within different ethnic groups globally. The present case–control study was aimed to investigate the association of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer in females from northeastern region of India. The present case–control study includes histopathologically confirmed and newly diagnosed 464 cases with breast cancer and 534 apparently healthy neighborhood community controls. Information on sociodemographic factors and putative risk factors were collected from each study participant by conducting face-to-face interviews. Genotyping of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) and X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) was carried out by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. For statistical analysis, both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. We also performed stratified analysis to find out the association of X-ray repair cross complementary genes with the risk of breast cancer stratified based on menstrual status. This study revealed that tryptophan allele (R/W-W/W genotype) in X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio = 1.44, 95% confidence interval = 1.06-1.97, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). Moreover, it was found that tryptophan allele (W/W genotype) at codon 194 of X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene significantly increased the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females (crude odds ratio = 1.66, 95% confidence interval = 1.11-2.46, P < .05 for R/W-W/W genotype). The present study did not reveal any significant association of X-ray repair cross complementary 3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism with the risk of breast cancer. The present study has explored that X-ray repair cross complementary 1A (Arg194Trp) gene polymorphism is significantly associated with the increased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal females from northeastern region of India which may be beneficial for prognostic purposes.