Serum Estrogen Level in Egyptian Breast Cancer Patients

In menstruating 20-29 year old breast cancer patients, the total estrogen level showed a significant increase in the early follicular phase compared to normal healthy subjects. Such a difference was not observed in 30-45 year-old patients. A nonsignificant decrease was observed in the estradiol level of premenopausal breast cancer patients compared to normal healthy subjects. However, in postmenopausal breast cancer patients, the total estrogen level as well as the estradiol level showed a significant increase compared to that of normal healthy subjects.

Effect of soybean, Vicia faba, and vitamin C on the carcinogenicity of DMBA

A single dose of 10 mg of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA), administered to rats through intragastric intubation, was sufficient to induce many biochemical and histopathological changes in their mammary tissue. Significant increases were observed in the activity levels of the enzymes acid ribonuclease, 5-nucleotidase, alkaline phosphatase, and beta-glucuronidase in mammary tissue homogenates of DMBA-treated rats after an experimental period of five months. Histopathological studies of the mammary tissue also revealed malignant epithelial tumors (cribriform carcinoma) induced among 85% of the treated rats, with an incidence of 4 tumors in 12 mammary glands. Nevertheless, administration of 30% soybean in the diet of rats or 5,000 ppm ascorbic acid in their drinking water in addition to DMBA revealed a significant chemoprotective effect against the carcinogenesis induced by DMBA alone. This chemoprotective effect was demonstrated by the normalization of the activity levels of the enzymes studied in mammary tissue homogenates, because most of the enzymes were maintained at near the levels in the control animals. The incidence and number of tumors were also decreased. Cribriform carcinoma was observed in 50% of the rats, and the incidence of the affected glands was 2 in 12 mammary glands among both groups. On the other hand, a less chemoprotective effect was observed due to Vicia faba administration.

Distribution and toxicity of 5-fluorouracil after intraperitoneal and anal submucosal administration

The correlation of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) distribution and its toxicity had been investigated in Albino rats. H3-5-FU was administrated either by intraperitoneal (I.P.) or anal submucosal (A.sm.) route. 5-FU was promptly distributed in different organs with marked accumulation in the pelvic area after A.sm. and in liver and kidney after I.P. administration. Acute toxicity (L.D. 50) was stronger after I.P. (63 mg/kg compared with 80 mg/kg after A.sm.). Side effects expressed in elevation of transaminase and alkaline phosphatase and increase in liver tissue glucose-6-phosphatase and total white blood count were much pronounced after I.P. administration. The results suggest the possibility of using A.sm. route for administration.

Potentiation of therapeutic effect of methanesulphonate and protection against its organ cytotoxicity by vitamin C in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma bearing mice

The effect of vitamin C upon the therapeutic index and side effects produced by methanesulfonate of aminoglycols (drug 864T, NSC 140117) had been evaluated in a laboratory system. The antitumor action of 864T, vitamin C and their combination were evaluated in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cells in vivo. Tissue toxicity was assessed using liver and intestinal DNA, RNA, protein contents and their synthesis as parameters. In addition, G-6-pase, 5-Nase and Alk, pase activity levels in both tissues were also measured. Drug 864T (200 mg/kg) produced 50 percent long-term survivors in tumor bearing mice in addition to 10 percent early mortality while in combination with vitamin C (250 mg/kg x 6), there was 80 percent long term survivors with no mortality related to drug toxicity. No toxicity, in all the parameters used, was observed when 864T was given in combination with vitamin C. Drug 864T alone produced a significant decrease in protein content of both liver and intestinal tissue while in combination with vitamin C normal levels were maintained. In addition, all the parameters used were either elevated or decreased by 864T treatment and returned to normal levels in combination with vitamin C. This study proved that vitamin C may be useful not only to potentiate the effect of anticancer drug 864T on the Ehrlich ascites carcinoma but also to antagonize the side effects of the drug.

Effects of soyabean and ascorbic acid on experimental carcinogenesis

1. Ultrastructural changes in liver tissue of mice fed nitrosamine precursors, dibutylamine and nitrite, were observed. 2. The protective effect of soyabean in a diet containing nitrosamine precursors was demonstrated. 3. Liver tissue was examined to investigate the anticarcinogenicity of ascorbic acid. 4. The significance of soyabean and ascrobic acid in counteracting the potential hazards due to nitrosamine precursors is discussed.

Effect of soybean feeding on experimental carcinogenesis--III. Carcinogenecity of nitrite and dibutylamine in mice: a histopathological study

The potential carcinogenic effect of nitrosamine precursors, DBA (dibutylamine) and nitrite, was clearly demonstrated pathologically in the liver and bladder of male Swiss albino mice. Benign tumours were induced in the bladder with an incidence of 40%, and hepatomas were detected in the liver in 27% of the cases. The protective effect of soybean and ascorbic acid, added separately to the diet or to the drinking water respectively, was demonstrated by a marked reduction in dysplastic features and absence of tumour in both the liver and the urinary bladder.

Frequency of active ras oncogenes in human bladder cancers associated with schistosomiasis

The frequency of active ras oncogenes in human bladder cancers associated with schistosomiasis, the cause of which is suspected to be a chemical carcinogen(s) in urine, was examined. Of 9 squamous cell carcinomas of the bladder surgically obtained in Egypt, none scored as positive in the regular DNA transfection assay using NIH/3T3 cells as recipients. The restriction fragment length polymorphism assay at codon 12 of the H-ras gene confirmed the absence of an activating mutation at this site in all of them. Western blotting analysis of electrophoretic mobilities of the ras p21 proteins, a method which can detect at least some of the point mutations within codons 12 and 61 of ras genes, suggested a point mutation within codon 61 in one out of the 7 tumors analyzed. In contrast to the low frequency of detection of mutationally activated ras oncogenes, enhanced expression of the ras p21 proteins was demonstrated in 4 of them by this analysis. The carcinogenic process involved in the endemic bilharzial bladder cancers is thus not associated with detectable point mutations within ras genes at a higher frequency than those in non-bilharzial bladder cancers in Japan or the USA.

Anal submucosal injection: a new route for drug administration in pelvic malignancies. Part I. Experimental study of misonidazole distribution in serum and tissues, with special reference to urinary bladder. Preliminary report

The anal and oral administration routes were compared in 30 rats to study the distribution of misonidazole, a radiation sensitizer, in the serum and tissues with special reference to the urinary bladder. 14C-labelled misonidazole was administered in a dose of 0.2 ml water/100 gm body weight containing 1 mu Ci misonidazole. The dose was given orally by stomach tube in 15 rats, and was injected in the submucosa of the anal canal in another 15. Animals were then killed after 15, 30, 60, or 120 minutes or after 24 hours. Organs were dissected, and radioactivity was determined in each by the internal standard method. The study has shown that the highest drug concentration in the bladder tissue relative to the serum was achieved with the anal submucosal route. Its level was eight and five times that of the serum 15 and 30 minutes after administration, respectively, in contrast to the oral route in which the drug concentration was one-quarter and equal to the serum level at the same time intervals. The anal route would thus provide the adequate channel required for misonidazole to promote radiation responsiveness in bladder carcinoma.

Immunoglobulin A, G and E levels in Egyptians with cancer: influence of schistosomiasis

The main patient series consisted of 415 Egyptians attending the Cairo Cancer Institute and comprising 286 bladder cancer, 97 breast cancer, 14 head and neck cancer and 18 gastrointestinal cancer cases. Also included in the study were 36 patients with active schistosomiasis and 89 health controls. Serum IgA, IgG, IgG subclasses, IgE, Schistosoma and Ascaris-specific IgE (RAST) and the acute-phase protein CRP were measured in all, or sub-sets, of the main patient group. The well-established increase in IgE and IgG levels, and the more recently reported increase in the levels of IgG3 and IgG4 subclasses in patients with schistosomiasis, were also found in bilharzial bladder cancer, indicating that humoral immunity persists in cancer-bearing patients. However, the plasma protein profile in bilharzial bladder cancer is further modified by significant increases in the levels of IgA, IgG, IgG1, IgG2 and CRP when compared to levels in patients with Bilharzia in the absence of neoplastic change. Patients with cancers not associated with parasitic infestation also had significant increases in their serum levels of IgG1, IgG2, IgG, IgE and CRP when compared to healthy Egyptian controls, but 41% of these non-bladder cancer patients showed IgE responses to previous parasitic infestations suggesting that any immunological response to cancer would be on the background of a variable non-specific increase of IgE.