Inflammation and cancer: Partners in crime

A systematic review on the role of biomarkers in liquid biopsies and saliva samples in the monitoring of salivary gland cancer

BACKGROUND

Salivary gland cancer is a rare disease, and approximately 20% of tumors in the salivary glands are malignant. Reliable biomarkers may have a role in monitoring salivary gland cancer.

AIM

To review the current literature on the role of biomarkers in liquid biopsies and saliva samples in the monitoring of salivary gland cancer.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

This study systematically reviewed the literature on studies detecting salivary gland cancer by biomarkers in liquid biopsies and saliva samples by systematically searching PubMed and Embase between 1 January 2013 and 7 March 2023.

RESULTS

Five studies covering 64 malignant cases of salivary gland cancer were included, which considered inflammatory biomarkers or markers of genetic material in either blood or saliva. In saliva, there were demonstrated elevations of CA-19-9 in malignant cases, and elevations of miRNA in malignant and benign cases. In blood, there were demonstrated elevations of IL-33 in malignant and benign cases, elevations of ctDNA in malignant cases, and elevations of CTC in malignant cases.

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

The studies indicate that there is potential in the detection method. The studies detecting genetic material by liquid biopsies showed the most promising results. At present, there is still progression to be made before the method can be implemented for diagnostic use.

Metabolic Syndrome and Risk of Lung Cancer: An Analysis of Korean National Health Insurance Corporation Database

INTRODUCTION

Metabolic syndrome is known to increase the risk of several cancers. However, the association between lung cancer and metabolic syndrome remains unclear. Thus, we investigated the impact of metabolic syndrome on the incidence of lung cancer.

METHODS

This study enrolled participants in a health screening program provided by the Korean National Health Insurance Service between January 2009 and December 2012. The incidence of lung cancer was observed until December 2016. We analyzed the risk of lung cancer according to the presence of metabolic syndrome, metabolic syndrome components, and number of metabolic syndrome components.

RESULTS

During the study, 45 635 new cases of lung cancer were recorded among 9 586 753 participants. The presence of metabolic syndrome and all its components was positively associated with the risk of lung cancer in men after multivariate adjustment (hazard ratio [HR] of metabolic syndrome 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-1.18). The risk of lung cancer increased with the number of components present. The effect of metabolic syndrome on the increasing risk of lung cancer is may be higher in underweight male ever-smokers than in other participants.

CONCLUSION

Metabolic syndrome was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer in men. Moreover, the higher the number of metabolic syndrome components, the higher the risk of lung cancer.

Mesenchymal stem cells therapy in companion animals: useful for immune-mediated diseases?

Mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent cells, with capacity for self-renewal and differentiation into tissues of mesodermal origin. These cells are possible therapeutic agents for autoimmune disorders, since they present remarkable immunomodulatory ability.The increase of immune-mediated diseases in veterinary medicine has led to a growing interest in the research of these disorders and their medical treatment. Conventional immunomodulatory drug therapy such as glucocorticoids or other novel therapies such as cyclosporine or monoclonal antibodies are associated with numerous side effects that limit its long-term use, leading to the need for developing new therapeutic strategies that can be more effective and safe.The aim of this review is to provide a critical overview about the therapeutic potential of these cells in the treatment of some autoimmune disorders (canine atopic dermatitis, feline chronic gingivostomatitis, inflammatory bowel disease and feline asthma) compared with their conventional treatment.Mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy in autoimmune diseases has been showing that this approach can ameliorate clinical signs or even cause remission in most animals, with the exception of canine atopic dermatitis in which little to no improvement was observed.Although mesenchymal stem cells present a promising future in the treatment of most of these disorders, the variability in the outcomes of some clinical trials has led to the current controversy among authors regarding their efficacy. Mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy is currently requiring a deeper and detailed analysis that allows its standardization and better adaptation to the intended therapeutic results, in order to overcome current limitations in future trials.

iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomic analysis and bioinformatics study of proteins in retinoblastoma

The aim of the present study was to analyze proteins in the aqueous humor (AH) of patients' retinoblastoma (RB), and investigate their potential role in RB using the comparative proteomic technique of isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) coupled with offline two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 0.1 ml AH was collected from 10 children with RB (mean age, 3.8 years; range, 2-5 years) and patients with senile cataracts (mean age, 70.4 years; range, 65-79 years), which was used as the control. iTRAQ was used to analyze proteins in the AH of patients and controls. Proteins with a fold change of >1.20 or <0.83 were considered to be significantly differentially expressed (with corrected P<0.05). The identified proteins were subjected to subsequent gene ontology (GO) analysis using the DAVID database. A total of 83 proteins that were expressed differently between the controls and patients' AH samples were identified using iTRAQ analysis. Of these proteins, 44 were upregulated and 39 were downregulated. On the basis of biological processes in GO, the identified proteins were primarily involved in glycoprotein, amyloid acute-inflammatory and defensive responses. Among these proteins, pigment epithelium-derived factor serves a potential role in the treatment of RB, and stimulated by retinoic acid 6 may serve as a potential protein involved in RB development. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to identify 83 proteins associated with RB using iTRAQ technology. The results of the present study will aid in furthering the understanding of RB and developing novel therapy targets in the future.

Metabolic syndrome and total cancer mortality in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

PURPOSE

Although metabolic syndrome incidence has substantially increased during the last few decades, it largely remains unclear whether this metabolic disorder is associated with total cancer mortality. The present study was carried out to investigate this important question.

METHODS

A total of 687 cancer deaths were identified from 14,916 participants in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by linking them to the National Death Index database through December 31, 2006. Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for total cancer mortality in relation to metabolic syndrome and its individual components.

RESULTS

After adjustment for confounders, a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome was associated with 33% elevated total cancer mortality. Compared with individuals without metabolic syndrome, those with 3, 4 and 5 abnormal components had HRs (95% CIs) of 1.28 (1.03-1.59), 1.24 (0.96-1.60), and 1.87 (1.34-2.63), respectively (p-trend = 0.0003). Systolic blood pressure and serum glucose were associated with an increased risk of death from total cancer [HR (95% CI) for highest vs. lowest quartiles: 1.67 (1.19-2.33), p-trend = 0.002 and 1.34 (1.04-1.74), p-trend = 0.003, respectively]. Overall null results were obtained for lung cancer mortality. The effects of metabolic syndrome and its components on non-lung cancer mortality were generally similar to, but somewhat larger than, those for total cancer mortality.

CONCLUSION

Our study is among the first to reveal that metabolic syndrome is associated with increased total cancer mortality.