Campos Patel (wrenchkidney1)

BACKGROUND Acute myeloid leukemia is a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and progenitor cells with a reduced capacity to differentiate into mature cells. CXC chemokine receptor (CXCR4) and its ligand stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1/CXCL12) are important players involved in cross-talk between leukemia cells and the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. The aim to study the association between the immunohistochemical CXCR4 expression and the clinical outcome of AML in adult Egyptian patients. METHODS Fifty-eight patients suffering from AML were recruited for this study, with an age range from 18 to 60 years and presenting from January 2013 to March 2017. All patients were subjected to complete blood count, BM aspiration, immunophenotyping, BM trephine biopsy, immunohistochemical staining with CXCR4 McAb and cytogenetics when feasible. RESULTS CXCR4 was widely expressed (55.2%) among the studied patients. There was a significant relationship between CXCR4 and patients' outcomes. Fifteen (71.4%) patients who died were CXCR4 positive. The estimated mean time until death among CXCR4 negative cases was 37.6 ± 4.04 months which was longer than that of CXCR4 positive cases who had mean of 20.04 ± 4.9 months p = 0.016. The risk for death among CXCR4 positive cases was higher than CXCR4 negative cases with hazard ratio (HR) = 2.147 (p = 0.048). CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that CXCR4 was expressed in a subset of AML patients and was associated with poor prognosis. CXCR4 expression appears to be an independent prognostic factor for survival in a heterogeneous group of AML patients.BACKGROUND The prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) gene urine assay is established for biopsy decision in case of prostate cancer (PC) suspicion. Recent findings pointed to an age dependence of PCA3, with putative impact on test interpretation. However, to date no experience has been reported with regard to the extent age might modify the score in certain age ranges. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to re-evaluate the age dependency and, moreover, give suggestions for interpretation of the PCA3 score in dependence of patient's age in daily routine. METHODS The study comprised 684 patients before prostate biopsy or prostatectomy. Post-massage voided urine samples were assessed by PCA3 measurement. PCA3 scores were correlated to patient's age. The collective was divided into four subcollectives by quartiles of age distribution. For every subcollective the cutoff value at specificity of ≥ 60 was determined. Results were classified by age-class specific cutoff values and test qualities were compared at different cutoffs. RESULTS In the collective, 59.1% of patients had a positive biopsy. PCA3 correlated to patient's age in univariate and multivariate analysis (p 69 years. These results may further improve the diagnostic performance of the PCA3 test and keep the PCA3 test as a significant test in PC diagnostics along with new upcoming urine markers.BACKGROUND To explore the clinical value of combined detection of serum tumor markers in lung cancer, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3), cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA 21-1), neuron specific enolase (NSE), and squamous carcinoma antigen (SCCA). METHODS The expression levels were compared among groups, and the combined effects of these tumor markers in the diagnosis of lung cancer were analyzed. In addition, EGFR gene mutations were detected in some patients with NSCLC. RESULTS There were 776 patients (age 59.78 ± 10.39 years) with lung cancer and 794 controls (age 58.26 ± 15.73 years) included in our study. In this study, tumor markers were detected in lung cancer patients and controls. Individual sensitivity of the tumor markers sorted in descending order were CEA > CYFRA21-1 > CA15-3 > NSE, and the specificities were NSE > CYFRA21-1 > CEA > CA15-3. The combination of CE