Zinc as a complementary treatment for cancer patients: a systematic review

AbstractZinc is a trace element that plays an important role in the immune system and cell growth. The role of zinc in cancer treatment has been discussed for some time, however without reaching an evidenced-based consensus. Therefore, we aim to critically examine and review existing evidence on the role of zinc during cancer treatment. In January 2019, a systematic search was conducted searching five electronic databases (Embase, Cochrane, PsychINFO, CINAHL and PubMed) to find studies concerning the use, effectiveness and potential harm of zinc therapy on cancer patients. Out of initial 5244 search results, 19 publications concerning 23 studies with 1230 patients were included in this systematic review. The patients treated with zinc were mainly diagnosed with head and neck cancer and underwent chemo-, radio- or concurrent radio-chemotherapy. Interventions included the intake of different amounts of zinc supplements and oral zinc rinses. Outcomes (primary endpoints) investigated were mucositis, xerostomia, dysgeusia, pain, weight, dermatitis and oral intake of nutrients. Secondary endpoints were survival data, quality of life assessments and aspects of fatigue, immune responses and toxicities of zinc. The studies were of moderate quality reporting heterogeneous results. Studies have shown a positive impact on the mucositis after radiotherapy. No protection was seen against mucositis after chemotherapy. There was a trend to reduced loss of taste, less dry mouth and oral pain after zinc substitution. No impact was seen on weight, QoL measurements, fatigue, and survival. The risk of side effects from zinc appears to be relatively small. Zinc could be useful in the prevention of oral toxicities during irradiation. It does not help in chemotherapy-induced side effects.

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Beta-Blocker Attenuates Cardiotoxicity Related Anthracycline Usage

Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand ◽

10.35755/jmedassocthai.2021.08.9268 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 104 (8) ◽

pp. 1389-1392

Keyword(s):

Side Effects ◽

Cancer Therapy ◽

Mortality Rate ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Beta Blocker ◽

The Other ◽

Large Numbers ◽

Therapy Effectiveness ◽

Chemotherapy Agents

To summarize the recent trials and studies of the role of beta-blocker on the treatment for cancer patients treated with anthracycline to decrease morbidity and mortality rate. Good management of cancer will result in large numbers of cancer survivors. On the other hand, cancer therapy also has side effects, one of which is cardiotoxicity. Cardiotoxicity could reduce therapy effectiveness, hence, increase disease progression and mortality rate. Anthracyclines is one of the chemotherapy agents with cardiotoxicity as a side effect. Beta-blocker has the ability to reduce cardiotoxicity due to anthracyclines usage. Keywords: Beta-blocker; Cardiotoxicity; Anthracyclines

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Acute Side Effects of Radiotherapy in Breast Cancer Patients: Role of DNA-Repair and Cell Cycle Control Genes

Methods of Cancer Diagnosis, Therapy and Prognosis ◽

10.1007/978-1-4020-8369-3_35 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 507-528

Author(s):

Xiang-Lin Tan ◽

Odilia Popanda ◽

Jenny Chang-Claude

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Cell Cycle ◽

Dna Repair ◽

Side Effects ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Cell Cycle Control ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Acute Side Effects

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Role of Oxycodone Hydrochloride in Treating Radiotherapy-Related Pain

Pain Research and Management ◽

10.1155/2020/7565962 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2020 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

Yinxia Wang ◽

Ligang Xing

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Side Effects ◽

Cancer Pain ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Pain Control ◽

Analgesic Drugs ◽

Oxycodone Hydrochloride ◽

Radiation Esophagitis

Radiotherapy is commonly used to treat cancer patients. Besides the curable effect, radiotherapy also could relieve the pain of cancer patients. However, cancer pain is gradually alleviated about two weeks after radiotherapy. In addition, cancer patients who receive radiotherapy may also suffer from pain flare or radiotherapy-induced side effects such as radiation esophagitis, enteritis, and mucositis. Pain control is reported to be inadequate during the whole course of radiotherapy (before, during, and after radiotherapy), and quality of life is seriously affected. Hence, radiotherapy is suggested to be combined with analgesic drugs in clinical guidelines. Previous studies have shown that radiotherapy combined with oxycodone hydrochloride can effectively alleviate cancer pain. In this review, we firstly presented the necessity of analgesia during the whole course of radiotherapy. We also sketched the role of oxycodone hydrochloride in radiotherapy of bone metastases and radiotherapy-induced oral mucositis. Finally, we concluded that oxycodone hydrochloride shows good efficacy and tolerance and could be used for pain management before, during, and after radiotherapy.

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Role of percutaneous nephrostomy in end of life prostate cancer patients: a systematic review of the literature

Central European Journal of Urology ◽

10.5173/ceju.2018.1780 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 71 (4) ◽

Keyword(s):

Prostate Cancer ◽

Systematic Review ◽

End Of Life ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Percutaneous Nephrostomy ◽

Review Of The Literature

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The Prognostic Role of Phase Angle in Advanced Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Nutrition in Clinical Practice ◽

10.1002/ncp.10100 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (6) ◽

pp. 813-824 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Mayane Marinho Esteves Pereira ◽

Mariana dos Santos Campello Queiroz ◽

Nathália Masiero Cavalcanti de Albuquerque ◽

Juliana Rodrigues ◽

Emanuelly Varea Maria Wiegert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Advanced Cancer ◽

Phase Angle ◽

Prognostic Role ◽

Advanced Cancer Patients

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Prognostic Role of miR-221 and miR-222 Expression in Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Cancers ◽

10.3390/cancers11070970 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 970 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gloria Ravegnini ◽

Sarah Cargnin ◽

Giulia Sammarini ◽

Federica Zanotti ◽

Justo Lorenzo Bermejo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Fine Tuning ◽

High Expression ◽

Cochrane Library ◽

Published Data ◽

Significant Heterogeneity ◽

Free Survival

Background: A wealth of evidence has shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) can modulate specific genes, increasing our knowledge on the fine-tuning regulation of protein expression. miR-221 and miR-222 have been frequently identified as deregulated across different cancer types; however, their prognostic significance in cancer remains controversial. In view of these considerations, we performed an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of published data investigating the effects of miR-221/222 on overall survival (OS) and other secondary outcomes among cancer patients. A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Knowledge, and Cochrane Library databases was performed. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to assess the strength of association. Results: Fifty studies, analyzing 6086 patients, were included in the systematic review. Twenty-five studies for miR-221 and 17 studies for miR-222 which assessed OS were included in the meta-analysis. High expression of miR-221 and miR-222 significantly predicted poor OS (HR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.14–1.93, p = 0.003 and HR: 1.90, 95% CI: 1.43–2.54, p < 0.001, respectively). Subgroup analysis revealed that the finding on miR-221 was not as robust as the one on miR-222. Furthermore, high miR-222 expression was also associated with worse progression-free survival and disease-free survival pooled with recurrence-free survival. Conclusions: The meta-analysis demonstrated that high expression of miR-222 is associated with poor prognosis in cancer patients, whereas the significance of miR-221 remains unclear. More work is required to fully elucidate the role of miR-221 and miR-222 in cancer prognosis, particularly in view of the limitations of existing results, including the significant heterogeneity and limited number of studies for some cancers.

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Chinese Herbal Medicine for Reducing Chemotherapy-Associated Side-Effects in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Frontiers in Oncology ◽

10.3389/fonc.2020.599073 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 ◽

Author(s):

Sha Li ◽

Tsz-him So ◽

Guoyi Tang ◽

Hor-Yue Tan ◽

Ning Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Side Effects ◽

Herbal Medicine ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Chinese Herbal Medicine ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Chemotherapeutic Agents ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Chinese Herbal

BackgroundChemotherapy usually induces a variety of side-effects in cancer treatment as it cannot tell normal cells apart from cancer cells and kills both. Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been regarded as a potential effective intervention for relieving the side-effects of chemotherapy in breast cancer patients.ObjectiveThis study aims to conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of CHM as adjuvant therapy for reducing the chemotherapy-induced side-effects in the treatment of breast cancer.MethodsMain electronic databases were searched up to May 2020 for Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) evaluating the effect of CHM on breast cancer patients with chemotherapy. The PRISMA statement was adopted in this study and meta-analyses were performed.ResultsThe included studies showed unsatisfied quality. Results based on available literature indicated that the adjunctive use of CHM with chemotherapy may reduce the chemotherapeutic agents-associated adverse events, including nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, alopecia, myelosuppression, and impaired immune function.ConclusionA confident conclusion could not be have due to the lack of large scale and high quality trials.

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Prognostic role of long noncoding RNA ZFAS1 in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Oncotarget ◽

10.18632/oncotarget.19162 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (59) ◽

pp. 100490-100498 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Tian Lan ◽

Xiong Lan ◽

Guangcai Li ◽

Zhen Zheng ◽

Minghua Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Long Noncoding Rna ◽

Noncoding Rna ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Prognostic Role

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Circulating MicroRNAs as Prognostic Molecular Biomarkers in Human Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Disease Markers ◽

10.1155/2019/8632018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2019 ◽

pp. 1-12 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shree Ram Lamichhane ◽

Thanuja Thachil ◽

Harriet Gee ◽

Natalie Milic

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Overall Survival ◽

Head And Neck Cancer ◽

Head And Neck ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Neck Cancer ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Prognostic Role ◽

Circulating Micrornas

Background. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are potential molecular biomarkers for cancer detection; however, little is known about their prognostic role in head and neck cancer. This current study is aimed at evaluating the role of novel miRNAs in the survival of head and neck cancer patients. Materials and Methods. We performed a systematic literature search using online databases for articles published between December 2006 and February 2019. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between miRNA expressions and overall survival (OS) among the selected head and neck cancer studies. After multilevel screening by reviewers, meta-analysis was performed using hazard ratios (HR) and associated 95% confidence interval (CI) of survival to calculate a pooled effect size. Result. A total of 1577 patients across 13 studies were included in the literature review, with 18 miRNAs upregulated and 4 miRNAs downregulated predicting a poor overall survival. The forest plot generated using cumulated survival data resulted in a pooled HR value of 2.943 (95% CI: 2.394-3.618) indicating a strong association of dysregulated miRNA expression with a poor outcome. Only 2 miRNAs—low levels of miR-9 and high levels of miR-483-5p—were observed in two studies, both showing a significant association with overall cancer survival. Conclusion. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis that examines the prognostic role of circulating miRNAs from blood in head and neck cancer patients. The combined effect estimates a HR across multiple studies and also supports the previous individual findings that an alteration in miRNA expression is highly associated with poor prognosis. This has the potential to use serum and/or plasma miRNAs as biomarkers and become novel tools for predicting the prognosis of head and neck cancer patients in the near future.

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