Orthopaedic surgery in the palliation of cancer

Author(s):  
John H. Healey ◽  
David McKeown

Metastatic spread of cancer to bone is frequent and causes pain, disability, and functional limitation. New understanding of the homing method of cancer cells to bone and the mechanism of cancer production of pain raise possible new treatment strategies. Non-surgical treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone therapy are effective in early disease. Bisphosphonates and inhibition of osteoprotegerin prevent progression of bone lesions and avoid pain, radiation, and surgery. Radiotherapy arrests disease and relieves pain in many cases. Surgery is needed when the bone is weak or fractured. It effectively relieves pain and preserves function. It usually requires replacing or bypassing the deficient bone with site-specific reconstructive surgery. Surgery should be selected based on projections of patient survival. New tools to make these projections have been validated and are now available. New targeted drug therapies appear to be changing metastatic bone disease into a more chronic condition. This will alter the management of local disease in many histological subtypes of metastatic cancers.

2021 ◽  
pp. 839-848
Author(s):  
Mohamed Yakoub ◽  
John Healey

Metastatic spread of cancer to bone is frequent and causes pain, disability, and functional limitation. Non-surgical treatments such as chemotherapy and hormone therapy are effective in early disease. Administration of bisphosphonates or osteoprotegerin inhibitors prevent new ‘bone events’, thereby avoiding pain, radiation, and surgery. Radiotherapy arrests disease and relieves pain in many cases. Surgery is needed when the bone is weak or fractured. It effectively relieves pain and preserves function by bypassing the deficient bone with site-specific reconstructive surgery. Surgery should be selected based on projections of patient survival. New tools to make these projections are now available (https://www.pathfx.org/). New targeted drug therapies appear to be changing metastatic bone disease into a more chronic condition. This will alter the management of local disease in many histological subtypes of metastatic cancers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebekah L. I. Crake ◽  
Eleanor R. Burgess ◽  
Janice A. Royds ◽  
Elisabeth Phillips ◽  
Margreet C. M. Vissers ◽  
...  

Gliomas are a heterogeneous group of cancers that predominantly arise from glial cells in the brain, but may also arise from neural stem cells, encompassing low-grade glioma and high-grade glioblastoma. Whereas better diagnosis and new treatments have improved patient survival for many cancers, glioblastomas remain challenging with a highly unfavorable prognosis. This review discusses a super-family of enzymes, the 2-oxoglutarate dependent dioxygenase enzymes (2-OGDD) that control numerous processes including epigenetic modifications and oxygen sensing, and considers their many roles in the pathology of gliomas. We specifically describe in more detail the DNA and histone demethylases, and the hypoxia-inducible factor hydroxylases in the context of glioma, and discuss the substrate and cofactor requirements of the 2-OGDD enzymes. Better understanding of how these enzymes contribute to gliomas could lead to the development of new treatment strategies.


Author(s):  
Gabriele Calaminus ◽  
James C. Nicholson

Germ-cell tumours (GCT) comprise a heterogeneous group of tumours, occurring mainly in children, adolescents, and young adults, which vary by site, range of histological subtypes, and behaviour. Gonadal sites, testes, and ovaries account for around two thirds of extracranial GCT, the remainder occurring at extragonadal sites. Histological components range from mature benign teratoma to malignant subtypes, germinoma, yolk sac tumour, choriocarcinoma, and embryonal carcinoma. Raised levels of the tumour marker alphafetoprotein (AFP) in yolk sac tumours, and human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) in choriocarcinoma and, to lower levels, in germinoma/dysgerminoma/semi-noma, assist with diagnosis and are useful for monitoring response to treatment and in follow-up. Genomic and transcriptomic analysis provide some insight into the nature of GCT, with common patterns of chromosomal imbalance identified, and distinguish between adult and paediatric GCT with respect to their messenger RNA-expression patterns. Patterns of microRNA expression, common to malignant GCT, across all age groups and histological subtypes, have also been identified in both tumour and serum, where they have potential for use in non-invasive diagnostics and monitoring. Management of teratoma is surgical, and completely resected stage 1 malignant GCT can also be managed with resection followed by close observation. Higher-stage malignant tumours warrant adjunctive chemotherapy following diagnosis. Unresectable tumours may be managed with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and delayed resection. Chemotherapy strategies employ platinum-containing combinations. Outcomes are excellent in the majority of cases, so the goal of new treatment strategies is mainly focused on minimizing late effects of treatment. Many relapses can be salvaged with further chemotherapy.


Author(s):  
Amrita Sarkar ◽  
Khadija Rafiq

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve disorders of heart and blood vessels, including hypertension, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, which finally lead to Heart Failure (HF). There are several treatments available all over the world, but still, CVD and heart failure became the number one problem causing death every year worldwide. Both experimental and clinical studies have shown a role for inflammation in the pathogenesis of heart failure. This seems related to an imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Cardiac inflammation is a major pathophysiological mechanism operating in the failing heart, regardless of HF aetiology. Disturbances of the cellular and humoral immune system are frequently observed in heart failure. This review describes how B-cells play a specific role in the heart failure states. There is an urgent need to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop advanced therapeutic strategies to combat the syndrome of HF. Understanding and describing the elements of the humoral immunity function are essential and may suggest potential new treatment strategies.


Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Maria-Luisa Pérez-Lozano ◽  
Annabelle Cesaro ◽  
Marija Mazor ◽  
Eric Esteve ◽  
Sabine Berteina-Raboin ◽  
...  

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex degenerative disease in which joint homeostasis is disrupted, leading to synovial inflammation, cartilage degradation, subchondral bone remodeling, and resulting in pain and joint disability. Yet, the development of new treatment strategies to restore the equilibrium of the osteoarthritic joint remains a challenge. Numerous studies have revealed that dietary components and/or natural products have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-bone-resorption, and anabolic potential and have received much attention toward the development of new therapeutic strategies for OA treatment. In the present review, we provide an overview of current and emerging natural-product-based research treatments for OA management by drawing attention to experimental, pre-clinical, and clinical models. Herein, we review current and emerging natural-product-based research treatments for OA management.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Hung Kuo ◽  
Fu-Chen Kuo ◽  
Huang-Ming Hu ◽  
Chung-Jung Liu ◽  
Sophie S. W. Wang ◽  
...  

This paper reviews the literature about first-line therapies forH. pyloriinfection in recent years. First-line therapies are facing a challenge because of increasing treatment failure due to elevated antibiotics resistance. Several new treatment strategies that recently emerged to overcome antibiotic resistance have been surveyed. Alternative first-line therapies include bismuth-containing quadruple therapy, sequential therapy, concomitant therapy, and hybrid therapy. Levofloxacin-based therapy shows impressive efficacy but might be employed as rescue treatment due to rapidly raising resistance. Rifabutin-based therapy is also regarded as a rescue therapy. Several factors including antibiotics resistance, patient compliance, and CYP 2C19 genotypes could influence the outcome. Clinicians should use antibiotics according to local reports. It is recommended that triple therapy should not be used in areas with high clarithromycin resistance or dual clarithromycin and metronidazole resistance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1824
Author(s):  
Matthias Mietsch ◽  
Rabea Hinkel

With cardiovascular diseases affecting millions of patients, new treatment strategies are urgently needed. The use of stem cell based approaches has been investigated during the last decades and promising effects have been achieved. However, the beneficial effect of stem cells has been found to being partly due to paracrine functions by alterations of their microenvironment and so an interesting field of research, the “stem- less” approaches has emerged over the last years using or altering the microenvironment, for example, via deletion of senescent cells, application of micro RNAs or by modifying the cellular energy metabolism via targeting mitochondria. Using autologous muscle-derived mitochondria for transplantations into the affected tissues has resulted in promising reports of improvements of cardiac functions in vitro and in vivo. However, since the targeted treatment group represents mainly elderly or otherwise sick patients, it is unclear whether and to what extent autologous mitochondria would exert their beneficial effects in these cases. Stem cells might represent better sources for mitochondria and could enhance the effect of mitochondrial transplantations. Therefore in this review we aim to provide an overview on aging effects of stem cells and mitochondria which might be important for mitochondrial transplantation and to give an overview on the current state in this field together with considerations worthwhile for further investigations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Zhou ◽  
Jingliang He ◽  
Jinbo Chen ◽  
Yu Cui ◽  
Zhenyu Ou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Leydig cells reflect the activation of inflammation, decrease of androgen production, inhibition of cell growth and promotion of cell apoptosis under orchitis. Maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) exerts a crucial role in various human diseases, but under orchitis, the role and underlying molecular mechanism of MEG3 in Leydig cells remain unclear. Methods Lipofectamine 2000 was used for the cell transfections. qPCR and western blots assay were applied to assess the gene expression. ELISA assay was used to measure the TNFα, IL6 and testosterone secretion. CCK8 and EdU assay was employ to test the cell viability and proliferation respectively. Luciferase reporter and RIP assay were introduced to detect the binding of miR-93-5p with MEG3 and PTEN. Results Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) induced TNFα and IL6 secretion, lowered testosterone production, inhibited cell viability and proliferation, and induced cell apoptosis in Leydig cells. MEG3 was upregulated in Leydig cells treated with LPS and that knockdown of MEG3 inhibited the role of LPS in Leydig cells. MEG3 absorbed miR-93-5p and that suppression of miR-93-5p restored the role of silenced MEG3 in Leydig cells under LPS treatment. miR-93-5p inhibited PTEN expression and that over-expressed PTEN alleviated the effect of miR-93-5p in Leydig cells treated with LPS. LPS activated the MEG3/miR-93-5p/PTEN signalling pathway in Leydig cells. Conclusions This study revealed that MEG3 serves as a molecular sponge to absorb miR-93-5p, thus leading to elevation of PTEN expression in Leydig cells under LPS treatment, offering a theoretical basis on which to establish potential new treatment strategies for orchitis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document