scholarly journals Hydrogen Gas: A Novel Type of Antioxidant in Modulating Sexual Organs Homeostasis

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Yaxing Zhang ◽  
Haimei Liu ◽  
Jinwen Xu ◽  
Shuhui Zheng ◽  
Lequan Zhou

Sex is a science of cutting edge but bathed in mystery. Coitus or sexual intercourse, which is at the core of sexual activities, requires healthy and functioning vessels to supply the pelvic region, thus contributing to clitoris erection and vaginal lubrication in female and penile erection in male. It is well known that nitric oxide (NO) is the main gas mediator of penile and clitoris erection. In addition, the lightest and diffusible gas molecule hydrogen (H2) has been shown to improve erectile dysfunction (ED), testis injuries, sperm motility in male, preserve ovarian function, protect against uterine inflammation, preeclampsia, and breast cancer in female. Mechanistically, H2 has strong abilities to attenuate excessive oxidative stress by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals, modulate immunity and inflammation, and inhibit injuries-induced cell death. Therefore, H2 is a novel bioactive gas molecule involved in modulating sexual organs homeostasis.

Author(s):  
Tazia Irfan ◽  
Mainul Haque ◽  
Sayeeda Rahman ◽  
Russell Kabir ◽  
Nuzhat Rahman ◽  
...  

Breast cancer remains one of the major causes of death in women, and endocrine treatment is currently one of the mainstay of treatment in patients with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Endocrine therapy either slows down or stops the growth of hormone-sensitive tumors by blocking the body’s capability to yield hormones or by interfering with hormone action. In this paper, we intended to review various approaches of endocrine treatments for breast cancer highlighting successes and limitations. There are three settings where endocrine treatment of breast cancer can be used: neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or metastatic. Several strategies have also been developed to treat hormone-sensitive breast cancer which include ovarian ablation, blocking estrogen production, and stopping estrogen effects. Selective estrogen-receptor modulators (SERMs) (e.g. tamoxifen and raloxifene), aromatase inhibitors (AIs) (e.g. anastrozole, letrozole and exemestane), gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH) (e.g. goserelin), and selective estrogen receptor downregulators (SERDs) (e.g. fulvestrant) are currently used drugs to treat breast cancer. Tamoxifen is probably the first targeted therapy widely used in breast cancer treatment which is considered to be very effective as first line endocrine treatment in previously untreated patients and also can be used after other endocrine therapy and chemotherapy. AIs inhibit the action of enzyme aromatase which ultimately decrease the production of estrogen to stimulate the growth of ER+ breast cancer cells. GnRH agonists suppress ovarian function, inducing artificial menopause in premenopausal women. Endocrine treatments are cheap, well-tolerated and have a fixed single daily dose for all ages, heights and weights of patients. Endocrine treatments are not nearly as toxic as chemotherapy and frequent hospitalization can be avoided. New drugs in preliminary trials demonstrated the potential for improvement of the efficacy of endocrine therapy including overcoming resistance. However, the overall goals for breast cancer including endocrine therapy should focus on effective control of cancer, design personalized medical therapeutic approach, increase survival time and quality of life, and improve supportive and palliative care for end-stage disease.


Breast Care ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 312-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Rossi ◽  
Olivia Pagani

The optimal endocrine therapy for premenopausal women with early and advanced breast cancer still remains an important and controversial issue. For over 30 years, tamoxifen has been the gold standard in the adjuvant setting. New therapeutic options, such as the addition of ovarian function suppression to oral endocrine therapy (either tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors), can improve outcomes over tamoxifen alone in well-selected patients. Treatment duration has also been revisited, and extended therapy is becoming a new standard of care, especially in high-risk patients. Endocrine therapy for advanced disease still represents a challenge and a research priority. New drugs and combinations able to overcome endocrine resistance are at the horizon, and their role in premenopausal women should be better elucidated. Side effects and quality of life (including family planning considerations) play an important role in treatment selection and in the patients' treatment adherence and should always be discussed before start of treatment. The paper will specifically focus on how to integrate all new treatment options in the current armamentarium of endocrine therapy of premenopausal women, with the aim of best fine-tuning treatment selections according to the individual risk/benefit evaluation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
jintao cao ◽  
SHUAI SUN ◽  
RAN LI ◽  
RUI MIN ◽  
XINGYU FAN ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The current epidemiology shows that the incidence of breast cancer is increasing year by year and tends to be younger. Triple-negative breast cancer is the most malignant of breast cancer subtypes. The application of bioinformatics in tumor research is becoming more and more extensive. This study provided research ideas and basis for exploring the potential targets of gene therapy for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods We analyzed three gene expression profiles (GSE64790、GSE62931、GSE38959) selected from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The GEO2R online analysis tool was used to screen for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between TNBC and normal tissues. Gene Ontology (GO) function and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were applied to identify the pathways and functional annotation of DEGs. Protein–protein interaction network of these DEGs were visualized by the Metascape gene-list analysis tool so that we could find the protein complex containing the core genes. Subsequently, we investigated the transcriptional data of the core genes in patients with breast cancer from the Oncomine database. Moreover, the online Kaplan–Meier plotter survival analysis tool was used to evaluate the prognostic value of core genes expression in TNBC patients. Finally, immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to evaluated the expression level and subcellular localization of CCNB2 on TNBC tissues. Results A total of 66 DEGs were identified, including 33 up-regulated genes and 33 down-regulated genes. Among them, a potential protein complex containing five core genes was screened out. The high expression of these core genes was correlated to the poor prognosis of patients suffering breast cancer, especially the overexpression of CCNB2. CCNB2 protein positively expressed in the cytoplasm, and its expression in triple-negative breast cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues. Conclusions CCNB2 may play a crucial role in the development of TNBC and has the potential as a prognostic biomarker of TNBC.


2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (5_suppl) ◽  
pp. 106-106
Author(s):  
Samantha Rose Dewald ◽  
Loki Natarajan ◽  
Irene Su

106 Background: Fertility is important to many young breast cancer survivors (YBCS), who face difficult decisions on whether to undergo fertility preservation prior to treatment. Because few longitudinal data assessing decisional regret are available, the objectives of this study were to assess longitudinal changes in decisional regret on fertility preservation following breast cancer diagnosis; determine if fertility preservation treatment decisions are related to decreased decisional regret. Methods: From 3 academic breast cancer programs, 169 YBCS younger than age 45 were recruited at diagnosis between 2009 and 2012 and followed prospectively for ovarian function. Participants completed questionnaires on fertility preservation choices and the Decisional Regret Scale (DRS) during study visits every 6 months for up to 5 years. DRS is scored 0 (no regret) to 100 (highest regret). DRS was dichotomized as none versus any decisional regret. Generalized linear models estimated the change in DRS over time and the association between patient characteristics and DRS. Results: Mean age at diagnosis was 38.7 (SD 4.8). Median total follow-up was 176 days (IQR 84 to 1415 days). Enrollment DRS was available for 89 women; 48% reported decisional regret about fertility preservation (median DRS=20). Participants worried about future fertility were more likely to report decisional regret (p=0.009). 31% underwent fertility preservation, but this was not associated with decisional regret (p=0.65). In repeated measures analysis for the entire cohort, no significant change in DRS occurred over this time period (OR 0.8, 95% CI 0.4-1.7). Worry about future fertility remained significantly associated with DRS over time (OR 55.1, 95% CI 7.7-395.1). Conclusions: In a cohort of YBCS, experiencing decisional regret about fertility preservation persists for years after diagnosis. Those worried about future fertility are more likely to experience decisional regret regarding fertility preservation.


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