• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5219-5223
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• 2015

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection as a serious problem in both adults and children can induce chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and possibly gastric cancer. The aim of the current study was to survey antibiotic resistance and also to determine influence of PPAR$\gamma$ polymorphism in patients with H. pylori infection. During an 11-month-period, 98 H. pylori isolates were collected from 104 biopsy specimens. In vitro susceptibility of H. pylori isolates to 4 antimicrobial agents metronidazole, clarithromycin, amoxicillin and tetracycline were assessed by quantitative method according to European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guideline. PPAR$\gamma$ polymorphism was determined using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The frequency of H. pylori infection in our study was 94.2%. In vitro susceptibility data showed that highest level of resistance was related to metronidazole (66.3%), and the majority of H. pylori isolates were highly susceptible to amoxicillin and tetracycline (94.9% and 96.9%, respectively). Genotypic frequencies were 25.5% for CC (Pro12Pro), 40.8% for GC (Pro12Ala) and 33.7% for GG (Ala12Ala). In our study, CG genotype had highest distributions among infected patients with H. pylori. The study suggests that the PPAR-$\gamma$ Pro12Ala polymorphism could be evaluated as a potential genetic marker for susceptibility to gastric cancer in the presence of H. pylori infection.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.287-291
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• 2016

Cervical cancer is one of the most common gynecological cancers in Iranian women. This study was initiated to assess whether the combination of paclitaxel and cisplatin with radiation might feasible for these patients. The aim was to assess tumor response and toxicity of weekly cisplatin and paclitaxel along with radiotherapy in the treatment of cervical cancer. Women with primary untreated squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix with FIGO stages IB2 to IIIB were treated with weekly injections of cisplatin 30 mg/m2 and paclitaxel 35 mg/m2 for 5-6 weeks along with radiotherapy. A total of 25 patients were enrolled in this study who completed the intended treatment. Disease was assessed prior to treatment by pelvic examination and contrast enhanced MRI of the abdomen and pelvis. Response was assessed 1 month after completion of treatment by physical examination and 3 months after also by MRI.Toxicity was assessed and was graded using RTOG grading. There was a complete response rate of 84% after 3 months. The major toxicity was grade 1 and 2 anemia (92%). The mean duration of treatment was 58 days. In conclusion, combination chemotherapy with cisplatin and paclitaxel along with radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of cervixwas well tolerated, in contrast to other studies, but it seems that there was no increase in tumor response and progression free survival with this treatment regimen.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5173-5177
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• 2016

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one of the most prevalent leukemia types in adults, demonstrates great heterogeneity in molecular and clinical terms. Hence, there is a necessity to the mechanisms involved in AML generation in order to determine optimal treatment. This cross sectional study aimed to assess changes in BECN1 gene expression in with blood samples from 30 AML patients, compared with samples from 15 healthy persons. RNA was extracted and cDNA was synthesized and Real Time PCR applied to determine BECN1 gene expression. The results showed no significant differences in BECN1 gene expression between patients with AML and normal controls (P > 0.05). It appears that expression of BECN1 does not play a significant role in genesis of AML leukemia.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1961-1966
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• 2016

Background: To investigate the prevalence of premature ejaculation (PE) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in a sample of patients with prostate cancer and to determine the utility of the previously suggested cutoffs of the Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool (PEDT) for the diagnosis of PE and that of International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) for ED. Materials and Methods: A total of 1,202 men with prostate cancer were invited from urology clinics at the universities of Iran, Tehran, Qazvin, Ahvaz, Guilan and Tabriz. Clinical characteristics were collected through medical records. PE and ED diagnoses were made by trained urologists. In addition to the clinical diagnoses, PE and ED were measured through self-report using the PEDT and the IIEF-5. Questionnaire cutoff scores were determined using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and confirmed by predictive ability using logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of PE was 63.7% and that of ED was 66.2%. Prevalences of PE decreased and that of ED increased with advanced TNM stages. According to ROC, the suggested cutoff for the PEDT to diagnose a PE was ${\geq}11$ (sensitivity=0.988, 1-specificity=0.084, and predictive ability=0.914) and ${\leq}17$ for the IIEF-5 (sensitivity=0.966, 1-specificity=0.031, and predictive ability=0.967). Conclusions: Prevalence of sexual problems was high in prostate cancer patients in Iran, therefore oncologists should take into account these potential problems when deciding on treatment modalities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1627-1631
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• 2015

Background: Stage at diagnosis is one of the most important prognostic factors of breast cancer survival. Because in the breast cancer case this may vary with socioeconomic characteristics, this study was performed to recognize the relationship between demographic and socioeconomic factors with stage at diagnosis in Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted on 526 patients suffering from breast cancer and registered in Cancer Research Center of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences from 2008 to 2013. A reliable and valid questionnaire about family levels of socioeconomic status filled in by interviewing the patients via phone. For analyzing the data, Multinomial logistic regression, Kendal tau-b correlation coefficient and Contingency Coefficient tests were executed by SPSS22. Economic status, educational attainment of patient and household head and/or a combination of these were considered as parameters for socioeconomic status. First, the relationship between stage at diagnosis and demographic and socioeconomic status was assessed in univariate analysis then these relationships assessed in two different models of multinomial logistic regression. Results: The mean age of the patients was 48.3 (SD=11.4). According to the results of this study, there were significant relationships between stage at diagnosis of breast cancer with patient education (p=0.011), living place (p=0.044) and combined socioeconomic status (p=0.024). These relationships persisted in multiple multinomial logistic regressions. Other variables, however, had no significant correlation. Conclusions: Patient education, combined socioeconomic status and living place are important variables in stage at diagnosis of breast cancer in Iranian women. Interventions have to be applied with the aim of raising women's accessibility to diagnostic and medical facilities and also awareness in order to reducing delay in referring. In addition, covering breast cancer screening services by insurance is recommended.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3305-3308
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• 2013

Background: The role of inflammation in prostate diseases is suggested by the presence of inflammatory cells within the prostate in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa) patients. In addition, bacterial and viral infection may lead to chronic and recurrent inflammation of the prostate. The human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a family of sexually transmitted viruses which have been implicated in the aetiology of cervical cancer and several other malignancies. This study evaluated the frequency of HPV infection in individuals with prostatic disease in Iran. Materials and Methods: The study included formalin fixed paraffin- embedded tissue samples of 196 primary prostate cases, including 29 PCa and 167 BPH samples. HPV DNA was purified and amplified through MY09/MY11 and GP5+/GP6+ primers with nested PCR. All patients were interviewed using a questionnaire to collect demographic information. Results: Nested PCR showed that HPV DNA was found in 17.2 percent of PCa samples and 4.8 percent of BPH samples (not significant). Conclusions: Our data do not support a significant role of HPV infection in prostatic disease in Iranian patients, but demographic data indicated a probable association between presence of HPV DNA and risk of inflammation in prostate tissue which might lead to prostate carcinoma. Further studies are required to elucidate any roles of HPV infection in prostatic disease.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1873-1880
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• 2015

Background: A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) on patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) treated with peginterferon and ribavirin (pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RBV) identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on chromosome 19 (rs12979860) which was strongly associated with a sustained virological response (SVR). The aim of this study was twofold: to study the relationship between IL28B rs12979860 and sustained virological response (SVR) to pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RVB therapy among CHC patients and to detect the rs12979860 polymorphism by high resolution melting curve (HRM) assay as a simple, fast, sensitive, and inexpensive method. Materials and Methods: The study examined outcomes in 100 patients with chronic hepatitis C in 2 provinces of Iran from December 2011 to June 2013. Two methods were applied to detect IL28B polymorphisms: PCR-sequencing as a gold standard method and HRM as a simple, fast, sensitive, and inexpensive method. Results: The frequencies of IL28B rs12979860 CC, CT, and TT alleles in chronic hepatitis C genotype 1a patients were 10% (10/100), 35% (35/100), and 6% (6/100) and in genotype 3a were 13% (13/100), 31% (31/100), and 5% (5/100), respectively. In genotype 3a infected patients, rs12979860 (CC and CT alleles) and in genotype 1a infected patients (CC allele) were significantly associated with a sustained virological response (SVR). The SVR rates for CC, CT and TT (IL28B rs12979860) were 18%, 34% and 4%, respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified two independent factors that were significantly associated with SVR: IL-28B genotype (rs 12979860 CC vs TT and CT; odds ratio [ORs], 7.86 and 4.084, respectively), and HCV subtype 1a (OR, 7.46). In the present study, an association between SVR rates and IL28B polymorphisms was observed. Conclusions: The HRM assay described herein is rapid, inexpensive, sensitive and accurate for detecting rs12979860 alleles in CHC patients. This method can be readily adopted by any molecular diagnostic laboratory with HRM capability and will be clinically beneficial in predicting treatment response in HCV genotype 1 and 3 infected patients. In addition, it was demonstrated that CC and CT alleles in HCV-3a and the CC allele in HCV-1a were significantly associated with response to pegIFN-${\alpha}$/RBV treatment. The present results may help identify subjects for whom the therapy might be successful.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.5043-5047
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• 2015

Background: Relatively little is known with certainty about the status and role of p53 or MDM2 in predicting prognosis and survival of renal cell carcinoma. The present study aimed to determine the value of P53 and MDM2 over-expression, alone and simultaneously, to predict five-year survival of patients with kidney cancer in Iran. Materials and Methods: Patients with kidney cancer referred to Hasheminejad Kidney Center between 2007 and 2009, underwent radical nephrectomy and had pathology reports of clear cell, papillary or chromophobe renal cell carcinoma were included in our cohort study. Other histological types of renal cell carcinoma were not included. The patients with missed, incomplete or poor quality paraffin blocks were also excluded. Overall ninety one patients met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. To assess the histopathological features of the tumor, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of formalin fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor samples were performed. The five-year survival was determined by the patients' medical files and telephone following-up. Results: In total, 1.1% of all samples were revealed to be positive for P53. Also, 20.8% of all samples were revealed to be positive for MDM2.The patients were all followed for 5 years. In this regard, 5-year mortality was 30.5% and thus 5-year survival was 85.3%. According to the Cox proportional hazard analysis, positive P53 marker was only predictor for patients' 5-year survival that the presence of positive p53 increased the risk for long-term mortality up to 2.8 times (HR=2.798, 95%CI: 1.176-6.660, P=0.020). However, the presence of MDM2 could not predict long-term mortality. In this regard, analysis by the ROC curve showed a limited role for predicting long-term survival by confirming P53 positivity (AUC=0.610, 95%CI: 0.471-.750, P=0.106). The best cutoff point for P53 to predict mortality was 0.5 yielding a low sensitivity (32.0%) but a high specificity (97.9%). In similar analysis, measurement of MDM2 positivity could not predict mortality (AUC=0.449, 95%CI: 0.316-.583, P=0.455). Conclusions: The simultaneous presence of both P53 and MDM2 markers in our population is a rare phenomenon and the presence of these markers may not predict long-term survival in patients who undergoing radical nephrectomy.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.172-178
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• 2016

Background: This study was designed to assess serum vitamin D status (25-OHD) in the fibromyalgia (FM) patients and to compare it with a healthy control group. It also aimed to investigate the correlation of serum vitamin D level with FM symptom severity and invalidation experiences. Methods: A total of 74 consecutive patients with FM and 68 healthy control participants were enrolled. The eligible FM patients completed the Illness Invalidation Inventory (3*I), the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) and a short-form health survey (SF-12). Venous blood samples were drawn from all participants to evaluate serum 25-OHD levels. Mann-Whitney tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed and Spearman's correlations were calculated. Results: 88.4% of FM patients had low levels of serum 25-OHD. FM patients had significantly higher level of serum 25-OHD than the control group ($17.24{\pm}13.50$ and $9.91{\pm}6.47$ respectively, P = 0.0001). There were no significant correlations between serum 25-OHD levels and the clinical measures of disease impact, invalidation dimensions, and health status. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that an increased discounting of the disease by the patient's spouse was associated with a 4-fold increased risk for vitamin D deficiency (OR = 4.36; 95% CI, 0.95-19.87, P = 0.05). Conclusions: This study showed that although high rates of vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency were seen among FM patients and healthy non-FM participants, but it seems there was no intrinsic association between FM and vitamin D deficiency. Addressing of invalidation experience especially by the patient's spouse is important in management of FM.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2833-2836
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• 2012

Aim: Gastric cancer is the third most frequent cause of cancer mortality worldwide. In Iran, it is one of the leading causes at the national level. Localized at chromosome 8q22, the human MTDH gene has been reported to be over-expressed in a spectrum of malignancies. However, since there is a lack of data concerning with expression in gastric cancer at the transcriptional level, in this study we evaluated MTDH expression in Iranian cases. Methods: Totally, thirty paired gastric samples were examined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Results: Although the mRNA expression was significantly elevated in 46.6% of the examined tumor tissues; its expression was low in others (36.6%). Moreover, there was only a marginal statistical difference between the MTDH gene expression of all tumor specimens compared to their paired non-tumor ones and no statistically significant association with the grades and types of the tumors. Conclusion: Taken together, our results demonstrated that expression of MTDH at the transcriptional level may be increased in gastric cancer tissue samples but with considerable heterogeneity. Due to this, it may have the potential to be used as a target for diagnostic/therapeutic purposes only in a subset of patients.