Twenty Malaysian patients with unresectable primary liver cell cancer were prospectively studied at the General Hospital, Kuala Lampur, and were compared for clinical features with an equal number each of African and American patients being studied by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group. The patients received intravenous 5-FU and oral MeCCNU which was used for the first time in an Asian country. Most of the Malaysian patients were Chinese, belonged to younger age groups, and presented with massive hepatomegaly, jaundice, and fever. Toxicity to MeCCNU invariably occurred in the form of leukopenia or thrombocytopenia, but none life threatening. Partial response was seen in 20% of Malaysians as compared to 16% in Americans and none in Africans. Malaysians achieved a median survival of 16 weeks compared to 28 weeks in Americans and only eight weeks in Africans. Malaysian Chinese patients were all HBc Ab + ve. Other factors which may have played an etiologic role in the induction of primary liver cancer included alcohol, Chinese herbal medicines, aflatoxin and habitual use of medicated rubbing oils.
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is an important cancer in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the epidemiological characteristics and clinical presentations of patients in a multiracial population consisting of three major Asian races: Malays, Chinese and Indians.
Up to 25% of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients eventually develop hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a disease with poor prognosis unless detected early. This study identifies a blood-based RNA biomarker panel for early HCC detection in CHB.
The authors present an interesting case under our follow-up who has had five different forms of tumours with different pathologies throughout his lifetime. He started off with hepatoma, followed by pleomorphic sarcoma of the thigh, adenocarcinoma of the prostate, meningioma and finally schwanoma. He is still alive to this date.
Metabolomics is now widely used to characterize metabolic phenotypes associated with lifestyle risk factors such as obesity. The objective of the present study was to explore the associations of body mass index (BMI) with 145 metabolites measured in blood samples in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study. Metabolites were measured in blood from 392 men from the Oxford (UK) cohort (EPIC-Oxford) and in 327 control subjects who were part of a nested case-control study on hepatobiliary carcinomas (EPIC-Hepatobiliary). Measured metabolites included amino acids, acylcarnitines, hexoses, biogenic amines, phosphatidylcholines, and sphingomyelins. Linear regression models controlled for potential confounders and multiple testing were run to evaluate the associations of metabolite concentrations with BMI. 40 and 45 individual metabolites showed significant differences according to BMI variations, in the EPIC-Oxford and EPIC-Hepatobiliary subcohorts, respectively. Twenty two individual metabolites (kynurenine, one sphingomyelin, glutamate and 19 phosphatidylcholines) were associated with BMI in both subcohorts. The present findings provide additional knowledge on blood metabolic signatures of BMI in European adults, which may help identify mechanisms mediating the relationship of BMI with obesity-related diseases.