MATERIALS AND METHODS: The purpose of this study was to investigate the immunohistochemical expression of SMO in 112 bladder cancer cases and determine their association with demographic and clinicopathological parameters. Bladder cancer tissues were obtained from the Hospital Kuala Lumpur.
RESULTS: SMO was expressed in the cytoplasm of all cases of bladder cancer. 6 cases (5.4%) showed low expression, while 106 cases (94.6%) showed high expression. Positive expression of SMO protein was correlated with a few variables which include grade and stage of tumour, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. SMO expression showed statistically significant association with higher grade (p=0.001) and higher stage (p=0.042) of bladder cancer. SMO expression also showed borderline association with lymph node metastasis (p=0.056).
CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that SMO expression may be a poor prognostic marker in bladder cancer.
METHODS: The cytotoxic effect of hydromethanolic extract of A. crispa and its solvents partitions (ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts) against breast cancer cells were evaluated by using MTT assay. The cells were treated with concentration of extracts ranging from 15.63 μg/mL- 1000 μg/mL for 72 h. The quantification of phenolic and flavonoid contents of the extracts were carried out to determine the relationship between of phytochemical compounds responsible for cytotoxic and antioxidative activities. The antioxidant capacity was measured by DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging assay and expressed as milligram (mg) Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity per 1 g (g) of tested extract.
RESULTS: The hydromethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts showed moderate cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 with IC50 values of 57.35 ± 19.33 μg/mL, and 54.98 ± 14.10 μg/mL, respectively but aqueous extract was inactive against MCF-7. For MDA-MB-231, hydromethanolic, ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts exhibited weak cytotoxic effects against MDA-MB-231 with IC50 values more than 100 μg/mL. The plant revealed high total phenolic content, total flavonoid and antioxidant capacity.
CONCLUSION: The response of different type of breast cancer cell lines towards A. crispa extract and its partitions varied. Accordingly, hydromethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts appear to be more cytotoxic to oestrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer than oestrogen receptor (ER) negative breast cancer. However, aqueous extract appears to have poor activity to both types of breast cancer. Besides that, hydromethanolic and ethyl acetate extracts exhibit higher TPC, TFC and antioxidant capacity compared to aqueous extract. Synergistic effect of anticancer and antioxidant bioactives compounds of A. crispa plausibly contributed to the cytotoxic effects of the extract.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the four outpatient clinics of general hospitals in Tehran during the period from July through October, 2009. Bi-variate analyses and multi-variate binary logistic regression were employed to find the socio- demographic predictors of mammography utilization among participants.
RESULTS: The rate of mammography participation was 21.5% and relatively high because of access to general hospital services. More women who had undergone mammography were graduates from university or college, had full-time or part-time employment, were insured whether public or private, reported a positive family history of breast cancer, and were in the middle income level (P <0.01).The largest number of participating women was in the age range of 41 to 50 years. The results of multivariate logistic regression further showed that education (95%CI: 0.131-0.622), monthly income (95%CI: 0.038-0.945), and family history of breast cancer (95%CI: 1.97-9.28) were significantly associated (all P <0.05)with mammography participation.
CONCLUSIONS: The most important issue for a successful screening program is participation. Using a random sample, this study found that the potential predictor variables of mammography participation included a higher education level, a middle income level, and a positive family history of breast cancer for Iranian women after adjusting for all other demographic variables in the model.