People affected with leukemia are on the rise and several strategies were employed to thwart this deadly disease. Recent decade of research focuses on phenolic constituents as a tool for combating various inflammatory, cancer, and cardiac diseases. Our research showed honey and its phenolic constituents as crusaders against cancer. In this work, we explored the antileukemic activity of selected honey and one of its phenolic constituent eugenol against L1210 leukemia animal model. Results of this experiment showed that the selected honey samples as well as eugenol after intraperitoneal injection could not increase the median survival time (MST) of animals. Further, there was only slight marginal increase in the %T/C values of honey and eugenol treated groups. The number of phenolics present in the honey may not be a prime factor to promote antileukemic effect since there was no difference in the MST of two different honeys tested. This study limits the use of selected honey and eugenol against leukemia animal model.
From 1967-82, 9 children with testicular relapse (TR) of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were diagnosed out of 99 boys treated, an incidence of 9.1%. The median time from the onset of ALL until diagnosis was 28 months (range 3-41 months). All were asymptomatic; six were detected on routine examination while three were diagnosed only on biopsy. Routine biopsy prior to stopping chemotherapy is useful in detecting occult TR. Biopsies should be done on both the testes regardless of the clinical findings. The age, leucocyte count and hepatosplenomegaly at diagnosis of ALL were not found to be significant factors in influencing relapse. Eight children were in bone marrow remission at the time of TR, but three had preceding or concurrent meningeal leukaemia while in the other five the testis was the first and only site of relapse. Radiotherapy was effective in local disease control but failed to prevent bone marrow relapse in all except two patients despite continuation of chemotherapy. The median time from onset of TR until bone marrow relapse was 7 months (range 3-13 months) and the median time until death, was 11 months (range 6-18 months). The frequency of testicular relapse may be related to the intensity of either the initial induction therapy or the consolidation chemotherapy. Further studies are required to determine whether the incidence of testicular relapse will decline with more intensive early treatment.
A new carbazole alkaloid, 3-carbomethoxy-2-hydroxy-7-methoxycarbazole, Clausine-TY (1), together with two known carbazole alkaloid, Clausine-H (2) and Clausine-B (3), were isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the stem bark of the Malaysian Clausena excavata. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analyses. The new carbazole alkaloid shows significant cytotoxicity against CEM-SS cell line.
One hundred four children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia were diagnosed at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, between 1976 and 1982; 87 were evaluable with respect to treatment. They were divided into good prognosis (GP) and bad prognosis (BP) groups based on their initial total white cell count, their treatment differing only during the maintenance phase. Remission was achieved in 82 patients (94%) of whom ten (12%) subsequently died in remission from infection. Twenty-eight (34%) relapsed while on treatment and three while off therapy. Eleven patients ceased treatment after 3 yr of continuous complete remission (CCR). Three of these later relapsed, two within the first year. Survival in CCR was significantly better in the GP group up to 30 months, after which the difference diminished. There was no difference in survival between boys and girls. The overall disease-free survival at 3 yr and 5 yr was 40% and 25%, respectively, with a median follow-up period of 20 months (range 4-69 months). The reasons for the relatively low survival rates as compared with those in developed countries are discussed.
A review of acute childhood leukemia in the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur reveals no significant differences in either the epidemiological or clinical features between Malaysian and Caucasian children. BCG does not appear to have conferred any protection against the occurrence of leukemia. With the introduction of total therapy 4 of 10 patients with good prognostic features and 3 of 15 patients with poor prognostic features have survived 3 years. Prognosis appears to correlate with adopted clinical criteria.