Asbestos Cancer Update 2010

Department of Ophthalmology, Royal Gwent Hospital, Cardiff Road, Newport NP20 2UB, Wales, UK. david.hughes@gwent.wales.nhs.uk

The role of human papillomavirus (HPV)infection in eye cancer disease is controversial. However, a recent case illustrates the possible role of HPV in conjunctival squamous carcinoma and the potentially devastating effects of this disease. The development of two vaccines to prevent infection with HPV types most commonly cancer associated with anogenital cancers has led to debate about the pros and cons of a national immunisation programme to prevent cervical cancer. The introduction of such a vaccination programme may have an additional cancer beneficial effect on the occurrence of some head and neck, including ocular, cancers. This review discusses the nature of papillomaviruses, cancer mechanisms of infection and cancer carcinogenesis, the possible role of HPV in eye cancer disease, and finally the likely impact of the new prophylactic cancer vaccines.

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Pathology Department, Regina Elena Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy.

Genital human papillomavirus (HPV) is the causative agent of cervical cancer and is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Only limited and controversial data are available regarding HPV transmission in male sexual partners of women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and the genotype distribution of HPV in penile scrapings of a series of Italian men, who had no visible penile lesions and were partners of women who were affected, or had been affected previously by cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or who were infected with HPV. The concordance of the viral group in the infected partners was determined. A total of 77 penile scrapings were screened for HPV infection by the polymerase chain reaction, while 59 cervicovaginal brushings of their female partners were tested. 35% of evaluable male samples and 64% of female sexual partners were found to be HPV positive. In the 55 simultaneously evaluable couples, a concordance of 45% was found, 11 couples (20%) with both partners being HPV negative and 14 couples (25%) with both partners HPV positive (P = 0.001). Six out of the 14 couples (43%), where both partners were HPV positive, harbored the same HPV genotype group. These data, although preliminary, could support further the hypothesis that male HPV infection is more frequent in sexual partners of HPV positive or women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia indicating that men could represent an important source of HPV transmission between sex partners. J. Med. Virol. 80: 1275-1281, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), Hospital of the University of Mainz, Germany.

Classification of high-risk HPV types for cervical cancer screening depends on epidemiological studies defining HPV type-specific risk. The genotyping tests that are used, are however, not uniform with regard to type-specific detection rates making comparisons between different studies difficult. To overcome the lack of a “gold standard” four tests were evaluated crosswise using 824 cervical smears pretested by HC2. The tests evaluated were the L1-PCR-based assays PGMY09/11 LBA, HPV DNA Chip and SPF LiPA and an E1 consensus PCR followed by cycle sequencing (E1-PCR). A subset of 265 samples was tested in addition with the GP5+/6+ reverse line blot assay. Differences were noted in the sensitivity and range for specific HPV types, e.g. with detection rates for HPV53 ranging from 2.3% to 11.6%. HPV16 was the most prevalent type detected by all tests except for the SPF-10 LiPa, which detected HPV31 more often. Kappa values calculated ranged from poor (k = 0.20) to intermediate (k = 0.54) for HPV positivity, but were higher for high-risk type positivity (k = 0.31-0.61) and best for recognition of HPV16 (k = 0.53-0.72). The analytical sensitivity of the tests ranged between 15% and 97% for individual types and specificity was highly dependent on which test system was used as “gold standard” for the analysis. The results of histology were used for calculation of clinical sensitivity and specificity. E1-PCR, PGMY09/11 LBA and SPF-10 LiPA had a high clinical sensitivity (>95%) for the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 or higher, whereas the HPV DNA Chip reached only 84.1%. J. Med. Virol. 80: 1264-1274, 2008. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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Dept of Anesthesiology, The Stomatological Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400015, China

OBJECTIVE: To compare the influence of propofol and isoflurane on pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokine response to perioperative period of tongue cancer surgery. METHODS: Twenty-four adult patients undergone the operation of tongue cancer were assigned to two groups randomly, propofol group (Group P) and isoflurane group (Group I). In group P, anesthesia was induced with fentanyl 2-3 microg/kg, propofol 2 mg/kg, atracurium 0.6 mg/kg and maintained with propofol 5-8 mg x kg(-1) x h(-1) and inhalation of 50% nirous oxide (N2O:O2=50%:50%). In group I, anesthesia was induced with 3%-4% isoflurane, fentanyl 2-3 microg/kg, diazepam 0.06-0.1 mg/kg, atracurium 0.6 mg/kg and maintained with inhalation of 50% N2O and isoflurane (ended-tidal isoflurane was maintained at 0.6%), in two groups atracurium was given intermittently. Blood samples were taken from peripheral vein before anesthesia (TO), at the end of operation (T1), 24 h (T2) and 48 h (T3) after operation for determination of serum IL-6 and IL-10 concentrations. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) and body temperature in two groups were recorded. RESULTS: IL-6 and IL-10 levels increased significantly in two groups at T1, T2 and T3 compared with T0 (P < 0.01). The increasing trend of IL-6 and IL-10 levels were similar in both groups, whereas the level of IL-6 at T1 in propofol group was lower than that of isoflurane group significantly (P < 0.01), however the level of IL-10 was much higher in propofol group than that of isoflurane group at T1 and T2 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The influence of total intravenous anesthesia of propofol on post-operation inflammatory response is much gentler than isoflurane.

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Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan. hyhsu@ym.edu.tw

Curcumin, a polyphenolic compound derived from plant, regulates heme oxygenase (HO-1) expression within certain cell types; however, the Curcumin-mediated signal transduction in the regulation of HO-1 expression within human monocytes/macrophages is unclear. Herein, we show that Curcumin dose dependently induced HO-1 expression and HO-1 activity through the activation of PKCalpha, PKCdelta/ERK1/2, p38alpha, and PI3-kinase. In addition, H2O2 release is essential for Curcumin-mediated ERK1/2 and p38 phosphorylation and HO-1 expression. Further, Curcumin inhibited LPS-induced IL-1 and IL-6 secretion and blockage of HO-1 expression/activity by HO-1 siRNA or HO-1 inhibitor, SnPP reversed the inhibitory effects of Curcumin on cytokines secretion. HO-1 over-expression produced the same inhibitory effects of Curcumin on IL-1 secretion. Collectively, our results suggest that Curcumin inhibits cytokines secretion within LPS-stimulated monocytes through a mechanism that involves the action of HO-1. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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