1.Severe Jaundice in Two Children with Kawasaki Disease: A Possible Association with Gilbert Syndrome.
Themistocles KARPATHIOS ; Maria MOUSTAKI ; Panagiotis YIALLOUROS ; Fariba SHARIFI ; Achilleas ATTILAKOS ; Anna PAPADOPOULOU ; Andrew FRETZAYAS
Journal of Korean Medical Science 2012;27(1):101-103
Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis, mainly encountered in children. It may affect any organ. Acute cholestasis and severe obstructive jaundice is an atypical manifestation of the disease. We herein present two children with Kawasaki disease and severe direct hypebilibirunemia who also were homozygous and heterozygous respectively for the (TA)7 promoter polymorphism of Gilbert syndrome. Intravenous immunoglobulin was administered to both patients at the acute phase of the disease and the fever remitted within 24 hr following the immunoglobulin administration. Furthermore oral aspirin at a dose of 80-100 mg/kg/24 hr was also given. The first child did not develop any coronary ectasia or aneurysm, whereas dilation of the right coronary artery was identified in the second child, one month after the disease onset. We discuss the possible contribution of Gilbert syndrome to the development of jaundice in our patients.
Administration, Oral
;
Aspirin/therapeutic use
;
Child
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Child, Preschool
;
Echocardiography
;
Female
;
Gilbert Disease/*complications/*diagnosis/genetics
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Humans
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Immunoglobulins, Intravenous/therapeutic use
;
Jaundice/etiology
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Male
;
Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome/*complications/*diagnosis/drug therapy
;
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
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Promoter Regions, Genetic
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Sequence Analysis, DNA
2.Clinical Significance of Major Angiogenesis-Related Effectors in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer Treated with Trastuzumab-Based Regimens
Helen P. KOUREA ; Foteinos-Ioannis DIMITRAKOPOULOS ; Georgia-Angeliki KOLIOU ; Anna BATISTATOU ; Kyriaki PAPADOPOULOU ; Mattheos BOBOS ; Anthoula ASIMAKI-VLACHOPOULOU ; Sofia CHRISAFI ; Kitty PAVLAKIS ; Kyriakos CHATZOPOULOS ; Eleni GALANI ; George PENTHEROUDAKIS ; Dimitrios PECTASIDES ; Dimitrios BAFALOUKOS ; Eleni RES ; Pavlos PAPAKOSTAS ; Angelos KOUTRAS ; Vassiliki KOTOULA ; George FOUNTZILAS
Cancer Research and Treatment 2022;54(4):1053-1064
Purpose:
Angiogenesis is a crucial phenomenon in the development and progression of breast cancer (BC), but the clinical significance of angiogenesis-related proteins in metastatic BC remains unknown. This study investigates the prognostic value of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors 1, 2, 3 (VEGFR1, VEGFR2, VEGFR3) as well as vascular endothelial growth factors A and C (VEGFA and VEGFC) in metastatic BC patients treated with trastuzumab-based regimens.
Materials and Methods:
Two hundred female patients were included. Protein and mRNA expression of the studied angiogenesis-related factors were evaluated by immunohistochemistry and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, respectively.
Results:
High expression of VEGFA, VEGFC, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and VEGFR3 in the tumor cells was observed in 43.5%, 24.2%, 36%, 29.5%, and 43%, respectively. Stromal elements expressed high levels of VEGFA, VEGFC, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and VEGFR3 in 78.9%, 93.3%, 90.7%, 90.2%, and 74.8% of tumors with available data. High tumor cell expression of VEGFR1 was a favorable prognosticator for survival among patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)–positive tumors (hazard ratio [HR], 0.55; p=0.013). A trend towards longer progression-free survival was detected univariately for patients with HER2-negative tumors and high expression of VEGFR2 (HR, 0.60; p=0.059).
Conclusion
VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 seem to have significant prognostic value in BC patients with metastatic disease treated with trastuzumab-based regimens.