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Biomedical subjects

H-W Lee

Publications and source records attributed to H-W Lee.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

The addition of induction chemotherapy with etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin failed to improve therapeutic outcome of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer -- single institution retrospective analysis.

Although chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is a standard treatment for unresectable locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the optimal sequencing remains to be determined. We retrospectively compared the treatment results of induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent CRT (induction group, 32 patients) with those of concurrent CRT alone (concurrent group, 41 patients) in unresectable stage IIIA/IIIB NSCLC patients. In induction group, 2 cycles of induction chemotherapy (etoposide/ifosfamide/cisplatin: 24 patients, others: 8 patients) were followed by concurrent CRT (60 Gy/30 fractions, 6 mg/m2 of cisplatin daily), while the same concurrent CRT was administered in concurrent group. Clinicopathologic characteristics including age, weight loss, histologic types, and clinical stage did not show significant differences between two groups except for a higher proportion of patients with ECOG performance status 2 in concurrent group (3% vs. 27%, p=0.015). Overall toxicity was generally acceptable with 1 treatment-related death from tracheoesophageal fistula in induction group. The response rates after concurrent CRT were 41% for induction group and 54% for concurrent group, which showed no significant difference (p=0.560). With median follow-up of 13 (1-92) months, there was a trend toward an advantage for concurrent group in median progression-free survival (6 months vs 8.3 months, p=0.067) and overall survival (12 months vs. 14.5 months, p=0.059). In multivariate analysis, only more than 10% weight loss within 6 months was significantly associated with poor survival (p=0.001). In conclusion, the addition of induction chemotherapy to concurrent CRT did not show any advantage over concurrent CRT alone in locally advanced NSCLC.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with nasopharyngeal cancer: prognostic significance of low expression of bax.

A randomized trial has demonstrated that concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is superior to radiotherapy (RT) alone in locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC). Our study comprise 35 patients with locally advanced NPC (stage I: 1, II: 12, III: 7, IV: 15) with 1 cycle of induction chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil 1,000 mg/m(2)/day and cisplatin 20 mg/m(2)/day, days 1- 4) followed by concurrent CRT starting on day 22. Concurrent CRT consisted of RT (70 Gy/35 fractions for 7 weeks) with cisplatin 20 mg/m(2)/day for 4 days on weeks 1, 4, 7 of RT. Complete response (CR) was achieved in 33 patients (94%). Four-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of all patients were 57% and 65%, respectively. In analysis of prognostic factors, low expression of bax was the most significant independent predictor of poor prognosis in both PFS (p=0.002) and OS (p=0.008). In conclusion, the outcome of patients treated with this combined therapeutical modality appears to be comparable with that of Intergroup 0099 trial with high CR rate. Low expression of bax was significantly associated with poor PFS and OS.

Adult↗

Nonmonotonic behavior of resistance in a superconductor-Luttinger liquid junction.

Transport through a superconductor-Luttinger liquid junction is considered. When the interaction in the Luttinger liquid is repulsive, the resistance of the junction with a sufficiently clean interface shows nonmonotonic temperature or voltage dependence due to the competition between the superconductivity and the repulsive interaction. The result is discussed in connection with recent experiments on single-wall carbon nanotubes in contact with superconducting leads.

Journal Article↗

Stimulation of DNA synthesis, activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK2 and nuclear accumulation of c-fos in human aortic smooth muscle cells by ketamine.

Proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells is known to be regulated by autocrine and paracrine stimuli, including extracellular matrix, reactive oxygen species, lipids, and biomechanical forces. The effect of many pharmacological agents to which smooth muscle cells may be exposed, however, is widely unexplored. Ketamine, an intravenous anaesthetic and a phencyclidine derivative, regulates diverse intracellular signalling pathways in smooth muscle cells, several of which are known to affect cell proliferation. The effect of ketamine on proliferative response of smooth muscle cells, however, is not determined. We tested the hypothesis that ketamine may regulate proliferation of smooth muscle cells, and investigated the effects of pharmacological doses of ketamine on their proliferative capacity by measuring DNA synthesis and activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase signalling pathway in human aortic smooth muscle cells. DNA synthesis, as determined by incorporation of 3H-thymidine into DNA, was enhanced by 73% (P < 0.0001) and 130% (P < 0.0001) with 10 and 100 microm ketamine, respectively. Ketamine-induced DNA synthesis was dependent on de novo protein synthesis, as it was abolished by an inhibitor of protein synthesis, cycloheximide. A synthetic inhibitor of MAP kinase pathway, PD98059, decreased 50% (P < 0.0001) of ketamine-induced DNA synthesis, suggesting that the activation of MAP kinase pathway was partially responsible for ketamine-induced effects. Consistently, in-gel kinase assay and in vitro kinase assay of cell lysates showed ketamine-induced MAP kinase activation and expression of ERK2 (extracellular signal-regulated kinase) in smooth muscle cells. This effect of ketamine was not dependent on de novo protein synthesis. Immunofluorescent light microscopy showed ketamine-induced nuclear accumulation of c-fos, a downstream effect of MAP kinase activation, in smooth muscle cells. In conclusion, these data support the hypothesis of the study and demonstrate that ketamine, by stimulating DNA synthesis in human aortic smooth muscle cells, may have an impact on proliferative capacity of these cells. The present results also demonstrate that ketamine induces the activation of MAP kinase pathway and nuclear accumulation of transcription factor c-fos in smooth muscle cells. They further demonstrate that the activation of MAP kinases is partially responsible for ketamine-induced DNA synthesis in human aortic smooth muscle cells. Together, these findings suggest that ketamine may play a role as a pharmacological regulator of mechanisms involved in proliferation of smooth muscle cells.

Active Transport, Cell Nucleus↗