Tag Archives: lung cancer

Is the pulmonary microbiome involved in lung cancer pathophysiology?

DOI: 10.2478/amma-2022-0021

Bronchopulmonary cancer represents the neoplasms associated with the highest mortality rate, despite diagnostic and therapeutic advances in recent decades. Early diagnosis is often difficult due to the paucity of symptoms or superinfections. Screening subjects at risk of developing lung cancer include clinical, bacteriological, inflammatory status, and genetic profile assessment. The personal microbiome has an essential role in the physiology of the human body. The gut-lung axis plays an essential role in carcinogenesis, being involved in various pathways. The lung microbiome can contribute to the development of lung cancer either directly by acting on tumor cells or indirectly by modulating the tumor-associated immune response. The gut microbiome can directly affect the response to immunotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Full text: PDF

Abdominal wall metastases due to a squamous cell carcinoma of the lung: Case report and literature review

DOI: 10.2478/amma-2022-0010

Introduction: At the time of diagnosis, most patients with lung cancer are in an inoperable stage, with distant metastases. Most often, these patients have metastases to the brain, adrenal glands, liver, or bones. This article presents the case of a patient with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) metastases in the abdominal wall.
Case presentation: A 67-year-old patient came to our service reporting the existence of a tumor 5 cm in diameter, located at the level of the abdominal wall, without other clinical symptoms. Surgical excision of the tumor was performed. The postoperative evolution was favorable, with the patient discharged on the third postoperative day. Histological examination of the resected specimen revealed metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.
Conclusions: The appearance of a tumor in the abdominal wall of patients with NSCLC may raise the suspicion of metastasis at this level.

Full text: PDF

COPD – Risk Factor for Complex Chronic Comorbidities, a Retrospective Case-Control Study

Background: Increasing evidence indicates that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disease involving more than airflow obstruction. Systemic inflammation can initiate or worsen comorbid diseases, such as ischemic heart disease, heart failure, arrhythmia, diabetes, osteoporosis, lung cancer and depression.
Material and method: We explored the Medprax database, from an ambulatory care in order to obtain rates of comorbidities in COPD patients. Medprax electronic database is a locally developed system designed to fulfil the requirements of an integrated healthcare system. We identified a population of 9,659 patients (4472 men and 5187 women) aged ≥ 30 years registered between 01.01.2000 and 01.02.2010.
Results: The overall prevalence of COPD was 5.17% (384 men and 116 women). Compared to the non-COPD patients, COPD was found to be a significant risk factor in both sexes for cardiovascular events: ischemic heart disease (OR = 3.06, 95%CI 2.54–3.68), atrial fibrillation (OR = 2.70, 95%CI 2.12–3.43) and heart failure (OR = 4.49, 95%CI 3.74–5.40) regardless of age. Association with diabetes mellitus type 2 was extremely significant in COPD men (OR = 1.69, 95%CI 1.26–2.27), but not in COPD women. Significant correlation with osteoporosis (OR = 3.26, 95%CI 1.94–5.48) was found only in women over 60 years and men under 60. Pulmonary malignancy was found only in male COPD patient compared to non-COPD patients (OR = 5.04, 95%CI 2.02–12.44). The impact on
depressive disorders was noted only in younger COPD men (OR = 5.71, 95%CI 1.94–16.82).
Conclusions: Our results indicate that COPD is a risk factor for all these comorbid conditions and that in the management of COPD all these conditions need to be carefully evaluated.

Full text: PDF

Genetic Polymorphism of GSTP1 Gene and Lung Cancer Risk in Northern Romania

Background: Glutathione S transferase P1 – an important member of the xenobiotic encoding enzymes, might contribute to the variability in individual susceptibility to lung cancer and may be important in exposure to carcinogens and therefore lung cancer development in smokers.
Objectives: This is a cross-sectional, randomized, case-control study for the evaluation of the frequency of GSTP1 alleles among patients with lung cancer.
Subjects and methods: The study included 108 cases of lung cancer diagnosed patients (histopathological examination), and 123 healthy unrelated controls. GSTP1 genotyping was carried out using PCR amplification of relevant gene fragment, followed by restriction enzyme digestion. Detection of GSTP1 alleles was determined by analysis of resulting restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), followed by gel electrophoresis.
Results: Molecular analysis revealed an increased frequency of GSTP1 mutant genotype in the study group compared to the control group (X2 = 0.133, p = 0.049, OR = 1.726, CI = 1–2.977). It appears that the effect of the GSTP1 mutant allele may vary according to histological subtype. The polymorphic I105V allele of GSTP1 gene was associated with an increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma.
Conclusions: GSTP1 polymorphism may be associated with increased risk to lung cancer and the homozygous Ile105Val genotype was found at a significantly higher frequency in the adenocarcinoma group.

Full text: PDF