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BACKGROUND: Despite bevacizumab being the first biological agent approved for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), there is not any established DNA biomarker to improve its efficacy and personalize the treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients with mCRC on bevacizumab therapy (15 with a good response and 15 with a poor response) from the University Hospital Olomouc were followed. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples were used for copy number variation (CNV) analysis using the OncoScan FFPE Assay Kit in order to capture approx. 900 tumor genes. RESULTS: In the group of good responding patients, 102 genes (classified as ATPases, type AAA, neuronal signal transmission, regulation of transcription, and superior domain PH type), potentially significant positive predictive tumor biomarkers of bevacizumab treatment, were found. In the poorly responding group, 74 potentially negative predictive genes (classified as galectines, Jak-STAT signalling pathway, MAPK cascade, differentiation, and F-box associated domain) were identified. CONCLUSION: In the pilot study, we found promising copy number variation biomarkers of bevacizumab response in FFPE samples of mCRC patients. The validation phase should be focused especially on the genes associated with angiogenesis (AGRN, MAPK8, ARHGAP22, LGALS13, LGALS4, ZFP36, and MYC), tumorigenesis (DVL1), and tumor proliferation (IFNL1, IFNL2, IFNL3, MAP3K10, and MAP4K1).

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BACKGROUND: Mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (IDH1/2) are a promising prognostic biomarker of gliomas. The purpose of our study was to examine the clinical prognostic properties of IDH1/2 mutations in a glioma patient cohort from the Czech Republic using an improved platform for simple and reliable IDH genotyping. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a group of 145 glioma patients by testing for the three most frequent IDH mutations, IDH1 R132H, IDH1 R132C, and IDH2 R172K, through the competitive amplification of differentially melting amplicons (CADMA) polymerase chain reaction (PCR). O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation, copy number of EGFR, p53, RB1, MDM2, CDKN2A genes, and deletions in 1p, 19q and 10p chromosomal regions were also analyzed and correlated with clinical characteristics. RESULTS: Of 145 gliomas, 36 harbored IDH1 R132H mutation and 1 IDH1 R132C mutation. We did not detect any IDH2 R172K mutation. IDH1 mutations were positively associated with MGMT methylation (OR 3.08, 95% CI 1.387-7.282; p = 0.007), 1p/19q co-loss (OR 8.85, 95% CI 2.367-42.786; p = 0.002) and negatively associated with epidermal growth factor receptor amplification (OR 0.12, 95% CI 0.019-0.437; p = 0.006) and 10p loss (OR 0.09, 95% CI 0.005-0.436; p = 0.019). The overall survival of IDH-mutant was 25 months, but only 9 months in IDH-wild type gliomas (p = 0.035); at the same time, survival associated with methylated vs. unmethylated MGMT promoter did not significantly differ (p = 0.166). CONCLUSION: Despite IDH1 mutations being closely associated with MGMT methylation in glioma patients, IDH1 mutations in glioblastoma patients are stronger marker of overall survival than MGMT methylation and should be the marker of choice, especially when using genotyping by CADMA PCR.Key words: isocitrate dehydrogenase - polymerase chain reaction - glioma - glioblastoma.

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Great progress has been made in the diagnostics and treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) over the past decades. The vast majority of children are cured, however, there is need for further improvement, especially in specific patient subgroups. Our aim was to retrospectively evaluate disease characteristics and treatment outcomes of children with ALL enrolled in a single center into consecutive treatment protocols (ALL-BFM 90, ALL-BFM 95 and ALL IC-BFM 2002) between years 1990 and 2007 and comprehensively summarize diagnostic and therapeutic advances between protocols. In total, 97 patients aged 0 to 18 years were treated for ALL at University Hospital Olomouc in the Czech Republic and steadily high relapse-free survival (RFS), event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were observed during the evaluated time period without significant difference between the protocols (RFS 80-86%, EFS 75-83% and OS 84-92%). In conclusion, our center has demonstrated survival rates comparable to leading international study groups for childhood ALL over a substantial period of time. This has been achieved namely due to advances in diagnostics, excellent collaboration on regional, national and international level, quality assurance and high overall standard of care. The acquired experience has been crucial for current participation in the best performing Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM)-based international trials for childhood ALL.

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OBJECTIVES: Significant progress in treatment strategies improves the expectations of patients with extracranial cancers. Metastases are the primary consideration in patients with cancer history. In the case of neurologic disorders, the patient should undergo brain MRI. A rationale is presented for surgery, whole-brain or stereotactic radiotherapy, or chemotherapy. Recently, we have encountered misdiagnosed primary malignant brain tumours in patients with oncologic history who had been admitted for surgery for brain metastases. The aim of our study is to evaluate the incidence of concurrent cancers, to assess the relationship between previous cancer staging and primary brain tumour evaluation as well as to determine treatment efficiency. METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2011, we prospectively followed up patients with concurrent history of both extracranial cancer and subsequent glioblastoma multiforme. Information was collected on the clinical condition, imaging, history of extracranial cancer, previous and present surgical and oncologic procedures, and GBM histologic, cytogenetic, and molecular genetic investigations. RESULTS: Five patients were recruited: three females and two males. The average patient age at the time of GBM diagnosis was 65.6 years. Three patients had a history of breast carcinoma, one of renal carcinoma and one of colorectal carcinoma. Following the diagnosis of carcinoma, three patients received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, one patient had radiotherapy alone, and one had no adjuvant therapy. In all the cases, surgery revealed primary GBM, with a standard occurrence of genetic abnormalities (Table 1). The average time from the diagnosis of extracranial cancer to that of GBM was 4 years. Four patients underwent chemoradiotherapy and one had palliative radiotherapy. Two patients completed oncotherapy and their OS was 27 months and 19 months, respectively. One patient had post-surgical progression of hemiparesis. One patient had pulmonary embolism during oncotherapy and one had paraplegia caused by a pathological fracture of vertebras T5 due to breast carcinoma metastases. The OS was 11.8 months (range 3-27 months). All the patients succumbed to GBM progression.

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INTRODUCTION: The investigation of prognostic and predictive factors for early diagnosis of tumors, their surveillance and monitoring of the impact of therapeutic modalities using hybrid laboratory models in vitro/in vivo is an experimental approach with a significant potential. It is preconditioned by the preparation of in vivo tumor models, which may face a number of potential technical difficulties. The assessment of technical success of grafting and xenotransplantation based on the type of the tumor or cell line is important for the preparation of these models and their further use for proteomic and genomic analyses. METHODS: Surgically harvested gastrointestinal tract tumor tissue was processed or stable cancer cell lines were cultivated; the viability was assessed, and subsequently the cells were inoculated subcutaneously to SCID mice with an individual duration of tumor growth, followed by its extraction. RESULTS: We analysed 140 specimens of tumor tissue including 17 specimens of esophageal cancer (viability 13/successful inoculations 0), 13 tumors of the cardia (11/0), 39 gastric tumors (24/4), 47 pancreatic tumors (34/1) and 24 specimens of colorectal cancer (22/9). 3 specimens were excluded due to histological absence of the tumor (complete remission after neoadjuvant therapy in 2 cases of esophageal carcinoma, 1 case of chronic pancreatitis). We observed successful inoculation in 17 of 28 tumor cell lines. CONCLUSION: The probability of successful grafting to the mice model in tumors of the esophagus, stomach and pancreas is significantly lower in comparison with colorectal carcinoma and cell lines generated tumors. The success rate is enhanced upon preservation of viability of the harvested tumor tissue, which depends on the sequence of clinical and laboratory algorithms with a high level of cooperation.Key words: proteomic analysis - xenotransplantation - prognostic and predictive factors - gastrointestinal tract tumors.

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Heat shock proteins hsp70 and gp96 have been confirmed as adjuvants enabling induction of cell- and antibody-mediated immunity specific to associated protein or peptide antigens due to the activation of naive dendritic cells and supporting cross-presentation of associated antigen. An efficacious vaccine preventing HIV-1 infection should induce (1) antibodies neutralizing HIV-1 Env protein, preventing virus spreading and (2) CD4(+) Th1 and CD8(+) T cells specific to viral proteins, especially gag p24, important for elimination of HIV-1 infected cells. As p24 is relatively poorly recognized by dendritic cells, its targeting to DC is important for enhancement of vaccine efficacy. In this study, a p24 protein fused to the C- or N-terminus of murine hsp70 was produced as a recombinant protein and administered without any adjuvant to experimental BALB/c mice. Consequently, p24-specific cellular and humoral immune responses were measured. To minimize the effect of bacterial endotoxin, each protein was subjected to a repeated endotoxin phase extraction until each preparation contained less than 2.5 endotoxin unit (EU) per mg of antigen. In addition, endocytosis of p24 fused to hsp70 by dendritic cells and their activation were characterized. The fusion to hsp70 protein enhanced endocytosis of p24 as well as activation of dendritic cells in vitro. After immunization of mice, hsp70-p24 fusion protein induced the strongest p24-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells (IFN-γ production) and humoral (IgG2b) responses corresponding to Th1 type dominance, whereas p24-hsp70 or p24 itself induced weaker responses.

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This study aimed at mapping the frequency of IGHV3-21 and IGHV1-69 in a group of 417 patients newly diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and described basic characteristics, cytogenetic abnormalities and prognosis of these patient subgroups. IGHV3-21 was found in 29 patients (7%) and IGHV1-69 in 51 patients (12.4%). The median overall survival (OS) rates were 97 months and 85 months in the IGHV3-21 and IGHV1-69 groups, respectively. In this small group of patients, the study failed to show a difference in OS of IGHV3-21 patients with mutated and unmutated IGHV status (p<0.597). There was also no difference in OS between IGHV3-21 patients with mutated IGHV status and all patients in the group having unmutated IGHV status (p<0.245). On the other hand, patients with IGHV3-21 and the presence of some other adverse prognostic factors (age ≥ 65 years, lymphocyte count ≥ 50×109/L, serum thymidine kinase ≥ 9U/L, deletion of 17p) had statistically significantly worse OS than IGHV3-21 patients without the presence of these prognostic factors. The multivariate analysis of an entire group of Binet clinical stage A patients proved that the presence of IGHV3-21 is as an independent adverse prognostic factor even though there was no statistical difference in OS between patients with IGHV3-21 and those without IGHV3-21 in the entire group (p<0.769). Patients with IGHV1-69 had the same probablility of OS irrespective of the presence of other adverse prognostic factors; their OS was significantly shorter as compared with the other patients from the entire group (p<0.03).The study mapped the occurrence of recurrent cytogenetic changes detected by FISH in IGHV3-21 (subset #2 and non-subset #2) and IGHV1-69 and compared it with the occurrence of recurrent changes in the entire group of patients. In IGHV1-69 and in subset #2 IGHV3-21, higher proportions of deletion of 11q were found (30% and 31%, respectively), with the deletion being present in 19.2% of the entire group of patients. None of the 3 patients with IGHV3-21 and deletion of 17p had subset #2. Patients with subset #2 IGHV3-21 had higher proportions of deletion of 13 (69%) as compared with non-subset #2 IGHV3-21 patients (27%).

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UNLABELLED: Acute promyelocytic leukemia is a unique entity among acute leukemias. Introduction of all-trans retinoic acid and, subsequently, arsenic trioxide in its treatment has markedly improved treatment outcomes for this once frequently fatal disease. Improved outcomes have also been observed in elderly patients, including those in whom standard intensive therapy is contraindicated because of comorbidities.In our center, a total of 60 APL patients were treated in 1993-2013, of whom 9 were aged 60 or more years. Although most of them had significant comorbidities at the time of diagnosis, eight achieved complete remission. At the time of the analysis, six patients were alive and in long-term remission; two patients died of causes other than APL. The median follow-up was 59 months.Included is case report of a patient with a high comorbidity score whose treatment was markedly reduced and individualized.Our experience shows that, in APL patients a curative approach is generally tolerated and should always be attempted regardless of age and comorbidities. KEYWORDS: APL - elderly patients - comorbidity.

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INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to assess the significance of CEA, EGFR and hTERT as markers of occult tumor cells for predicting treatment outcomes in pancreatic cancers, as well as determining the cut-off values of these markers individually in peritoneal lavage. METHOD: The study compared 87 patients undergoing palliative operations (bypass surgery, biological sampling for subsequent oncological treatment) for either stage III or IV (UICC) pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas with a control group of 24 healthy patients. Abdominal cavity lavage was performed at the beginning of the surgery in both groups, using 100 ml of physiological solution (phosphate buffered saline, pH 7.2). The samples were transported in bottles containing 1.5 ml 0.5 M EDTA and 10 ml of fetal bovine serum. Total RNA samples were all processed and purified by reverse transcription. Occult tumor cells in the peritoneal lavage were detected by the real-time RT-PCR method using CEA, EGFR and hTERT as markers of tumor cells. Another aim was to calculate the cut-off values of these markers. Statistical analysis was done using software R (www.r-project.org) and Statistica (StatSoft, Inc. USA). RESULTS: Mean expression of CEA, EGFR and hTERT in peritoneal lavage in the control group was 2501, 716749 and 104 copies of mRNA / mg RNA. Threshold, cut-off values were determined as the "mean + 2 times standard deviation". Absolute expression values were further normalized to expression of the house-keeping gene glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). After normalization, cut-off values of the tested markers were 4.89, 115.88 and 0.02 copies of mRNA/GAPDH mRNA. As regards absolute expression of the markers tested, only hTERT was able to statistically significantly (p<0.001) distinguish the analysed groups, where patients with advanced pancreatic adenocarcinoma had a higher expression of hTERT. Absolute expression of CEA or EGFR was not able to discriminate between the two groups. The more accurate normalized expression values of the test markers demonstrated a statistically significantly higher expression of hTERT (p<0.005) and CEA (p<0.001) in patients with advanced adenocarcinoma compared to the control group. CONCLUSION: Absolute hTERT expression in peritoneal lavage of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer was significantly higher compared to the control group.

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BACKGROUND: A-FABP is a promising link between metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis. It is not well known whether level of A-FABP predicts results of SPECT. PATIENTS & METHODS: In 82 subjects (53 males) with a median age of 54 years, who were first-degree relatives of patients with cardiovascular disease, the following tests and examinations were performed: A-FABP, calcium score (CS) and SPECT. RESULTS: Subjects with positive and negative SPECT results differed significantly in the noncategorized CS (p = 0.001), uric acid (p = 0.025) and the total cholesterol:high-density lipoprotein ratio (p = 0.043), but not in other parameters (including A-FABP). To predict SPECT results, the best model proved to be a logistic regression model with gender and noncategorized CS as predictors, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.89 (the sensitivity and specificity based on a CS cutoff of 11.1 were 77.78 and 75.34%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The serum level of A-FABP is not a predictor of a positive SPECT result.

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UNLABELLED: The objective of our study was to determine a correlation between the level of adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein (A-FABP) (as a possible link between metabolic syndrome and atherosclerosis), the calcium score (CS) and laboratory parameters, including insulin resistance indices in asymptomatic first degree relatives of patients with cardiovascular diseases. SET AND METHODOLOGY: Examination was conducted in 82 persons (53 male) with the average age of 52.79 ± 9.6. The examinations consisted of anthropometric and physical tests (determination of body weight, height, body mass index - BMI and casual blood pressure measurement), laboratory analysis (uric acid, creatinine, lipid panel, insulin, glucose, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, glycated hemoglobin, adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein - A-FABP) and determination of insulin resistance indices HOMA and QUICKI. Total calcium score (CS) was determined by the Agatston method without the need to administer a contrast agent. RESULTS: The value of the A-FABP level does not show a statistically significant dependence on the categorised CS or on non-categorised CS values. There is a statistically significant positive dependence of the level of A-FABP on the HOMA index (p = 0.00688) and a statistically significant negative dependence on the QUICKI index (p = 0.0068). The A-FABP level is statistically significantly higher in women (p = 0.048), in elder persons (p = 0.043), and in persons with higher BMI values (p = 0.029). Among continuous variables, statistically significant is the difference in the A-FABP level in relation to age (p = 0.002), creatinine (p = 0.026), insulin (p = 0.005), and BMI (p = 0.031). CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the correlation of the A-FABP level with insulin resistance indices, BMI, age, gender, and insulin and creatinine levels in a group of asymptomatic first degree relatives of patients with cardiovascular diseases. A-FABP could potentially be a marker when determining the risk of CVD; however, this conclusion requires additional clinical trials.

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