Marie Louise H Fjallskog

..Treatment with combined streptozotocin and liposomal doxorubicin is safe and efficient in patients with endocrine pancreatic tumors (EPTs). No cardiac toxicity was reported...

..This is also true for PDGFR beta expression in the corresponding stroma. We suggest that new therapeutic options to inhibit the growth and spread of EPTs could include targeting of PDGFR beta...

..The authors used this therapy as second-line or third-line treatment in patients with poorly differentiated and/or rapidly progressing disease...

..However, most physicians treating these patients agree that surgery should be considered in all cases and that medical treatment with chemotherapy and biotherapy is well established for this group of patients...

..However, in this study, the value of sequential treatment has not been evaluated...

..These differences indicate the importance of determining each tumor s subset of receptors before treatment with receptor-subtype-specific analogs is initiated. The importance of sst expression in intratumoral vessels is not yet known...

..We have examined the expression of molecular targets in patients with malignant endocrine pancreatic tumors, which is necessary to justify additional studies investigating the potential benefit from such treatment...

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..By utilizing data from PET scanning with both tracers, we could quantify the decarboxylation rate and tissue accumulation of [11C]-serotonin and hence the enzymatic action of aromatic amino acid decarboxylase...

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..We also found that an increase in AI during high-dose somatostatin analog treatment was correlated with the biochemical response, but not with the tumor size as detected by CT in patients or with the tumor mass in the experimental model...

..In conclusion, there are at least three effective therapies for malignant EPT and by combining them simultaneously or consecutively, a median survival of more than four years can be obtained...

..Thus, the antitumor effect, in vivo and in vitro, in IFN-alpha-treated carcinoid tumors seems to be mediated via upregulation of Stat proteins and enhancement of phosphorylation of these proteins...

..Thus, these antibodies may be used to determine the presence of sst2 in carcinoid tumors and to select patients suitable for somatostatin analogue treatment. The method is easily applicable in clinical practice...

..However, the importance of the number of somatostatin receptors and subtypes expressed will have to be further studied...

..These results suggest that PTR-3173 is the first highly selective somatostatinergic analog for the in vivo inhibition of GH secretion, with minimal or no effect on glucagon and insulin release, respectively...

..It detects more lesions in the liver and lymph nodes than other methods and furthermore, it can be used to monitor treatment effects...

..Chromogranin A serum or plasma levels reflect tumor load, and it may be an independent marker of prognosis in patients with midgut carcinoids...

..The aim of this study was to investigate some of the monoamine processing pathways of neuroendocrine GEP-tumors and try to find a new tracer substance for in vivo characterization and visualization by Positron Emission Tomography (PET)...

..It might also be possible to give higher doses of alpha interferon with hopefully improved clinical efficacy...

..Differential expression of these genes may contribute to the PLCB3-induced tumor suppression of neuroendocrine tumor cell lines...

..To report our experience of liver embolization with trisacryl gelatin microspheres (Embospheretrade mark) in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors...

..Alpha-interferon and octreotide offer efficient symptomatic relief, but stabilizes tumor growth in merely 15% of the cases. Plasma chromogranin A is the most frequently elevated tumor marker...

..Development of new PET radiopharmaceuticals may in the future allow in vivo detection of tumour biological properties, such as malignant potential and responsiveness to treatment...

..This study also shows that WB-(11)C-HTP-PET is sensitive in imaging small NET lesions, such as primary tumors, and can in a majority of cases image significantly more tumor lesions than SRS and CT...

..We compare the efficacy of octreotide and lanreotide in reducing diarrhea and flushing. Side-effects are described and we provide practical information on somatostatin analog treatment...

..Tumor-targeted therapy with (111)In and (90)Y coupled to somatostatin analogs show promising results but await further studies...

..The somatostatin analogue has proved to be particularly useful in the treatment of patients with severe hormone-related clinical symptoms and in the perioperative period.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)..

..Our results also indicate that the combination of octreotide and alpha-interferon might be of beneficial value for long-term management of this disease...

..Our data indicate that combination treatment with streptozocin and 5-fluorouracil is of little value for patients with malignant carcinoid tumors...

..Also in immunocytochemical stainings, our polyclonal antiserum detecting both chromogranin A and B showed a greater sensitivity than other available antisera against chromogranin A, B and C...

..g., inhibition of exocytosis, antiproliferative effects and induction of apoptosis during treatment will help to optimize treatment and provide new insights into mechanisms of action of somatostatin analogs...

..Recent findings might indicate that CA-50 could be an indicator of malignant disease and possibly also correlate with survival...

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..Two of these lesions represented previously undetectable primary tumours. It is concluded that somatostatin receptor scintigraphy using [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide has a future role in the staging of patients with carcinoid disease...

..1 versus 5.8 years). Patients who received interferon after failing chemotherapy had a significantly better survival than those given chemotherapy alone (5-year survival 65 and 50% respectively)...

..This observation correlated to positive immunostaining to chromogranin A and synaptophysin. Different growth factors might stimulate different fractions of tumor cells to retain the endocrine characteristics...

..Furthermore, while VMAT1 can take up serotonin, VMAT1Delta15 cannot, indicating different functions for the two forms of VMAT1...

..Other adverse reactions were skin lesions and myalgia. The combination therapy demonstrated subjective improvement in half of the patients, but lacked antitumoral effects...

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..However, positive staining for CD44s, v7-8 and v9 seems to be associated with a more favorable outcome, and may be taken into consideration in prognostic evaluation...

..A recognised international standard for CgA would be a step on the way to harmonisation, but antibody selection and construction of the assays will probably still influence the results...

..We conclude that treatment with [(111)In-DTPA-D-Phe1]-octreotide can be used in patients with neuroendocrine tumors but blood parameters have to be carefully monitored to avoid severe side effects...

..The adverse reactions are dose-dependent and manageable. The anti-tumor effects of alpha interferons are pleiotropic and include several direct effects on tumor cells but also immunomodulation...

..A change from diploid to aneuploid records was also seen in 7/23 (30%) carcinoid tumors after treatment. The DNA patterns before and after treatment did not show any correlation with survival or treatment response...

..Moreover, CD44, nm23, and Ki-67 may give valuable prognostic information and help identify the patients at risk of disease-related death...

..The somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995 has a beneficial effect in the treatment of patients with the carcinoid syndrome. However, the precise role of the drug in the long-term management of these patients has to be further investigated...

..For insulin and glucagon, combinations of sst2+sst5 and sst1+sst2, respectively may exert this effects. Thus, our data suggest that more than one sst must be involved to down-regulate islet glucagon and insulin secretion...

..These new somatostatin receptor subtype specific analogues will soon be tested in clinical trials. In this review article the development of new analogues and new preparations of old analogues and their use in the clinic is discussed...

..The animal model was probably unsuitable for demonstration of IFN effects...

..Thus, deterioration of physical function was not accompanied by a deterioration of emotional function, and levels of tumour markers were not related to patients' HRQoL...

..Our results indicate an inhibitory role of bcl-2 in development and progression of ovarian tumours...

..We also showed that mouse PLCbeta3 is expressed in unfertilized eggs, 3-cell and egg cylinder stages of embryos. In conclusion, these results indicate that PLCbeta3 expression is essential for early mouse embryonic development...

..This would result in loss of repression of menin/JunD target genes, as well as non-target genes through indirect mechanisms, deregulation of cellular growth control and endocrine tumorigenesis...

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..Although it still remains to be established whether early intervention will have an impact on mortality, our long-term experience with 20 MEN 1 kindreds suggests a reduced morbidity as a result of thorough biochemical screening...

..Little is known about the health-related-quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with endocrine gastrointestinal tumours. In this study, HRQoL was investigated in long-term survivors of endocrine GI tumours...

..IL-8R mRNA containing cells were predominately found in the mantle zone of the germinal center. These cells were identified as B lymphocytes using the OX-33 monoclonal antibody...

..This is in agreement with the comparative mapping of the MEN1 flanking markers in mouse...

..The causative medical treatment of patients with malignant endocrine pancreatic tumors and the MEN-1 trait include chemotherapy (streptozotocin plus 5-fluorouracil), interferons and the somatostatin analogue SMS 201-995...