The present study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of pharyngeal cancer in the Tomsk region for the period between 2007 and 2015. Approximately 27 new cases of pharyngeal cancer are annually diagnosed in the region. Between 2007 and 2015, the pharyngeal cancer incidence in males was reported to be higher (80.9 %) than in females. The incidence rate of oropharyngeal cancer was 73.4 %. This incidence rate was not stable over time, and it was 2.2 per 100,000 population in 2015. In 2015, the pharyngeal cancer incidence in the Tomsk region was the highest in the Siberian Federal District (2.3 compared to 0.4) The pharyngeal cancer incidence was higher in rural than urban areas. High percentage of patients with advanced-stage disease and one-year mortality was registered in the region.

The identification of informative biomarkers that are able to predict prognosis and treatment response may be particularly important in triple negative breast cancer.

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between vascular endothelial growth factor receptor VEGFR-2 expression and KDR gene polymorphisms with the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in patients with triple negative breast cancer.

Methods. The study included 70 patients with triple negative operable breast cancer (T1–3N0–3M0), who had received 2–4 cycles of FAC and CAX regimens. The pathologic complete response (pCR) to treatment was determined by RECIST. VEGFR-2 expression level was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. Genotypes for KDR (rs2071559, rs2305948) were detected by a Real-time PCR.

Results. The pCR rate was significantly associated with young age at diagnosis (≤50 years) (p=0.0044), a high level of Ki67 expression (≥20) (p=0.0322) and with CAX regimen (p=0.0246). Additionally, all patients with pCR had the lack of VEGFR-2 expression in tumor tissue after surgery (p=0.0000). The presence of the VEGFR-2 expression (negative or positive) in tumor tissue before NAC was associated with KDR rs2071559 (r=−0.297; p=0.0273). A significant correlation between the KDR rs2071559 and VEGFR-2 expression level (less than 70, 70% or more) in the tumor tissue before NAC was found (r=−0.314; p=0.0297). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the young age of the patients (≤50 years), the lack of VEGFR-2 expression after surgery and CAX regimen were significant predictors of NAC.

Conclusion. The VEGFR-2 expression level in tumor tissue and KDR gene polymorphism can be considered as new additional molecular predictive markers of pathologic complete response to NAC in triple negative breast cancer patients.

Toxic effects of combined cisplatin and docetaxel treatment on the granulocytic hemopoiesis were studied in 45 patients with stage II–IV non-small cell lung carcinoma. The patients received intravenous injections of docetaxel at a dose of 75 mg/m2 followed by cisplatin 75 mg/m2. Blood parameters were assessed during 3 courses of chemotherapy. To estimate the state of granulocytic hemopoiesis, the hematological, cultural and functional methods were used. The study showed that the reactivity of granulocytopoiesis was maintained at a high level, namely, there was a significant activation of the central signals of granulocytic hematopoiesis, resulting in the accumulation of immature and mature myelokaryocytes in the bone marrow and increase in the bone marrow pool of mature neutrophils, as well as in increase in the number of bone marrow progenitor cells granulocytopoiesis in terms of acceleration of their maturing.

The increased expression levels of Ki67, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and p16ink4a proteins after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for locally advanced cervical cancer were shown to correlate with unfavorable prognosis. The level of Ki67 expression before treatment was 85 % in patients, who subsequently developed disease progression. The overall 5-year survival rates were significantly higher in cervical cancer patients with Ki67 expression of <50 % than in patients with Ki67 expression >50 %. We found the correlation between COX-2 expression and overall survival of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer. Thus, the 5-year survival rates were 84 % and 66% in cervical cancer patients with COX-2 expressions of <50 % and >50 %, respectively. The correlation between p16ink4a expression and disease-free survival was found.

The involvement of hormones, microRNAs and cytokines in breast cancer pathogenesis has been well established. Lymph picks up secretory products of breast cancer cells. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the levels of hormones, microRNAs and cytokines in lymph. Wistar rats were injected with N-methyl-N-nitrosourea to induce breast cancer. The rats were subjected to either surgery alone or chemotherapy alone (cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil). In some animals, surgery was followed by chemotherapy. The levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), prolactin, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol (E2) and thyroglobulin (TG), microRNA-21, microRNA-221, microRNA-222, microRNA-429 and 24 cytokines were determined. Chemotherapy was shown to result in the reduction in the levels of prolactin, thyroglobulin, FSH and estradiol. In rats with breast cancer, the expression levels of microRNA-21, microRNA-221 and microRNA-222 were increased, and the expression levels of microRNA-429 were decreased. In breast cancer rats, the levels of most cytokines were found to be increased. Correlations between the levels of cytokines, hormones, and microRNAs in lymph were identified. Differences in the expression levels of cytokines, hormones, and microRNAs in lymph with respect to treatment option were detected.

The paper presents the results of determining the concentration of specific antiviral immunoglobulins to viral antigens in blood serum of patients with gastric dysplasia (n=56) and gastric cancer (n=54), as well as the incidence of their titers depending on tumor location and histotype. In patients with precancerous gastric lesions, the increase in the IgG titer to Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) capsid antigen (VCA) and IgG to EBV early antigen (EA) in blood serum was found to be associated with enhancement of inflammatory activity. In patients with gastric cancer, high titers of IgG to VCA and IgG to EA were observed more frequently than in patients with gastric dysplasia, and the decrease in differentiation grade was followed by the increase in the concentration of IgG to EBV VCA. High titers (≥1:320) of IgG to VCA were found of patients with tumors located in the gastric body and cardia. High IgG titers to EBV VCA were shown to be associated with the presence of exophytic and ulcerated exophytic tumor growth.

Growth of frequency of squamous cell cancer of oropharynx and dominance of locally-spread forms of a tumor at 60 % with the early infiltrative growth and metastasis in regional lymph nodes reduce results of treatment to 40 %. The combination in a uniform course of treatment of operation, radiation therapy and chemotherapy doesn’t exclude risk the lokoregional of a recurrence at 30–60 % and at 18 % – isolated metastases. At patients at the age of 50 years with cancer of oropharynx 5 years treatment doesn’t exceed 40 %. At the same time switching on in programs of radiation and combined treatment with chemotherapy (CT) increases effectiveness of traditional methods to 69 %. New technologies of conformal radiation therapy (CRT); HDR brachytherapy with the radio modifying agents and PHT, including target drag – are implemented everywhere in case cancer of oropharynx. However CRT 66–70 Gr provides local control in case of 5–10 years’ observation only at 57 %; lokoregion – 50 % with the overall (OS) survival – 47 % and 35 %, respectively. There are data on detection of mutations in EGFR gene in case of malignant diseases of an oral cavity and throat. Directional application the target drag – EGFR blockers, for example a cetuximab (erbitux) in the first line of therapy of planocellular cancer of the head and neck increases survival indices. On the other hand, the raised expression of a gene of EGFR can correlate with progressing of a disease and the poor results. The aim: to provide new technologies of CRT with brachytherapy 192Ir and chemotherapy of 30 patients with cancer of cancer of oropharynx with assessment of presence of retrospectively probed mutation at EGFR gene. Results of CRT and HDR brachytherapy depended on tumor localization in oral cavity, a stage and prevalence of process, prognostic factors and treatment. CRT improved results of multimodal treatment and quality life of patients: the OS is reached at 100 % of patients with cancer of a lip; 66,7 % of patients with cancer of tongue and 75 % of cancer mouth bottom. EGFRvIII weren’t revealed in one of analysed samples of tumor. The positive effect from target therapy erbitux wasn’t registered at one of two treated patients without mutations of EGFR.

Short-term treatment outcomes of X-ray endovascular hemostasis in patients with rectosigmoid and rectal cancer complicated by bleeding were presented. Patients were divided into two groups. Group I (study group) consisted of 16 patients who underwent x-ray-endovascular hemostasis. Group II (control group) included 17 patients who received conservative methods of hemostasis. After hemostasis, patients with rectal cancer from both groups received preoperative radiotherapy followed by radical surgery. Patients with rectosigmoid cancer underwent surgery alone. The components derived from donated blood were used in a significantly larger volume in patients from the control group than in patients from the study group (p<0.01), with the same median estimated blood loss. Recurrence of bleeding was observed on 13.3 ± 1.6 days in 100 % of control group patients. There was no evidence of bleeding recurrence in the study group patients. The relative risk reduction of bleeding was 100 % in Group I patients. Thus, the method of X-ray-endovascular hemostasis allows intraluminal tumor bleeding completely to be stopped avoiding repeated blood transfusions.

Purpose. To identify the relationship between ultrasonographic signs of progression of venous thrombosis and procoagulant activity of malignant tumors.

Material and methods. A total of 225 cancer patients with concomitant venous thrombosis were examined. The study group (143 patients) and the control group (82 patients) were matched for tumor localization, types of venous thrombosis, prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolic complications, age and gender. The patients of the study group underwent palliative, symptomatic and diagnostic surgical procedures, and the patients of the control group underwent radical surgery for cancer. In postoperative period, all patients underwent ultrasound examination of the inferior vena cava, iliac veins and the veins of the lower extremity every 3 days for 12 days.

Results. In the study group, the majority of patients had echographic signs of progression of venous thrombosis. For the control group patients, good recanalization of venous thrombosis.

The review presents the mechanisms involved in the biological behavior of rectal cancer cells. The tumor response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy was evaluated. The characteristics of proliferative activity, apoptosis, cell adhesion, and migration of rectal cancer cells influenced by chemotherapy were described. The relationship between molecular genetic markers and prediction of response to chemoradiation in rectal cancer was shown.

The literature review deals with the problem of metabolic correction of hormonal-metabolic disturbances in patients with endometrial hyperplasia (EH) and endometrial cancer (EC) occurring concurrently with metabolic syndrome. Along with a conventional treatment, metabolic syndrome correction for EH and EC patients is expected to contribute to the reduction in the risk of recurrent EC. The development of new methods for predicting EH outcome as well as options for metabolic rehabilitation of these patients is required.

Most cancers have the ability to metastasize to the bones. Absolute leaders among them are breast and prostate cancers. Progressive growth of bone metastases causes serious metabolic disturbances in the body and loss of skeletal integrity thus resulting in the development of serious complications leading to death. The need for early detection of secondary bone cancer as well as poor images obtained by using available imaging methods contributed to the creation of multimodality SPECT/CT systems. The article discusses the use of SPECT/CT in detection of metastatic involvement of the skeleton. It describes the basic principles of SPECT/CT clinical applications. In addition, both the advantages and disadvantages of the hybrid technology are shown. The results of different studies assessing the diagnostic efficacy of SPECT/CT in the detection of secondary bone tumors are compared.

A lot of research is focused on finding better treatment options for cancer. Along with radical treatment, cancer immunotherapy has proved to be useful for a growing number of cancer patients. We report a case of stage IIIB melanoma in a 53-year woman who received adoptive immunotherapy with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells. For activation, mononuclear cells were collected from the patient’s peripheral blood and cultivated in X-vivo20 medium containing IL-2 (250 U/ml) and IL-15 (50 ng/ml) for 10-14 days. From January 2015 to May 2016, a total of 39 CIK cell infusions were administered intradermally to 2-4 points in the paravertebral area, every 1–2 weeks. Flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes in 3 months after starting CIK cell immunotherapy showed a decrease in the number of NK-cells from 18 % to 12 % and CD314 + NK-cells from 16% to 6%. The levels of CD38+, CD38+Т, HLA-DR+ and HLA-DR+Т lymphocytes increased from 53 %, 24 %, 21 %, 9 % and 19 % to 66 %, 51 %, 28 %, 20 % and 29 %, respectively. There was evidence of reactive changes in lymph nodes and stable disease. Metastases on the left shoulder tended to decrease, and they completely disappeared 9 months after tarting adoptive immunotherapy. Partial regression of metastasis on the right shoulder was observed 11 month after staring adoptive immunotherapy. Adoptive immunotherapy demonstrated the increased disease-free survival for the patient with melanoma. In conclusion, CIK immunotherapy  may be an effective treatment method for metastatic melanoma.

We report a rare case of a solitary fibrous tumor of the maxillary sinus with extension into the right pterygomaxillary and parapharyngeal spaces in a 40-year old woman. The patient underwent surgical resection of the right maxilla and removal of the tumor from the pterygomaxillary and parapharyngeal spaces. Histological and immunohistochemical examinations revealed a solitary fibrous tumor with no evidence of malignancy. At the 12-year follow-up, the patient showed no signs of recurrence and disease progression.

We present a case of the difficult morphological verification and ambiguous interpretation of immunohistochemical examination of cervical lymph nodes metastases from unknown primary tumor with late clinical diagnosis of laryngeal cancer. The detailed morphological features of metastases in cervical lymph nodes from unknown primary tumor were described. External beam radiotherapy to regional cervical lymph nodes in patients with unknown primary tumor can result in reduction and even regression of the primary tumor, thus making the detection of the primary tumor difficult. The time of diagnosis of the primary laryngeal tumor was 2 year and 4 months.