The achievement of local control in patients presenting with locally advanced squamous cell head and neck carcinoma is of great importance. Postoperative radiotherapy with concurrent chemotherapy was shown to improve the outcome of surgery, but was also associated with higher rates of acute toxicity. Analysis of the  results depending on risk factors (rT_3-4, N₊ , extracapsular extension, vascular and perineural invasion, positive  resection margin) allowed for identification of highand intermediate-risk patients with the greatest benefit from more aggressive treatment. Selectively delivering total doses of radiotherapy, in particular 3-D conformal and intensity modulated radiotherapy is another way to more effective and less toxic treatment. The results of combined modality treatment with postoperative radiotherapy were presented for 74 patients with stage III–IVA squamous cell head and neck carcinoma. The problem of achieving local control was analyzed with the assessment of risk factors for differential delivery of the total doses. The optimization of postoperative radiation therapy in terms of volume and dose was based on the identification of different clinical risk factors, which in turn is possible with a multidisciplinary approach involving a surgeon, pathologist, radiologist, radiotherapist and medical physicist.

Introduction. The lack of low-cost and available methods for the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis from gastric cancer and the standards of surgery for proximal gastric cancer is a hot topic for research. the aim of research is to study the effectiveness of the method of pigment lymphography and to develop criteria for determining the extent of surgery in the treatment of locally advanced proximal gastric cancer.

Material And Methods. The study included 68 patients with locally advanced proximal gastric cancer. All patients were divided into 2 groups according to the extent of surgery: proximal subtotal gastric resection and gastrectomy. For intraoperative detection of lymph node metastases, the method of peroral pigmented lymphography was used.

Results. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of pigment lymphography in detecting lymph node metastases were 99.0 %, 89.8 % and 93.4 %, respectively. The developed algorithm for the choice of the extent of surgery for proximal gastric cancer demonstrated advantage of proximal subtotal resection over gastrectomy in terms of overall survival (66.4 ± 13.2 % versus 48.7 ± 16.9 %, p=0.021).

Conclusion. Peroral pigmented lymphography was shown to be an effective method in detecting lymph node metastases from gastric cancer.  Proximal subtotal gastrectomy in patients with locally advanced gastric cancer improved long-term treatment outcomes.

Objective: to analyze the association of 5 types of cellular structures of squamous cell carcinoma with major clinical and morphological tumor characteristics.

Material And Methods. The main clinical and morphological characteristics of the primary tumor were assessed in 74 patients.

Results. Single tumor cells and structures formed by polymorphic cells were observed in primary tumor more often in the patients with metastatic lymph nodes than in patients with intact lymph nodes. Furthermore, inflammatory reaction in the patients with metastatic lymph nodes was significantly lower than in the patients with intact lymph nodes.

Conclusion. Morphological heterogeneity of the tumor allows us to suggest the clinical course of the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Introduction. The crosstalk between the estrogen and growth factor receptors signaling may play an important role in the resistance to endocrine therapy. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the protein and receptor gene expression of transforming growth factor β type I (TGF-βRI) and its polymorphism with progression of luminal breast cancer patients treated by adjuvant tamoxifen.

Material and methods.  The study included 105 patients with luminal breast cancer (T_1-3N_0–3M₀), who had received adjuvant tamoxifen  at a dose of 20 mg/day for at least 5 years. Patients who developed distant metastasis or recurrence after tamoxifen therapy were defined as tamoxifen resistance (TR) group, while distant metastasis-free patients were analyzed as tamoxifen sensitive (TS) group. TGF-βRI expression level was evaluated using immunohistochemistry. TGF-BRI gene expression and genotypes for rs334354 SNP were detected by a Real-time PCR.

Results. We found high TGF-βRI gene expression in patients with luminal A subtype compared with luminal B breast cancer (p=0.050). The Int7G24AA and Int7G24A mutant carriers were more prevalent in luminal A breast cancer patients (p=0.019 and p=0.007, respectively). TGF-βRI protein expression level was significantly higher in the tamoxifen sensitive group compared to tamoxifen resistance breast cancer patients regardless of molecular subtypes (p=0.043). There was a trend for a tamoxifen sensitivity among luminal B breast cancer patients with a high TGF-βRI protein expression (p=0.090).

Conclusion. TGF-βRI protein expression level can be a potential molecular marker of tamoxifen resistance in luminal breast cancer patients.

In oncology practice, despite significant advances in early cancer detection, surgery, radiotherapy, laser therapy, targeted therapy, etc., chemotherapy is unlikely to lose its relevance in the near future. In this context, the development of new antitumor agents is one of the most important problems of cancer research. In spite of the importance of searching for new compounds with antitumor activity, the possibilities of the “old” agents have not been fully exhausted. Targeted delivery of antitumor agents can give them a “second life”. When developing new targeted drugs and their further introduction into clinical practice, the change in their pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics plays a special role. The paper describes a pharmacokinetic model of the targeted drug delivery. The conditions under which it is meaningful to search for a delivery vehicle for the active substance were described. Primary screening of antitumor agents was undertaken to modify them for the targeted delivery based on underlying assumptions of the model.

The processes of vital activity of cancer cells mainly depend on the production of growth factors and their receptors. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases. Normally, binding of EGFR ligands and transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα) induces receptor activation, which triggers erk and PI3K signaling pathways that control cell proliferation, migration, invasion and many other processes. A number of studies have shown that a high percentage of EGFR expression is observed in 25–82 % of cases with rectal cancer. Thus, the expression and mutation of the EGFR gene is associated with various variants of tumor progression and an unfavorable prognosis for malignant tumors of various localizations.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the EGFR expression in cancer tissue and evaluate the relationship between EGFR expression and parameters of lymphogenous metastasis in patients with rectal cancer. 

Material And Methods. Surgical specimens of 149 patients with stage T1–4N0–2M0_, rectal adenocarcinoma, who were treated at the Cancer Research Institute of Tomsk National Research Medical Center, were studied using histological and immunohistochemical analyses. Positive EGFR expression was found in 88 (59.1 %) patients. Diagnosis was made according to WHO classification (2010).

Results. When studying the EGFR expression in tumor cells on different depth of invasion, it was found that the positive expression of this marker was observed in cases with and without lymph node metastases. The analysis of the EGFR expression in various structures of the parenchymatous component of the tumor located in different layers of the intestinal wall showed that in the solid structures of the mucosa, the positive expression of EGFR was detected more often in cases without lymph node metastases. In patients with lymph node metastases, the percentage of the EGFR expression was lower.  A similar pattern was observed in discrete groups of tumor cells.

Conclusion. The study showed the presence of heterogeneity of the expression characteristics of the epidermal growth factor in various tumor structures located at different depths of infestation. The relationship between the parameters of lymphogenous metastasis and the positive EGFR expression indicates the prognostic significance of this marker.

Aim: to study the relationship between homocysteine, cysteine and glutathione in blood serum and various single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes involved in folate metabolism in patients with proliferative breast disease and breast cancer.

Material and methods. The study included 112 patients with proliferative breast lesions and breast cancer in Transbaikalia. The control group consisted of 144 women having no breast cancer. Blood levels of homocysteine, cysteine and glutathione were evaluated by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography). Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction with the detection of amplification product in real-time.

Results. Molecular-genetic testing revealed no association between breast disease and genetic polymorphisms of MTHFR(C677T), MTHFR(A1298C), MTR(A2756G), MTRR(A66G) in women with proliferative breast lesions and breast cancer, however, in contrast to the control group, the concentrations of homocysteine and glutathione were increased.

Squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) is often asymptomatic until it reaches the advanced stage. Currently, there are no available markers that can accurately predict the risk of progression of epithelial dysplasia to squamous cell carcinoma.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of using the level of adenylyl cyclase-associated protein 1 (CAP-1) in the blood serum to identify groups of increased risk of cancer in patients with chronic laryngeal and hypopharyngeal hyperplasia associated with epithelial dysplasia.

Material and methods. The blood serums from 45 patients with SCCHN (T1–4N0–3M0), 12 patients  with chronic inflammatory laryngeal and hypopharyngeal diseases and 15 heath subjects were examined. The blood analysis was performed using the CAP1 ELISA kit (Cusabio) on the Biochrom Anthos 2020 Microplate IEA Reader.

Results. The serum level of САР1 was higher by 75 % in patients with SCCHN (Т1N0M0) than in patients with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis. Moreover, differences in the serum level of САР1 were observed between healthy subjects and patients with chronic laryngeal hyperplasia. In SCCHN patients with regional metastases, CAP1 concentration in the blood serum was 2 times higher compared to that observed in SCCHN patients without regional metastases (p≤0.01).

Conclusion. The study results showed the feasibility of using the level of CAP1 for distinguishing patients with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis from those with laryngeal cancer, as well as for early detection of SCCHN and the development of new method for prediction of disease.

Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the Russian Federation. Despite the high incidence rate of skin cancer, there is no single standard for screening to identify this disease at an early stage, therefore, screening programs for detecting premalignant lesions and skin cancer at early stages are of great importance. The article describes the results of the action dedicated to the World Day against melanoma, held in Krasnoyarsk Regional Clinical Oncology Center named after A.I. Kryzhanovsky. Selection of participants was based on electronic applications, including photographs of skin lesions taken by the patients themselves. Out of the 343 people who applied, 143 (41.7 %) persons were selected for physician’s consultation. There were revealed 6 cases of melanoma, 13 basal cell tumors, and 1 lymphoproliferative disorders of the skin.

Short-term results of using Orbis II Paxman device for prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia were analyzed. A total of 98 sessions of scalp cooling were performed in 32 patients.  Twenty-four (80 %) scalpcooled patients had good hair preservation. The level of comfort during the procedure was 87 %. Patients with breast cancer underwent 55 scalp cooling sessions.  Good hair preservation was observed in 88% of cases. Grade 1 and 2 alopecia was observed in 12% of patients.  Thus, the data obtained confirm that the use of scalp cooling methods can improve the quality of life for patients receiving chemotherapy.

Low toxicity, oncospecificity, immunogenicity and relatively frequent expression of CT antigens in many types of cancer justify their use in cancer immunotherapy. This review presents the data on CTA use in new clinical approaches to the malignant process control, developed from the ideas of the anti-tumor immunity mechanisms. In particular, we highlight the results of application of immune checkpoint inhibitors, external correction of the immune response by vaccination with ex vivo generated dendritic cells, natural killer cells and T-lymphocytes; induction and synchronization of CTA expression with DNA hypomethylating agents to enhance the immunogenicity of cancer cells, etc. As a result, we demonstrate the need for rethinking current clinical strategies in terms of the choice of chemotherapeutic agents and immunotherapy design, which will significantly increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment.

Treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma (STS) has passed a difficult and long way of evolution from amputation surgery to complex limb-salvage interventions, but the problem of local recurrence is relevant today as 100 years ago. Tactics of monitoring after treatment of STS depends on the individual risk of recurrence and should be based on simple and effective diagnostic methods. Developing of new individualized approaches to patient follow up after primary treatment of STS is extremely necessary for early detection of local recurrence and improvement of overall survival, which requires close cooperation of clinical, morphological and radiology specialists.

The review deals with the evaluation of options antitumor treatment of retroperitoneal tumors, the use of intraoperative methods of the local adjuvant cancer treatment in the combined treatment of patients with resectable retroperitoneal tumors. Presents data of the occurrence of this pathology among all tumors and soft tissue sarcomas, described the risks of recurrence and metastatic potential of retroperitoneal tumors. The peculiarities of surgical interventions regarding recurrence non-organ retroperitoneal tumors, associated with topographic and anatomical features of the retroperitoneal space, multicentricity the rudiments of the tumor, aggressive invasive growth. The possibilities of radiation therapy of primary and recurrent tumors of this localization.

This article describes a new approach to the diagnosis of esthesioneuroblastoma. The classical algorithm examination included the whole body ^99mTc-MIBI scans and SPECT/CT of the head. There is no data on this method of diagnosis of esthesioneuroblastoma in the scientific literature. A qualitative visualization of the primary tumor and its recurrence after multimodality treatment was reached. SPECT/CT with ^99mTc-MIBI is a promising method for detecting esthesioneuroblastoma, however further studies are required.

Treatment outcomes of stearnal osteomyelitis in a breast cancer patient were analyzed. Sternal osreomyelitis is a rare disease and is extremely difficult to treat, Osteomyelitis usually begins as an acute infection, but it may evolve into a chronic condition. When planning treatment tactics, surgical treatment is preferable. Antibiotic therapy is usually given in the pre and postoperative periods, and adequate antibiotic regimens reduce the likelihood of subsequent episodes of reactivation of the inflammatory process.  The choice of monoand combination antibiotic therapy is a challenge.