European Journal of Cancer: Highlights of Issue 39:15

New techniques under construction

Liver ablation techniques in patients with primary or secondary liver disease

In this issue, Garcea and colleagues review the advantages and disadvantages of various liver ablation techniques used in the treatment of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or metastatic liver disease. Although only 20% of patients are currently suitable for resection of their primary or secondary liver tumours, these techniques are of great interest. Techniques evaluated in their paper included percutaneous ethanol injection, cryotherapy, microwave coagulation therapy, radiofrequency ablation, interstitial laser photocoagulation, focused high intensity ultrasound, hot saline injection, electrolysis and acetic acid injection. "Ablative techniques offer a promising therapeutic modality to treat unresectable tumours. Large scale randomised controlled trials are required before widespread acceptance of these techniques can occur", they said.

New therapeutic target in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma?

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma)/retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRalpha) heterodimer may be a new therapeutic target in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), Shimada and colleagues report in this issue. They found that two ligands of these receptors could inhibit the growth of all the OSCC cell lines they tested and that the combination of the 2 ligands had the greatest effect on growth. The percentage of apoptotic cell death also increased following treatment with either ligand alone and was particularly noted following combined ligand treatment. Apoptosis was likely mediated through the caspase pathway. The PPAR ligand showed significant inhibition of implanted tumours in nude mice suggesting that these results may be transferable to the in vivo setting.

Suicide risk in cancer patients in Estonia

Male cancer patients have an increased suicide risk, whilst females have a reduced risk, a study reports in this issue. Using population-based data from 1983-2000, Innos and colleagues found an almost 2-fold increased risk of suicides in male patients and a 50% decrease in risk in women, compared with that expected in the general population. The higher risk in men was particularly noted for cancers of the pancreas, lung and upper digestive tract and occurred soon after diagnosis, often within 6 months. Women with lung cancer also had an increased risk. Although the authors feel the reduced risk observed for women may be due to chance, in men "this study provides further evidence that cancer is a risk factor for suicide", they said.

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