Cancers represent second the most common cause of death in the Czech Republic. The most common are breast and colorectal cancers. Identification of prognostic factors improving decision-making approaches for treatment optimization belongs to the key aims of clinical research in oncology. Carriers of mutation in cancer-susceptibility genes represent a small but clinically important group of high-risk patients. The implementation of NGS have accelerated predisposing genes analyses. The large extent of data about the presence of variants in predisposing genes is in striking contrast to only a very limited information available about clinico-pathological characteristics of mutation carriers. Determination of the risk of tumor development in carriers of rare mutations or variants of unclear significance in genes with incomplete penetrance represent substantial drawbacks of current NGS analyses. To address these issues, we have attempted i) to introduce a unified approach to NGS analysis in breast cancer patients, ii) to characterize importance of prognostic factors in BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation carriers, and iii) to identify the cancer risks in carriers of germline mutations in the CHEK2 gene. Colorectal cancer represents seemingly histologically homogeneous disease. However, at the molecular level it can be...

Introduction: Intraperitoneal tumor seeding is a common form of recurrence after surgery for GI tumours. Early diagnosis and treatment may influence the course of disease. Hypothesis and objectives of the work The finding of free tumor cells and / or elevation of tumor markers in peritoneal fluid predicts intraperitoneal tumor recurrence. The results of these tests can be used to indicate HIPEC. Aim of this work is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of cytology and tumor markers levels and importance of these tests for early diagnosis and prognosis of recurrence. Another objective was to confirm the applicability of RT PCR for identification of free tumor cells. Patients and methods . Materials are sourced both during initial surgery (220 patients) and by the dispensary controls (25 patients). The peritoneal fluid was examined cytologically and biochemically too. 50 samples was exemined by RT PCR. Results Elevation of tumor markers or finding of free intraperitoneal tumor cells predicts recurrence. The prognosis of these patients corresponds to stage IV TNM classification, regardless of other parameters TNM. Low sensitivity of these tests (34% for cytology, 53% for tumor markers) does not allow its use as an indicator of HIPEC. Due to degradation of RNA we did not confirm the value of RT...

In the first part of the dissertation the author summarizes the current knowledge of breast cancer, which is the most frequent malignancy in female population. The author deals with etiology, classification, diagnostics, biological behaviour, therapeutical forms ranging from surgical treatment and radiotherapy, to systemic therapy. In the following part of the manuscript the author describes specifics of breast cancer diagnosed in premenopausal women. She describes how the risk factors, treatment and prognosis differ from the disease in postmenopausal women. Next section of the dissertation includes a retrospective case series evaluating group of patients with breast cancer ≤ 35 years. There were 16 294 cases of breast cancer proven histologically in Biopticka lab Pilsen, ltd. and Sikl's Department of Pathology, Faculty Hospital Pilsen, during 2006-2015. The cohort of patients in our retrospective study includes 356 young women (2,2%) with breast cancer, under 35 years of age by the time of setting the diagnosis. We sorted out a group of 93 patients from the basic cohort, that were or have been treated in the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Faculty Hospital in Pilsen. A control group consists of 100 postmenopausal women ≥ 65 years of age, chosen randomly from all patients treated in the...

In the first part of the dissertation the author summarizes the current knowledge of breast cancer, which is the most frequent malignancy in female population. The author deals with etiology, classification, diagnostics, biological behaviour, therapeutical forms ranging from surgical treatment and radiotherapy, to systemic therapy. In the following part of the manuscript the author describes specifics of breast cancer diagnosed in premenopausal women. She describes how the risk factors, treatment and prognosis differ from the disease in postmenopausal women. Next section of the dissertation includes a retrospective case series evaluating group of patients with breast cancer ≤ 35 years. There were 16 294 cases of breast cancer proven histologically in Biopticka lab Pilsen, ltd. and Sikl's Department of Pathology, Faculty Hospital Pilsen, during 2006-2015. The cohort of patients in our retrospective study includes 356 young women (2,2%) with breast cancer, under 35 years of age by the time of setting the diagnosis. We sorted out a group of 93 patients from the basic cohort, that were or have been treated in the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Faculty Hospital in Pilsen. A control group consists of 100 postmenopausal women ≥ 65 years of age, chosen randomly from all patients treated in the...

<p>UVOD: Savremenim dijagnostičkim i terapijskim dostignućima, kao i unapređenjem preventivnih mera produžen je životni vek ljudi. Starenje stanovni&scaron;tva je fenomen koji zahvata ceo svet. Povećanje broja starijeg stanovni&scaron;tva je udruženo sa porastom broja obolelih od karcinoma u ovoj starosnoj grupi, jer je starenje samo po sebi riziko faktor za nastanak karcinoma. Incidenca pojave karcinoma naglo raste od 50-te godine života sa vrhom u 80-toj godini života. U osoba starijih od 65 godina se dijagnostikuje 58% svih karcinoma, a 30% u starijih od 70 godina. Godine starosti nisu kontraindikaciija za sprovođenje hemioterapije kod starih bolesnika sa karcinomom. Starenje je povezano sa izmenjenom farmakodinamikom i farmakokinetikom antitumorskih lekova i povećanom osetljivo&scaron;ću normalnog tkiva na toksične komplikacije, te je odluka kliničara kod davanja hemioterapije ovoj starosnoj kategoriji bolesnika sa karcinomom uvek vrlo kompleksna i zahteva dobru procenu i odgovarajuću selekciju bolesnika za ovaj tretman. MATERIJAL I METODE: Doktorska disertacija obuhvata rezultate delom restrospektivnog, a delom prospektivnog opservacionog istraživanja sprovedenog u periodu 01.01.2011. do 31.12.2013.godine u Institutu za plućne bolesti Vojvodine u Sremskoj Kamenici, u kojem je praćeno 152 bolesnika starosti 65 i vi&scaron;e godina kod kojih je dijagnostikovan nemikrocelularni karcinom bronha u uznapredovalom stadijumu bolesti, a koji su lečeni kombinovanim hemioterapijskim režimom na bazi platine. Kao prognostički faktori su uzeti: starosna dob bolesnika (grupa mlađih od 75 godina i starih 75 i vi&scaron;e godina), pol, navika pu&scaron;enja cigareta (pu&scaron;ač, nepu&scaron;ač, biv&scaron;i pu&scaron;ač), navika konzumiranja alkohola, performans status (prema ECOG-Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group skali) u momentu postavljanja dijagnoze, patohistolo&scaron;ki tip tumora (adenokarcinom, skvamozni karcinom, drugo), stadijum bolesti (IIIb, IV), veličina tumora (manje od 6 cm i 6 cm i vi&scaron;e), TNM status prema klasifikaciji tumora (7.revizija), parametri krvne slike (vrednosti leukocita, hemoglobina, trombocita), biohemijski parametri (vrednosti laktat-dehidrogenaze (LDH), alkalne fosfataze, aspartat- aminotransferaze (AST), alanin-aminotransferaze (ALT), kalijuma, natrijuma, bilirubina) na početku terapije, komorbiditeti u momentu postavljanja dijagnoze (broj komorbiditeta po sistemima, Charlson index), simptomi bolesti (ka&scaron;alj, hemoptizije, otežano disanje, bol u grudnom ko&scaron;u, promuklost, smetnje gutanja, sindrom gornje &scaron;uplje vene, bol u kostima, simptomi od strane centralnog nervnog sistema, povi&scaron;ena telesna temperatura), gubitak na telesnoj masi (vi&scaron;e od 5% u prethodnih 6 meseci), indeks telesne mase (&lt;18,5kg/m&sup2; pothranjen, 18,5-24,9kg/m&sup2; normalno uhranjen, 25-29,9kg/m&sup2; prekomerna telesna masa, ˃30kg/m&sup2; gojaznost). Svi potencijalni prognostički faktori su evaluirani univarijantnom analizom, a potom su svi faktori rizika za koje je utvrđena značajnost analizirani primenom multivarijantne logističke regresije, u cilju prepoznavanja nezavisnih prediktora za dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje. Za otkrivanje nezavisnih prediktora preživljavanja na dve godine je primenjena binarna logistička regresiona analiza, a kao potencijalni prediktori su bile sledeće varijable: starost ispod 75 godina, pu&scaron;ačka navika, patohistolo&scaron;ki tip karcinoma, stadijum bolesti IV, T4 status, M1b status, prisustvo respiratornog komorbiditeta, otežano disanje, bol u grudima. Kumulativno preživljavanje je prikazano Kaplan-Meier-ovim krivama. Primenom multivarijantne Cox- regresione analize su dobijeni nezavisni prediktori kumulativnog preživljavanja. Iz dobijenih prognostičkih faktora koji se izdvajaju kao nezavisni prediktori za preživljavanje su kreirani matematički modeli za dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje. CILJ ISTRAŽIVANJA: Utvrditi uticaj pojedinih prognostičkih faktora na dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje ovih bolesnika i iz toga izvesti matematički model za stratifikaciju ovih bolesnika u odnosu na dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje. REZULTATI: Analizom prognostičkih faktora je utvrđeno da grupa bolesnika starih 75 godina i vi&scaron;e ima ne&scaron;to duže dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje od grupe bolesnika mlađih od 75 godina, ali bez statističke značajnosti, bolesnici sa tumorom veličine 6 cm i vi&scaron;e imaju kraće dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje u odnosu na bolesnike sa tumorom manjim od 6 cm, bolesnici kod kojih je u momentu postavljanja dijagnoze T status tumora bio T4, a M status M1b imaju kraće dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje, bolesnici kod kojih je na početku tretmana u laboratorijskim nalazima bila prisutna anemija i povi&scaron;ene vrednosti LDH imaju kraće dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje, prisustvo vi&scaron;e komorbiditeta utiče na kraće preživljavanje, bolesnici sa gubitkom na telesnoj masi većim od 5% u periodu 6 meseci pre postavljanja dijagnoze bolesti imaju kraće dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje. Kreirana su dva matematička modela (jedan za preživljavanje na 2 godine i jedan za kumulativno preživljavanje) za stratifikaciju gerijatrijskih bolesnika sa uznapredovalim stadijumom nemikrocelularnog karcinoma bronha lečenih hemioterapijom na bazi platine u odnosu na dvogodi&scaron;nje preživljavanje. ZAKLJUČAK: Dobijeni matematički modeli za preživljavanje gerijatrijskih bolesnika sa uznapredovalim stadijumom nemikrocelularnog karcinoma bronha lečenih hemioterapijom na bazi platine na jednostavan način stratifikuju bolesnike u odnosu na preterapijske prognostičke faktore za razliku od sveobuhvatne gerijatrijske procene koja je vremenski zahtevna procedura i zahteva obučen kadar.</p> / <p>INTRODUCTION: Nowadays life expectancy is prolonged due to modern diagnostic and therapy achievements, as well as promotion of preventive measurements. Aging of population is a phenomenon in the whole world. Increasing number of elderly population is accompanied with the increased number of diagnosed cancer in this age group, because the aging themselves is a risk factor for development of cancer. The appearance of cancer rapidly rises from the age of fifty with the peak at the age of eighty. 58% of cancer diagnoses are in the people older than sixty-five years and 30% in people older than seventy years. The age is not contraindication for chemotherapy treatment in older patient with cancer. The aging is associated with disturbed pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of antitumor drugs and increased susceptibility of normal tissue for toxic complications, therefore clinical decision for introducing chemotherapy is very complex and requires good assessment and proper selection of the patients for this treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This doctoral thesis includes results of partly retrospective and partly prospective observational research conducted in the period 01.01.2011. until 31.12.2013. at the Institute for pulmonary diseases of Vojvodina in Sremska Kamenica, which includes 152 lung cancer patients 65 and more years old with diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer in advanced stage treated with combined platinum based chemotherapy regimen. These prognostic factors are included: age of patients (group &lt;75 years, group &ge;75 years old), sex, smoking cessation (smoker, former smoker, non smoker), alcohol consuming habit, performance status (according to the ECOG-Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group scale) in the moment of confirmed diagnosis, pathohistological type of tumor (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, other), stage of disease (IIIb, IV), tumor size (&lt;6cm and &ge;6cm), TNM status according tumor classification (7th revision), blood count parameters (leucocyte, hemoglobin level, thrombocyte), biochemical parameters (lactate-dehydrogenase level (LDH), alkaline phosphatase level, aspartate aminotransferase level (AST), alanine aminotransferase level (ALT), potassium level, sodium level, bilirubin level) on the start of the chemotherapy, comorbidities at the moment of diagnosis (number of comorbid conditions, Charlson index), symptoms of the disease (cough, hemoptysis, dyspnea, chest pain, hoarseness, swallowing difficulties, caval venae compression symptoms, bone pain, central nervous symptoms, increased body temperature), weight loss (˃ 5% in the previous 6 months), body mass index (&lt;18,5kg/m&sup2; underweight 18,5-24,9kg/m&sup2; normal weight, 25-29,9kg/m&sup2; overweight , ˃30kg/m&sup2; obese). All potential prognostic factors were evaluated with univariante analysis, and after that all factors with confirmed significance were analysed with multivariante logistic regression, in order to identify independent predictors for 2-year survival. Binary logistic regression analysis was applied for identifying independent predictors for 2-years survival and those variables were analysed : age &lt;75 years, smoking cessation, pathohistological type of cancer, stage of disease IV, T4 status, M1b status, presence of respiratory comorbidity, dyspnea, chest pain. Cumulative survival of those patients was shown with Kaplan-Meier prognostic curves. Two mathematical model for 2-year survival was created from the factors confirmed as independent predictors for survival. AIM: This research objectives were to determine the influence of certain prognostic factors on 2-years survival of those patients and to create mathematical model for stratification of those patients related to 2-years survival. RESULTS: Univariante analysis confirmed that the group of patients older than 75 years and more have had better 2-year survival than group of patient younger than 75 year, but without the statistically significance, patients with tumor size &ge;6cm have had worst 2-year survival in comparison with patients with tumor size &lt;6cm, patients with tumor status T4 at the moment of diagnosis and M status M1b have had the shorter 2-year survival, patients with anemia and increased LDH level on the start of the chemotherapy treatment have had shorter 2-year survival, the presence of more comorbid conditions at the moment of diagnosis influence on shorter 2-year survival, patients with weight loss more than 5% in the previous 6 months have had shorter 2-year survival. Two mathematical models were created (one for 2-year survival and the other for the cumulative survival) for stratification of elderly patients with advanced staged non-small cell lung cancer treated with combined platinum based chemotherapy regimen related to 2-year survival. CONSLUSION: Created mathematical models for stratification of elderly patients with advanced staged non-small cell lung cancer treated with combined platinum based chemotherapy regimen more easily stratify patients compared to pretreatment prognostic factors as opposed to comprehensive geriatric assessment which is time-consuming procedure and requires trained personnel.</p>

Tumors are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Generally, the prognosis is better if the treatment begins at an early stage. Nowadays, the conventional chemotherapy treatment of cancer, known for its limited efficacy and side effects, is being gradually replaced by targeted biological treatment, which is used when specific genetic mutations are found. A part of the treatment is a detection of a potential progression, which is mainly based on the tumor biomarkers monitoring. Currently, further investigation of a so-called liquid biopsy method are ongoing, on which this thesis is focused. The main aim of this work was the experimental development and validation of the method for detection of the ctDNA in the plasma samples based on the somatic mutations presence. For the development and optimization of the system on the principle of denaturation capillary electrophoresis, the samples of cancer patients with KRAS mutation were used. Subsequently, a clinical part of the research was performed on a pilot set of 21 plasma samples. Finally, the method was optimized for the detection of BRAF and EGFR markers. A partial objective was to improve the detection sensitivity and increase the capture of the ctDNA in patients with advanced stage of the disease. The results of this work suggest the...

Prediction of clinical outcome in cancer is usually achieved by histopathological evaluation of tissue samples obtained during surgical resection of the primary tumor. Traditional tumor staging (AJCC/UICC-TNM classification) summarizes data on tumor burden (T), presence of cancer cells in draining and regional lymph nodes (N) and evidence for metastases (M). However, it is now recognized that clinical outcome cansignificantly vary among patients within the same stage. Data collected from largecohorts of human cancers has demonstrated the impact of immune-classification, which has a prognostic value that may add largely to the significance of the AJCC/UICC TNM-classification. In our study we examined the immune cells that infiltrated the tumor tissues of colorectal and ovarian cancer patients. In a cohort of newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients we examined the correlations between the KRAS mutational status, patterns of tumor-infiltrating immune cells and the presence of tumor recurrence. Our data suggest that colorectal cancer patients with low levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, a high CD1a/DC-LAMP tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells ratio, and a KRAS mutation in codon 13 are at a high risk of disease recurrence. In ovarian cancer patients we focused on the dynamics of the tumor-infiltrating...

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women in many countries. In the treatment of the breast cancer cytotoxic drugs (chemotherapy) are often used. Interindividual differences of drug response are an important cause of treatment failures. Bioavailability also depends on a major extent from the expression and activity of drug transport across biomembranes. In particular efflux transporters of the ATP-binding cassette family such as ABCB1, ABCC1 and ABCC2 have been identified as major determinants of chemoresistance in tumor cells. It was hypothesized that variance in the gene expression of membrane transporters and their genetic variance could explain at least in part interindividual differences of pharmacokinetics and clinical outcome of a variety of drugs. This thesis focuses on the functional significance of gene expression of ABCB1, ABCC1 and ABCC2 and single nucleotide polymorphisms in ABCC1 gene.

Hormonal therapy is a common part of breast carcinoma treatment in patients whose tumors express estrogen and progesterone receptors. The aim of hormonal therapy is to prevent proliferative effect of hormones througt their receptor proteins in order to inhibit tumor growth. However, certain number of tumors is resistant to hormonal therapy despite expression of hormonal receptors. Presently, the reasons of this resistance are not fully understood. Oxysterols are hydroxylated cholesterol derivates, which may play some role in development of the resistance. They may interfere with hormonal therapy effect and influence some signal pathways leading to cancer progression. This study comes with results of gene expression of proteins influenced by oxysterol action, metabolic and transport proteins, transcription factors and members of signaling pathways that may be related to oxysterol effect. This thesis identifies some candidate genes for future analysis on the basis of comparison of gene expression between estrogen receptor positive and negative tumors and correlation with clinopathological data. The final goal should lead to discovery of new diagnostic markers for breast cancer therapy. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Ovarian carcinoma is a serious illness with the highest mortality rate among all female cancers. No suitable methods for early diagnosis, precise determination of prognosis or prediction of therapy efficacy are currently available, which leads to diagnosis in advanced stages of disease and therapy efficacy limitation. Consequently, the development of chemoresistance to conventional drugs and frequent relapse of the disease pose a fundamental complication too. The main goal of the current study was identification of new putative prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers, whose introduction into clinical practice could help to improve the dismal outcome of ovarian carcinoma patients. The present master thesis provides results of expression analysis of genes whose products take part in the transport, metabolism and mechanism of action of platinum based drugs and taxanes, and also the regulation of cell cycle and signaling. Transcript levels of these genes have been assessed in series of tumor and control ovarian tissue samples and the difference between both tissue types was evaluated. Gene expression level in tumors was then compared with patient's clinical data and candidate genes, ABCA2 and PRC1, were selected from the obtained results for more detailed analysis. The protein level of candidate genes...