The effects of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) on mood disorders have already been established. More recently, its anti‐neoplastic effects have provoked a great attention. This study aims to assess the effects of crocin administration during doxorubicin‐based chemotherapy of breast cancer on anxiety, depression, and chemotherapy toxicity profile. Seventy‐two patients with non‐metastatic Her2/neu positive or triple negative breast cancer were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either 30 mg/day of crocin or placebo during chemotherapy [2:2]. Beck's Depression and Anxiety Inventories were used at baseline and end of the trial. In addition, the ECOG Common Toxicity Criteria were applied to assess chemotherapy side‐effects. After the intervention, the degree of anxiety and depression decreased significantly in the crocin group (p = .001 for both) and increased significantly in the placebo‐group (p = .006 and p = .036, respectively). There were significantly higher grade II‐IV leukopenia (47.2% vs. 19.4%, p = .012) in the crocin group, and grade II‐IV hypersensitivity‐reaction (30.6% vs. 5.6%, p = .006) in addition to neurological disorders (66.7% vs. 41.7%, p = .03) in the placebo‐group. The results indicate that using crocin during chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer has ameliorated anxiety and depression. Moreover, leucopenia increased whereas hypersensitivity reaction and neurological disorders decreased in the crocin group. In addition, a trend toward survival improvement was observed, which is going to be investigated on longer follow up.

The human multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR1) encodes a plasma membrane, P-glycoprotein (Pgp), which functions as the transmembrane efflux pump for various structurally unrelated anticancer agents and toxins. Polymorphisms in the MDR1 gene may have an impact on the expression and function of Pgp, thereby influencing the susceptibility to various diseases, including cancer. Recently, a silent C3435T polymorphism in exon 26 of MDR1 has been reported to be associated with decreased expression of Pgp in TT genotype carriers and thus it may alter the physiological protective role of Pgp and influence disease risk. To evaluate the association of this polymorphism with breast cancer, 106 patients with breast cancer and 77 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. They were visited at two centers during a 1-year period (2006-2007). Data about the risk factors of breast cancer were collected using questionnaires. DNA of the whole-blood sample was extracted, and the polymorphic fragment was amplified by polymerase chain reaction using specific primers. The C3435T polymorphism was detected by the restriction fragment length polymorphism method. There were no significant differences in genotype (p = 0.744) and allele (p = 0.590) frequencies between patients and control subjects. Moreover, distribution of the breast cancer patients' risk factors was not different among CC, CT, and TT genotypes. Our results suggest that C3435T MDR1 polymorphism was not associated with the susceptibility to breast cancer in the population studied.

PurposeMucinous adenocarcinomas account for about 10% of all colorectal cancers. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of mucinous histologic subtype on oncologic outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer.MethodsThis retrospective study was performed at two large tertiary university hospitals. We analyzed the characteristics, prognostic factors, and survival of patients with colorectal cancer who were treated and followed up between 2000 and 2013.ResultsTotally, 144 of 1,268 patients with a colorectal adenocarcinoma (11.4%) had mucinous histologic subtype. Statistically significant results found in this research are as follows: Mucinous histologic subtype tended to present in younger patients and to have larger tumor size, higher histologic grade, higher node stage, larger number of positive nodes, and higher rate of perineural invasion compared to nonmucinous histologic subtype. On the univariate analysis, mucinous subtype was a prognostic factor for disease-free and overall survival. On the multivariate analysis, primary tumor location, node stage and lymphatic-vascular invasion were independent prognostic factors for the local control rate. Rectal tumor location, higher disease stage, tumor grade II, and presence of lymphatic-vascular invasion had negative influences on disease-free survival, as did rectal tumor location, higher disease stage and presence of lymphatic-vascular invasion on overall survival.ConclusionMucinous histologic subtype was associated with some adverse pathologic features in patients with colorectal cancer; however, it was not an independent prognostic factor for oncologic outcome.

BackgroundSquamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity. A relationship between the human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and the prognosis of oral cavity SCC (OCSCC) has been discussed before.ObjectivesWe investigated the prevalence rate of HPV status in patients with OCSCC, and its effects on clinicopathological characteristics of tumors and patients’ prognosis.Patients and MethodsSections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 114 histopathologically confirmed OCSCC cases were investigated in this study. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied to evaluate the HPV status in the samples.ResultsFifteen (13.16%) cases were identified as HPV positive. The detected viral subtypes in this study were the subtypes 6 and 11. The stage and especially lymph node stage was significantly higher in the HPV positive group compared to the HPV negative group (P = 0.04). Disease free survival (DFS) was remarkably lower in the HPV positive group compared to the HPV negative group (13.9 vs. 49.9 months, P = 0.02). Overall survival (OS) was also significantly inferior in the HPV positive group (15.7 vs. 49.6 months, P = 0.01). In the current study, no significant differences were observed between two groups in relation to the variables of age, gender, tumors site, tumor size, tumor grading and also the recurrence rate.ConclusionsThe observed higher mortality rate among the HPV positive group indicates the poorer prognosis of this group in comparison with the HPV negative patients. The incidence rate of HPV infection was low in the studied samples; however, interaction of subtypes 6 and 11 of HPV in poorer prognosis of the patients and a carcinogenic role of HPV in OCSCC cannot be ruled out.