Weekly cisplatin or gemcitabine concomitant with radiation in the management of locally advanced carcinoma cervix: results from an observational study

Arun K Verma,Ashok Kumar Arya,Milind Kumar,Anuj Kumar,Sweety Gupta,DN Sharma,GK Rath 대한부인종양학회 2009 Journal of Gynecologic Oncology Vol.20 No.4

Objective: The use of non-platinum drugs in concurrent chemoradiation in carcinoma cervix has not been well explored and hence a two arm study was planned to compare the outcome of concomitant cisplatin or gemcitabine in locally advanced carcinoma cervix. Methods: Thirty six patients were evaluated in this study for response rates and complications. These patients were divided into two arms, sixteen patients in the cisplatin arm and twenty patients in the gemcitabine arm. Cisplatin and gemcitabine were given as i.v. infusion at doses of 40 mg/㎡ and 150 mg/㎡ respectively for five weeks concomitant with radiotherapy. All patients had received pelvic radiotherapy to a dose of 50 Gy/25 fraction/5 weeks by four field box technique followed by high-dose-rate brachytherapy (3 sessions, each of 7.5 Gy to point A). Results: Median follow up was of 10.4 months (range, 3 to 36 months) and 10.9 months (range, 2 to 49 months) in the cisplatin and gemcitabine arms, respectively. At first follow up, 68.8% in the cisplatin arm and 70% in the gemcitabine arm had achieved complete response (p=0.93). Similar response rates were noted in different stages in both arms. None of the patients except one developed grade 4 toxicity. Similar toxicity profiles were observed in both arms. Local disease control, distant disease free survival and overall survival was 68.8% vs. 70%, 93.8% vs. 85%, 68.8% vs. 60% in the cisplatin and gemcitabine arms, respectively. Conclusion: Weekly gemcitabine had similar disease control and tolerable toxicity profile with cisplatin. Gemcitabine may be used as an alternative to cisplatin in patients with compromised renal function. Objective: The use of non-platinum drugs in concurrent chemoradiation in carcinoma cervix has not been well explored and hence a two arm study was planned to compare the outcome of concomitant cisplatin or gemcitabine in locally advanced carcinoma cervix. Methods: Thirty six patients were evaluated in this study for response rates and complications. These patients were divided into two arms, sixteen patients in the cisplatin arm and twenty patients in the gemcitabine arm. Cisplatin and gemcitabine were given as i.v. infusion at doses of 40 mg/㎡ and 150 mg/㎡ respectively for five weeks concomitant with radiotherapy. All patients had received pelvic radiotherapy to a dose of 50 Gy/25 fraction/5 weeks by four field box technique followed by high-dose-rate brachytherapy (3 sessions, each of 7.5 Gy to point A). Results: Median follow up was of 10.4 months (range, 3 to 36 months) and 10.9 months (range, 2 to 49 months) in the cisplatin and gemcitabine arms, respectively. At first follow up, 68.8% in the cisplatin arm and 70% in the gemcitabine arm had achieved complete response (p=0.93). Similar response rates were noted in different stages in both arms. None of the patients except one developed grade 4 toxicity. Similar toxicity profiles were observed in both arms. Local disease control, distant disease free survival and overall survival was 68.8% vs. 70%, 93.8% vs. 85%, 68.8% vs. 60% in the cisplatin and gemcitabine arms, respectively. Conclusion: Weekly gemcitabine had similar disease control and tolerable toxicity profile with cisplatin. Gemcitabine may be used as an alternative to cisplatin in patients with compromised renal function.

Reclassification of Bacillus beijingensis Qiu et al. 2009 and Bacillus ginsengi Qiu et al. 2009 as Bhargavaea beijingensis comb. nov. and Bhargavaea ginsengi comb. nov. and emended description of the genus Bhargavaea

Verma, Pankaj,Pandey, Prashant Kumar,Gupta, Arvind Kumar,Seong, Chi Nam,Park, Seong Chan,Choe, Han Na,Baik, Keun Sik,Patole, Milind Shivaji,Shouche, Yogesh Shreepad Microbiology Society 2012 International journal of systematic and evolutiona Vol.62 No.10

<P>We have carried out a polyphasic taxonomic characterization of <I>Bacillus beijingensis</I> DSM 19037<SUP>T</SUP> and <I>Bacillus ginsengi</I> DSM 19038<SUP>T</SUP>, which are closely related phylogenetically to <I>Bhargavaea cecembensis</I> LMG 24411<SUP>T</SUP>. All three strains are Gram-stain-positive, non-motile, moderately halotolerant and non-spore-forming. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that the strains constituted a coherent cluster, with sequence similarities between 99.7 and 98.7 %. The percentage similarity on the basis of amino acid sequences deduced from partial <I>gyrB</I> gene nucleotide sequences of these three type strains was 96.1-92.7 %. Phylogenetic trees based on the 16S rRNA gene and GyrB amino acid sequences, obtained by using three different algorithms, were consistent and showed that these three species constituted a deeply rooted cluster separated from the clades represented by the genera <I>Bacillus</I>, <I>Planococcus</I>, <I>Planomicrobium</I>, <I>Sporosarcina</I>, <I>Lysinibacillus</I>, <I>Viridibacillus</I>, <I>Kurthia</I> and <I>Geobacillus</I>, supporting their placement in the genus <I>Bhargavaea</I>. All three type strains have menaquinone MK-8 as the major respiratory quinone and showed similar fatty acid profiles. The main polar lipids present in the three type strains were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol, and the three strains showed peptidoglycan type A4α with l-lysine as the diagnostic diamino acid. The DNA G<I>+</I>C contents of <I>Bacillus beijingensis</I> DSM 19037<SUP>T</SUP>, <I>Bacillus ginsengi</I> DSM 19038<SUP>T</SUP> and <I>Bhargavaea cecembensis</I> LMG 24411<SUP>T</SUP> were 53.1, 50.2 and 53.7 mol%, respectively. The level of DNA-DNA hybridization among the three strains was 57-39 %, indicating that they are members of different species of the genus <I>Bhargavaea</I>. The phenotypic data are consistent with the placement of these three species in a single genus and support their differentiation at the species level. On the basis of these data, we have emended the description of the genus <I>Bhargavaea</I> and propose the reclassification of <I>Bacillus beijingensis</I> and <I>Bacillus ginsengi</I> to the genus <I>Bhargavaea</I>, as <I>Bhargavaea beijingensis</I> comb. nov. (type strain ge10<SUP>T</SUP> = DSM 19037<SUP>T</SUP> = CGMCC 1.6762<SUP>T</SUP>) and <I>Bhargavaea ginsengi</I> comb. nov. (type strain ge14<SUP>T</SUP> = DSM 19038<SUP>T</SUP> = CGMCC 1.6763<SUP>T</SUP>).</P>

Topical atorvastatin ameliorates 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13- acetate induced skin inflammation by reducing cutaneous cytokine levels and NF-jB activation

Nagaraj M. Kulkarni,Milind M. Muley,Mallikarjun S. Jaji,G. Vijaykanth,J. Raghul,Neetin Kumar D. Reddy,Santosh L. Vishwakarma,Navin B. Rajesh,Jeyamurugan Mookkan,Uma Maheswari Krishnan,Shridhar Narayan 대한약학회 2015 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.38 No.6

Atorvastatin is a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutarylcoenzyme-A reductase inhibitor used in the treatment ofatherosclerosis and dyslipidemia. Studies have evaluatedthe utility of statins in the treatment of skin inflammationbut with varied results. In the present study, we investigatedthe effect of atorvastatin on TNF-a release andkeratinocyte proliferation in vitro and in acute and chronic12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced skininflammation in vivo. Atorvastatin significantly inhibitedlipopolysacharide induced TNF-a release in THP-1 cellsand keratinocyte proliferation in HaCaT cells. In an acutestudy, topical atorvastatin showed dose dependent reductionin TPA induced skin inflammation with highest efficacyobserved at 500 lg/ear dose. In chronic study, topicalatorvastatin significantly reduced TPA induced ear thickness,ear weight, cutaneous cytokines, MPO activity andimproved histopathological features comparable to that ofdexamethasone. Atorvastatin also inhibited TPA stimulatedNF-jB activation in mouse ear. In conclusion, our resultssuggest that atorvastatin ameliorates TPA induced skininflammation in mice at least in part, due to inhibition ofcytokine release and NF-jB activation and may be beneficialfor the treatment skin inflammation like psoriasis.