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Background:The aim of the study was to evaluate tolerance and efficacy of preoperative treatment with capecitabine in combination with radiation therapy (RT) in patients with locally advanced, resectable, rectal cancer.

Aims and Background Rarely are conclusions from clinical trials summarized in international consensus conferences and promptly transferred to patient care. The adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer used in daily clinical practice in Italy is described and compared with the recommendations of the 1990 NIH Consensus Conference.Patients and Methods We audited prescriptions of adjuvant systemic therapies for Italian colorectal cancer patients in 82 centers during a fixed one-week period.Results Among 434 patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy there were 139 (42.5%) colon cancer patients with N- and 169 (51.7%) with N+ regional nodal involvement. Treatment at academic centers, a young age, T4 and a low total number of lymph nodes removed at surgery were the factors potentially justifying the decision for adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II colon cancer patients. The most common chemotherapy used was a bolus of 5-fluorouracil/folinic acid for 6 months (75.8%). Adjuvant radiotherapy was not administered to 37 (38.5%) of 96 patients with stage II and III rectal cancer.Conclusions The study shows that a substantial proportion of patients on adjuvant treatment at a certain time point in a large enough sample of Italian centers are stage II (potential over-treatment) and that an under-treatment of stage II and III rectal cancer patients (lack of radiotherapy) occurs too often in daily clinical practice in this country.

Interferon-α (IFNα) is a recombinant protein widely used in the therapy of several neoplasms such as myeloma, renal cell carcinoma, epidermoid cervical and head and neck tumours and melanoma. IFNα, the first cytokine to be produced by recombinant DNA technology, has emerged as an important regulator of cancer cell growth and differentiation, affecting cellular communication and signal transduction pathways. However, the way by which tumour cell growth is directly suppressed by IFNα is not well known. Wide evidence exists on the possibility that cancer cells undergo apoptosis after the exposure to the cytokine. Here we will discuss data obtained by us and others on the post-translational regulation of the expression of proteins involved in the occurrence of apoptotic process such as tissue transglutaminase (tTG) or in the modulation of cell cycle such as the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27. This new way of regulation of p27 and tTG occurs through the modulation of their proteasome-dependent degradation induced by the cytokine. We will also review the involvement of protein synthesis machinery in the induction of cell growth inhibition by IFNα. In details, we will describe the effects of IFNα on the expression and activity of the protein kinase dependent from dsRNA (PKR) and on the eukaryotic initiation factor of protein synthesis 5A (eIF-5A) and their correlations with the regulation of cancer cell growth. These data strongly suggest that the antitumour activity of IFNα against human tumours could involve still unexplored mechanisms based on post-translational and translational control of the expression of proteins that regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis.

We present a prospective study on the long-term efficacy of percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) treatment of a large series of symptomatic thyroid cystic nodules (STCN). Ninety-eight patients (72 females and 26 males) were treated. The mean basal volume of the STCN was 35.3 mL. In 92 of 98 patients PEI treatment induced a greater than 50% nodule shrinkage, only 6 of 92 responder patients relapsed at a follow-up of 9 years. Moreover, all the patients had a significant clinical benefit because a significant reduction of the cyst-associated symptoms was recorded. Furthermore, a limited number of sessions was required for the treatment of cysts larger than 40mL (mean ± standard deviation [SD]:2.7 ± 0.75) demonstrating the feasibility of the procedure also in the treatment of large cysts. In conclusion, PEI is an effective and inexpensive procedure with a high patient compliance and long-lasting effects in the treatment of cysts larger than 40mL.

Summary.: In the past years, the attention of scientists has mainly focused on the study of the genetic information and alterations that regulate eukaryotic cell proliferation and that lead to neoplastic transformation. An increasing series of data are emerging about the involvement of the initiation phase of translational processes in the control of cell proliferation. In this paper we review the novel insights on the biochemical and molecular events leading to the initiation and its involvement in cell proliferation and tumourigenesis. We describe the structure, regulation and proposed functions of the eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) focusing the attention on its involvement in the regulation of apoptosis and cell proliferation. Moreover, we describe the modulation of its activity (through the reduction of hypusine synthesis) in apoptosis induced either by tissue transglutaminase or interferon α. Finally, we propose eIF-5A as an additional target of anti-cancer strategies.

Three epidemics of epidemic (short-incubation) hepatitis have been studied in Italy and England. Sera from the patients in all three have been consistently negative for Australia antigen. Using a new antibody, obtained from a multiply-transfused patient, a new antigen has been detected by gel diffusion, and this has been called epidemic-hepatitis-associated antigen (E.H.A.A.). E.H.A.A. was found in the sera of 65% of the patients in the three epidemics and in 90% of those tested during the first two weeks of their illness. It disappeared from the serum during convalescence. E.H.A.A. was not found in 2000 control subjects or in 50 patients with various viral illnesses.