Disease relevance of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• PURPOSE: Intrapleural cisplatin-based chemotherapy has been used in the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma and malignant pleural effusions, but the pharmacokinetics of this form of chemotherapy have not been previously evaluated [1].
• Eight patients received intrapleural (IPL) CDDP and three received intraperitoneal (IP) CDDP, either at diagnosis (n = 3) or relapse (n = 8), for malignant pleural effusion (n = 3), malignant ascites (n = 2), pleural-based tumor (n = 4), pulmonary metastases (n = 1), or abdominal tumor spillage (n = 1) [2].
• VEGF levels were significantly higher than those of control samples in pleural effusions secondary to breast, mesothelioma, and non-small cell lung cancer and when all malignant pleural effusion samples were pooled [3].
• An antigen, protein X (Px), was purified from immune complexes isolated from malignant pleural effusions from patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung by EDTA treatment, PEG 8000 precipitation, protein A affinity chromatography, and Sephadex G-200 separation in the presence of 3 M NaCl [4].
• Twenty-one patients with proven recurrent malignant pleural effusions were randomly allocated to treatment groups receiving either intrapleural Corynebacterium parvum in a dose of 7 mg or intrapleural mustine (20 mg) [5].

High impact information on Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• CONCLUSION: In patients with symptomatic malignant pleural effusion, measurement of the elastance of the pleural space is a simple and effective method for the diagnosis of trapped lung and prediction of the outcome of chemical pleurodesis with bleomycin [6].
• Carcinoembryonic antigen levels in benign and malignant pleural effusions [7].
• These data suggest that the determination of CEA activity levels, when used in conjunction with other clinical findings, may be useful in detecting malignant pleural effusions [7].
• PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred sixty patients with rapidly recurrent malignant pleural effusion were randomly assigned to intrapleural bleomycin (83 patients) or IFN (77 patients) [8].
• As a diagnostic criterion for malignant pleural effusion in group I and group II patients, positive telomerase activity had a sensitivity of 91.4%, a specificity of 94.2%, and a positive and negative predictive value of 0.96 and 0.89, respectively [9].

Chemical compound and disease context of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• Pleurodesis with tetracycline or other sclerosing agents is the usual treatment for malignant pleural effusions [10].
• Retroviral gene transfer is inhibited by chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans/glycosaminoglycans in malignant pleural effusions [11].
• Third, immunoassays and biochemical analyses of malignant pleural effusion specimens revealed CS in relevant concentrations within pleural fluid [11].
• Phase I study of intrapleural batimastat (BB-94), a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor, in the treatment of malignant pleural effusions [12].
• From 11/87 until 7/90 103 patients entered a prospective randomized trial on the treatment of malignant pleural effusions (MPE) with intrapleural mitoxantrone versus placebo (pleural tube alone with instillation of isotonic NaCl) [13].

Biological context of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• Application of mucin quantitative competitive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in assisting the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion [14].
• In patients with malignant pleural effusions, a pH of less than 7.3 is usually seen in those effusions present for several months and is associated with a lower glucose level and a higher white cell count and lactic dehydrogenase level [15].
• By using a specific protein-binding assay, we found that mean concentrations of IGF-II were 345.3 +/- 61.0 microg/l and 167.6 +/- 22.7 microg/l in tuberculous and malignant pleural effusions respectively [16].
• Lack of cellular immunity, IL-2, and IFN-gamma had been reported in malignant pleural effusions [17].
• This management includes preoperative chemotherapy for three months, thoracic surgery, continued chemotherapy, and the use of intrapleural mitoxantrone for once-present malignant pleural effusions or suspected pleural seeding of tumor [18].

Anatomical context of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• Expression of ST2 in helper T lymphocytes of malignant pleural effusions [19].
• BACKGROUND/AIMS:A novel cell line, designated p34, was developed from the malignant pleural effusion of a patient with carcinoma of pancreas [20].
• Increased coagulation activity of the pleura after tube drainage and quinacrine instillation in malignant pleural effusion [21].
• Lymphokine-activated killer induction and its regulation by macrophages in malignant pleural effusions [22].
• IFN-gamma production of T-cells enriched from malignant pleural effusions in the presence of IL-12 and/or IL-18 was also examined [23].

Gene context of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• We hypothesized that malignant pleural effusions may contain high levels of VEGF protein as well as other cytokines implicated in these processes [3].
• Elevation of interleukin-10 levels in malignant pleural effusion [17].
• These data suggest that IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-alpha might be secreted locally at the site of active disease both in benign and malignant pleural effusions [24].
• IL-15 induced significant killer activity in mononuclear cells (MNC) in malignant pleural effusion as well as those in peripheral blood [25].
• The Th1 chemokines we examined, especially IP-10, are comparable to IFN-gamma as diagnostic markers of tuberculous and malignant pleural effusions, although IFN-gamma is the most valuable [26].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Pleural Effusion, Malignant

• Prospective randomized trial of intrapleural bleomycin versus interferon alfa-2b via ultrasound-guided small-bore chest tube in the palliative treatment of malignant pleural effusions [8].
• We therefore compared the TNF-alpha I activity present in patients with benign or malignant pleural effusions using a bioassay of TNF-alpha inhibition and partially characterized it [27].
• A series of biopsy specimens and sections of clots from benign and malignant pleural effusions have been stained by the immunoperoxidase technique for the histiocytic markers alpha 1-antitrypsin, alpha 1-antichymotrypsin, and lysozyme (muramidase) [28].
• Based on this preliminary study, we conclude that doxycycline is a highly effective agent for the palliative treatment of symptomatic malignant pleural effusions [29].
• Sclerotherapy for malignant pleural effusions: a prospective randomized trial of bleomycin vs doxycycline with small-bore catheter drainage [30].

References