beta-carotene and Carcinoma-in-Situ

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; beta Carotene; Butylhydroxybutylnitrosamine; Carcinoma in Situ; Carcinoma, Papillary; Carotenoids; Cell Differentiation; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Epithelium; Fenretinide; Humans; Isotretinoin; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Experimental; Tretinoin; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms; Vitamin A

We explored the use of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in the ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) spectrum for the diagnosis of breast cancer. A physical model (Monte Carlo inverse model) and an empirical model (partial least squares analysis) based approach, were compared for extracting diagnostic features from the diffuse reflectance spectra.. The physical model and the empirical model were employed to extract features from diffuse reflectance spectra measured from freshly excised breast tissues. A subset of extracted features obtained using each method showed statistically significant differences between malignant and non-malignant breast tissues. These features were separately input to a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm to classify each tissue sample as malignant or non-malignant.. The features extracted from the Monte Carlo based analysis were hemoglobin saturation, total hemoglobin concentration, beta-carotene concentration and the mean (wavelength averaged) reduced scattering coefficient. Beta-carotene concentration was positively correlated and the mean reduced scattering coefficient was negatively correlated with percent adipose tissue content in normal breast tissues. In addition, there was a statistically significant decrease in the beta-carotene concentration and hemoglobin saturation, and a statistically significant increase in the mean reduced scattering coefficient in malignant tissues compared to non-malignant tissues. The features extracted from the partial least squares analysis were a set of principal components. A subset of principal components showed that the diffuse reflectance spectra of malignant breast tissues displayed an increased intensity over wavelength range of 440-510 nm and a decreased intensity over wavelength range of 510-600 nm, relative to that of non-malignant breast tissues. The diagnostic performance of the classification algorithms based on both feature extraction techniques yielded similar sensitivities and specificities of approximately 80% for discriminating between malignant and non-malignant breast tissues. While both methods yielded similar classification accuracies, the model based approach provided insight into the physiological and structural features that discriminate between malignant and non-malignant breast tissues.

Topics: Adipose Tissue; beta Carotene; Breast; Breast Neoplasms; Carcinoma in Situ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast; Carcinoma, Lobular; Female; Fibrocystic Breast Disease; Hemoglobins; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Least-Squares Analysis; Monte Carlo Method; Neoplasms, Fibrous Tissue; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Topics: beta Carotene; Carcinoma in Situ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell; Carotenoids; Humans; Kidney Neoplasms; Male; Middle Aged

The risk of invasive and intraepithelial cervical neoplasia in relation to the frequency of intake of the major sources of preformed vitamin A (retinol) and beta-carotene in the Italian diet was analyzed in a study of 392 cases of invasive cancer compared with 392 age-matched controls hospitalized for acute conditions unrelated to any of the established or suspected risk factors for cervical cancer, and of 247 cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia compared with 247 controls found to have normal smears at the same screening clinics where cases had been identified. Women with invasive cancer consumed milk, green vegetables, and carrots less frequently, but no significant relation was noted for meat or liver. Consequently, estimated beta-carotene, but not retinol, intake was inversely and strongly related to the risk of invasive cervical cancer. Compared with women whose intake was over 150,000 international units (IU) per month, the relative risks were 3.0 for 100 to 149,999 and 4.7 for less than 100,000 IU. It was not possible to show that these relationships were incidental, since allowance for several identified potential distorting factors, including indicators of social status and the major risk factors for cervical cancer, did not materially modify the risk estimates. In contrast, no association emerged between any of the food items and vitamin A estimates considered and intraepithelial neoplasia. Thus, the results of this study can be interpreted in one of two ways: either some residual uncontrolled bias was responsible for the strong dietary correlates of invasive cervical cancer risk or beta-carotene (or any other correlate of a vegetable-rich diet) has effect on one of the later stages of the process of carcinogenesis, thus influencing the risk of invasive carcinoma but not of its precursors.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; beta Carotene; Carcinoma in Situ; Carotenoids; Diet; Diet Surveys; Female; Humans; Italy; Middle Aged; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Vitamin A; Vitamin A Deficiency

Both plasma and dietary measures of vitamin A status were investigated along with previously established risk factors (number of sexual partners, age at first intercourse, smoking, and oral contraceptive use) in a study of 117 in situ cervical cancer patients and 196 matched community controls in Sydney, Australia. Neither total calories nor retinol from foods was related to cancer risk, nor was plasma retinol. When plasma and dietary indexes were considered together, vitamin C, fruit juices, and plasma beta-carotene showed protective effects. Plasma beta-carotene reduced risk from top to bottom quartile by 80%, vitamin C by 60%, and fruit juices by 50%. Thus the evidence suggests that cancer risk is associated with some aspect of diet that is reflected in the effect of plasma beta-carotene. There is no clear effect of any one nutrient but fruit juices appear protective. Thus vitamin C and beta-carotene are likely candidates.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Ascorbic Acid; Australia; beta Carotene; Carcinoma in Situ; Carotenoids; Diet; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Precancerous Conditions; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Vitamin A

The concentrations of retinol and beta carotene were measured in serum samples taken from 113 women with cervical cancer, 32 with invasive and 81 with pre-invasive disease, and compared with those from 226 age-matched control women. There was little difference in serum retinol levels between women with cancer of the cervix, at any stage, and the control women, after adjusting for potential confounding factors. Serum beta carotene concentrations were likewise similar in women with invasive disease and the controls. However mean beta carotene levels were significantly reduced in women with pre-invasive disease compared to the controls (221.3 cf. 291.6 micrograms l-1, P less than 0.05). This reduction was more evident amongst women with a diagnosis of carcinoma-in-situ (mean 213.1 micrograms l-1 than amongst those with severe dysplasia (mean 228.7 micrograms l-1. There is a negative trend between beta carotene and risk of pre-invasive disease which is of borderline significance. These data have also been used to investigate the effects of smoking and oral contraceptive usage on the serum levels of retinol and beta carotene. Both habits tend to increase retinol and decrease beta carotene concentrations.. Women with invasive cancer of the cervix or with preinvasive disease and a control group of women with various benign gynecological problems were interviewed over the 1975-79 period at 2 hospitals and a health center in Oxfordshire, England, as part of a study designed to examine the hypothesis that the etiology of epithelial cancers might be related to a relative deficiency of dietary vitamin A. A sexual, obstetric, and contraceptive history was obtained from each woman. Blood samples were taken at the time of the interview from most of the study participants. Serum samples from 43 women with dysplasia, 38 women with carcinoma-in-situ, 32 women with invasive cancer, and 226 control women (matched for 5-year age group) were used. Serum samples were assayed for retinol and Beta-carotene. Analysis was carried out between 6-9 years after collection and initial freezing. Relative risks were computed for quintiles of serum levels of vitamin A and Beta-carotene as determined by the distributions among the controls, I being the lowest group and V the highest. The mean levels of serum retinol were similar in cases of all the disease categories and in cases and controls after full adjustment. This was the case for mean levels of serum Beta-carotene when comparing invasive cancer cases with controls. For both the preinvasive disease categories, the levels of Beta-carotene were lower among the cases than the controls at a significant level for the carcinoma-in-situ category and for both the preinvasive categories combined after full adjustment. No significant elevations, reductions, or trends in the odds ratios were found with retinol or Beta-carotene in any disease group. In the carcinoma-in-situ group, the odds ratio was greater than 4 in the 3 lowest Beta-carotene quintiles and of borderline significance. The comparison of the lowest 4 quintiles for the carcinoma-in-situ group with the highest gave an odds ratio of 4.0, a ratio of borderline significance. When the 2 preinvasive disease categories were combined, an elevated odds ratio of borderline significance was found for 2 of the 3 lower quintiles for the 4 low quintiles combined. Both smoking and OC use were independently associated with the serum measures; both habits tended to be linked with relatively high retinol and low Beta-carotene levels, respectively. The effect of smoking on Beta-carotene was quite strong. The results were similar in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. In sum, t

Topics: beta Carotene; Carcinoma in Situ; Carotenoids; Contraceptives, Oral; Female; Humans; Neoplasm Invasiveness; Smoking; Uterine Cervical Dysplasia; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Vitamin A

Women with abnormal cytology were matched with normal control subjects for age, parity, ethnicity, and socioeconomic class and participated in a blind case-control study focused on the role of nutrition in cervical dysplasia. Sucrose gradient ultracentrifugation studies for determination of the presence and concentration of the binding proteins for retinol and retinoic acid were performed on colposcopic biopsy tissue specimens. The nutritional survey revealed statistically significant differences for vitamins A and C and beta carotene. Retinol binding protein was absent or minimally detectable and inversely related to the severity of the dysplasia. It is proposed that a double-blind clinical trial be conducted to evaluate whether retinoids may pharmacologically inhibit, arrest, or reverse cervical dysplasia.

Topics: Ascorbic Acid; beta Carotene; Carcinoma in Situ; Carotenoids; Diet; Female; Humans; Retinol-Binding Proteins; Tretinoin; Uterine Cervical Dysplasia; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms; Vitamin A