Cancer screening for

A. Kubik, D.M. Parkin, M. Khlat, et al. (1990). Lack of benefit from semi-annual screening for cancer of the lung Follow-up report of a randomized controlled trial on population of high-risk males in Czechoslovakia. Int. J. Cancer, 45, 26-33. 

Camptothecin was discovered as an active anticancer drug isolated from the bark of Camptotheca acuminata. The anticancer activity of camptothecin was discovered in the 1960s by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as part of a systematic effort to screen for novel anticancer agents derived from natural products. Monroe Wall and Mansuhk Wani identified the chemical structure of camptothecin. They also identified the chemical structure of taxol, again under the auspices of the NCI. Susan Hoiwitz was contracted by the NCI to elucidate the anticancer mechanisms of camptothecin. She found in the early 1970s that camptothecin induced DNA breaks and attested DNA and RNA synthesis. However, it is approximately 12 years later, only after DNA topo-isomerase I (Topi) had been identified in human cells, that Leroy Liu and his coworkers found that Topi was the cellular target of camptothecin [reviewed in [1]. 

Acid- and alkaline phosphatases act on a variety of mono- and multiple phosphate carrying low molecular mass molecules. In addition, they hydrolyze many, but not all, phosphoproteins. They are in use for decades to easily screen for diseases, however, somewhat unspe-cifially. For instance, acid phosphatase is used as biomarker for prostate cancer, and alkaline phosphatase to monitor bone (de-) mineralization and liver tumors. 

Wilson SS, Crawford ED. Screening for prostate cancer Current recommendations. Urol Clin North Am 2004 31 219-226. 

Since CA-125 is a non-specific marker, there is no standard recommendation for routine screening for prevention of ovarian cancer. 

Serum cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is the most extensively evaluated tumor marker for ovarian cancer. Unfortunately, the CA-125 determination is non-specific, and elevated levels can be associated with a number of other gynecologic and gastrointestinal diseases. CA-125 levels in a woman without ovarian cancer, though, are static or tend to decrease over time, whereas levels associated with malignancy will continue to rise.10 Since CA-125 is a non-specific marker, there is no standard recommendation for routine screening for prevention of ovarian cancer. 

Now that 80% or more of children survive their primary cancers, the incidence of secondary neoplasms may increase. Recognizing this potential, many treatment regimens for children are being modified appropriately to reduce exposure to alkylators, topoisomerase inhibitors, and radiation. Late effects clinics screen for secondary malignancies and other disease and treatment-related disabilities that accompany childhood cancer. Similar screening and educational opportunities are not currently established in adult survivors. 

The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to Dr. Tazuko Tashiro of Cancer Chemotherapy Center of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research for the screening test of the survival effect against p388 lymphocytic leukemia in mice ip/ip. 

In the majority of DPD defective patients experiencing severe 5-FU toxicity, abnormally high levels of natural pyrimidines are present in plasma and/or urine [62]. Moreover, endogenous dihydrouracil/uracil ratio in plasma has been proposed as a measure of 5-FU catabolic deficiency in cancer patients [63], and screening of cancer patients for these simple markers should be prospectively evaluated. 

Reports on an inverse relationship between the consumption of fresh vegetables and human gastrointestinal cancer have been followed by screening for the protective activity of a large number of plant extracts, including leafy vegetables (Botterweck and others 1998 Larsson and others 2006). 

Over the past few decades, many transition-metal complexes have been screened for cytotoxicity, but surprisingly zinc complexes have seldom been investigated in this context. Detailed investigations of their distribution in cancer cells are extremely... 

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