Objective To investigate the serum levels of endostatin and vascular endothelial growth factor ( VEGF) at different therapy stages of mouse Lewis lung carcinoma, and elucidate the relation to the progress and prognosis of tumor. Methods Forty-four Lewis lung carcinoma-bearing C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups, ie. a non-therapy group, a chemotherapy group, a gene therapy group, and a combination therapy group ( chemotherapy plus gene therapy) . Eleven healthy mice were included as normal control group. Serum was collected on the 0th, 5th, 19th day after therapy for measurement of endostatin and VEGF by ELISA. The correlations were analysed between endostatin and VEGF levels in each group. Results ( 1) The serum endostatin levels had no significant difference in all groups on the 0th day,but increased significantly on the 5th day in the gene and combination therapy groups than those in other three groups ( all P lt;0. 01) . Then the endostatin level decreased on the 19th day in the gene and combination therapy groups, but still higher than those in the chemotherapy group and the normal group. ( 2 ) On the contrary, serum VEGF levels of the gene and combination therapy groups decreased significantly on the 5th day and increased little on the 19th day, which were both significant lower than those in chemotherapy group on the 5th and 19th day( all P lt; 0. 05) . There were significant diferences between the three therapy groups and the non-therapy group( all P lt;0. 05) . ( 3) Negative correlations between VEGF and endostatin levels were revealed in the gene and combination therapy groups ( r = - 0. 77 and - 0. 761 respectively) .Correlation was not found in the non-therapy and chemotherapy groups. Conclusion The serum levels of endostatin and VEGF might be used as monitoring indices of antiangiogenesis therapy.
Objective To evaluate the safety of intranasal use of beclomethasone dipropionate, budesonide, fluticasone propionate and mometasone for adults and children with chronic sinusitis/nasal polyps and allergic rhinitis. Methods Randomized controlled trials were located. Study quality was evaluated by two researchers independently. RevMan 4.2 was used for meta-analysis. Results Seven RCTs involving 826 patients were included. Compared with placebo, local use of fluticasone proprionate in adults showed no statistically significant trend to increase incidence of acute sinusitis (OR 16.87, 95% CI 0.87 to 301.62), but no significant difference was seen for epistaxis (OR 7.76, 95% CI 0.38 to 157.14): 1 trial, 60 patients. In another trial, no cases of nasal atrophy were reported in either fluticasone or placebo groups. No significant differences were seen between local use ofbudesonide and placebo in adults for dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 3.38, 95%CI 0.66 to 17.18) and epistaxis (OR 2.20, 95%CI 0.39 to 12.32): 1 trial, 193 participantions. No significant difference was seen between budesonide and pollinex for headache (OR 1.71, 95%CI 0.52 to 5.62). No differences were seen between placebo and fluticasone propionate in children for epistaxis (OR 0.85, 95%CI 0.20 to 3.66), headache (OR 0.25, 95%CI 0.02 to 2.83), plasma cortisol concentration (OR 1.56, 95%CI 0.06 to 38.69) and dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 4.76, 95%CI 0.25 to 89.54). Beclomethasone dipropionate in children showed no statistical differences for dryness of nasal mucosa (OR 0.51, 95%CI 0.14 to 1.87), epistaxis (OR 0.68, 95%CI 0.26 to 1.73) and rhinitis (OR 0.47, 95%CI 0.04 to 5.36). No decrease of plasma cortisol concentration was detected in either group. Mometasone and placebo showed no significant differences in children for epistaxis (OR 1.57, 95%CI 0.41 to 5.95), rhinitis (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.01 to 8.22) or headache (OR 0.33, 95%CI 0.01 to 8.22). Decrease of plasma cortisol concentration was not detected. Conclusions According to this systematic review, long term intranasal use of steroid for adults and children may be safe based on the two high quality, four moderate quality trials and one with b bias. High quality studies with larger sample sizes and in other languages are needed to provide ber evidence.