In the present study, associations between pretreatment interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8) and C-reactive protein (CRP) serum levels and epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) were analyzed using commercially available, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 118 patients and 64 control subjects. Values were correlated with clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes. Control variables included age, stage, grade, histological type and residual tumor size. Kaplan-Meier plots and univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to study the associations between IL-6, IL-8 and CRP levels, control variables, overall survival and disease-free survival. The median IL-6, IL-8 and CRP serum levels in EOC were significantly higher than in the normal control group; 11.5 pg/mL (range, 3.4-62.6) versus 2.9 (1.1-12.3) pg/mL (p<0.001) and 21.8 pg/mL (range, 16.4-105.3) versus 9.3 (4.3-32.4) pg/mL (p<0.001) and 9.51 mg/L (range, 0.3-129.2) versus 1.2 (0.1-11.5) mg/L (p = 0.001), respectively. High levels of IL-6, IL-8 and CRP were associated with reduced overall survival (P = 0.003, P = 0.035, P = 0.046) and disease-free survival (P<0.001, P = 0.026, P = 0.043), respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that IL-6, IL-8 and CRP serum levels independently predicted disease-free survival (P = 0.011, P = 0.001 and P = 0.021), and overall survival (P = 0.004, P = 0.014 and P = 0.016), respectively. EOC is associated with extensive changes in the serum cytokine environment, highlighting the importance of further investigations of relative cytokine level changes. Preoperative serum IL-6, IL-8, and CRP levels seem promising for distinguishing EOC patients from healthy controls; however, their clinical value is still to be confirmed. High levels of IL-6, IL-8, and CRP in EOC patients have been suggested to be a poor prognostic factor for OS and DFS.

Recent findings on the molecular basis of ovarian cancer development and progression create new opportunities to develop anticancer medications that would affect specific metabolic pathways and decrease side systemic toxicity of conventional treatment. Among new possibilities for cancer chemoprevention, much attention is paid to curcumin—A broad-spectrum anticancer polyphenolic derivative extracted from the rhizome of Curcuma longa L. According to ClinicalTrials.gov at present there are no running pilot studies, which could assess possible therapeutic benefits from curcumin supplementation to patients with primary epithelial ovarian cancer. Therefore, the goal of this review was to evaluate potential preclinical properties of curcumin and its new analogues on the basis of in vivo and in vitro ovarian cancer studies. Curcumin and its different formulations have been shown to display multifunctional mechanisms of anticancer activity, not only in platinum-resistant primary epithelial ovarian cancer, but also in multidrug resistant cancer cells/xenografts models. Curcumin administered together with platinum-taxane chemotherapeutics have been reported to demonstrate synergistic effects, sensitize resistant cells to drugs, and decrease their biologically effective doses. An accumulating body of evidence suggests that curcumin, due to its long-term safety and an excellent profile of side effects should be considered as a beneficial support in ovarian cancer treatment strategies, especially in patients with platinum-resistant primary epithelial recurrent ovarian cancer or multidrug resistant disease. Although the prospect of curcumin and its formulations as anticancer agents in ovarian cancer treatment strategy appears to be challenging, and at the same time promising, there is a further need to evaluate its effectiveness in clinical studies.

The primary aim of the study was to estimate the consumption of polyphenols in a population of 6661 subjects aged between 20 and 74 years representing a cross-section of the Polish society, and the second objective was to compare the intakes of flavonoids calculated on the basis of the two commonly used databases. Daily food consumption data were collected in 2003–2005 using a single 24-hour dietary recall. Intake of total polyphenols was estimated using an online Phenol-Explorer database, and flavonoid intake was determined using following data sources: the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) database combined of flavonoid and isoflavone databases, and the Phenol-Explorer database. Total polyphenol intake, which was calculated with the Phenol-Explorer database, was 989 mg/day with the major contributions of phenolic acids 556 mg/day and flavonoids 403.5 mg/day. The flavonoid intake calculated on the basis of the USDA databases was 525 mg/day. This study found that tea is the primary source of polyphenols and flavonoids for the studied population, including mainly flavanols, while coffee is the most important contributor of phenolic acids, mostly hydroxycinnamic acids. Our study also demonstrated that flavonoid intakes estimated according to various databases may substantially differ. Further work should be undertaken to expand polyphenol databases to better reflect their food contents.

The aims of this study were to determine Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn content in wild mushrooms collected from unpolluted areas of the eastern Green Lungs of Poland (GLP) territory, to compare them to some popular species of cultivated mushrooms, evaluate mushroom contribution to the daily intake of the studied bioelements, and to determine their possible toxic effect resulting from potentially excessive mushroom consumption from areas recognized as ecologically uncontaminated. Bioelements were determined in 21 species of edible mushrooms: eighteen species of wild mushrooms and three species of popular cultivated mushrooms. The mean Cu, Mn, Se, and Zn content (in µg/g, dry mass DM) ranged from 10.6–123.1, 12.2–41, 0.13–13.3, and 68.3–184, respectively. A comparison with recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for Cu, Se, and Zn as well as adequate intake (AI) for Mn demonstrated that a 100 g fresh mass (FM) portion of mushroom species with the highest content of a given element can meet the demand for Cu, Mn, Se and Zn at 203%, 14–17%, 211%, and 16–22%, respectively. A comparison of the content of the examined bioelements contained in one portion of mushrooms (100 g FM) against the toxicological intake limits for different chemical elements with the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) and upper intake level (UL) showed no risk of toxicity for the evaluated mushroom species.

The aim of this study was to evaluate HE4, CA125 and ROMA in the preoperative differentiation benign ovarian diseases from epithelial ovarian cancer depending on the menopausal status. In order to estimate markers’ concentrations in the serum of women with benign ovarian disease (n = 128) and with epithelial ovarian carcinoma (n = 96) the electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) technique has been applied. Using the ROC analysis, although no statistical differences were found among their AUCs, the ROMA algorithm seems to be effective in gathering the diverse performance of HE4 and CA125. The AUC for HE4, CA125 and ROMA for all patients were: 0.895; 0.879 and 0.918, respectively. At established new optimal cutoff values for HE4, CA125 and ROMA we found higher specificity in postmenopausal compared to premenopausal women (96.9 vs 89.8 % and 97.7 vs 84.1 % and 95.9 vs 89.1 %, respectively). The sensitivity of HE4 in pre- and postmenopausal women was similar (83.5 vs 83.8 %), while for CA125 was the highest in premenopausal women (87.0 vs 84.1 %). For HE4, CA125 and ROMA the negative predictive value was high (97.6, 93.9 and 94.4 %, respectively). The ROMA algorithm shows the best diagnostic performance to distinguish epithelial ovarian cancer from benign ovarian disease. We found the high specificity of HE4 and CA125 while differentiating ovarian benign diseases from epithelial ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women and the high sensitivity of CA125 in detecting epithelial ovarian cancer in premenopausal patients.

Optimum risk stratification in an early stage of endometrial cancer (EC) combines molecular and clinicopathological features. The purpose of the study was to determine the prognostic value of molecular classification and traditional pathological factors in a sample group of patients with stage I EC according to the FIGO 2023 criteria, to achieve a more personalized approach to patient care and treatment. The immunohistochemistry for p53 and mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, and DNA sequencing for POLE exonuclease domain and clinicopathological parameters, including disease disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in 139 patients, were analyzed. It has been shown that the independent recurrence risk factors are stage IC (p < 0.001), aggressive histological types EC (p < 0.001), and the presence of p53abn protein immunoexpression (p = 0.009). Stage IC (p = 0.018), aggressive histological types EC (p = 0.025) and the presence of p53abn protein immunoexpression (p = 0.010) were all significantly associated with lower 5-year OS rates. Our research studies confirm that the molecular category corresponds to a different prognosis in clinical stage I EC according to the new 2023 FIGO classification, with POLEmut cases presenting the best outcomes and p53abn cases showing the worst outcomes. Beyond the previous routine clinicopathological assessment, the new EC staging system represents an important step toward improving our ability to stratify IC stage EC risk.