Nitric oxide and endothelin-1,2 in actinic keratosis and basal cell carcinoma: changes in nitric oxide/endothelin ratio

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Endothelin-1, published as a clinical trial.

To investigate plasma NOx (nitrite/nitrate -- the end products of NO metabolism), ET, and the NOx/ET ratio in patients with AK and BCC in comparison with healthy controls.

Why It Was Studied

Nitric oxide (NO) is an inorganic free radical gas which has cytostatic/cytotoxic actions in tumoral tissues, including gynecologic, breast, and colon cancer.

Nitric oxide is also a multifunctional signaling molecule active in many cells of the body, including endothelial cells, macrophages, monocytes, hepatocytes, mast cells, osteoblasts, and astrocytes.

Who Took Part

The study group was 13 patients.

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

NOx, ET, and the NOx/ET ratio were measured in 13 patients with AK, 12 patients with BCC, and in 16 healthy controls.

What Was Measured

Elevated ET-1 levels are observed in pulmonary, hepatocellular, and prostate cancers.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Biomarkers, Tumor, Basal Cell Carcinoma, Endothelin-1, Endothelin-2, Nitric Oxide, Porokeratosis and Probability.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Endothelin-1 in 13 patients.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2001 (International journal of dermatology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Endothelin-1 compound page, all human trials.