ABSTRACTBackgroundThrombocytosis is associated with poor lung cancer prognosis and has recently been identified as having a high predictive value in lung cancer detection. Lung cancer has multiple histological and genetic subtypes and it is not known whether platelet levels differ across subtypes.MethodsPubMed and Embase were systematically searched for studies that reported pre-treatment platelet count, as either averages or proportion of patients with thrombocytosis, by histological subtype of lung cancer. Suitable studies were synthesised in meta-analyses; subgroup analyses examined for differences across subtypes.ResultsThe prevalence of pre-treatment thrombocytosis across all lung cancer patients was 27% (95% CI: 17 to 37%). By subtype, this was 22% (95% CI: 7 to 41%) for adenocarcinoma (ADC), 28% (95% CI: 15 to 43%) for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 36% (95% CI: 13 to 62%) for large cell carcinoma, and 30% (95% CI: 8 to 58%) for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The pooled mean platelet count for lung cancer patients was 289×109 /L (95% CI: 268 to 311). By subtype, this was 282×109 /L (95% CI: 259 to 306) for ADC, 297×109 /L (95% CI: 238 to 356) for SCC, 290×109 /L (95% CI: 176 to 404) for LCC, and 293×109 /L (95% CI: 244 to 342) for SCLC. There was no difference in thrombocytosis prevalence (p=0.76) or mean platelet count (p=0.96) across the subtypes.ConclusionWe report no evidence of differences in platelet levels across the major subtypes of lung cancer. A high platelet level is likely to be generic across all lung cancer subtypes.KEY MESSAGESWhat is the key question?Which (if any) subtype(s) of lung cancer are more associated with thrombocytosis?What is the bottom line?This can facilitate lung cancer diagnostics and provide insights into the biological mechanism between lung cancer and thrombocytosis.Why read on?This is the first systematic review to compare platelet count across different subtypes of lung cancer, combining data from 9,891 patients across 38 studies.

INTRODUCTION: Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than White men. Raised prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels can indicate an increased risk of prostate cancer, however it is not known whether PSA levels differ for men of different ethnic groups. METHODS: PubMed and Embase were searched to identify studies that reported levels of PSA for men of at least two ethnic groups without a prostate cancer diagnosis or symptoms suggestive of prostate cancer. An adaptation of the Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess risk of bias and study quality. Findings were stratified into the following broad ethnic groups: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Other. Data were analysed in a narrative synthesis due to the heterogeneity of reported PSA measures and methods in the included studies. RESULTS: a total of 654 197 males from 13 studies were included. By ethnicity, this included 536 201 White (82%), 38 287 Black (6%), 38 232 Asian (6%), 18 029 Pacific Island (3%), 13 614 Maori (2%), 8 885 Hispanic (1%), and 949 Other (

Background: Thrombocytosis is associated with poor lung cancer prognosis and has recently been identified as having a high positive predictive value in lung cancer detection. Lung cancer has multiple histological and genetic subtypes and it is not known whether platelet levels differ across these subtypes, or whether thrombocytosis is predictive of a particular subtype. Methods: PubMed and Embase were systematically searched for studies that reported pre-treatment platelet count, as either averages or proportion of patients with thrombocytosis, by subtype of lung cancer using a prespecified search strategy. The Newcastle-Ottowa scale was used to assess study quality and risk of bias. Suitable studies were synthesised in meta-analyses and subgroup analyses examined for differences across subtypes. Results: the prevalence of pre-treatment thrombocytosis across all lung cancer patients was 27% (95% CI: 17% to 37%). By subtype, this was 22% (95% CI: 7% to 41%) for adenocarcinoma, 28% (95% CI: 15% to 43%) for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 36% (95% CI: 13% to 62%) for large cell carcinoma (LCC), and 30% (95% CI: 8% to 58%) for small cell lung cancer (SCLC). The pooled mean platelet count for lung cancer patients was 289×109/L (95% CI: 268 to 311). By subtype, this was 282×109/L (95% CI: 259 to 306) for adenocarcinoma, 297×109/L (95% CI: 238 to 356) for SCC, 290×109/L (95% CI: 176 to 404) for LCC, and 293×109/L (95% CI: 244 to 342) for SCLC. There was no difference in thrombocytosis prevalence (P=0.76) or mean platelet count (P=0.96) across the subtypes. Conclusions: These findings suggest thrombocytosis is no more indicative of one lung cancer subtype over another. We therefore conclude a high platelet count is likely to be generic across all lung cancer subtypes.

Placental hypervascularization observed in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) may be related to functional availability of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors. We aimed to test whether changes in phosphorylation of tyrosine 951 or tyrosine 1175 (pY951 or pY1175) of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) are associated with the proangiogenic state observed in placentas from GDM This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.