Lignans - oestrogenic substances present in various foods - are associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk, but not much is known regarding their effects on survival. »
10/11/11

Many of the established risk factors for breast cancer implicate circulating hormone levels in the aetiology of the disease. Increased levels of postmenopausal endogenous oestradiol (E2) have been found to increase the risk of breast cancer, but no such association has been confirmed in premenopausal women. We carried out a meta-analysis to summarise the available evidence in women before the menopause. »
09/13/11

Estrogen receptor α (ER)-positive breast cancers adapt to hormone deprivation and become resistant to antiestrogens. In this study, we sought to identify kinases essential for growth of ER+ breast cancer cells resistant to long term estrogen deprivation (LTED). A kinome-wide siRNA screen showed that the insulin receptor (InsR) is required for growth of MCF7/LTED cells. »
09/09/11

Hypoxia can influence aggressiveness of melanoma by inducing specific gene expression profiles. In our previous microarray study, we identified more than 430 hypoxia-responsive genes in the B16-F10 murine melanoma cell line in vitro. Of the genes identified, seven genes: galectin 3 (Lgals3), melanoma cell adhesion molecule (Mcam), fibronectin 1 (Fn1), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3), microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf), max interacting protein 1 (Max1), and non-metastatic cells 1, protein (NM23A) expressed in (Nme1) are known to be associated with melanoma, but have not yet been reported as being regulated by hypoxia in human melanoma cells. »
10/11/11

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic malignancy. The receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs), including EGFR, ERBB2, PDGFR, VEGFR and MET, are activated in subsets of ovarian cancer, suggesting that these kinases might represent novel therapeutic targets. However, clinical trials have not or just partially shown benefit to ovarian cancers treated with EGFR, ERBB2, or PDGFR inhibitors. Despite multiple RTK activation in ovarian cancer pathogenesis, it is unclear whether transforming activity is dependent on an individual kinase oncoprotein or the coordinated activity of multiple kinases. We hypothesized that a coordinated network of multi-RTK activation is important for the tumorigenesis of ovarian cancers. »
09/30/11

Perturbation of DNA methylation is frequent in cancers and has emerged as an important mechanism involved in tumorigenesis. To determine how DNA methylation is modified in the genome of primary glioma, we used Methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and Nimblegen CpG promoter microarrays to identify differentially DNA methylation sequences between primary glioma and normal brain tissue samples. »
09/30/11

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNAs that have been shown to play pivotal roles in carcinogenesis. In the past decade, miRNAs have been the focus of much research in oncology, and there are great expectations for their utility as cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets. »
07/01/11

Bufalin, a major digoxin-like immunoreactive component of the Chinese medicine Chansu, is prepared from toad venom. This compound has been shown to exert a potential for anticancer activity against various human cancer cell lines in vitro. However, the detailed molecular mechanisms of its induction of apoptosis are still unclear. »
01/01/12

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common glioma variant in adults and is highly malignant. Tumors are thought to harbor a subpopulation of stem-like cancer cells, with the bulk resembling neural progenitor-like cells that are unable to fully differentiate. »
10/11/11

High-mobility group A1 (HMGA1) protein is an architectural transcription factor widely expressed during embryonic development and tumor progression. The purpose of this research was to investigate the expression of HMGA1 in malignant gliomas with different WHO classification and to study the correlation of HMGA1 expression with tumor proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis. »
10/08/11