The PTEN gene, a regulator of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt oncogenic pathway, is mutated in various cancers and its expression has been associated with tumor progression in a dose dependent fashion. We investigated the effect of germline variation in the promoter region of the PTEN gene on clinical characteristics and survival in breast cancer. »
12/15/11

Recent studies have shown that disruption of circadian rhythms is one of the tumor promoting factors which contribute to mammalian cancer development and progression, but very little is known about the molecular changes of circadian genes in colorectal carcinoma (CRC). Thus, in this study, changes in the expression of human Period2 (hPer2), one of the key circadian clock regulators, in CRC and its correlation with prognosis were investigated. »
12/13/11

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) regulates lipid metabolism in the liver. It is unclear, however, how this receptor changes in liver cancer tissue. On the other hand, mouse carcinogenicity studies showed that PPARalpha is necessary for the development of liver cancer induced by peroxisome proliferators, and the relationship between PPARalpha and the development of liver cancer have been the focus of considerable attention. There have been no reports, however, demonstrating that PPARalphais involved in the development of human liver cancer. »
12/15/11

Multiple observational studies have suggested that breast cancer gene (BRCA)-associated ovarian cancers have improved survival compared with BRCA-negative ovarian cancers. However, most of those studies combined BRCA1 and BRCA2 patients or evaluated only BRCA1 patients. The objective of the current study was to examine whether BRCA1-associated and BRCA2-associated ovarian cancers were associated with different outcomes. »
12/02/11

To explore potential relations between the intake of milk or dairy products and the risk of bladder cancer. »
12/01/11

Because mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) may be involved in thyroid carcinogenesis, we investigated the expression and activation patterns of mTOR signaling proteins in thyroid carcinoma cells and tumors and their association with tumor histology and aggressiveness. »
12/01/11

Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for patients with early-stage primary lung cancer and selected patients with limited metastatic lung disease. However, surgery is a high-risk treatment for patients with coexisting morbidities, severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a single lung, or a history of prior resection. The indications for and outcomes of ablative therapies performed for the management of pulmonary malignancies are discussed. »
10/12/11

The use of CEA as a prognostic and predictive marker in patients with lung cancer is widely debated. The aim of this review was to evaluate the results from studies made on this subject. Using the search words "CEA", "tumor markers in lung cancer", "prognostic significance", "diagnostic significance" and "predictive significance", a search was carried out on PubMed. Exclusion criteria was articles never published in English, articles before 1981 and articles evaluating tumor markers in lung cancer not involving CEA. »
12/06/11

Tumors are usually characterized by an imbalance in cytosine methylation, including hypomethylation of CpG islands. In this study, bisulfite sequencing PCR was used to assess the promoter methylation status of coagulation factor X (F10) gene in tumors of 96 glioma patients and in glioma cells U251, SF767, and SF126, and the effect of promoter hypomethylation on protein expression was evaluated immunohistochemically. »
12/13/11

Epigenetic mechanisms of histone acetylation/deacetylation play an important role in the regulation of gene expression associated with the cell cycle and apoptosis. Recently, sodium butyrate, a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, has been shown to exhibit anticancer effects via differentiation and apoptosis of cancer cells. »
12/08/11