To investigate the expression of E-cadherin, beta-catenin and topoisomerase-II alpha and examine their clinical relevance in liposarcomas. »
02/02/12

The usual treatments for pleural malignancies are mostly palliative. In contrast, peritoneal malignancies are often treated with a curative intent by cytoreductive surgery and intraperitoneal chemotherapy. As pressure has been shown to increase antitumor efficacy, we applied the concept of high-pressure intracavitary chemotherapy to the pleural space in a swine model. »
02/06/12

Osteosarcoma is a malignant tumor with high ability to form invasion and metastasis. Identifying prognostic factor in osteosarcoma is helpful to select those patients for more aggressive management. Our study evaluated serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) cooperating with matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) as an important prognostic predictor for local recurrence and distant metastasis of osteosarcoma. »
02/15/12

Protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor delta (PTPRD) is a member of a large family of protein tyrosine phosphatases which negatively regulate tyrosine phosphorylation. Neuroblastoma is a major childhood cancer arising from precursor cells of the sympathetic nervous system which is known to acquire deletions and alterations in the expression patterns of PTPRD, indicating a potential tumor suppressor function for this gene. The molecular mechanism, however, by which PTPRD renders a tumor suppressor effect in neuroblastoma is unknown. »
02/05/12

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological and pharmaceutical activities of 14 amphiphilic liquid-crystalline compounds (LCs), i.e, phenylpyrimidine derivatives possessing D-glucamine and cyanobiphenyl derivatives with a terminal hydroxyl unit. »
02/03/12

The expression of proinflammatory protein tissue transglutaminase (TG2) is frequently upregulated in multiple cancer cell types. However, the exact role of TG2 in cancer cells is not well understood. We recently initiated studies to determine the significance of TG2 in cancer cells and observed that sustained expression of TG2 resulted in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoted stem cell (CSC) traits in mammary epithelial cells. These results suggested that TG2 could serve as a promising therapeutic target for overcoming chemoresistance and inhibiting metastatic spread of cancer cells. »
01/06/12

Over-expression of the oxygen-responsive transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha correlates with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. The MMTV-PyMT (polyoma virus middle T) mouse is a widely utilized pre-clinical mouse model that resembles luminal breast cancer and is highly metastatic. Prior studies in the PyMT model demonstrated that HIF-1 is essential to promote carcinoma onset and lung metastasis, although no differences in primary tumor endpoint size were observed. Using a refined model system, we investigated whether HIF-1 is directly implicated in regulation of tumor-initiating cells (TICs) in breast cancer. »
01/07/12

Epigenetic changes associated with promoter DNA methylation results in silencing of several tumor suppressor genes that lead to increased risk for tumor formation and for progression of the cancer. »
02/04/10

The ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene (MIM ID 208900) encodes a protein kinase that plays a significant role in the activation of cellular responses to DNA double-strand breaks through subsequent phosphorylation of central players in the DNA damage-response pathway. Recent studies have confirmed that some specific variants in the ATM gene are associated with increased breast cancer (BC) risk. However, the magnitude of risk and the subset of variants that are pathogenic for breast cancer remain unresolved. »
07/25/11

Vitamin D has been postulated to be involved in cancer prognosis. Thus far, only two studies reported on its association with recurrence and survival after breast cancer diagnosis yielding inconsistent results. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess the effect of post-diagnostic serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations on overall survival and distant disease-free survival. »
07/26/11