Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. The receptor tyrosine kinase MET is constitutively activated in many gastric cancers and its expression is strictly required for survival of some gastric cancer cells. Thus, MET is considered a good candidate for targeted therapeutic intervention in this type of tumor, and MET inhibitors recently entered clinical trials. One of the major problems of therapies targeting tyrosine kinases is that many tumors are not responsive to treatment or eventually develop resistance to the drugs. Perspective studies are thus mandatory to identify the molecular mechanisms that could cause resistance to these therapies. »
05/26/10

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and the most malignant primary intracranial human neoplasm. GBMs are characterized by the presence of extensive areas of necrosis and hypoxia. Hypoxia and its master regulator, hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) play a key role in glioma invasion. »
06/01/10

Obesity is a global phenomenon and is associated with various types of cancer, including colon cancer. There is a growing interest for safe and effective bioactive compounds that suppress the risk for obesity-promoted colon cancer. Resveratrol (trans-3, 4', 5,-trihydroxystilbene), a stilbenoid found in the skin of red grapes and peanuts suppresses many types of cancers by regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis through a variety of mechanisms, however, resveratrol effects on obesity-promoted colon cancer are not clearly established. »
05/26/10

Mutations in the TP53 gene are extremely common and occur very early in the progression of serous ovarian cancers. Gene expression patterns that relate to mutational status may provide insight into the etiology and biology of the disease. »
05/26/10

The objective of this study was to develop a ligand-targeted photodynamic therapy (tPDT) by conjugating factor VII (fVII) protein with photosensitiser verteporfin in order to overcome the poor selectivity and enhance the effect of non-targeted PDT (ntPDT) for cancer. fVII is a natural ligand for receptor tissue factor (TF) with high affinity and specificity. The reason for targeting receptor TF for the development of tPDT is that TF is a common but specific target on angiogenic tumour vascular endothelial cells (VEC) and many types of tumour cells, including solid tumours and leukaemia. »
05/26/10

Sera from lung cancer patients contain autoantibodies that react with tumor associated antigens (TAAs) that reflect genetic over-expression, mutation, or other anomalies of cell cycle, growth, signaling, and metabolism pathways. »
05/26/10

Estrogens suppress tumor growth in prostate cancer which progresses despite anorchid serum androgen levels, termed castration resistant prostate cancers (CRPC), although the mechanisms are unclear. We hypothesized that estrogen inhibits CRPC in anorchid animals by suppressing tumoral androgens, an effect independent of the estrogen receptor. »
05/28/10

The metastasis-promoting protein S100A4 activates the transcription factor NF-kappaB through the classical NF-kappaB activation pathway. The upstream signal transduction mechanisms leading to increased NF-kappaB activity are, however, incompletely characterized. »
05/28/10

Reverse transcription quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is a powerful method for the analysis of gene expression. Target gene expression levels are usually normalized to a consistently expressed reference gene also known as internal standard, in the same sample. However, much effort has not been expended thus far in the search for reference genes suitable for the study of stomach cancer using RT-qPCR, although selection of optimal reference genes is critical for interpretation of results. »
05/28/10

Methotrexate is a chemotherapeutic drug that is used in therapy of a wide variety of cancers. The efficiency of treatment with this drug is compromised by the appearance of resistance. Combination treatments of MTX with other drugs that could modulate the expression of genes involved in MTX resistance would be an adequate strategy to prevent the development of this resistance. »
06/01/10