Search results for "GENETICS"
showing 10 items of 12494 documents
Abilities of berberine and chemically modified berberines to interact with metformin and inhibit proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells.
2019
Abstract Pancreatic cancer is devastating cancer worldwide with few if any truly effective therapies. Pancreatic cancer has an increasing incidence and may become the second leading cause of death from cancer. Novel, more effective therapeutic approaches are needed as pancreatic cancer patients usually survive for less than a year after being diagnosed. Control of blood sugar levels by the prescription drug metformin in diseases such as diabetes mellitus has been examined in association with pancreatic cancer. While the clinical trials remain inconclusive, there is hope that certain diets and medications may affect positively the outcomes of patients with pancreatic and other cancers. Other…
Molecular pathway activation – New type of biomarkers for tumor morphology and personalized selection of target drugs
2018
Anticancer target drugs (ATDs) specifically bind and inhibit molecular targets that play important roles in cancer development and progression, being deeply implicated in intracellular signaling pathways. To date, hundreds of different ATDs were approved for clinical use in the different countries. Compared to previous chemotherapy treatments, ATDs often demonstrate reduced side effects and increased efficiency, but also have higher costs. However, the efficiency of ATDs for the advanced stage tumors is still insufficient. Different ATDs have different mechanisms of action and are effective in different cohorts of patients. Personalized approaches are therefore needed to select the best ATD…
Lack of a peroxiredoxin suppresses the lethality of cells devoid of electron donors by channelling electrons to oxidized ribonucleotide reductase
2017
The thioredoxin and glutaredoxin pathways are responsible of recycling several enzymes which undergo intramolecular disulfide bond formation as part of their catalytic cycles such as the peroxide scavengers peroxiredoxins or the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). RNR, the rate-limiting enzyme of deoxyribonucleotide synthesis, is an essential enzyme relying on these electron flow cascades for recycling. RNR is tightly regulated in a cell cycle-dependent manner at different levels, but little is known about the participation of electron donors in such regulation. Here, we show that cytosolic thioredoxins Trx1 and Trx3 are the primary electron donors for RNR in fission yeast. Unexpectedly,…
Normal vs cancer thyroid stem cells: the road to transformation
2015
Recent investigations in thyroid carcinogenesis have led to the isolation and characterisation of a subpopulation of stem-like cells, responsible for tumour initiation, progression and metastasis. Nevertheless, the cellular origin of thyroid cancer stem cells (SCs) remains unknown and it is still necessary to define the process and the target population that sustain malignant transformation of tissue-resident SCs or the reprogramming of a more differentiated cell. Here, we will critically discuss new insights into thyroid SCs as a potential source of cancer formation in light of the available information on the oncogenic role of genetic modifications that occur during thyroid cancer develop…
Inhibition of colon cancer growth by docosahexaenoic acid involves autocrine production of TNFα
2016
IF 7.932; International audience; The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Among pro-inflammatory mediators, tumor necrosis factor a (TNF alpha) plays a paradoxical role in cancer biology with induction of cancer cell death or survival depending on the cellular context. The objective of the study was to evaluate the role of TNFa in DHA-mediated tumor growth inhibition and colon cancer cell death. The treatment of human colorectal cancer cells, HCT-116 and HCT-8 cells, with DHA triggered apoptosis in autocrine TNF alpha-dependent manner. We demonstrated that DHA-induced increased content of TNF alpha mRNA occurred thr…
Relevance of the natural HDAC inhibitor sulforaphane as a chemopreventive agent in urologic tumors.
2018
Due to an increased understanding of molecular biology and the genomics of cancer, new and potent agents have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to fight this disease. However, all of these drugs cause severe side effects and resistance inevitably develops, re-activating tumor growth and dissemination. For this reason, patients turn to natural compounds as alternative or complementary treatment options, since it has been found that natural plant products may block, inhibit, or reverse cancer development. The present review focusses on the role of the natural compound sulforaphane (SFN) as an anti-tumor agent in urologic cancer. SFN is a natural compound found in crucife…
Roles of TP53 in determining therapeutic sensitivity, growth, cellular senescence, invasion and metastasis.
2016
TP53 is a critical tumor suppressor gene that regulates cell cycle progression, apoptosis, cellular senescence and many other properties critical for control of normal cellular growth and death. Due to the pleiotropic effects that TP53 has on gene expression and cellular physiology, mutations at this tumor suppressor gene result in diverse physiological effects. T53 mutations are frequently detected in numerous cancers. The expression of TP53 can be induced by various agents used to treat cancer patients such as chemotherapeutic drugs and ionizing radiation. Radiation will induce Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and other kinases that results in the phosphorylation and activation of TP53…
Abilities of β-Estradiol to interact with chemotherapeutic drugs, signal transduction inhibitors and nutraceuticals and alter the proliferation of pa…
2019
Improving the effects of chemotherapy and reducing the side effects are important goals in cancer research. Various approaches have been examined to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy. For example, signal transduction inhibitors or hormonal based approaches have been included with chemo- or radio-therapy. MIA-PaCa-2 and BxPC-3 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells both express the estrogen receptor (ER). The effects of β-estradiol on the growth of PDAC cells has not been examined yet the ER is expressed in PDAC cells. We have examined the effects of combining β-estradiol with chemotherapeutic drugs, signal transcription inhibitors, natural products and nutraceuticals on PDAC.…
A common SNP in the UNG gene decreases ovarian cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers
2018
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DNA glycosylase genes involved in the base excision repair (BER) pathway can modify breast and ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. We previously found that SNP rs34259 in the uracil-DNA glycosylase gene (UNG) might decrease ovarian cancer risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers. In the present study, we validated this finding in a larger series of familial breast and ovarian cancer patients to gain insights into how this UNG variant exerts its protective effect. We found that rs34259 is associated with significant UNG downregulation and with lower levels of DNA damage at telomeres. In addition, we found that this SNP is associated with…
Interrelationship between miRNA and splicing factors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
2021
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal cancers because of diagnosis at late stage and inherent/acquired chemoresistance. Recent advances in genomic profiling and biology of this disease have not yet been translated to a relevant improvement in terms of disease management and patient’s survival. However, new possibilities for treatment may emerge from studies on key epigenetic factors. Deregulation of microRNA (miRNA) dependent gene expression and mRNA splicing are epigenetic processes that modulate the protein repertoire at the transcriptional level. These processes affect all aspects of PDAC pathogenesis and have great potential to unravel new therapeutic targets…