Search results for "Oncology"
showing 10 items of 10554 documents
Analysis of the expression of SDF-1 splicing variants in human colorectal cancer and normal mucosa tissues
2016
C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12), also termed stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is a small protein 8-14 kDa in length that is expressed as six isoforms, consisting of SDF-1α, SDF-1β, SDF-1γ, SDF-1δ, SDF-1ε and SDF-1θ. All six isoforms are encoded by the single CXCL12 gene on chromosome 10. This gene regulates leukocyte trafficking and is variably expressed in a number of normal and cancer tissues. The potential role of the novel CXCL12 splice variants as components of the CXCR4 axis in cancer development is not fully understood. The present study aimed to analyze the expression profile of the various SDF-1 isoforms and SDF-1 polymorphisms, and the association with the clinicopat…
Retrospective Proteomic Screening of 100 Breast Cancer Tissues.
2017
The present investigation has been conducted on one hundred tissue fragments of breast cancer, collected and immediately cryopreserved following the surgical resection. The specimens were selected from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast, the most frequent and potentially aggressive type of mammary cancer, with the objective to increase the knowledge of breast cancer molecular markers potentially useful for clinical applications. The proteomic screening; by 2D-IPG and mass spectrometry; allowed us to identify two main classes of protein clusters: proteins expressed ubiquitously at high levels in all patients; and proteins expressed sporadically among the same patients. Wit…
ΔNp63 drives metastasis in breast cancer cells via PI3K/CD44v6 axis
2016
P63 is a transcription factor belonging to the family of p53, essential for the development and differentiation of epithelia. In recent years, it has become clear that altered expression of the different isoforms of this gene can play an important role in carcinogenesis. The p63 gene encodes for two main isoforms known as TA and ΔN p63 with different functions. The role of these different isoforms in sustaining tumor progression and metastatic spreading however has not entirely been clarified. Here we show that breast cancer initiating cells express ΔNp63 isoform that supports a more mesenchymal phenotype associated with a higher tumorigenic and metastatic potential. On the contrary, the ma…
Apoptosis induced by a HIPK2 full-length-specific siRNA is due to off-target effects rather than prevalence of HIPK2-Δe8 isoform
2017
Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are widely used to study gene function and extensively exploited for their potential therapeutic applications. HIPK2 is an evolutionary conserved kinase that binds and phosphorylates several proteins directly or indirectly related to apoptosis. Recently, an alternatively spliced isoform skipping 81 nucleotides of exon 8 (Hipk2-Δe8) has been described. Selective depletion of Hipk2 full-length (Hipk2-FL) with a specific siRNA that spares the Hipk2-Δe8 isoform has been shown to strongly induce apoptosis, suggesting an unpredicted dominant-negative effect of Hipk2-FL over the Δe8 isoform. From this observation, we sought to take advantage and assessed the therape…
Small molecule inhibitors and stimulators of inducible nitric oxide synthase in cancer cells from natural origin (phytochemicals, marine compounds, a…
2019
Nitric oxide synthases (NOS) are a family of isoforms, which generate nitric oxide (NO). NO is one of the smallest molecules in nature and acts mainly as a potent vasodilator. It participates in various biological processes ranging from physiological to pathological conditions. Inducible NOS (iNOS, NOS2) is a calcium-independent and inducible isoform. Despite high iNOS expression in many tumors, the role of iNOS is still unclear and complex with both enhancing and prohibiting actions in tumorigenesis. Nature presents a broad variety of natural stimulators and inhibitors, which may either promote or inhibit iNOS response. In the present review, we give an overview of iNOS-modulating agents w…
The Multifaced Role of STAT3 in Cancer and Its Implication for Anticancer Therapy
2021
Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 is one of the most complex regulators of transcription. Constitutive activation of STAT3 has been reported in many types of tumors and depends on mechanisms such as hyperactivation of receptors for pro-oncogenic cytokines and growth factors, loss of negative regulation, and excessive cytokine stimulation. In contrast, somatic STAT3 mutations are less frequent in cancer. Several oncogenic targets of STAT3 have been recently identified such as c-myc, c-Jun, PLK-1, Pim1/2, Bcl-2, VEGF, bFGF, and Cten, and inhibitors of STAT3 have been developed for cancer prevention and treatment. However, despite the oncogenic role of STAT3 having been…
Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors from Marine Invertebrates
2020
Simple Summary Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that control gene expression and are involved in the onset of serious human pathologies, including cancer; hence, their inhibitors (HDACis) have received increased attention in recent years. It is known that marine invertebrates produce significant amounts of molecules showing active pharmacological properties and an extensive spectrum of biomedical applications. This review is focused on the description of the molecular, biochemical, and, where available, physiological aspects of marine invertebrate-derived compounds that possess HDACi properties, taking into consideration their possible utilization as treatment agents against differe…
2020
Despite enzalutamide's efficacy in delaying the progression of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), resistance to this anti-androgen inevitably occurs. Several studies have revealed that the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 5 plays a role in tumour progression and development of drug resistance such as enzalutamide. Data mining revealed heterogeneous expression of STAT5 in enzalutamide-treated mCRPC patients and enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer (PCa). Isobologram analysis revealed that the STAT5 inhibitor pimozide combined with enzalutamide has? additive and synergistic inhibitory effects on cell viability in the used models. Functional analys…
Ancient Immunity. Phylogenetic Emergence of Recognition-Defense Mechanisms.
2021
Although still scarcely considered by the majority of the biomedical world, invertebrates have greatly contributed to the elucidation of fundamental biological problems [...]
Improvement of In Vivo Expression of Genes Delivered by Self-Amplifying RNA Using Vaccinia Virus Immune Evasion Proteins.
2017
Among nucleic acid–based delivery platforms, self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) vectors are of increasing interest for applications such as transient expression of recombinant proteins and vaccination. saRNA is safe and, due to its capability to amplify intracellularly, high protein levels can be produced from even minute amounts of transfected templates. However, it is an obstacle to full exploitation of this platform that saRNA induces a strong innate host immune response. In transfected cells, pattern recognition receptors sense double-stranded RNA intermediates and via activation of protein kinase R (PKR) and interferon signaling initiate host defense measures including a translational shutdow…