Chronic infection of the gastric mucosa by Helicobacter pylori is associated with an increased risk of developing gastric cancer; however, the vast majority of infected individuals never develop this disease. One H. pylori virulence factor that increases gastric cancer risk is the cag pathogenicity island, which encodes a bacterial type ...

The destruction of the integrity of the gastric epithelial barrier underlies the pathology of many gastric diseases, including gastric tumors. The Helicobacter pylori virulence factor CagA is one of the main destroyers of the gastric epithelial barrier. There are differences among CagA proteins that originate from different isolates. CagA translocated ...

The glucosylation of free cholesterol (FC) by Helicobacter pylori cells has various biological significances for the survival of this bacterium. H. pylori cells with glucosylated FC are capable of evading host immune systems, such as phagocytosis by macrophages and activation of antigen-specific T cells, and surviving in the gastric mucosal ...

On (cell) suicide watch: The increased permeability of apoptotic cells was used to identify a peptide-based, covalent inhibitor (NJP2) for glutathione S-transferase omega (GSTO1) that is highly selective for apoptotic cells, with no inhibition of healthy cells. This apoptosis-specific peptide could also be used for imaging programmed cell death.

Medulloblastoma (MB) is one of the most common malignant brain tumors of childhood and is associated with a poor prognosis. Gap-junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) is an important mode for cell-to-cell communication. Dysfunctional GJIC is exhibited in most cancer cells. There is significant evidence that GJIC is important in at least ...

Helicobacter pylori colonises the gastric mucosa of humans. The majority of organisms live in mucus. These organisms are an important reservoir for infection of the underlying epithelium. Cell culture models for H. pylori infection do not normally possess a mucus layer. The interaction of H. pylori with TFF1, a member ...

To establish a novel, targeted lentivirus-mediated LEP503-HSV-tk/GCV suicide gene therapy system combined with all trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) for the inhibition of human lens epithelial cell (HLEC) proliferation and treatment of posterior capsular opacification (PCO) after cataract surgery; to estimate the enhancement of the bystander effect by ATRA; and to explore ...

Genetically engineered stem cells (GESTECs) expressing suicide genes which can convert non-toxic prodrugs to toxic metabolites have been shown to reduce tumour growth. In this sudy, we employed human amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (hAFSCs) as a source of cells for suicide gene transfer. hAFSCs were engineered to express multiple suicide ...

Skin complications and chronic non-healing wounds are common in obesity, metabolic disease, and type 2 diabetes. Epidermal γδ T cells normally produce keratinocyte growth factors, participate in wound repair, and are necessary for keratinocyte homeostasis. We have determined that in γδ T cell-deficient mice, there are reduced numbers of keratinocytes ...

It has been well propounded that there exists five basic taste modalities, e.g., sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Recent compelling evidence from rodents and human beings raises the possibility for an additional sixth taste modality devoted to the perception of lipids. A number of studies have suggested that lingual ...

Metastasis, the capacity of tumour cells to disseminate and grow at distant sites, is the main factor in cancer mortality. Compounds inhibiting migration and invasion of cancer cells are promising candidates for anticancer therapy strategies. We have generated nuclease-resistant RNA ligands (aptamers) recognizing highly metastatic cells with high affinity and ...

Unilateral testicular enlargement was detected in a 5-years-old domestic ferret during a routine sterilization. The right testicle showed two different types of proliferative lesions: (i) round nodules, well demarcated, showing a soft yellow tissue; (ii) white nodules, firm, with irregular-shaped invaginations. Microscopically, the neoplastic proliferations were identified as an interstitial ...

Tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a potent inhibitor of plasmin which activates matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) involved in degradation of the extracellular matrix. Its secretion in the tumour microenvironment makes TFPI-2 a potential inhibitor of tumour invasion and metastasis. As demonstrated in aggressive cancers, TFPI-2 is frequently down-regulated in cancer ...

The glycosylation process, through the addition of carbohydrates, is a major post-translational modification of proteins and glycolipids. Proteins may be glycosylated in either the secretory pathway leading to N-linked or O-linked glycoproteins or as nucleocytoplasmic glycosylation that targets only single proteins involving a single β-linked N-acetylglucosamine. In both cases, the ...

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and IGF1 are both expressed in a variety of tumours and are involved in tumourigenesis. However, information about their expression in the gastrointestinal (GI) neuroendocrine (NE) cells and tumours is mainly limited, with the exception of midgut carcinoids where abundant CTGF expression has been demonstrated. ...

The abundance of tumour-infiltrating T-cells has been associated with microsatellite instability (MSI) and a favourable prognosis in colorectal cancer. However, numerous molecular alterations have been associated with clinical outcome, and potentially confounding the biological and prognostic significance of tumour-infiltrating T-cells. We utilized a database of clinically and molecularly-annotated colon and ...

Hypericin is a bright red fluorescent compound that can be used in urological medicine as a photodiagnostic to detect non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer lesions. To this end a bladder instillation fluid is prepared in which the water-insoluble hypericin is solubilized by the presence of human serum albumin (HSA) to which the ...

Aim: This study aimed at assessing the relationship between over-expression of glucose transporters and hexokinases, tumour proliferation and apoptosis corrected for cellularity and partial volume corrected (pvc) FDG SUV values in primary squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (pSCCHN). Patients, methods: In 27 consecutive patients suffering from pSCCHN, ...

The multifunctional enzyme tissue transglutaminase (TG2) is reported to both mediate and inhibit tumour progression. To elucidate these different roles of TG2, we established a series of stable-transfected mouse colon carcinoma CT26 cells expressing a catalytically active (wild type) and a transamidating-inactive TG2 (Cys277Ser) mutant. Comparison of the TG2-transfected cells ...

Gangliocytic paraganglioma is a rare tumour, occurring nearly exclusively in the descending part of the duodenum. It is regarded as a mostly benign tumour but of unknown malignant potential, which rarely metastasises to local lymph nodes or distantly. Here we report on a 62-year-old female patient with a marked microcytic ...

Vesicles released by cells have been described using various names, including exosomes, microparticles, microvesicles and ectosomes. Here we propose to differentiate clearly between ectosomes and exosomes according to their formation and release. Whereas exosomes are formed in multi-vesicular bodies, ectosomes are vesicles budding directly from the cell surface. Depending upon ...

Tumour hypoxia activates hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) and indluences angiogenesis, cell survival and invasion. Prolyl hydroxylase-3 (PHD3) regulates degradation of HIF-1α. The effects of PHD3 in tumour growth are largely unknown. PHD3 expression was analysed in human pancreatic cancer tissues and cancer cell lines by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. PHD3 ...

Temozolomide shows activity against medulloblastoma, the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors enhance temozolomide activity in extracranial adult and paediatric human malignancies. We assessed the effect of AG-014699, a clinically active PARP inhibitor, on temozolomide-induced growth inhibition in human medulloblastoma models. Pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and toxicity assays ...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors induce cell cycle arrest, differentiation or apoptosis in tumour cells and are, therefore, promising anti-cancer reagents. However, the specific HDAC isoforms that mediate these effects are not yet identified. To explore the role of HDAC1 in tumourigenesis and tumour proliferation, we established an experimental teratoma model ...

Although TGF-β suppresses early stages of tumour development, it later contributes to tumour progression when cells become resistant to its suppressive effects. In addition to circumventing TGF-β-induced growth arrest and apoptosis, malignant tumour cells become capable of undergoing epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), favouring invasion and metastasis. Therefore, defining the mechanisms that ...

Body fluids are easily accessible and contain valuable indices for medical diagnosis. Fascinating tools are tumour cells circulating in the peripheral blood of cancer patients. As these cells are extremely rare, they constitute a challenge for clinical diagnostics. In this contribution we present the Raman spectroscopic-based identification of different single ...

It has been proposed that cancer cells, in particular glioma tumour cells, secrete a chemorepellent factor that guides cell migration away from the tumour, facilitating migration and invasion. We present a hybrid continuous-discrete mathematical model of tumour growth and the chemotropism phenomenon to show that such a chemorepellent factor can ...

The short chain fatty acid (SCFA) butyrate is a product of colonic fermentation of dietary fibers. It is the main source of energy for normal colonocytes, but cannot be metabolized by most tumor cells. Butyrate also functions as a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor to control cell proliferation and apoptosis. In ...

Liposomes have found clinical application in cancer therapy in the delivery of cytostatic agents. As a result of the targeted delivery of these toxic molecules to the tumour cells coupled to avoidance of toxicity-sensitive tissues, the therapeutic window is widened. Over the past years the focus of cancer therapy has ...

Biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) has extremely poor prognosis because of rapid cancer cell proliferation. The aim of this study was to clarify the significance of keratinocyte growth factor receptor (KGFR) in the proliferation of BTC. The expression of KGFR in 34 surgical specimens of BTC was investigated by immunohistochemical staining. ...

Certain 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) inhibitors exhibit anti-carcinogenic activities against 5-LO overexpressing tumour types and cultured tumour cells. It has been proposed therefore that 5-LO products significantly contribute to tumour cell proliferation. To date, the relationship between the inhibitory mechanisms of 5-LO inhibitors, which vary widely, and tumour cell viability has not ...

Transketolase-like protein 1 (TKTL1) is a member of the family of transketolase enzymes of which the founder member transketolase (TKT) is known to play a central role in the non-oxidative part of the pentose phosphate pathway. According to several publications TKTL1 is the only family member, whose expression is substantially ...

The aim of the study was to assess the potential usefulness of 3-deoxy-3-(18)F-fluorothymidine (FLT) as a radiopharmaceutical for imaging the early therapeutic effects of docetaxel (DTX) on tumour proliferation in hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Cells of the androgen-independent human prostate tumour cell line, 22Rv1, were implanted in athymic male mice. ...

The T helper 17 (Th17) cells recently identified as distinct T helper cell lineage are characterised by their production of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 17. Although much effort has been made in understanding the function of Th17 cells in the pathogenesis of different diseases, their influence in carcinogenesis remain largely ...

Due to the use of intra-vital imaging techniques and assays for cell migration into 3D matrices there has recently been much interest in different modes of tumour cell migration. Individually moving tumour cells can move either in an elongated-protrusive manner or in rounded, so-called 'amoeboid' modes. This review summarises ongoing ...

Id3 is over-expressed in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). To test whether the tumourigenicity of SCLC cells can be inhibited by suppressing Id3 expression, we transfected siRNA into SCLC cell line GLC-19 and established two sublines (G-Id3-1 and G-Id3-7) which expressed only 30% of the level of Id3 measured in ...

BACKGROUND: Wilms' tumour gene 1 (WT1), a highly ranked immunotherapeutic target, is expressed in uterine cancer and therefore WT1 immunotherapy may present an attractive treatment option. PATIENT AND METHODS: An HLA-A2.1-positive 46-year-old woman with end-stage serous endometrial cancer received 4 weekly injections of WT1-RNA-loaded dendritic cells. Response was measured clinically ...

T helper type 17 (Th17) and regulatory T cells (T(reg) ) play an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammation and autoimmune disorders. Recent studies have suggested that they also had an impact on tumour immunology. However, the relationship between Th17 and T(reg) cells in the pathogenesis of bladder carcinoma ...

Mitochondrial GTPase mitofusin-2 gene (Mfn2) is a novel gene characterised as a cell proliferation inhibitor. Mfn2 protein over-expression, mediated by an adenovirus, has a significant anti-tumour effect in A548 and HT-29 cells. However, there is no report on the effect of Mfn2 on urinary bladder carcinoma (UBCC). In this study, ...

The casual relationship between inflammation and tumour progression has been widely accepted and the etiology of breast cancer has been associated with inflammatory processes. Interleukin (IL)-1β, besides its central role in inflammation, has also been recognised as a powerful player in tumour progression, angiogenesis and invasiveness. Recently, there has been ...

The Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) gene is frequently inactivated in lymphoid malignancies such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), T-prolymphocytic leukemia (T-PLL), and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and is associated with defective apoptosis in response to alkylating agents and purine analogues. ATM mutant cells exhibit impaired DNA double strand break repair. ...

A. Kalogeraki, I. Karvela-Kalogeraki, P. E. Petraki, I. Zois, D. Tamiolakis and E. N. Stathopoulos Apoptosis and cell proliferation correlated with tumour grade in peritoneal fluids of patients with serous ovarian cancer Objective:  Apoptosis and cell proliferation in peritoneal fluids of patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma have not been well ...

Ovarian carcinoma represents the most common cause of death from gynecological malignancies in Europe and North America, being the third most frequent and the first as to the mortality. The standard chemotherapeutical regimen for ovarian cancer involves the administration of platinum derivate (carboplatin, cisplatin), in advanced stage is platinum derivate ...

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) overexpression is strongly associated with colorectal tumourigenesis. It has been demonstrated that the chronic use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (COX inhibitors) partially protects patients from colorectal cancer (CRC) development and progression but induces severe cardiovascular side effects. New strategies for selective COX-2 blockade are required. We developed an ...

A tumour located in the pectoral region and the left front flipper was observed in a 29-year-old female California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) that died following signs of respiratory disease and inappetence. Metastases were present in the lung and adrenal gland. The histological pattern of the tumour was variable. In some ...

Aim: SN 28049 (N-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-2,6-dimethyl-1-oxo-1,2-dihydrobenzo[b]-1,6-naphthyridine-4-carboxamide) is a new DNA binding drug that targets topoisomerase II. SN 28049 is curative against the murine Colon 38 adenocarcinoma (CT38) while etoposide, another topoisomerase II-directed drug, shows minimal activity; we investigated the basis for this difference in vivo and in vitro. Methods: Colon 38 tumours ...

The discovery of anti-cancer drugs has become dependent on cell lines, which are used to screen potential compounds for activity as well as to explore cancer biology. Cell lines produce rapid results, but their relevance to patient outcomes is questionable as they undergo selection over many passages to a point ...

Heterochromatinization has been implicated in fundamental biological and pathological processes including differentiation, senescence, ageing and tumourigenesis; however, little is known about its regulation and roles in human cells and tissues in vivo. Here, we show distinct cell-type- and cancer-stage-associated patterns of key heterochromatin marks: histone H3 trimethylated at lysine 9 ...

Transgenic mice bearing a construct in which the expression of the SV40 oncogene is directed by the AMH promoter (AT mice) develop testicular tumours in adult life. We aimed to study early steps of tumour development and characterize tumours at different ages by histological, morphometric, and immunohistochemical techniques. One- to ...

Objective. Uterine leiomyomas are the most common gynaecological benign tumour and greatly affect reproductive health and wellbeing. They are the predominant indication for hysterectomy in premenopausal women. Curcumin, a well-known component of turmeric, has been reported to prevent various diseases such as cancer, diabetes and obesity. Previous study reported that curcumin ...