Forgot your password?
New user?
New Window Opens on the Secret Life of Microbes: Scientists Develop First Microbial Profiles of Ecosystems
CAS announces the release of SciFinder Scholar for Mac OS X
Press Releases
Press Releases
| Check out our New Publishers' Select for Free Articles |
BBA - Reviews on Cancer (v.1776, #2)
Neural stem cells, tumour stem cells and brain tumours: Dangerous relationships? by Reto Sutter; Gokhan Yadirgi; Silvia Marino (pp. 125-137).
Neural stem cells (NSC) have been implicated not only in brain development and neurogenesis but also in tumourigenesis. Brain tumour stem cells (BTSC) have been isolated from several paediatric or adult human brain tumours, however their origin is still disputed. This review discusses the normal role of NSC in the adult mammalian brain and their anatomical location. It compares the molecular characteristics and the biological behaviour of NSC/BTSC, and describes the molecular pathways involved in controlling self-renewal and maintenance of adult NSC/BTSC and brain tumour development. It also assesses the current hypotheses about the origin of BTSC and the clinical consequences.
Keywords: Neural stem cell; Tumour stem cell; Brain tumour; Neurogenesis; Molecular pathway; Mouse model
Review of recent studies on resistance to cytotoxic deoxynucleoside analogues by Lars Petter Jordheim; Charles Dumontet (pp. 138-159).
Cytotoxic deoxynucleoside analogues are widely used in the treatment of haematological malignancies and solid tumours. Their metabolism and mechanisms of action are relatively well known, but with ongoing technological development, a continuous flow of scientific data is constantly adding new knowledge to this field. Thus, what was already a well-developed area some years ago has continued its expansion and become a better understood part of medical sciences. In order to keep abreast of the latest advances on cellular and clinical resistance to deoxynucleoside analogues, we have reviewed the recent literature and provide here an update on the subject. We have particularly focused on changes in gene products involved in the metabolic pathway of these drugs, such as membrane transporters, kinases, deaminases and 5′-nucleotidases. We also gave an overview on the chemical and biological development of modified deoxynucleoside analogues such as conjugates and pronucleotides.
Keywords: Deoxynucleoside analogues; Cancer; Resistance; Polymorphism; Pronucleotide; Conjugate
Tumor blood vessels, a difficult hurdle for infiltrating leukocytes by Karolien Castermans; Arjan W. Griffioen (pp. 160-174).
In spite of a gradual improvement of its therapy, cancer is still a deadly disease for millions of patients. Immunotherapy is one of promising treatment strategies, but several mechanisms counteract the development of a proper anti-tumor immune response and the formation of an effective inflammatory infiltrate. One of the difficult hurdles is the hampered recruitment of leukocytes from the blood into the tumor site. It has been demonstrated that tumor cells evolved mechanisms to escape immunity, based on down regulation of endothelial adhesion molecules. This paper reviews the endothelial cell adhesion molecules that mediate leukocyte recruitment and the regulation of them during tumor development. In addition, an overview will be given of the translational development and clinical application of the specific composition of adhesion molecules on tumor endothelium, in diagnosis and therapy.
Keywords: Leukocyte; Endothelial cell; Inflammation; Cancer; Infiltration; Interaction
Antibody-based targeting of the tumor vasculature by Christoph Schliemann; Dario Neri (pp. 175-192).
Conventional cytotoxic therapies of cancer often suffer from a lack of specificity, leading to a poor therapeutic index and considerable toxicities to normal organs. An elegant way to overcome the disadvantages of conventional tumor therapy is the selective delivery of therapeutics to the tumor site by their conjugation to a carrier molecule specific for a tumor-associated molecular marker. Markers expressed on the tumor's vasculature represent particularly attractive targets for a site-specific pharmacodelivery due to their inherent accessibility for blood-borne agents and the various therapeutic options that they allow, ranging from intraluminal blood coagulation to the recruitment of immune cells.In this review, we will outline advances in the preclinical and clinical evaluation of antibody-based vascular targeting agents, describe technologies for the discovery of novel vascular targets and discuss future prospects for vascular targeting applications.
Keywords: Antibodies; Vascular targeting; Angiogenesis; Cancer