| 1. |
- Cortez, Eliane, et al.
(författare)
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Functional subsets of mesenchymal cell types in the tumor microenvironment.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-3650 .- 1044-579X. ; 25:Jan 7, s. 3-9
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In the field of tumor biology, increasing attention is now focused on the complex interactions between various constituent cell types within the tumor microenvironment as being functionally important for the etiology of the disease. The detailed description of tumor-promoting properties of cancer-associated fibroblasts, endothelial cells, pericytes, and immune cells, introduces novel potential drug targets for improved cancer treatments, as well as a rationale for exploring the tumor stroma as a previously unchartered source for prognostic or predictive biomarkers. However, recent work highlights the fact that cellular identity is perhaps too broadly defined and that subdivision of each cell type may reveal functionally distinct subsets of cells. Here, we will review our current understanding of the diversity of different subsets of mesenchymal cells, i.e., cancer-associated fibroblasts and pericytes, residing within the tumor parenchyma.
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| 2. |
- Costa, Tânia D F, et al.
(författare)
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PAK4 suppresses RELB to prevent senescence-like growth arrest in breast cancer
- 2019
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 10:1, s. 1-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Overcoming cellular growth restriction, including the evasion of cellular senescence, is a hallmark of cancer. We report that PAK4 is overexpressed in all human breast cancer subtypes and associated with poor patient outcome. In mice, MMTV-PAK4 overexpression promotes spontaneous mammary cancer, while PAK4 gene depletion delays MMTV-PyMT driven tumors. Importantly, PAK4 prevents senescence-like growth arrest in breast cancer cells in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo, but is not needed in non-immortalized cells, while PAK4 overexpression in untransformed human mammary epithelial cells abrogates H-RAS-V12-induced senescence. Mechanistically, a PAK4 - RELB - C/EBPβ axis controls the senescence-like growth arrest and a PAK4 phosphorylation residue (RELB-Ser151) is critical for RELB-DNA interaction, transcriptional activity and expression of the senescence regulator C/EBPβ. These findings establish PAK4 as a promoter of breast cancer that can overcome oncogene-induced senescence and reveal a selective vulnerability of cancer to PAK4 inhibition.
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| 3. |
- Cunha, Sara I., et al.
(författare)
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Endothelial ALK1 Is a Therapeutic Target to Block Metastatic Dissemination of Breast Cancer.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Cancer Research. - 1538-7445 .- 0008-5472. ; 75:12, s. 2445-2456
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Exploration of new strategies for the prevention of breast cancer metastasis is justifiably at the center of clinical attention. In this study, we combined a computational biology approach with mechanism-based preclinical trials to identify inhibitors of activin-like receptor kinase (ALK) 1 as effective agents for blocking angiogenesis and metastasis in breast cancer. Pharmacologic targeting of ALK1 provided long-term therapeutic benefit in mouse models of mammary carcinoma, accompanied by strikingly reduced metastatic colonization as a monotherapy or part of combinations with chemotherapy. Gene-expression analysis of breast cancer specimens from a population-based nested case-control study encompassing 768 subjects defined endothelial expression of ALK1 as an independent and highly specific prognostic factor for metastatic manifestation, a finding that was corroborated in an independent clinical cohort. Overall, our results suggest that pharmacologic inhibition of endothelial ALK1 constitutes a tractable strategy for interfering with metastatic dissemination of breast cancer. Cancer Res; 75(12); 2445-56. ©2015 AACR.
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| 4. |
- Femel, Julia, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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Therapeutic vaccination against fibronectin ED-A attenuates progression of metastatic breast cancer.
- 2014
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Ingår i: Oncotarget. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1949-2553. ; 5:23, s. 12418-12427
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Therapeutic vaccination targeting self-molecules is an attractive alternative to monoclonal antibody-based therapies for cancer and various inflammatory diseases. However, development of cancer vaccines targeting self-molecules has proven difficult. One complicating factor is that tumor cells have developed strategies to escape recognition by the immune system. Antigens specifically expressed by the tumor vasculature can therefore provide alternative targets. The alternatively spliced extra domain-A and B (ED-A and ED-B) of fibronectin are expressed during vasculogenesis in the embryo, but essentially undetectable under normal conditions in the adult. However, these domains are re-expressed during tumor angiogenesis and matrix remodeling, which renders them highly interesting for targeted cancer therapies. Using the MMTV-PyMT transgenic model of metastatic mammary carcinoma, we show that tumor burden can be significantly decreased by immunization against ED-A in a therapeutic setting. Furthermore, we found that in mice carrying anti-ED-A antibodies the number of metastases was reduced. ED-A immunization increased infiltration of macrophages and compromised tumor blood vessel function. These findings implicate an attack of the tumor vasculature by the immune system, through a polyclonal antibody response. We conclude that tumor vascular antigens are promising candidates for development of therapeutic vaccines targeting growth of primary tumors as well as disseminated disease.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Jacobson, Annica, et al.
(författare)
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Hyaluronan content in experimental carcinoma is not correlated to interstitial fluid pressure.
- 2003
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Ingår i: Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun.. ; 305, s. 1017-1023
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mechanism(s) for generation of the high tumor interstitial fluid pressure (TIFP) that is characteristic of carcinoma is not known. We investigated the role of hyaluronan, the major water-binding polysaccharide of the extracellular matrix, for the generation of a high TIFP. A human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (KAT-4) xenografted to athymic mice and a syngeneic rat colon carcinoma (PROb) were used. Neither KAT-4 nor PROb cells produced hyaluronan (HA) in culture, however, both cell lines produced factors that stimulated HA-synthesis by cultured fibroblasts. Modulating hyaluronan levels by transfection of PROb carcinoma cells with hyaluronan synthase-2 revealed no correlation between hyaluronan content and TIFP. Furthermore, lowering of TIFP by treating KAT-4 tumors with a specific inhibitor of TGF-beta 1 and -beta 3 did not change the concentration of hyaluronan in the tumors. In summary, our results suggest that a modulation of hyaluronan content is not a major pathogenetic mechanism for the generation of the characteristically high TIFP in malignant carcinomas.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Põlajeva, Jelena, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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miRNA-21 is developmentally regulated in mouse brain and is co-expressed with SOX2 in glioma
- 2012
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Ingår i: BMC Cancer. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2407. ; 12, s. 378-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) and their role during tumor development have been studied in greatdetail during the last decade, albeit their expression pattern and regulation during normaldevelopment are however not so well established. Previous studies have shown that miRNAsare differentially expressed in solid human tumors. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)signaling is known to be involved in normal development of the brain as well as in malignantprimary brain tumors, gliomas, but the complete mechanism is still lacking. We decided toinvestigate the expression of the oncogenic miR-21 during normal mouse development andglioma, focusing on PDGF signaling as a potential regulator of miR-21.MethodsWe generated mouse glioma using the RCAS/tv-a system for driving PDGF-BB expression ina cell-specific manner. Expression of miR-21 in mouse cell cultures and mouse brain wereassessed using Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization. Immunohistochemistry andWestern blot analysis were used to investigate SOX2 expression. LNA-modified siRNA wasused for irreversible depletion of miR-21. For inhibition of PDGF signaling Gleevec(imatinib mesylate), Rapamycin and U0126, as well as siRNA were used. Statisticalsignificance was calculated using double-sided unpaired Student´s t-test.ResultsWe identified miR-21 to be highly expressed during embryonic and newborn braindevelopment followed by a gradual decrease until undetectable at postnatal day 7 (P7), thiscorrelated with SOX2 expression. Furthermore, miR-21 and SOX2 showed up-regulation andoverlapping expression pattern in RCAS/tv-a generated mouse brain tumor specimens. Uponirreversible depletion of miR-21 the expression of SOX2 was strongly diminished in bothmouse primary glioma cultures and human glioma cell lines. Interestingly, in normalfibroblasts the expression of miR-21 was induced by PDGF-BB, and inhibition of PDGFsignaling in mouse glioma primary cultures resulted in suppression of miR-21 suggesting thatmiR-21 is indeed regulated by PDGF signaling.ConclusionsOur data show that miR-21 and SOX2 are tightly regulated already during embryogenesisand define a distinct population with putative tumor cell of origin characteristics. We believethat miR-21 is a mediator of PDGF-driven brain tumors, which suggests miR-21 as apromising target for treatment of glioma.
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| 9. |
- Roswall, Pernilla, et al.
(författare)
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2-methoxyestradiol induces apoptosis in cultured human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells
- 2006
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Ingår i: Thyroid. - 1050-7256 .- 1557-9077. ; 16:2, s. 143-50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the most malignant tumors in humans, and currently there is no effective treatment. In the present study we investigated the effect of an endogenous estrogen metabolite, 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME), on the growth of human ATC cells. 2-ME treatment had a strong growth inhibitory effect on five human ATC cell lines (HTh7, HTh 74, HTh83, C643, and SW1736), but showed no effect on one cell line (KAT-4). Cell cycle analysis of the growth-inhibited cells showed that 2-ME induced a G2/M-arrest, followed by an increased fraction of cells in sub-G1. Analysis of internucleosomal DNA laddering as well as DNA fragmentation in a terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay demonstrated a high number of cells undergoing apoptosis after 2-ME treatment. An increased activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8 by 2-ME was observed, and inhibition of caspase-3 decreased the apoptotic effect. Addition of 2-ME increased activity of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in the sensitive HTh7 as well as the refractory KAT-4 cells, however, activation of stress-activated protein kinase/c-jun aminoterminal kinase (SAPK/JNK) was seen only in the HTh7 cells. Inhibitors of p38 MAPK and SAPK/JNK significantly attenuated the 2-ME effect. Taken together, our data demonstrate an antiproliferative and apoptotic effect of 2-ME on ATC cells involving activation of MAPKs.
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