| 1. |
- Alzrigat, Mohammad, et al.
(författare)
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Epigenetics in multiple myeloma : From mechanisms to therapy
- 2018
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 51, s. 101-115
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multiple myeloma (MM) is a tumor of antibody producing plasmablasts/plasma cells that resides within the bone marrow (BM). In addition to the well-established role of genetic lesions and tumor-microenvironment interactions in the development of MM, deregulated epigenetic mechanisms are emerging as important in MM pathogenesis. Recently, MM sequencing and expression projects have revealed that mutations and copy number variations as well as deregulation in the expression of epigenetic modifiers are characteristic features of MM. In the past decade, several studies have suggested epigenetic mechanisms via DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs as important contributing factors in MM with impacts on disease initiation, progression, clonal heterogeneity and response to treatment. Herein we review the present view and knowledge that has accumulated over the past decades on the role of epigenetics in MM, with focus on the interplay between epigenetic mechanisms and the potential use of epigenetic inhibitors as future treatment modalities for MM.
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| 2. |
- Block, Keith I., et al.
(författare)
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Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Academic Press. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 35, s. S276-S304
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notable successes in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targeted therapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a few disease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistant immortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are not reliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, an international task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broadspectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspects of relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a wide range of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For these targets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which were phytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed for known effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment Potential contrary or procarcinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixed evidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of the relationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. This novel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types of cancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for future research is offered. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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| 3. |
- Gerlee, Philip, 1980, et al.
(författare)
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Bridging scales in cancer progression: Mapping genotype to phenotype using neural networks
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-3650 .- 1044-579X. ; 30, s. 30-41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this review we summarise our recent efforts in trying to understand the role of heterogeneity in cancer progression by using neural networks to characterise different aspects of the mapping from a cancer cells genotype and environment to its phenotype. Our central premise is that cancer is an evolving system subject to mutation and selection, and the primary conduit for these processes to occur is the cancer cell whose behaviour is regulated on multiple biological scales. The selection pressure is mainly driven by the microenvironment that the tumour is growing in and this acts directly upon the cell phenotype. In turn, the phenotype is driven by the intracellular pathways that are regulated by the genotype. Integrating all of these processes is a massive undertaking and requires bridging many biological scales (i.e. genotype, pathway, phenotype and environment) that we will only scratch the surface of in this review. We will focus on models that use neural networks as a means of connecting these different biological scales, since they allow us to easily create heterogeneity for selection to act upon and importantly this heterogeneity can be implemented at different biological scales. More specifically, we consider three different neural networks that bridge different aspects of these scales and the dialogue with the micro-environment, (i) the impact of the micro-environment on evolutionary dynamics, (ii) the mapping from genotype to phenotype under drug-induced perturbations and (iii) pathway activity in both normal and cancer cells under different micro-environmental conditions.
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| 4. |
- Kimbung, Siker, et al.
(författare)
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Clinical and molecular complexity of breast cancer metastases.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-3650 .- 1044-579X. ; 35, s. 85-95
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Clinical oncology is advancing toward a more personalized treatment orientation, making the need to understand the biology of metastasis increasingly acute. Dissecting the complex molecular, genetic and clinical phenotypes underlying the processes involved in the development of metastatic disease, which remains the principal cause of cancer-related deaths, could lead to the identification of more effective prognostication and targeted approaches to prevent and treat metastases. The past decade has witnessed significant progress in the field of cancer metastasis research. Clinical and technological milestones have been reached which have tremendously enriched our understanding of the complex pathways undertaken by primary tumors to progress into lethal metastases and how some of these processes might be amenable to therapy. The aim of this review article is to highlight the recent advances toward unraveling the clinical and molecular complexity of breast cancer metastases. We focus on genes mediating breast cancer metastases and organ-specific tropism, and discuss gene signatures for prediction of metastatic disease. The challenges of translating this information into clinically applicable tools for improving the prognostication of the metastatic potential of a primary breast tumor, as well as for therapeutic interventions against latent and active metastatic disease are addressed.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Mansouri, Larry, et al.
(författare)
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Epigenetic deregulation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia : Clinical and biological impact
- 2018
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 51, s. 1-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Deregulated transcriptional control caused by aberrant DNA methylation and/or histone modifications is a hallmark of cancer cells. In chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common adult leukemia, the epigenetic 'landscape' has added a new layer of complexity to our understanding of this clinically and biologically heterogeneous disease. Early studies identified aberrant DNA methylation, often based on single gene promoter analysis with both biological and clinical impact. Subsequent genome-wide profiling studies revealed differential DNA methylation between CLLs and controls and in prognostics subgroups of the disease. From these studies, it became apparent that DNA methylation in regions outside of promoters, such as enhancers, is important for the regulation of coding genes as well as for the regulation of non-coding RNAs. Although DNA methylation profiles are reportedly stable over time and in relation to therapy, a higher epigenetic heterogeneity or 'burden' is seen in more aggressive CLL subgroups, albeit as non-recurrent 'passenger' events. More recently, DNA methylation profiles in CLL analyzed in relation to differentiating normal B-cell populations revealed that the majority of the CLL epigenome reflects the epigenomes present in the cell of origin and that only a small fraction of the epigenetic alterations represents truly CLL-specific changes. Furthermore, CLL patients can be grouped into at least three clinically relevant epigenetic subgroups, potentially originating from different cells at various stages of differentiation and associated with distinct outcomes. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the DNA methylome in CLL, the role of histone modifying enzymes, highlight insights derived from animal models and attempts made to target epigenetic regulators in CLL along with the future directions of this rapidly advancing field.
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| 7. |
- Mansouri, Larry, et al.
(författare)
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NF-kappa B activation in chronic lymphocytic leukemia : A point of convergence of external triggers and intrinsic lesions
- 2016
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 39, s. 40-48
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) pathway is constitutively activated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients, and hence plays a major role in disease development and evolution. In contrast to many other mature B-cell lymphomas, only a few recurrently mutated genes involved in canonical or non-canonical NF-kappa B activation have been identified in CLL (i.e. BIRC3, MYD88 and NFKBIE mutations) and often at a low frequency. On the other hand, CLL B cells seem 'addicted' to the tumor microenvironment for their survival and proliferation, which is primarily mediated by interaction through a number of cell surface receptors, e.g. the B-cell receptor (BcR), Toll-like receptors and CD40, that in turn activate downstream NF-kappa B. The importance of cell-extrinsic triggering for CLL pathophysiology was recently also highlighted by the clinical efficacy of novel drugs targeting microenvironmental interactions through the inhibition of BcR signaling. In other words, CLL can be considered a prototype disease for studying the intricate interplay between external triggers and intrinsic aberrations and their combined impact on disease evolution. In this review, we will discuss the current understanding of mechanisms underlying NF-kappa B deregulation in CLL, including micro-environmental, genetic and epigenetic events, and summarize data generated in murine models resembling human CLL. Finally, we will also discuss different strategies undertaken to intervene with the NF-kappa B pathway and its upstream mediators.
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| 8. |
- Nordlund, Jessica, et al.
(författare)
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Epigenetics in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia
- 2018
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 51, s. 129-138
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy in children. ALL arises from the malignant transformation of progenitor B- and T-cells in the bone marrow into leukemic cells, but the mechanisms underlying this transformation are not well understood. Recent technical advances and decreasing costs of methods for high-throughput DNA sequencing and SNP genotyping have stimulated systematic studies of the epigenetic changes in leukemic cells from pediatric ALL patients. The results emerging from these studies are increasing our understanding of the epigenetic component of leukemogenesis and have demonstrated the potential of DNA methylation as a biomarker for lineage and subtype classification, prognostication, and disease progression in ALL. In this review, we provide a concise examination of the epigenetic studies in ALL, with a focus on DNA methylation and mutations perturbing genes involved in chromatin modification, and discuss the future role of epigenetic analyses in research and clinical management of ALL.
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| 9. |
- Ntoufa, Stavroula, et al.
(författare)
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Toll-like receptors signaling : A complex network for in B-cell lymphoid malignancies NF-kappa B activation
- 2016
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 39, s. 15-25
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Malignancies of mature B cells are quite distinctive in originating from well-differentiated cells. Hence, it is not paradoxical that, similar to their normal counterparts, most mature B cell lymphoma subtypes are critically dependent on microenvironmental cues. Such external signals are sensed by various receptors present on the malignant cells, including the Toll-like receptors (TLRs), eliciting a range of cellular responses, including proliferation but also anergy and apoptosis, often with disease-specific patterns. Critically, the TLR signaling pathways are intertwined with other receptor pathways in malignant B cells, most notably the B-cell receptor pathway, and converge on NF-kappa B, leading to its activation. In the present review, we summarize the literature on TLR expression and functionality and its impact on NF-kappa B activation in different B cell malignancies including chronic lymphocytic leukemia where TLR9 induces activation, cell proliferation and chemoresistance in a proportion of patients while apoptosis can be induced in others. Additionally, we also discuss the therapeutic potential of strategies targeting TLR signaling in lymphoma.
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| 10. |
- Qin, Yan, et al.
(författare)
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Laminins and cancer stem cells : Partners in crime?
- 2017
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 45, s. 3-12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- As one of the predominant protein families within the extracellular matrix both structurally and functionally, laminins have been shown to be heavily involved in tumor progression and drug resistance. Laminins participate in key cellular events for tumor angiogenesis, cell invasion and metastasis development, including the regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and basement membrane remodeling, which are tightly associated with the phenotypic characteristics of stem-like cells, particularly in the context of cancer. In addition, a great deal of studies and reports has highlighted the critical roles of laminins in modulating stem cell phenotype and differentiation, as part of the stem cell niche. Stemming from these discoveries a growing body of literature suggests that laminins may act as regulators of cancer stem cells, a tumor cell subpopulation that plays an instrumental role in long-term cancer maintenance, metastasis development and therapeutic resistance. The accumulating evidence in this emerging research area suggests that laminins represent potential therapeutic targets for anti-cancer treatments against cancer stem cells, and that they may be used as predictive and prognostic markers to inform clinical management and improve patient survival.
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| 11. |
- Ramachandran, Mohanraj, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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The cancer-immunity cycle as rational design for synthetic cancer drugs : Novel DC vaccines and CAR T-cells
- 2017
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 45, s. 23-35
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Cell therapy is an advanced form of cancer immunotherapy that has had remarkable clinical progress in the past decade in the search for cure of cancer. Most success has been achieved for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells where CAR T-cells targeting CD19 show very high complete response rates for patients with refractory acute B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are close to approval for this indication. CD19 CAR T-cells are also effective against B-cell chronic lymphoblastic leukemia (CLL) and B-cell lymphomas. Although encouraging, CAR T-cells have not yet proven clinically effective for solid tumors. This is mainly due to the lack of specific and homogenously expressed targets to direct the T-cells against and a hostile immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment in solid tumors. Cancer vaccines based on dendritic cells (DC) are also making progress although clinical efficacy is still lacking. The likelihood of success is however increasing now when individual tumors can be sequences and patient-specific neoepitopes identified. Neoepitopes and/or neoantigens can then be included in patient based DC vaccines. This review discusses recent advancements of DC vaccines and CAR T-cells with emphasis on the cancer-immunity cycle, and current efforts to design novel cell therapies.
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| 12. |
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| 13. |
- Rosenquist, R, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction: Epigenetics in cancer
- 2018
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Ingår i: Seminars in cancer biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-3650 .- 1044-579X. ; 51, s. IV-V
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 14. |
- Sandman, Lars, et al.
(författare)
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From evidence-based to hope-based medicine? Ethical aspects on conditional market authorization of and early access to new cancer drugs
- 2017
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 45, s. 58-63
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a strong patient demand for early access to potentially beneficial cancer drugs. In line with this authorization agencies like the European Medicines Agency are providing drugs with conditional market authorisation based on positive interim analyses. This implies that drugs are used with insecure evidence of efficacy and adverse side-effects. Several authors have pointed to ethical problems with such a system but up to date no indepth ethical analysis of this system is found which is the aim of this article. Drawing of the four generally accepted principles of medical ethics: beneficence, nonmaleficence, respect for autonomy and justice the ethical pros and cons of conditional market authorisation are analysed. From the perspective of beneficence and non maleficence it is found that the main problem is not risk of adverse side-effects to patients, but rather risk of less beneficial outcomes than what can be expected which could change incentives for patients choice of treatment. This is also related to the extent to which patients might make an autonomous choice, especially taking into account problematic psychological attitudes and biases in medical decision-making. However, the main problem is related to justice and an equitable distribution of scarce health-care resources given the opportunity cost of drugs treatment. When using resources on cancer treatments which later might be found to be less efficacious than was first expected, other patients (in and outside the cancer field) are deprived of potentially more beneficial treatments even though their needs might be equally or more severe. At the same time, demanding more evidence has an ethical cost to patients in terms of depriving them of potential benefits in terms of reduced mortality and morbidity. In order to handle these ethical conflicts further research and analyses are required and it is suggested that pricing strategies and information requirements are alternatives to be further explored.
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| 15. |
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| 16. |
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| 17. |
- Sutton, Lesley-Ann, et al.
(författare)
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The complex interplay between cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic factors driving the evolution of chronic lymphocytic leukemia
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; 34, s. 22-35
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the advent of next-generation sequencing, the mutational landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was rapidly unraveled with the discovery of recurrently mutated genes affecting key signaling pathways. Although the majority of these mutations are relatively infrequent at diagnosis (at least at the population-level) they tend to accumulate as the disease progresses or at relapse. Besides TP53 aberrations, several of these newly mutated genes have consistently been linked to shorter time to progression/treatment and poor overall survival (e.g. NOTCH1, SF3B1, BIRC3). These findings coupled with the diverse (sub)clonal evolution trajectory followed by CLL cells, at least in treated patients, alludes to their role as major subclonal driver events for disease progression. Together with the dependence of CLL cells on B-cell receptor (BcR) signaling and antigen stimulation, this reveals a disease within which both cell-intrinsic and cell-extrinsic factors conspire to fuel leukemogenesis, and we have only recently begun to understand their intricate interplay. This was further highlighted with the efficiency of new targeted therapy interfering with the microenvironment and in particular with BcR signaling. Further investigations will now be paramount in order to individualize treatment, to define optimal combination therapies and to integrate molecular characterization for response prediction, in this, as yet, incurable disease.
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| 18. |
- Vincent, CT, et al.
(författare)
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EMT, inflammation and metastasis
- 2017
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Ingår i: Seminars in cancer biology. - : Elsevier BV. - 1096-3650 .- 1044-579X. ; 47, s. 168-169
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 19. |
- Wang, Zongwei, et al.
(författare)
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Broad targeting of angiogenesis for cancer prevention and therapy
- 2015
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Ingår i: Seminars in Cancer Biology. - : Elsevier. - 1044-579X .- 1096-3650. ; S1044-579X:15, s. 00002-00004
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Deregulation of angiogenesis - the growth of new blood vessels from an existing vasculature - is a main driving force in many severe human diseases including cancer. As such, tumor angiogenesis is important for delivering oxygen and nutrients to growing tumors, and therefore considered an essential pathologic feature of cancer, while also playing a key role in enabling other aspects of tumor pathology such as metabolic deregulation and tumor dissemination/metastasis. Recently, inhibition of tumor angiogenesis has become a clinical anti-cancer strategy in line with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery, which underscore the critical importance of the angiogenic switch during early tumor development. Unfortunately the clinically approved anti-angiogenic drugs in use today are only effective in a subset of the patients, and many who initially respond develop resistance over time. Also, some of the anti-angiogenic drugs are toxic and it would be of great importance to identify alternative compounds, which could overcome these drawbacks and limitations of the currently available therapy. Finding "the most important target" may, however, prove a very challenging approach as the tumor environment is highly diverse, consisting of many different cell types, all of which may contribute to tumor angiogenesis. Furthermore, the tumor cells themselves are genetically unstable, leading to a progressive increase in the number of different angiogenic factors produced as the cancer progresses to advanced stages. As an alternative approach to targeted therapy, options to broadly interfere with angiogenic signals by a mixture of non-toxic natural compound with pleiotropic actions were viewed by this team as an opportunity to develop a complementary anti-angiogenesis treatment option. As a part of the "Halifax Project" within the "Getting to know cancer" framework, we have here, based on a thorough review of the literature, identified 10 important aspects of tumor angiogenesis and the pathological tumor vasculature which would be well suited as targets for anti-angiogenic therapy: (1) endothelial cell migration/tip cell formation, (2) structural abnormalities of tumor vessels, (3) hypoxia, (4) lymphangiogenesis, (5) elevated interstitial fluid pressure, (6) poor perfusion, (7) disrupted circadian rhythms, (8) tumor promoting inflammation, (9) tumor promoting fibroblasts and (10) tumor cell metabolism/acidosis. Following this analysis, we scrutinized the available literature on broadly acting anti-angiogenic natural products, with a focus on finding qualitative information on phytochemicals which could inhibit these targets and came up with 10 prototypical phytochemical compounds: (1) oleic acid, (2) tripterine, (3) silibinin, (4) curcumin, (5) epigallocatechin-gallate, (6) kaempferol, (7) melatonin, (8) enterolactone, (9) withaferin A and (10) resveratrol. We suggest that these plant-derived compounds could be combined to constitute a broader acting and more effective inhibitory cocktail at doses that would not be likely to cause excessive toxicity. All the targets and phytochemical approaches were further cross-validated against their effects on other essential tumorigenic pathways (based on the "hallmarks" of cancer) in order to discover possible synergies or potentially harmful interactions, and were found to generally also have positive involvement in/effects on these other aspects of tumor biology. The aim is that this discussion could lead to the selection of combinations of such anti-angiogenic compounds which could be used in potent anti-tumor cocktails, for enhanced therapeutic efficacy, reduced toxicity and circumvention of single-agent anti-angiogenic resistance, as well as for possible use in primary or secondary cancer prevention strategies.
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