| 1. |
- Brodin, Ola, et al.
(författare)
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Pharmacokinetics and Toxicity of Sodium Selenite in the Treatment of Patients with Carcinoma in a Phase I Clinical Trial: The SECAR Study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nutrients. - : MDPI. - 2072-6643. ; 7:6, s. 4978-4994
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Sodium selenite at high dose exerts antitumor effects and increases efficacy of cytostatic drugs in multiple preclinical malignancy models. We assessed the safety and efficacy of intravenous administered sodium selenite in cancer patients refractory to cytostatic drugs in a phase I trial. Patients received first line of chemotherapy following selenite treatment to investigate altered sensitivity to these drugs and preliminary assessment of any clinical benefits. Materials and Methods: Thirty-four patients with different therapy resistant tumors received iv sodium selenite daily for consecutive five days either for two weeks or four weeks. Each cohort consisted of at least three patients who received the same daily dose of selenite throughout the whole treatment. If 0/3 patients had dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs), the study proceeded to the next dose-level. If 2/3 had DLT, the dose was considered too high and if 1/3 had DLT, three more patients were included. Dose-escalation continued until the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was reached. MTD was defined as the highest dose-level on which 0/3 or 1/6 patients experienced DLT. The primary endpoint was safety, dose-limiting toxic effects and the MTD of sodium selenite. The secondary endpoint was primary response evaluation. Results and Conclusion: MTD was defined as 10.2 mg/m(2), with a calculated median plasma half-life of 18.25 h. The maximum plasma concentration of selenium from a single dose of selenite increased in a nonlinear pattern. The most common adverse events were fatigue, nausea, and cramps in fingers and legs. DLTs were acute, of short duration and reversible. Biomarkers for organ functions indicated no major systemic toxicity. In conclusion, sodium selenite is safe and tolerable when administered up to 10.2 mg/m(2) under current protocol. Further development of the study is underway to determine if prolonged infusions might be a more effective treatment strategy.
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| 2. |
- Cheng, Qing, et al.
(författare)
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Preclinical PET imaging of EGFR levels : pairing a targeting with a non-targeting Sel-tagged Affibody-based tracer to estimate the specific uptake
- 2016
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Ingår i: EJNMMI Research. - : Springer. - 2191-219X. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Though overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in several forms of cancer is considered to be an important prognostic biomarker related to poor prognosis, clear correlations between biomarker assays and patient management have been difficult to establish. Here, we utilize a targeting directly followed by a non-targeting tracer-based positron emission tomography (PET) method to examine some of the aspects of determining specific EGFR binding in tumors. Methods: The EGFR-binding Affibody molecule Z(EGFR:2377) and its size-matched non-binding control Z(Taq:3638) were recombinantly fused with a C-terminal selenocysteine-containing Sel-tag (Z(EGFR:2377)-ST and Z(Taq:3638)-ST). The proteins were site-specifically labeled with DyLight488 for flow cytometry and ex vivo tissue analyses or with C-11 for in vivo PET studies. Kinetic scans with the C-11-labeled proteins were performed in healthy mice and in mice bearing xenografts from human FaDu (squamous cell carcinoma) and A431 (epidermoid carcinoma) cell lines. Changes in tracer uptake in A431 xenografts over time were also monitored, followed by ex vivo proximity ligation assays (PLA) of EGFR expressions. Results: Flow cytometry and ex vivo tissue analyses confirmed EGFR targeting by ZE(GFR:2377)-ST-DyLight488. [Methyl-C-11]-labeled Z(EGFR:2377)-ST-CH3 and Z(Taq:3638)-ST-CH3 showed similar distributions in vivo, except for notably higher concentrations of the former in particularly the liver and the blood. [Methyl-C-11]-Z(EGFR:2377)-ST-CH3 successfully visualized FaDu and A431 xenografts with moderate and high EGFR expression levels, respectively. However, in FaDu tumors, the non-specific uptake was large and sometimes equally large, illustrating the importance of proper controls. In the A431 group observed longitudinally, non-specific uptake remained at same level over the observation period. Specific uptake increased with tumor size, but changes varied widely over time in individual tumors. Total (membranous and cytoplasmic) EGFR in excised sections increased with tumor growth. There was no positive correlation between total EGFR and specific tracer uptake, which, since Z(EGFR:2377) binds extracellularly and is slowly internalized, indicates a discordance between available membranous and total EGFR expression levels. Conclusions: Same-day in vivo dual tracer imaging enabled by the Sel-tag technology and C-11-labeling provides a method to non-invasively monitor membrane-localized EGFR as well as factors affecting non-specific uptake of the PET ligand.
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| 3. |
- D'Arcy, Padraig, et al.
(författare)
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Deubiquitinase inhibition as a cancer therapeutic strategy
- 2015
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Ingår i: Pharmacology and Therapeutics. - : Elsevier. - 0163-7258 .- 1879-016X. ; 147, s. 32-54
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is the main system for controlled protein degradation and a key regulator of fundamental cellular processes. The dependency of cancer cells on a functioning UPS has made this an attractive target for development of drugs that show selectivity for tumor cells. Deubiquitinases (DUBs, ubiquitin isopeptidases) are components of the UPS that catalyze the removal of ubiquitin moieties from target proteins or polyubiquitin chains, resulting in altered signaling or changes in protein stability. A number of DUBs regulate processes associated with cell proliferation and apoptosis, and as such represent candidate targets for cancer therapeutics. The majority of DUBs are cysteine proteases and are likely to be more "druggable" than E3 ligases. Cysteine residues in the active sites of DUBs are expected to be reactive to various electrophiles. Various compounds containing α,β-unsaturated ketones have indeed been demonstrated to inhibit cellular DUB activity. Inhibition of proteasomal cysteine DUB enzymes (i.e. USP14 and UCHL5) can be predicted to be particularly cytotoxic to cancer cells as it leads to blocking of proteasome function and accumulation of proteasomal substrates. We here provide an overall review of DUBs relevant to cancer and of various small molecules which have been demonstrated to inhibit DUB activity.
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| 4. |
- Emmings, Edith, et al.
(författare)
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Targeting Mitochondria for Treatment of Chemoresistant Ovarian Cancer
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Molecular Sciences. - : MDPI. - 1661-6596 .- 1422-0067. ; 20:1
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancy in the Western world. This is due, in part, to the fact that despite standard treatment of surgery and platinum/paclitaxel most patients recur with ultimately chemoresistant disease. Ovarian cancer is a unique form of solid tumor that develops, metastasizes and recurs in the same space, the abdominal cavity, which becomes a unique microenvironment characterized by ascites, hypoxia and low glucose levels. It is under these conditions that cancer cells adapt and switch to mitochondrial respiration, which becomes crucial to their survival, and therefore an ideal metabolic target for chemoresistant ovarian cancer. Importantly, independent of microenvironmental factors, mitochondria spatial redistribution has been associated to both tumor metastasis and chemoresistance in ovarian cancer while specific sets of genetic mutations have been shown to cause aberrant dependence on mitochondrial pathways in the most aggressive ovarian cancer subtypes. In this review we summarize on targeting mitochondria for treatment of chemoresistant ovarian cancer and current state of understanding of the role of mitochondria respiration in ovarian cancer. We feel this is an important and timely topic given that ovarian cancer remains the deadliest of the gynecological diseases, and that the mitochondrial pathway has recently emerged as critical in sustaining solid tumor progression.
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| 5. |
- Fayad, W., et al.
(författare)
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A systematic multicellular spheroids screening approach lead to the identification of antineoplastic activity in three different plant extracts from the Egyptian flora
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science. - : Medipoeia Publication. - 2231-3354. ; 7:6, s. 13-22
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Developing natural products as potential antineoplastic drugs is a meticulous process involving both compound isolation and biological testing. Many studies are based on primary screening using tumor cell viability as the readout followed by compound isolation. We here present an approach which utilizes both 2-D and 3-D cultured of tumor cells for screening and immortalized human non-transformed cells for counter screening. This procedure increases the precision of identifying tumor-specific cytotoxic compounds with interesting pharmacological properties. Using this straight-forward approach, we screened 500 plant extracts from the Egyptian flora for anticancer activity. The primary screen on 2-D cultured cells yielded 41 hits, 12 of which showed significant cytotoxicity on 3-D cultured cells. Of these, 4 extracts showed limited cytoxicity to normal cells. We conclude that only ~10% of the cytotoxic extracts showed desired properties with regard to tumor parenchyme penetration and tumor-specific activity. Extracts from Euphorbia dendroides L. herb, Ononis vaginalis Vahl. herb and Quercus robur L. branches were found to induce tumor apoptosis and were considered the most promising. These three extracts showed significant inhibition in the Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in vivo model and did not show severe toxicity on healthy animals.
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| 6. |
- Fryknäs, Mårten, et al.
(författare)
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Iron chelators target both proliferating and quiescent cancer cells
- 2016
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP. - 2045-2322. ; 6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Poorly vascularized areas of solid tumors contain quiescent cell populations that are resistant to cell cycle-active cancer drugs. The compound VLX600 was recently identified to target quiescent tumor cells and to inhibit mitochondrial respiration. We here performed gene expression analysis in order to characterize the cellular response to VLX600. The compound-specific signature of VLX600 revealed a striking similarity to signatures generated by compounds known to chelate iron. Validation experiments including addition of ferrous and ferric iron in excess, EXAFS measurements, and structure activity relationship analyses showed that VLX600 chelates iron and supported the hypothesis that the biological effects of this compound is due to iron chelation. Compounds that chelate iron possess anti-cancer activity, an effect largely attributed to inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase in proliferating cells. Here we show that iron chelators decrease mitochondrial energy production, an effect poorly tolerated by metabolically stressed tumor cells. These pleiotropic features make iron chelators an attractive option for the treatment of solid tumors containing heterogeneous populations of proliferating and quiescent cells.
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| 7. |
- Gimsing, P, et al.
(författare)
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Salvage bortezomib-dexamethasone and high-dose melphalan (HDM) and autologous stem cell support (ASCT) in myeloma patients at first relapse after HDM with ASCT. A phase-2 trial.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Bone Marrow Transplantation. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-5365 .- 0268-3369. ; 50:10, s. 1306-1311
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Until recently, only retrospective studies had been published on salvage high-dose melphalan (HDM) with autologous stem cell 'transplantation' (ASCT). In a prospective, nonrandomized phase-2 study, we treated 53 bortezomib-naïve patients with bortezomib-dexamethasone as induction and bortezomib included in the conditioning regimen along with the HDM. Median progression-free survival (PFS), time to next treatment (TNT) and overall survival (OS) after start of reinduction therapy were 21.6, 22.8 and 46.6 months, respectively. For 49 patients who completed salvage bortezomib-HDM(II) with ASCT, there was no significant difference of PFS and TNT after HDM (II) compared with after the initial HDM(I), and thus patients were their own controls (PFS (I: 20.1 vs II: 19.3 months (P=0.8)) or TNT (I: 24.4 vs II: 20.7 months (P=0.8)). No significant differences in the response rates after salvage ASCT compared with the initial ASCT. Bortezomib-HDM conditioning combo was feasible, and toxicity was as expected for patients treated with bortezomib and ASCT. In conclusion, in bortezomib-naïve patients treated at first relapse with salvage ASCT including bortezomib, PSF and TNT did not differ significantly from initial ASCT and median OS was almost 5.5 years with acceptable toxicity. A recent prospective randomized study confirms salvage ASCT to be an effective treatment.Bone Marrow Transplantation advance online publication, 29 June 2015; doi:10.1038/bmt.2015.125.
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| 8. |
- Hillert, Ellin-Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Proteasome inhibitor b-AP15 induces enhanced proteotoxicity by inhibiting cytoprotective aggresome formation
- 2019
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Ingår i: Cancer Letters. - : ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD. - 0304-3835 .- 1872-7980. ; 448, s. 70-83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Proteasome inhibitors have been shown to induce cell death in cancer cells by triggering an acute proteotoxic stress response characterized by accumulation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins, ER stress and the production of reactive oxygen species. The aggresome pathway has been described as an escape mechanism from proteotoxicity by sequestering toxic cellular aggregates. Here we show that b-AP15, a small-molecule inhibitor of proteasomal deubiquitinase activity, induces poly-ubiquitin accumulation in absence of aggresome formation. b-AP15 was found to affect organelle transport in treated cells, raising the possibility that microtubule-transport of toxic protein aggregates is inhibited, leading to enhanced cytotoxicity. In contrast to the antiproliferative effects of the clinically used proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, the effects of b-AP15 are not further enhanced by the histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA). Our results suggest an inhibitory effect of b-AP15 on the transport of misfolded proteins, resulting in a lack of aggresome formation, and a strong proteotoxic stress response.
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| 9. |
- Holmstrom, Oscar, et al.
(författare)
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Detection of breast cancer lymph node metastases in frozen sections with a point-of care low-cost microscope scanner
- 2019
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 14:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Detection of lymph node metastases is essential in breast cancer diagnostics and staging, affecting treatment and prognosis. lntraoperative microscopy analysis of sentinel lymph node frozen sections is standard for detection of axillary metastases but requires access to a pathologist for sample analysis. Remote analysis of digitized samples is an alternative solution but is limited by the requirement for high-end slide scanning equipment.Objective To determine whether the image quality achievable with a low-cost, miniature digital microscope scanner is sufficient for detection of metastases in breast cancer lymph node frozen sections.Methods Lymph node frozen sections from 79 breast cancer patients were digitized using a prototype miniature microscope scanner and a high-end slide scanner. Images were independently reviewed by two pathologists and results compared between devices with conventional light microscopy analysis as ground truth.Results Detection of metastases in the images acquired with the miniature scanner yielded an overall sensitivity of 91% and specificity of 99% and showed strong agreement when compared to light microscopy (k = 0.91). Strong agreement was also observed when results were compared to results from the high-end slide scanner (k = 0.94). A majority of discrepant cases were micrometastases and sections of which no anticytokeratin staining was available.ConclusionAccuracy of detection of metastatic cells in breast cancer sentinel lymph node frozen sections by visual analysis of samples digitized using low-cost, point-of-care microscopy is comparable to analysis of digital samples scanned using a high-end, whole slide scanner. This technique could potentially provide a workflow for digital diagnostics in resource-limited settings, facilitate sample analysis at the point-of-care and reduce the need for trained experts on-site during surgical procedures.
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| 10. |
- Karlsson, Henning, et al.
(författare)
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A novel tumor spheroid model identifies selective enhancement of radiation by an inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation
- 2019
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Ingår i: Oncotarget. - Orchard Park, NY United States : Impact Journals. - 1949-2553. ; 10:51, s. 5372-5382
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a need for preclinical models that can enable identification of novel radiosensitizing drugs in clinically relevant high-throughput experiments. We used a new high-throughput compatible total cell kill spheroid assay to study the interaction between drugs and radiation in order to identify compounds with radiosensitizing activity. Experimental drugs were compared to known radiosensitizers and cytotoxic drugs clinically used in combination with radiotherapy. VLX600, a novel iron-chelating inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, potentiated the effect of radiation in tumor spheroids in a synergistic manner. This effect was specific to spheroids and not observed in monolayer cell cultures. In conclusion, the total cell kill spheroid assay is a feasible high-throughput method in the search for novel radiosensitizers. VLX600 shows encouraging characteristics for development as a novel radiosensitizer.
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