Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 10, Issue 6, 2010

The form of programmed cell death known as apoptosis has become an intense focus of investigation in various fields including carcinogenesis and cancer therapy. Defects in apoptosis disturb tissue homeostatsis and contribute to the multistep process of carcinogenesis. Since cancer therapy-induced cytotoxicity largely depends on the intact apoptosis signaling cascades, the blockade of apoptotic pathways may enable malign Read More

Antisense reagents and technology have developed as extraordinarily useful tools for analysis of gene function. The capacity of antisense to reduce expression of RNA (including protein-encoding mRNA and non-coding RNA) important in a multitude of diseases (including cancer) has led to the concept of using antisense molecules as drugs to treat those diseases. Both antisense RNA (RNAi) and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) Read More

Lung carcinoma is the leading cause of carcinoma death in the world. Despite recent advances in understanding the molecular biology of lung cancer and the introduction of new therapeutic agents for its treatment, its dismal 5-year survival rate has not changed substantially. Clinical approaches have not significantly improved the survival of patients with advanced lung cancer. However, recent discoveries about the Read More

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of gynecologic malignancies. Currently, standard treatment for epithelial ovarian cancer consists of surgical debulking followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with a platinum-based drug coupled with paclitaxel. While initial response to chemotherapy is high, the majority of patients develop recurrent disease which is characterized by chemoresistance. The primary cytotoxic effect of many che Read More

Bid, a BH3-only Bcl-2 family member, is proven to be a pivotal molecule for the regulation of tumorigenesis by its multiple functions in promoting apoptosis, survival and proliferation. Growing evidence supports that Bid has double roles with respect to stress-response. In most cases it functions in a truncated form, but the cleavage of Bid may not be an absolute requirement for Bid to be pro-apoptotic. Full-length Bid can also tra Read More

The causal relationship between inflammation and cancer has been documented for sometime, but its molecular nature remains ill defined. Increasing evidence suggested that inflammatory microenvironment in and around tumors is an indispensable participant in the neoplastic process. High level of free radicals produced during inflammation significantly induces DNA damage while evading apoptosis, a hallmark of cance Read More

The response of pancreatic cancer to treatments remains unsatisfactory, highlighting the need for more effective therapeutic regimens. Sorafenib, an orally available multikinase inhibitor, is active against different tumors, including pancreatic cancer. We studied the antitumor efficacy of sorafenib in combination with different antitumor drugs currently used in clinical practice in in vitro and in vivo experimental models of h Read More

Purpose: To investigate the capacity for ZD6474, a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor, to enhance antitumor and anti-metastasis effects of radiation on human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Experimental Design: NPC cell lines and xenograft models were evaluated following treatment with ZD6474 and radiation alone and in combination compared with untreated control mice. Results: Treatment with ZD6474 Read More

Spindle poisons/anti-microtubule drugs are established chemotherapy drugs. These drugs primarily target microtubules and mitotic spindles, activate spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), resulting in caspase-mediated cell death. However, the terminal phenotypes of drug-treated cells are surprisingly heterogeneous ranging from mitotic catastrophe to apparent senescence, suggesting that input from a variety of signaling Read More

Polyisoprenylated proteins (PPs) methylation by polyisoprenylated protein methyl transferase (PPMTase) is counteracted by polyisoprenylated methylated protein methyl esterase (PMPMEase). This is the only reversible step of the polyisoprenylation pathway as the relative amounts of the acid and ester forms are determined by the two competing reactions. Since PMPMEase and PPMTase may influence both the structural/f Read More