Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 12, Issue 7, 2012

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant hematological neoplasmand constitutes 10% of blood cancers. Recently, it has become evident that almost all cases of MM are preceded by gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). MM is diagnosed by the presence of paraprotein in serum or urine, detected by serum electrophoresis and immunofixation, infiltration of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow and related org Read More

Multiple myeloma (MM) represents a suitable disease to be treated with Molecularly targeted drugs (MTDs). MM clone aberrations affect signal transduction pathways controlling both proliferation and/or cell survival. Research findings on small drugs or monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against the components of these pathways are now available and related clinical trials in MM patients are rapidly growing up. Promising results Read More

Angiogenesis is a constant hallmark of multiple myeloma (MM) progression and has prognostic potential. The pathophysiology of MM-induced angiogenesis involves both direct production of angiogenic cytokines by plasma cells and their induction within the bone marrow microenvironment. An improved understanding of the importance of angiogenesis-related signaling in MM has allowed for the rational u Read More

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal disorder of plasma cells that remains, for the most part, incurable despite the advent of several novel therapeutic agents. Tumor cells in this disease are cradled within the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment by an array of adhesive interactions between the BM cellular residents, the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) components such as fibronectin (FN), laminin, vascular cel Read More

Recent research advances have defined a key role of the bone marrow (BM) in multiple myeloma (MM) pathogenesis thereby leading to new treatment paradigms, which aim to target both the tumor cell as well as its BM microenvironment. The incorporation of thalidomide, bortezomib, and lenalidomide into conventional cytotoxic and transplantation regimens in relapsed and refractory, but also in newly diagnosed MM h Read More

Mouse models of multiple myeloma (MM) are basic tools for translational research and play a fundamental role in the development of new therapeutics against plasma cell malignancies. All available models, including transplantable murine tumors in syngenic mice, xenografts of established human cell lines in immunocompromised mice and transgenic models that mirror specific steps of MM pathogenesis, have d Read More

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that bind to the 3'untranslated region of target mRNAs and lead to translation repression or mRNA degradation, thus regulating important cell processes. MiRNA deregulation has been identified in virtually all types of cancer, and miRNA profiling has proved useful in cancer diagnosis, prognosis and response to therapy. So far, limited but important evidence of miRNA impaired exp Read More

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) recently emerged with a key role in multiple myeloma (MM) pathophysiology and are considered important regulators of MM cell growth and survival. Since miRNAs can act either as oncogenes or tumour suppressors, the potential of targeting the miRNA network arises as a novel therapeutic approach for human cancer. Potential strategies based on miRNA therapeutics basically rely on miRNA inhibition or Read More

Castrate resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is a disease that is resistant to both hormone therapy and chemotherapy. At present, no curative therapy for CRPC has been established. Therefore, it is necessary to determine a novel molecular target for the development of therapeutic agents. We previously reported that AlkB homolog 3 (ALKBH3) is highly expressed in prostate cancer but not in benign prostatic hyperplasia or in no Read More

Chemotherapy and immunotherapy failed to deliver decisive results in the systemic treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Agents representing the current standards operate on members of the RAS signal transduction pathway. Sunitinib (targeting vascular endothelial growth factor), temsirolimus (an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin - mTOR) and pazopanib (a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kin Read More

Sporadic colorectal cancer develops through a number of functional mutations. Key events are mutually exclusive mutations in BRAF or RAS oncogenes. Signatures for BRAF oncogene have been revealed in melanoma. In a previous study we have reported a molecular signature for HRAS and KRAS mutations in colorectal cell lines that also showed an EMT phenotype for HRAS. In this study we report a molecular profile for Read More