Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 15, Issue 3, 2015

It is suggested that our current understanding of the role of nutrients in maintaining genomic stability might be strategically employed alongside current chemotherapy, in order to prevent the emergence of drug resistant tumors and optimize medicinal chemistry approaches.

MicroRNA-153 (miR-153) is considered to be a tumor regulator. Silencing of miR-153 expression induced apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Data on mechanism suggest that up-regulation of miR- 153 level promotes cell proliferation via the down regulation of the expression of PTEN or FOXO1, which attenuates the proliferation of cancerous cells. This study aims to identify the effect of miR-153 on the activity of chemotherapeut Read More

Chronic inflammation plays a crucial role in cigarette smoke-related carcinogenesis. Accordingly, anti-inflammatory agents, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), provide a rational strategy in cancer chemoprevention. We assayed celecoxib, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, and licofelone, an inhibitor of COX-1, COX-2, and 5- lipoxygenase (5-LOX), for the ability to modulate carcinogenesis in Read More

Activation of checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) is essential in chemoresistance of hepatocarcinoma (HCC) to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and other antimetabolite family of drugs. In this study, we demonstrated that PHA-767491, a dual inhibitor of two cell cycle checkpoint kinases, cell division cycle kinase 7 (Cdc7) and cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9), has synergistic antitumor effect with 5-FU to suppress human HCC cells both in vitro and in Read More

Microparticles (MPs) are released from most eukaryotic cells after the vesiculation of the plasma membrane and serve as vectors of long and short-range signaling. MPs derived from multidrug resistant (MDR) cancer cells carry molecular components of the donor cell such as nucleic acids and proteins, and can alter the activity of drug-sensitive recipient cells through the transfer of their cargo. Given the substantial role of Read More

Ovarian cancer (OC) remains the most aggressive and lethal gynecological tumor characterized by massive intraperitoneal dissemination and malignant ascites. The carcinoma cells exfoliated from the primary tumor and were further transformed in the ascites microenvironment. During this suspension process, multi-cellular spheroids are formed and these aggregates represent an invasive and chemoresistant cellular po Read More

Transposable elements (TEs) are mobile DNA sequences representing a substantial fraction of most genomes. Through the creation of new genes and functions, TEs are important elements of genome plasticity and evolution. However TE insertion in human genomes may be the cause of genetic dysfunction and alteration of gene expression contributing to cancer and other human diseases. Besides the chromosome rearr Read More

Introduction: Recently, an increasing number of systemic therapies with life extending capacity have become available in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) i.e. Abiraterone acetate, Enzalutamide, Sipuleucel-T, Docetaxel, Cabazitaxel and Radium-223. More compounds are currently being evaluated in promising pivotal trials (e.g. Tasquinimod, ARN-509, ODM-201, and more). Limitations of the currently a Read More

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) represent a heterogeneous subpopulation of rare cells within breast cancer tumors, displaying an enhanced tumor initiating capability and underlying disease progression and therapy resistance. Unraveling their phenotypic, biological and functional profile is a major challenge in the context of diminishing patient mortality. In this review, following a brief description on how cancer stem cells Read More