Current Cancer Drug Targets - Volume 15, Issue 6, 2015

A major breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy was the discovery of immune checkpoint proteins, which function to effectively inhibit the immune system through various mechanisms. The first of such molecules shown to inhibit both T-cell proliferation and IL-2 production was cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 (CTLA-4). With this discovery, efforts turned to blocking this inhibitory pathway in an attempt to activat Read More

Sirtuin 1 is a protein deacetylase that regulates a large number of proteins often functionally implicated in tumor development and progression. Its pleiotropic function has turned SIRT1 into an attractive chemotherapeutic target, underscored by very promising preclinical results with SIRT1 inhibitors in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia. Here, we revisit the studies on SIRT1 as an emerging target for therapy in pancr Read More

Metastasis to the bone is most frequently observed in advanced cases of breast and prostate cancer. The latent development of overt metastatic lesions is associated with debilitating skeletal morbidity and eventual patient mortality. Secondary tumours in bone are derived from disseminated tumour cells (DTCs) that enter into a state of cellular dormancy. The dormant state confers resistance to conventional chemotherapeuti Read More

It has been shown that the regulatory mechanisms of Ca2+ signaling between tumor and normal cells are different, providing new insight into the pharmacological modulation of anticancer drugs. However, it remains unclear whether there is any difference between hepatoma and normal hepatic cells in their response to extracellular Ca2+ ([Ca2+]e). In the present study, the growth inhibition, apoptosis and necrosis rates o Read More

Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) are responsible for treatment failure and relapse in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Therefore, development of novel LSCs-targeting therapeutic strategies is of crucial clinical importance to improve the treatment outcomes of AML. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have shown potent and specific anticancer stem cell activities in preclinical studies. Chidamide, a novel benzamide-type selecti Read More

(5Z,9Z)-11-Phenylundeca-5,9-dienoic acid was stereoselectively synthesized, based on original cross-cyclomagnesiation of 2-(hepta-5,6-dien-1-yloxy)tetrahydro-2H-pyran and buta-2,3-dien-1-ylbenzene with EtMgBr in the presence of the Cp2TiCl2 catalyst giving 2,5-dialkylydenemagnesacyclopentane in 86% yield. The acid hydrolysis of the product and Jones oxidation of the resulting 2-{[(5Z,9Z)-11-p Read More

Background: The best management of liver metastases from colorectal cancer is still debated and little is known about the true impact of treatments on survival. Materials and Methods: The study involved 122 patients (77 males), aged 64.0 ± 11.0 years (range: 27.8–86.1) at diagnosis of liver metastatization (synchronous in 59). All underwent chemotherapy and at least one procedure of radiofrequency ablation; 53 als Read More

Aberrant expression of the MDR1-encoded P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is often associated with clinical multi-drug resistance (MDR) leading to poor prognosis and failure of chemotherapy. However, the precise and cooperative molecular mechanism responsible for MDR1 transcription and expression in acquired MDR remains elusive. We, herein, demonstrate that Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway is constitutively activated in Do Read More

Radiotherapy is one of the important treatment strategies for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinomas. Developing novel sensitizers for radiotherapy is a key issue due to the low intrinsic radiosensitivity of hepatocellular carcinomas. It was reported the wild-type NBS1 inhibitory peptide (wtNIP) can increase radiosensitivity in several cancer cell lines by abrogating ATM-NBS1 interaction and interrupting cellular DN Read More