Current Drug Targets - Volume 17, Issue 3, 2016

Despite considerable advances in early diagnosis, prostate cancer (PCa) remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men in western countries. In fact, although efficient therapies exist for early-stage disease, the treatment of advanced PCa remains unsuccessful mainly due to its poor responsiveness to anti-cancer agents. This evidence underlines the urgent need for the development of novel and more Read More

Prostate adenocarcinoma is the most diagnosed male cancer in the Western world and the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Albeit most of the patients with prostate adenocarcinoma are currently treated by surgery and/or radiation therapy, more than 30-40% of affected subjects will eventually progress and develop advanced disease. To date, management decisions depend on the clinical stage of the pati Read More

The androgen receptor (AR) signalling pathway remains a key driver of prostate cancer progression despite castrate levels of testosterone in advanced disease. The androgen biosynthesis inhibitor abiraterone and the anti-androgen enzalutamide have been shown to prolong survival in randomized clinical trials both pre-and post-docetaxel chemotherapy and are now in routine clinical use. With the use of these drugs an Read More

Bone is the principal site of metastasis for many carcinomas, including prostate. Once bone metastases are established, the chances of survival dramatically drop. Bone metastases place patients at increased risk of skeletal-related events, including pathologic fractures, bone pain and hypercalcemia. Indeed, skeletal metastases represent the prevalent cause of morbidity and mortality for many tumors. They are the res Read More

Rel/NF-ΚB transcription factors are key regulators of genes implicated in inflammatory and immune activation, cell growth and protection from apoptosis. Constitutive activation of NF-ΚB has been observed in several types of cancers. Recently, it has been shown that inflammation and cancer are molecularly linked by means of NF-ΚB. During prostate cancer progression, NF-ΚB promotes cell survival, tumor invasion, me Read More

In recent decades we have seen an exponential interest in the implications of integrin receptors in cancer biology and especially in prostate tumour development. Integrins has been reported to control multiple mechanisms, such as cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and migration. Here, we report the current understanding of the integrin signalling mechanisms in metastatic prostate tumour development, cross-talks betw Read More

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is the second most common cause of visual loss in the Western World. RVO is usually classified into branch RVO (BRVO) and central RVO (CRVO) according to the anatomical site of the vascular occlusion. The pathogenesis of RVO is not yet fully understood, however an important event is the intraluminal thrombus formation, which is usually secondary to several conditions such as hypertension, hyperl Read More

Cervical cancer is uterine cervix carcinoma, the second deadly cancer and has a high incidence and mortality rate. In the developing world conventional treatment strategies such as surgical intervention and chemoradiotherapy are less widely available. Currently cancer research focuses on improving treatment of cervical cancer using various therapies such as gene therapy, recombinant protein therapy, photody Read More

Non-melanoma skin cancers are the most common malignancy in humans, with a basal/squamous cell carcinoma incidence ratio of 4:1 in immunocompetent patients. Basal cell carcinoma rarely metastasizes but commonly causes significant local tissue destruction and disfigurement, whereas squamous cell carcinoma is associated with a substantial risk of recurrence and metastasis; the prognosis in metastatic patient Read More