Current Molecular Medicine - Volume 3, Issue 7, 2003

Cancer is a disease that has been in existence throughout the history of the human race. The term “carcinoma” was coined as early as in the fourth century B.C. Cancer is a unique and most feared malady that humankind has ever faced. At present, in technologically developed countries one out of every three individuals will be affected with cancer during his or her lifetime, and the prediction is that this may increase to o Read More

Tumorigenesis can be viewed as an imbalance between the mechanisms of cell-cycle control and mutation rates within the genes. Genomic instability is broadly classified into microsatellite instability (MIN) associated with mutator phenotype, and chromosome instability (CIN) recognized by gross chromosomal abnormalities. Three intracellular mechanisms are involved in DNA damage repair that leads to mutator phenoty Read More

Altering the rate of translation initiation of a specific gene can tightly regulate the synthesis of the corresponding polypeptide and is an important mechanism in the control of gene expression. For some time it has been known that many genes involved in cell proliferation, cell growth and apoptosis have atypical 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) containing a high degree of RNA secondary structure, upstream open reading fra Read More

Our current definitions of the tumor suppressor gene (TSG) have been guided by the identification of the prototypical gene, RB1, a TSG that is implicated in the development of both the inherited and sporadic forms of retinoblastoma. The hallmark feature of this TSG is loss of function in tumoral cells, which can be restored by reintroduction of a normally functioning protein with concomitant reversion of tumorigenicity. Ke Read More

Metastasis, the process by which cancer spreads from a primary to a secondary site, is responsible for the majority of cancer related deaths. Yet despite the detrimental effects of metastasis, it is an extremely inefficient process by which very few of the cells that leave the primary tumor give rise to secondary tumors. Metastasis can be considered as a series of sequential steps that begins with a cell leaving a primary tumor, a Read More

The process of angiogenesis encompasses the growth and regression of capillary blood vessels. Angiogenesis is finely regulated at the molecular and genetic levels, not unlike other physiologic processes such as coagulation, glucose metabolism, and blood pressure. During the development of the field of angiogenesis research over the past three decades, fundamental concepts have been introduced along the way in an attem Read More

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality in developed countries such as the USA. In 1998, there were more than 280,000 and 250,000 cancer related deaths in males and females, respectively. In males, lung and prostate cancers accounted for almost half of these deaths, whereas in females, lung and breast cancers were the leading causes of cancer mortalities. Therefore, the study of cancer has been of the utmo Read More

As tumors progress to increased malignancy, cells within them develop the ability to invade into surrounding normal tissues and through tissue boundaries to form new growths (metastases) at sites distinct from the primary tumor. The molecular mechanisms involved in this process are incompletely understood but those associated with cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion, with the degradation of extracellular matrix, and w Read More