Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2009

Novel Targets in Cancer Therapy In this special issue six articles on current developments in the field of cancer research with special emphasis on novel approaches and or novel targets in cancer chemotherapy are presented. These include identification of novel targets in breast cancer such as the bone marrow microenvironment and the interaction with subsets of tumor cells including tumor stem cells (see article by Ramesh Read More

This review focuses on the properties of different breast cancer cell subsets, including cancer stem cells (CSCs) and cancer progenitors. The premise is that an understanding of self-renewal, the effects of aging microenvironment on the behavior of cancer cell subsets will map the path of development from CSCs to progenitors. The basic characterization of different cancer cell subsets will lead to their signatures and open Read More

Notch was first recognized as an important developmental pathway in Drosophila in the first half of the 20th century. Many decades later, this pathway has been found to play central roles in humans in stem cell maintenance, cell fate decisions, and in cancer as well. Notch family members are being revealed as oncogenes in an ever-increasing number of cancers. Though significant progress has been made in dissecting the Read More

Recent advances in cancer research showed that changes of the cell “epigenome” contribute significantly to the development and progression of cancer. Similar to genetic alterations, epigenetic modifications can be transmitted to the next generation and used to turn off and/or on certain genes or pathways that may confer survival benefit to a malignant cell. However, epigenetic changes are readily reversible raising the p Read More

The concept of cancer immunotherapy provides a fresh perspective as it is not associated with many of the drawbacks of conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. When fully activated the immune system has immense potential as is evident from mis-matched transplanted organs undergoing rapid immunological attack and rejection. However, the development of immune strategies for cancer t Read More

Increasing evidence shows that the interaction between neoplastic cells and the surrounding stroma is a critical factor in solid tumor growth. The tumor stroma is made up of diverse cellular populations including macrophages, lymphocytes, vascular cells, and carcinoma-associated fibroblasts. The complex interactions between the stroma and neoplastic cells are largely unexplored. Initial therapies aimed at disrupting angiogen Read More

Cancer Stem cells (CSC) are defined as a population of cells found within a tumor that have characteristics similar to normal stem cells. Like normal stem cells they have the potential to self renew and differentiate. The cellular origin of these cancer stem cells - whether they originate from stem cells that have lost the ability to regulate proliferation, or they arise from more differentiated population of progenitor cells that have ac Read More

After the publication of the draft human genome sequence, now complete or partial genome sequences of 25 mammalian species are available in public genome databases. Obviously, sequence comparisons among the species are crucial for identification of similarities and differences between humans and other mammals in genome evolution. In the post genomic era, however, attention has been paid to uncovering gene functi Read More

Aim of this review is to demonstrate the relevance of animal models created by ENU mutagenesis for the pharmaceutical community to understand diseases and the modulation of disease status by pharmaceutical compounds. We give an overview of what ENU mutagenesis in mice implies and introduce the main research centers running ENU mutagenesis projects. The different strategies of ENU mutagenesis screen Read More

The laboratory rat is obviously an important model for physiology, pathology, pharmacology, toxicology, and transplantation experiments. The value for pharmacological research is immense since virtually every drug approved for human treatment passes through the body of laboratory rats. Hundreds of unique rat models have been developed to mimic pathological and physiological human clinical conditions, especially i Read More

While the human genome project has been completed, analysis of functions of each gene is still underway. Knockout and knock down of gene products offer useful tools to understand functions of a single gene in vivo. Production of knockout mice using homologous recombination in embryonic stem (ES) cells is a powerful and established strategy. However, it is laborious, time-consuming and expensive if expanding la Read More

Personalized medicine offers a custom-made treatment for each patient directed by information of individual's genetic variation. Despite plenty of information about human single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene expression profile, predicting functions of genetic variations in humans is still a difficult task. Genetic analysis using experimental animals is possible to provide information about the functions of genetic polym Read More

The German Mouse Clinic (GMC) is a large scale phenotyping center where mouse mutant lines are analyzed in a standardized and comprehensive way. The result is an almost complete picture of the phenotype of a mouse mutant line - a systemic view. At the GMC, expert scientists from various fields of mouse research work in close cooperation with clinicians side by side at one location. The phenotype screens comprise the follo Read More

Genetically modified animals have been used as models in broad range of studies including pharmaceutical biology. Designing and construction of transgene constructs are the first indispensable task in generating model animals. In addition to the classical restriction enzyme-based method, still holds some advantages in generating precise constructs, site-specific recombinase-based and homologous recombination-based DNA e Read More

One of the upcoming next quests in the field of genetics might be molecular dissection of the genetic and environmental components of human complex diseases. In humans, however, there are certain experimental limitations for identification of a single component of the complex interactions by genetic analyses. Experimental animals offer simplified models for genetic and environmental interactions in human com Read More

Using gene knockout mice of particular genes is one of the most effective methods in conducting successful study on the mode of action of target gene products in targeted organs. So called the knockout technology is now a powerful tool that can lead us to find clear understanding on difficult questions such as the effects of full antagonist against target molecules. Cacna1b ( 1B) gene knockout mouse was generated to study m Read More