Secondary cytoreduction in recurrent ovarian cancer- experience from a tertiary care centre in India.

Introduction: Ovarian cancer is a disease that presents in advanced stage, due to the absence of any specific or overtly dramatic symptoms. The standard of care is primary debulking surgery, followed by chemotherapy. Ovarian cancer recurrence treatment is very challenging and there is always a debate between cytoreduction vs chemotherapy.

The clinico pathological features and survival in serous endometrial cancers.

Background & Introduction: Serous cancers are a biologically aggressive variety of endometrial cancer (EC) with a high rate of recurrence and mortality among all the subtypes. Herein we describe our experience with serous endometrial cancer.

Objective: This study was conducted to identify the clinicopathological characteristics, treatment modalities and survival outcomes in women diagnosed with serous endometrial malignancies.

A longitudinal study of sexual health and quality of life in endometrial carcinoma survivors.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess sexual health and quality of life (QoL) in endometrial cancer survivors and the factors influencing these variables.

Methods: A mixed method design comprising quantitative (cohort design) and qualitative (face-to-face interviews) aspects was chosen. A total of 132 patients who underwent surgery alone, surgery followed by adjuvant vaginal brachytherapy, or surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiation were included.

Complications and Outcomes of Diaphragm Surgeries in Epithelial Ovarian Malignancies.

To achieve optimal debulking, cytoreductive surgery often involves diaphragm stripping. We describe our complications and survival outcomes after diaphragm surgery in epithelial ovarian cancer. A retrospective analysis on patients with advanced stage epithelial ovarian cancer between January 2012 and September 2019.

Repurposing ketoconazole as an exosome directed adjunct to sunitinib in treating renal cell carcinoma.

Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) is the most common form of kidney cancer, with clear cell RCC (ccRCC) representing about 85% of all RCC tumors. There are limited curable treatments available for metastatic ccRCC because this disease is unresponsive to conventional targeted systemic pharmacotherapy. Exosomes (Exo) are small extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted from cancer cells with marked roles in tumoral signaling and pharmacological resistance.

Circular Migration and Precarity: Perspectives from Rural Bihar.

Migration and mobilities are vastly underestimated in India. In particular, circular migration remains poorly captured as circular migrants move back and forth between source and destination regions. Based on survey data from rural Bihar, an important source region of migration in India, this paper finds that a vast majority of migrants work and live in precarity in predominantly urban and prosperous destinations across India.

Isolation, characterisation and detection of breath-derived extracellular vesicles.

The physical characterisation, capture and detection of extracellular vesicles (EVs) and exosomes derived from breath condensate is reported. Breath-derived EVs were isolated from breath condensate and captured on a gold substrate using two complimentary methods. The characterised and isolated EVs were detected using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).

High-throughput screening identified selective inhibitors of exosome biogenesis and secretion: A drug repurposing strategy for advanced cancer.

Targeting exosome biogenesis and release may have potential clinical implications for cancer therapy. Herein, we have optimized a quantitative high throughput screen (qHTS) assay to identify compounds that modulate exosome biogenesis and/or release by aggressive prostate cancer (PCa) CD63-GFP-expressing C4-2B cells. A total of 4,580 compounds were screened from the LOPAC library (a collection of 1,280 pharmacologically active compounds) and the NPC library (NCGC collection of 3,300 compounds approved for clinical use).

Manumycin A suppresses exosome biogenesis and secretion via targeted inhibition of Ras/Raf/ERK1/2 signaling and hnRNP H1 in castration-resistant prostate cancer cells.

Emerging evidence links exosomes to cancer progression by the trafficking of oncogenic factors and neoplastic reprogramming of stem cells. This necessitates identification and integration of functionally validated exosome-targeting therapeutics into current cancer management regimens. We employed quantitative high throughput screen on two libraries to identify exosome-targeting drugs; a commercially available collection of 1280 pharmacologically active compounds and a collection of 3300 clinically approved compounds.

Identification of microRNA signature and potential pathway targets in prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common and the second leading cause of cancer-related death among American men. Early diagnosis is a prerequisite to improving therapeutic benefits. However, the current clinical biomarkers for PC do not reliably decipher indolent PC from other urogenital disorders.

Effect of adipose tissue-derived stem cell injection in a rat model of urethral fibrosis.

Introduction: We sought to evaluate the therapeutic effect of adi-pose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) in a rat model of urethral fibrosis.

Methods: Eighteen (18) male Sprague-Dawley rats (300‒350 g) were divided into three groups: (1) sham (saline injection); (2) urethral fibrosis group (10 μg transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) injection); and (3) ADSCs group (10 μg TGF-β1 injection plus 2 × 10 ADSCs). Rat ADSCs were harvested from rat inguinal fat pads.

Estradiol-ERβ2 signaling axis confers growth and migration of CRPC cells through TMPRSS2-ETV5 gene fusion.

Estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) splice variants are implicated in prostate cancer (PC) progression; however their underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We report that non-canonical activation of estradiol (E)-ERβ2 signaling axis primes growth, colony-forming ability and migration of the androgen receptor (AR)-null castration-resistant PC (CRPC) cells under androgen-deprived conditions (ADC). The non-classical E-ERβ2 mediates phosphorylation and activation of Src-IGF-1R complex, which in turn triggers p65-dependent transcriptional upregulation of the androgen-regulated serine protease gene fusions under ADC.

Nanotechnology combined therapy: tyrosine kinase-bound gold nanorod and laser thermal ablation produce a synergistic higher treatment response of renal cell carcinoma in a murine model.

Objective: To investigate tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and gold nanorods (AuNRs) paired with photothermal ablation in a human metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) mouse model. Nanoparticles have been successful as a platform for targeted drug delivery in the treatment of urological cancers. Likewise, the use of nanoparticles in photothermal tumour ablation, although early in its development, has provided promising results.

Nelfinavir targets multiple drug resistance mechanisms to increase the efficacy of doxorubicin in MCF-7/Dox breast cancer cells.

Development of multidrug resistance (MDR) remains a significant problem in cancer chemotherapy and underscores the importance of using chemosensitizers. Well known MDR mechanisms include: (i) upregulation of drug-efflux; (ii) increased signaling via AKT; and (iii) decreased apoptosis. Therefore, chemosensitizers should target multiple resistance mechanisms.

Dysregulation of miR-212 Promotes Castration Resistance through hnRNPH1-Mediated Regulation of AR and AR-V7: Implications for Racial Disparity of Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: The causes of disproportionate incidence and mortality of prostate cancer among African Americans (AA) remain elusive. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanistic role and assess clinical utility of the splicing factor heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein H1 (hnRNP H1) in prostate cancer progression among AA men.

Experimental Design: We employed an unbiased functional genomics approach coupled with suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH) and custom cDNA microarrays to identify differentially expressed genes in microdissected tumors procured from age- and tumor grade-matched AA and Caucasian American (CA) men.

Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (Xiaflex) for the Treatment of Urethral Stricture Disease in a Rat Model of Urethral Fibrosis.

Objective: To evaluate the treatment effect of collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) in a rat model of urethral fibrosis.

Materials And Methods: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350 g) were divided into 5 groups. The rat urethra was injected with normal saline in the sham group and, in the other 4 groups, the rat urethra was injected with 10 μg of transforming growth factor beta 1 to create fibrosis of the urethra.

Selective targeting of FAK-Pyk2 axis by alpha-naphthoflavone abrogates doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells.

Despite an initial positive response, breast cancer cells inevitably acquire resistance to doxorubicin (Dox). Alpha-naphthoflavone (ANF) is a well-known chemopreventive agent; however, its anti-cancer properties have not been established. We examined the therapeutic efficacy of ANF in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 (MCF-7/Dox) breast cancer cells and investigated its underlying molecular mechanisms of action.

Nrf1 and Nrf2 transcription factors regulate androgen receptor transactivation in prostate cancer cells.

Despite androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), persistent androgen receptor (AR) signaling enables outgrowth of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In prostate cancer (PCa) cells, ADT may enhance AR activity through induction of oxidative stress. Herein, we investigated the roles of Nrf1 and Nrf2, transcription factors that regulate antioxidant gene expression, on hormone-mediated AR transactivation using a syngeneic in vitro model of androgen dependent (LNCaP) and castration resistant (C4-2B) PCa cells.