Influence of Polydatin on the Tumor Microenvironment In Vitro: Studies with a Colon Cancer Cell Model.

The tumor microenvironment of colon carcinoma, the site at which tumor cells and the host immune system interact, is influenced by signals from tumor cells, immunocompetent cells, and bacterial components, including LPS. A large amount of LPS is available in the colon, and this could promote inflammation and metastasis by enhancing tumor cell adhesion to the endothelium. Polydatin (PD), the 3-β-D-glucoside of trans-resveratrol, is a polyphenol with anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and immunoregulatory effects.

Abscopal Effect and Drug-Induced Xenogenization: A Strategic Alliance in Cancer Treatment?

The current state of cancer treatment is still far from being satisfactory considering the strong impairment of patients' quality of life and the high lethality of malignant diseases. Therefore, it is critical for innovative approaches to be tested in the near future. In view of the crucial role that is played by tumor immunity, the present review provides essential information on the immune-mediated effects potentially generated by the interplay between ionizing radiation and cytotoxic antitumor agents when interacting with target malignant cells.

Fatty acid synthase inhibitor orlistat impairs cell growth and down-regulates PD-L1 expression of a human T-cell leukemia line.

Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN) is responsible for the synthesis of fatty acids, which are involved in the preservation of biological membrane structure, energy storage and assembly of factors involved in signal transduction. FASN plays a critical role in supporting tumor cell growth, thus representing a potential target for anti-cancer therapies. Moreover, this enzyme has been recently associated with increased PD-L1 expression, suggesting a role for fatty acids in the impairment of the immune response in the tumor microenvironment.

Inflammatory Microenvironment and Adipogenic Differentiation in Obesity: The Inhibitory Effect of Theobromine in a Model of Human Obesity In Vitro.

Objective: Obesity is considered a clinic condition characterized by a state of chronic low-grade inflammation. The role of macrophages and adipocytokines in adipose tissue inflammation is in growing investigation. The physiopathological mechanisms involved in inflammatory state in obesity are not fully understood though the adipocytokines seem to characterize the biochemical link between obesity and inflammation.

Beneficial and Detrimental Effects of Antiretroviral Therapy on HIV-Associated Immunosenescence.

Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy more than 2 decades ago, HIV-related deaths have dramatically decreased and HIV infection has become a chronic disease. Due to the inability of antiretroviral drugs to eradicate the virus, treatment of HIV infection requires a systemic lifelong therapy. However, even when successfully treated, HIV patients still show increased incidence of age-associated co-morbidities compared with uninfected individuals.

Drug-induced xenogenization of tumors: A possible role in the immune control of malignant cell growth in the brain?

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICpI) have provided the ground to bring tumor immunity back to life thanks to their capacity to afford a real clinical benefit in terms of patient's survival. Essential to ICpI success is the presence of tumor-associated neoantigens generated by non-synonymous mutations, since a direct relationship between mutation load of malignant cells and susceptibility to ICpI has been confidently established. However, it has been also suggested that high intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) associated with subclonal neoantigens could not elicit adequate immune responses.

Antitumour activity of resveratrol on human melanoma cells: A possible mechanism related to its interaction with malignant cell telomerase.

Background: trans-Resveratrol (tRES) is a polyphenolic stilbene found in plant products which has attracted great attention because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.

Methods: The possible correlation between tRES-induced suppression of melanoma cell growth and its influence on telomerase expression has been investigated by biological assays. Moreover, in order to gain new knowledge about possible mechanisms of action of tRES as antineoplastic agent, its interaction with biologically relevant secondary structure-forming DNA sequences, its aggregation properties and copper-binding activity have been studied by CD, UV and fluorescence spectroscopies.

Tumor immunotherapy: drug-induced neoantigens (xenogenization) and immune checkpoint inhibitors.

More than 40 years ago, we discovered that novel transplantation antigens can be induced in vivo or in vitro by treating murine leukemia with dacarbazine. Years later, this phenomenon that we called "Chemical Xenogenization" (CX) and more recently, "Drug-Induced Xenogenization" (DIX), was reproduced by Thierry Boon with a mutagenic/carcinogenic compound (i.e.

Influence of fatty acid synthase inhibitor orlistat on the DNA repair enzyme O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in human normal or malignant cells in vitro.

Tetrahydrolipstatin (orlistat), an inhibitor of lipases and fatty acid synthase, is used orally for long-term treatment of obesity. Although the drug possesses striking antitumor activities in vitro against human cancer cells and in vitro and in vivo against animal tumors, it also induces precancerous lesions in rat colon. Therefore, we tested the in vitro effect of orlistat on the expression of O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), a DNA repair enzyme that plays an essential role in the control of mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.

The antiretroviral agent saquinavir enhances hTERT expression and telomerase activity in human T leukaemia cells in vitro.

Background: Saquinavir, a protease inhibitor utilized in HIV infection, shows antitumor activity in various experimental models. In previous studies performed in our laboratory the drug was found to induce a substantial increase of telomerase activity in normal peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Aim of the present investigation was to test whether saquinavir was able to increase telomerase activity and the expression of the catalytic subunit of telomerase, hTERT, in human malignant hematopoietic cells.

Triazene compounds in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia: a short review and a case report.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly lethal disease, especially in old patients. Chemoresistance and the absence of host immune responses against autochthonous malignancy play a major role in the poor prognosis of AML. The triazene compounds Dacarbazine and Temozolomide are monofunctional alkylators that donate methyl groups to many sites in DNA, including the O(6)-position of guanine producing O(6)-methylguanine (O(6)-MeG).

Circulating tumor cells in colorectal cancer patients.

The availability of sensitive methods has allowed the detailed study of circulating tumor cells only recently. Evolving evidence support the prognostic and predictive role of these cells in patients affected by several solid tumors, including colorectal cancer. Ongoing studies are aimed at confirming that the molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells in peripheral blood and in bone marrow of patients is a powerful tool to improve the patient risk-stratification, to monitor activity of the drugs, to develop more appropriate targeted therapies and tailored treatments.

Molecular mechanisms involved in HIV-1-Tat mediated inhibition of telomerase activity in human CD4(+) T lymphocytes.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is characterized by a progressive decline of CD4(+) T cells and by other immune disorders that are similar to those observed during aging and which lead eventually to AIDS. One of the mechanisms involved in HIV-1 induced immunodeficiency may be the lack of telomerase induction and the consequent impairment of the potential required for CD4(+) T cell expansion. Telomerase compensates for the progressive telomere loss during cell division and preserves the replicative potential of T lymphocytes after repeated antigenic stimulation.

NF-κB is activated in response to temozolomide in an AKT-dependent manner and confers protection against the growth suppressive effect of the drug.

Background: Most DNA-damaging chemotherapeutic agents activate the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). However, NF-κB activation can either protect from or contribute to the growth suppressive effects of the agent. We previously showed that the DNA-methylating drug temozolomide (TMZ) activates AKT, a positive modulator of NF-κB, in a mismatch repair (MMR) system-dependent manner.

Down-regulation of the PTTG1 proto-oncogene contributes to the melanoma suppressive effects of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor PHA-848125.

We previously demonstrated that PHA-848125, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor presently under Phase II clinical investigation, impairs melanoma cell growth. In this study, gene expression profiling showed that PHA-848125 significantly modulated the expression of 128 genes, predominantly involved in cell cycle control, in the highly drug-sensitive GL-Mel (p53 wild-type) melanoma cells. Up-regulation of 4 selected genes (PDCD4, SESN2, DDIT4, DEPDC6), and down-regulation of 6 selected genes (PTTG1, CDC25A, AURKA, AURKB, PLK1, BIRC5) was confirmed at protein levels.

Exogenous control of the expression of Group I CD1 molecules competent for presentation of microbial nonpeptide antigens to human T lymphocytes.

Group I CD1 (CD1a, CD1b, and CD1c) glycoproteins expressed on immature and mature dendritic cells present nonpeptide antigens (i.e., lipid or glycolipid molecules mainly of microbial origin) to T cells.

MicroRNA-155 targets the SKI gene in human melanoma cell lines.

The SKI protein is a transcriptional coregulator over-expressed in melanoma. Experimentally induced down-regulation of SKI inhibits melanoma cell growth in vitro and in vivo. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) negatively modulate gene expression and have been implicated in oncogenesis.

Detection of circulating tumor cells is improved by drug-induced antigen up-regulation: preclinical and clinical studies.

(51)Cr-prelabelled colon cancer cells (simulating 'circulating tumor cells', CTCs) were added to human peripheral blood and exposed to staurosporine (ST) to increase carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) expression. CTCs were captured with immunomagnetic beads coated with Ber-EP4 monoclonal antibody, recognizing the common epithelial antigen present in the majority of cancer cells of epithelial origin, with capture efficiency of more than 80%. Moreover, ST treatment increased CEA expression without compromising Ber-EP4 capture efficiency.

Spindle cells from AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma lesions express telomerase activity that is enhanced by Kaposi's sarcoma progression factors.

The activity of telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein maintaining the length of chromosome ends (telomeres) to levels allowing cells to replicate indefinitely, is undetectable in normal, differentiated cells, is present at low levels in some activated cell types (including endothelial cells) and it is highly expressed by tumor cells. Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), the most frequent tumor in Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients (AIDS-KS), arises as a disorder of new blood vessel formation (angiogenesis), but it may evolve into an aggressive cancer, characterized by the proliferation and invasion of spindle-shaped, endothelial-like cells (KS cells, KSC). Here we report that primary KSC express low telomerase levels which are strongly enhanced by KS initiation and progression factors including the inflammatory mediators interleukin (IL)-1beta, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha and interferon (IFN)gamma, the angiogenic basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and the Tat protein of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor PHA-848125 suppresses the in vitro growth of human melanomas sensitive or resistant to temozolomide, and shows synergistic effects in combination with this triazene compound.

PHA-848125 is a novel cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor under Phase I/II clinical investigation. In this study, we describe, for the first time, the effect of PHA-848125 on human melanoma cells in vitro. Seven melanoma cell lines with different sensitivity to temozolomide (TMZ) were exposed to PHA-848125 for 5 days and then assayed for cell growth.

Interfacing Sca-1(pos) mesenchymal stem cells with biocompatible scaffolds with different chemical composition and geometry.

An immortalized murine mesenchymal stem cell line (mTERT-MSC) enriched for Lin(neg)/Sca-1(pos) fraction has been obtained through the transfection of MSC with murine TERT and single-cell isolation. Such cell line maintained the typical MSC self-renewal capacity and continuously expressed MSC phenotype. Moreover, mTERT-MSC retained the functional features of freshly isolated MSC in culture without evidence of senescence or spontaneous differentiation events.

Altered expression of selected microRNAs in melanoma: antiproliferative and proapoptotic activity of miRNA-155.

Altered expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been detected in cancer, suggesting that these small non-coding RNAs can act as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. In the present study, we investigated the expression of miRNA-17-5p, miRNA-18a, miRNA-20a, miRNA-92a, miRNA-146a, miRNA-146b and miRNA-155 by real-time quantitative RT-PCR in a panel of melanocyte cultures and melanoma cell lines and explored the possible role of miRNA-155 in melanoma cell proliferation and survival. The analyzed miRNAs were selected on the basis of previous studies strongly supporting their involvement in cancer development and/or progression.

miR-155 gene: a typical multifunctional microRNA.

In the last years small RNA molecules, i.e. microRNA (miRNA) encoded by miR genes, have been found to play a crucial role in regulating gene expression of a considerable part of plant's and animal's genome.

AKT is activated in an ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related-dependent manner in response to temozolomide and confers protection against drug-induced cell growth inhibition.

The phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT pathway is activated frequently in human cancer, and it has been implicated in tumor cell proliferation, survival, and chemoresistance. In this study, we addressed the role of AKT in cellular responses to the therapeutic methylating agent temozolomide (TMZ), and we investigated the possible link between TMZ-induced modulation of AKT function and activation of ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related (ATR)- and ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent signaling pathways. We found that clinically relevant concentrations of TMZ caused activation of endogenous AKT in lymphoblastoid cells, and in colon and breast cancer cells, and that this molecular event required a functional mismatch repair system.