Socio-economic factors do not affect overall survival in soft tissue sarcoma when patients treated at a single high-volume center.

Background: Treatments for soft tissue sarcoma (STS) include extensive surgical resection, radiation and chemotherapy, and can necessitate specialized care and excellent social support. Studies have demonstrated that socioeconomic factors, such as income, marital status, urban/rural residence, and educational attainment as well as treatment at high-volume institution may be associated with overall survival (OS) in STS.

Methods: In order to explore the effect of socio-economic factors on OS in patients treated at a high-volume center, we performed a retrospective analysis of STS patients treated at a single institution.

Stereotactic radiosurgery in the treatment of adults with metastatic brain tumors.

Brain metastasis is the most common type of intracranial tumor affecting a significant proportion of advanced cancer patients. In recent years, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) has become commonly utilized. It has contributed significantly to decreased toxicity, prolonged quality of life and general improvement in outcomes of patients with brain metastases.

uPAR induces expression of transforming growth factor β and interleukin-4 in cancer cells to promote tumor-permissive conditioning of macrophages.

Cancer cells condition macrophages and other inflammatory cells in the tumor microenvironment so that these cells are more permissive for cancer growth and metastasis. Conditioning of inflammatory cells reflects, at least in part, soluble mediators (such as transforming growth factor β and IL-4) that are released by cancer cells and alter the phenotype of cells of the innate immune system. Signaling pathways in cancer cells that potentiate this activity are incompletely understood.

A transformation in the mechanism by which the urokinase receptor signals provides a selection advantage for estrogen receptor-expressing breast cancer cells in the absence of estrogen.

Binding of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) to its receptor, uPAR, in estrogen receptor-α (ERα) expressing breast cancer cells, transiently activates ERK downstream of FAK, Src family kinases, and H-Ras. Herein, we show that when uPAR is over-expressed, in two separate ERα-positive breast cancer cell lines, ERK activation occurs autonomously of uPA and is sustained. Autonomous ERK activation by uPAR requires H-Ras and Rac1.

Cell signaling by urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor induces stem cell-like properties in breast cancer cells.

Signaling by urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) can cause epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cultured breast cancer cells. In this report, we show that uPAR signaling can also induce cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties. Ectopic overexpression of uPAR in human MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells promoted the emergence of a CD24(-)/CD44(+) phenotype, characteristic of CSCs, while increasing the cell surface abundance of integrin subunits β1/CD29 and α6/CD49f that represent putative mammary gland stem cell biomarkers.