Publications by authors named "Britta Fritzsche"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the role of soluble CD27 (sCD27) and its potential as a biomarker to predict patient responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in cancer therapy, as many patients do not achieve lasting results with current treatments.
  • - Researchers assessed serum and plasma levels of sCD27 across three patient cohorts (totaling 187 individuals) receiving ICI therapy, utilizing immunoassays and investigating both circulating and extracellular vesicle-bound forms of CD27.
  • - Results showed that lower levels of sCD27 in patients treated with ICIs were associated with longer progression-free survival and overall survival, suggesting that sCD27 could serve as a valuable predictive biomarker for the effectiveness of ICI treatments.
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γδ T cells represent a unique T cell subpopulation due to their ability to recognize cancer cells in a T cell receptor- (TCR) dependent manner, but also in a non-major histocompatibility complex- (MHC) restricted way via natural killer receptors (NKRs). Endowed with these features, they represent attractive effectors for immuno-therapeutic strategies with a better safety profile and a more favorable anti-tumor efficacy in comparison to conventional αβ T cells. Also, remarkable progress has been achieved re-activating exhausted T lymphocytes with inhibitors of co-regulatory receptors e.

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Cancer proteomics provide a powerful approach to identify biomarkers for personalized medicine. Particularly, biomarkers for early detection, prognosis and therapeutic intervention of bone cancers, especially osteosarcomas, are missing. Initially, we compared two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE)-based protein expression pattern between cell lines of fetal osteoblasts, osteosarcoma and pulmonary metastasis derived from osteosarcoma.

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Background: Malignant transformation in ulcerative colitis (UC) is associated with pronounced chromosomal instability, reflected by aneuploidy. Although aneuploidy can precede primary cancer diagnosis in UC for more than a decade, little is known of its cellular consequences.

Methods: Whole-genome gene expression analysis was applied to noninflamed colon mucosa, mucosal biopsies of patients with UC, and UC-associated carcinomas (UCCs).

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Retinoids are essential in vertebrate reproduction and embryonic development. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) is tightly regulated during these processes. CYP26A1 is mainly responsible for its degradation.

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Objective: Aneuploidy is an independent risk factor for forthcoming carcinogenesis in ulcerative colitis (UC). An inferior prognosis of patients with ulcerative colitis-associated colorectal cancer (UCC) compared with those with sporadic colorectal cancer (SCC) has been reported, but remains controversial. This prompted us to investigate if aneuploidy can be observed in UCCs as frequently as in their sporadic counterpart and if aneuploidy per se might be a driving feature of poor prognosis in UCC.

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Vitamin A deficiency is known to be accompanied with immune deficiency and susceptibility to a wide range of infectious diseases. Experimental evidence suggests that the active metabolites of vitamin A that mediate its effects on the immune system are the retinoic acids (RA), which are ligands for the nuclear RA receptor (RAR) family. RA were previously shown both to promote proliferation and to regulate apoptosis of thymocytes.

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Background And Aims: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death. Current clinical practice in colorectal cancer screening (fecal occult blood test, FOBT; colonoscopy) has contributed to a reduction of mortality. However, despite these screening programs, about 70% of carcinomas are detected at advanced tumor stages (UICC III/IV) presenting poor patient prognosis.

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The retinoic acid (RA) synthesizing enzymes, retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDH), are expressed in specific spatial and temporal patterns in uterine tissues during estrous cycle and early pregnancy in mice. Expression of RALDH1 and 2 has been shown to be induced by estrogen treatment within the uterus. In this study, we determined the influence of progesterone and 17-ss-estradiol on the uterine expression of the RA-metabolizing enzyme CYP26A1 after specific time intervals (1, 4, 24, and 48 hr after treatment of ovariectomized mice).

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The active metabolite of vitamin A, retinoic acid (RA), plays an important role in the female reproductive system. The synthesis of RA is tightly regulated by the activity of retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (Raldh). Among these, Raldh1 and Raldh2 exhibit specific temporal and spatial expression patterns in the mouse uterus, both during the oestrous cycle and early pregnancy.

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