Macrophages promote anti-androgen resistance in prostate cancer bone disease.

Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (PC) is the final stage of PC that acquires resistance to androgen deprivation therapies (ADT). Despite progresses in understanding of disease mechanisms, the specific contribution of the metastatic microenvironment to ADT resistance remains largely unknown. The current study identified that the macrophage is the major microenvironmental component of bone-metastatic PC in patients.

RAC1B function is essential for breast cancer stem cell maintenance and chemoresistance of breast tumor cells.

Breast cancer stem cells (BCSC) are presumed to be responsible for treatment resistance, tumor recurrence and metastasis of breast tumors. However, development of BCSC-targeting therapies has been held back by their heterogeneity and the lack of BCSC-selective molecular targets. Here, we demonstrate that RAC1B, the only known alternatively spliced variant of the small GTPase RAC1, is expressed in a subset of BCSCs in vivo and its function is required for the maintenance of BCSCs and their chemoresistance to doxorubicin.

Steroid Ligands, the Forgotten Triggers of Nuclear Receptor Action; Implications for Acquired Resistance to Endocrine Therapy.

Purpose: There is strong epidemiologic evidence indicating that estrogens may not be the sole steroid drivers of breast cancer. We hypothesize that abundant adrenal androgenic steroid precursors, acting via the androgen receptor (AR), promote an endocrine-resistant breast cancer phenotype.

Experimental Design: AR was evaluated in a primary breast cancer tissue microarray ( = 844).

Monocyte-derived macrophages promote breast cancer bone metastasis outgrowth.

Bone metastasis is the major cause of death in breast cancer. The lack of effective treatment suggests that disease mechanisms are still largely unknown. As a key component of the tumor microenvironment, macrophages promote tumor progression and metastasis.

Unlocking the transcriptomic potential of formalin-fixed paraffin embedded clinical tissues: comparison of gene expression profiling approaches.

Background: High-throughput transcriptomics has matured into a very well established and widely utilised research tool over the last two decades. Clinical datasets generated on a range of different platforms continue to be deposited in public repositories provide an ever-growing, valuable resource for reanalysis. Cost and tissue availability normally preclude processing samples across multiple technologies, making it challenging to directly evaluate performance and whether data from different platforms can be reliably compared or integrated.

Neoadjuvant Therapy for Breast Cancer as a Model for Translational Research.

Neoadjuvant therapy, where patients receive systemic therapy before surgical removal of the tumour, can downstage tumours allowing breast-conserving surgery, rather than mastectomy. In addition to its impact on surgery, the neoadjuvant setting offers a valuable opportunity to monitor individual tumour response. The effectiveness of standard and/or potential new therapies can be tested in the neoadjuvant pre-surgical setting.

Molecular changes during extended neoadjuvant letrozole treatment of breast cancer: distinguishing acquired resistance from dormant tumours.

Background: The risk of recurrence for endocrine-treated breast cancer patients persists for many years or even decades following surgery and apparently successful adjuvant therapy. This period of dormancy and acquired resistance is inherently difficult to investigate; previous efforts have been limited to in-vitro or in-vivo approaches. In this study, sequential tumour samples from patients receiving extended neoadjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy were characterised as a novel clinical model.

Effects of cell seeding density on real-time monitoring of anti-proliferative effects of transient gene silencing.

Background: Real-time cellular analysis systems enable impedance-based label-free and dynamic monitoring of various cellular events such as proliferation. In this study, we describe the effects of initial cell seeding density on the anti-proliferative effects of transient gene silencing monitored via real-time cellular analysis. We monitored the real-time changes in proliferation of Huh7 hepatocellular carcinoma and A7r5 vascular smooth muscle cells with different initial seeding densities following transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1) silencing using xCELLigence system.

Accurate prediction of response to endocrine therapy in breast cancer patients: current and future biomarkers.

Approximately 70% of patients have breast cancers that are oestrogen receptor alpha positive (ER+) and are therefore candidates for endocrine treatment. Many of these patients relapse in the years during or following completion of adjuvant endocrine therapy. Thus, many ER+ cancers have primary resistance or develop resistance to endocrine therapy during treatment.

Effects of 1-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl)-imidazole (TRIM) on receptor-independent and -dependent contractile responses in rat aorta.

Background/aim: This study investigates whether 1-(2-trifluoromethylphenyl)-imidazole (TRIM), originally proposed as a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor and also suggested to be an inhibitor of store-operated calcium entry in mouse anococcygeal muscle, inhibits receptor-independent and -dependent responses in rat thoracic aorta.

Materials And Methods: Cyclopiazonic acid- and serotonin-induced vascular responses were investigated in aortic segments isolated from male Sprague Dawley rats using isolated tissue experiments. Changes in intracellular calcium levels were also monitored via front surface fluorescence measurements in fura-2-loaded embryonic rat vascular smooth muscle cell line A7r5.

Differential expression of store-operated calcium- and proliferation-related genes in hepatocellular carcinoma cells following TRPC1 ion channel silencing.

TRPC1 and store-operated Ca(2+) (SOC) entry have previously been associated with hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation. The aim of the study was to determine genes and processes associated with TRPC1 down-regulation and the resulting increase of SOC entry and decrease in hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation. For this purpose, transcriptome analysis was performed to determine differentially expressed genes in TRPC1-silenced Huh7 cells.

Effects of cyclopiazonic acid and dexamethasone on serotonin-induced calcium responses in vascular smooth muscle cells.

We previously observed that sarcoendoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) ATPase (SERCA) blockade by cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) significantly potentiates serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT))-induced vascular contractions. Furthermore, 5-HT receptor antagonist methysergide partially inhibited CPA-potentiated 5-HT contractions. In the present study, we further investigated whether SERCA inhibition potentiates 5-HT-induced Ca(2+) responses along with attenuating the receptor antagonism by store-operated Ca(2+) (SOC) entry and protein kinase C (PKC)-mediated mechanisms.

Silencing of TRPC1 regulates store-operated calcium entry and proliferation in Huh7 hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Purpose: Previously, we observed reciprocal changes in TRPC1 and TRPC6 expression levels in aging rat aorta and A7r5, rat embryonic vascular smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, downregulation of TRPC1 significantly elevated store-operated Ca(2+) entry suggesting the regulatory role of TRPC1 in A7r5 cells. Since TRPC6 upregulation shown to be associated with cell proliferation, the purpose of our study was to investigate the functional consequences of TRPC1 ion channel downregulation by RNA interference in Huh7 human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line.

Simultaneous measurement of cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium levels: observations in TRPC1-silenced hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Introduction: The measurement of intracellular Ca(2+), cytosolic or stored in organelles, i.e., mitochondria, gave valuable data for numerous areas of research.

Effects of passage number on proliferation and store-operated calcium entry in A7r5 vascular smooth muscle cells.

Introduction: Embryonic rat aortic smooth muscle cells, A7r5, have been used extensively as an in vitro vascular smooth muscle cell model. They are usually provided at 11th passage by supplier and generally used before 25th passage. However, the exact passage number (P#) used is not reported in general.

Introducing basic molecular biology to Turkish rural and urban primary school children via hands-on PCR and gel electrophoresis activities.

This study includes the results of a 2-day education project titled "Molecular Biology Laboratory Summer School, MoBiLYO." The project was held at a University Research Center by scientists from Department of Pharmacology and graduate students. The project was composed of introductory lectures, model construction, DNA isolation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis.

Expression levels of TRPC1 and TRPC6 ion channels are reciprocally altered in aging rat aorta: implications for age-related vasospastic disorders.

We previously showed that the expression of transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC)6 ion channel elevated when TRPC1 was knocked down in A7r5 cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore whether TRPC6 is also upregulated in aging rat aorta comparable to that of TRPC1 in longitudinal in vivo aging model. We further investigated a possible causal relationship between altered phenylephrine-induced contractions and the expression levels of TRPC6, a purported essential component of alpha-adrenergic receptor signaling in aging aorta.

Post-transcriptional silencing of TRPC1 ion channel gene by RNA interference upregulates TRPC6 expression and store-operated Ca2+ entry in A7r5 vascular smooth muscle cells.

This study investigates functional consequences of TRPC1 ion channel downregulation observed in aging rat aorta by employing RNA interference in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells. For this purpose, A7r5 aortic smooth muscle cells were used in quantitative gene and protein expression as well as in functional analyses. According to quantitative RT-PCR results, TRPC3, TRPC4 and TRPC5 mRNAs were not at detectable levels.