Elevated Platelet Aggregation in Patients with Ovarian Cancer: More than Just Increased Platelet Count.

Patients with ovarian cancer have high platelet counts, which correlate with disease burden, incidence, and lethality of blood clots (thrombosis). We hypothesized that elevated aggregation is associated with both increased platelet number and altered behavior of platelets in patients with ovarian cancer. Healthy controls and patients with suspected or diagnosed ovarian cancer were evaluated for complete blood counts.

Implications of GPIIB-IIIA Integrin and Liver X Receptor in Platelet-Induced Compression of Ovarian Cancer Multi-Cellular Spheroids.

Platelets have been shown to promote ovarian cancer; however, the mechanism is poorly understood. Previously, we demonstrated that platelets reduce the size and increase the density of multi-cellular ovarian cancer spheroids in cell cultures. The objectives of this study were to determine if platelet inhibitors could counteract these effects, and to explore the mechanisms involved.

ATR inhibition increases reliance on PARP-mediated DNA repair revealing an improved therapeutic strategy for cervical cancer.

Objective: Cervical cancer results from persistent infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) and the expression of E6 and E7 oncoproteins. E6 and E7 compromise the activity of p53 and Rb, the G1-S cell cycle checkpoint, and ATM-mediated DNA damage repair (DDR), which in turn increases reliance on ATR- and PARP-mediated DDR at the G2 cell cycle checkpoint. This study aimed to determine the effects of an ATR inhibitor (ATRi, AZD6738) and a PARP-inhibitor (PARPi, AZD2281) on HR-HPV+ cervical cancer cell lines.

Mass Spectrometry Quantification of Anticancer Drug Uptake in Single Multicellular Tumor Spheroids.

Although most advanced-stage ovarian cancers initially respond to platinum- and taxane-based chemotherapy, the majority of them will recur and eventually develop chemoresistance. Among all drug resistance mechanisms, reduced drug uptake in tumors is regarded as an important pathway acquired by drug-resistant cancer cells. For patients with ovarian cancer, chemoresistant cells can develop into multicellular spheroids and spread through ascite fluid that accumulates in their abdomen.