Tumour response and secondary resectability of colorectal liver metastases following neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cetuximab: the CELIM randomised phase 2 trial.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for unresectable colorectal liver metastases can downsize tumours for curative resection. We assessed the effectiveness of cetuximab combined with chemotherapy in this setting.

Methods: Between Dec 2, 2004, and March 27, 2008, 114 patients were enrolled from 17 centres in Germany and Austria; three patients receiving FOLFOX6 alone were excluded from the analysis.

Identification of a novel urokinase receptor splice variant and its prognostic relevance in breast cancer.

The cellular receptor for urokinase-type plasminogen activator, uPAR, plays a central role in both cell surface-associated proteolysis and cellular adhesion. In the present study, we systematically searched for splice variants of uPAR mRNA in human cells and tumor tissues by qualitative RT-PCR using specific primers for uPAR exons 1 and 6. Beside the wild-type (wt) uPAR mRNA and the previously described splice variant lacking exon 5 (uPAR-del5), a novel splice variant lacking both exons 4 and 5 (uPAR-del4/5) was found predominantly in various cancer cell lines.