Patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) respond well to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) of the Bcr-Abl oncoprotein. However, intolerance and resistance to these agents remains a challenge, and TKIs are unable to eradicate rare leukemia-initiating cells. Leukemia treatment would benefit from a better understanding of molecular signals that are necessary for the survival of leukemia-initiating cells but dispensable for normal hematopoietic stem cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Steroid hormones and growth factors affect lung cancer, and it is possible they act in concert to influence patient outcome.
Experimental Design: Primary lung tumors and normal lung tissue were analyzed for expression and localization of estrogen receptor α and β-1 (ERα and ERβ), aromatase, progesterone receptor (PR), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).
Results: Tumors expressed higher levels of ERβ compared to matched normal lung, whereas the reverse was true of PR.
Vitamin D has been shown to have anti-proliferative effects in a wide variety of cancers including lung cancer. The anticancer effects of vitamin D are mediated primarily by its active metabolite, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitriol), through vitamin D receptor (VDR) signaling. However, thus far there have been no studies evaluating the association between VDR expression and survival outcome in lung cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Regulatory T cell (Treg) frequency and activity are increased in cancer patients and play a major role in tumor escape. Although disease progression is favored by the presence of Treg, mechanisms used by Treg to suppress antitumor immunity are unknown. The ectonucleotidases CD39 and CD73 are expressed in Treg and convert ATP into immunosuppressive adenosine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOvarian cancer patients with persistent (platinum-resistant) or progressive (platinum-refractory) disease respond poorly to second line chemotherapy and have low survival expectancy. New and improved therapeutic approaches are needed and immune biologics are one possibility. Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a T-cell growth factor believed to be important in anti-tumor immunity.
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