Myeloid-derived suppressor cells in mammary tumor progression in FVB Neu transgenic mice.

Female mice transgenic for the rat proto-oncogene c-erb-B2, under control of the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter (neuN), spontaneously develop metastatic mammary carcinomas. The development of these mammary tumors is associated with increased number of GR-1(+)CD11b(+) myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the peripheral blood (PB), spleen and tumor. We report a complex relationship between tumor growth, MDSCs and immune regulatory molecules in non-mutated neu transgenic mice on a FVB background (FVB-neuN).

Role of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in cancer therapy.

Cancer chemotherapy has been one of the major medical advances in the last few decades. However, the drugs used for this therapy have a narrow therapeutic index, and often the responses produced are only just palliative as well as unpredictable. In contrast, targeted therapy that has been introduced in recent years is directed against cancer-specific molecules and signaling pathways and thus has more limited nonspecific toxicities.