Post-operative breast cancer patients diagnosed with skeletal metastasis without bone pain had fewer skeletal-related events and deaths than those with bone pain.

Background: Skeletal metastases are often accompanied by bone pain. To investigate the clinical meaning of bone pain associated with skeletal metastasis in breast cancer patients after surgery, we explored whether the presence of bone pain was due to skeletal-related events (SREs) or survival (cause specific death, CSD), retrospectively.

Methods: Consecutive breast cancer patients undergoing surgery between 1988 and 1998 were examined for signs of skeletal metastasis until December 2006.

Similar changes of hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptides mRNAs and plasma leptin levels in PTHrP-, LIF-secreting tumors-induced cachectic rats and adjuvant arthritic rats.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is a causative factor of humoral hypercalcemia in malignancy. However, it is difficult to explain the mechanism of anorexia/cachexia with PTHrP secretion in detail. Previously, we demonstrated that the expressions of orexigenic peptides increased and anorexigenic peptides decreased under cachectic conditions in rats carrying tumors secreting PTHrP.

Roles of interleukin-6 and parathyroid hormone-related peptide in osteoclast formation associated with oral cancers: significance of interleukin-6 synthesized by stromal cells in response to cancer cells.

We investigated the roles of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)-induced osteoclast formation. Microarray analyses performed on 43 human OSCC specimens revealed that many of the specimens overexpressed PTHrP mRNA, but a few overexpressed IL-6 mRNA. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that IL-6 was expressed not only in cancer cells but also in fibroblasts and osteoclasts at the tumor-bone interface.

Functional in vivo optical imaging of tumor angiogenesis, growth, and metastasis prevented by administration of anti-human VEGF antibody in xenograft model of human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells.

Angiogenesis plays a crucial role in cancer progression and metastasis. Thus, blocking tumor angiogenesis is potentially a universal approach to prevent tumor establishment and metastasis. In this study, we used in vivo and ex vivo fluorescence imaging to show that an antihuman vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) antibody represses angiogenesis and the growth of primary tumors of human fibrosarcoma HT1080 cells in implanted nude mice.

Involvement of cyclooxygenase-2 in the tumor site-dependent production of parathyroid hormone-related protein in colon 26 carcinoma.

It has been shown that in the mouse colon 26 tumor model, tumors grown in the subcutis (subcutis colon 26) caused early onset of cachectic syndromes, whereas those in the liver (liver colon 26) did not. Both interleukin (IL)-6 and parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) were involved in the development of cachectic syndromes in this tumor model. However, whether expression of PTHrP and IL-6 is differently regulated in the tumor microenvironment is unclear.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein induces cachectic syndromes without directly modulating the expression of hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptides.

Purpose: Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is a causative factor of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM) and concurrent anorexia and wasting. Because changes in the expression of hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptides can directly affect appetites and thereby can cause anorexia and wasting, we addressed whether the cachectic syndromes induced by PTHrP rely on the action of hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptides.

Experimental Design: Rats were inoculated with a LC-6 human cancer xenograft that secreted PTHrP, and the mRNA levels of the hypothalamic feeding-regulating peptide genes and serum leptin levels were examined before and after the development of HHM by in situ hybridization histochemistry and ELISA, respectively.

Ki26894, a novel transforming growth factor-beta type I receptor kinase inhibitor, inhibits in vitro invasion and in vivo bone metastasis of a human breast cancer cell line.

Transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signaling has been shown to promote tumor growth and metastasis in advanced cancer. Use of inhibitors of TGF-beta signaling may thus be a novel strategy for treatment of patients with such cancers. In this study, we investigated the effects of a novel TGF-beta type I receptor (TbetaR-I) kinase inhibitor, Ki26894, on bone metastasis of a highly bone-metastatic variant of human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells, termed MDA-MB-231-5a-D (MDA-231-D).

CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) regulates osteoblast differentiation.

Differentiation of committed osteoblasts is controlled by complex activities involving signal transduction and gene expression, and Runx2 and Osterix function as master regulators for this process. Recently, CCAAT/enhancer-binding proteins (C/EBPs) have been reported to regulate osteogenesis in addition to adipogenesis. However, the roles of C/EBP transcription factors in the control of osteoblast differentiation have yet to be fully elucidated.

[Bone in malignant disorders: introduction].

Patients harboring cancer and other tumors frequently exhibit such bone morbidity as metabolic bone diseases and bone metastases. Cancers produce and secrete cytokines and growth factors for their growth and survival. Cytokines are also produced by reacting immune systems.

c-Fos protein as a target of anti-osteoclastogenic action of vitamin D, and synthesis of new analogs.

Although active vitamin D drugs have been used for the treatment of osteoporosis, how the vitamin D receptor (VDR) regulates bone cell function remains largely unknown. Using osteoprotegerin-deficient mice, which exhibit severe osteoporosis due to excessive receptor activator of NF-kappaB ligand/receptor activator of NF-kappaB (RANKL/RANK) stimulation, we show herein that oral treatment of these mice with 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1alpha,25(OH)2D3] inhibited bone resorption and prevented bone loss, suggesting that VDR counters RANKL/RANK signaling. In M-CSF-dependent osteoclast precursor cells isolated from mouse bone marrow, 1alpha,25(OH)2D3 potently and dose-dependently inhibited their differentiation into multinucleate osteoclasts induced by RANKL.

Humanized monoclonal antibody against parathyroid hormone-related protein suppresses osteolytic bone metastasis of human breast cancer cells derived from MDA-MB-231.

Background: Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) has been implicated in bone metastasis. However, the effects on bone metastasis of blocking the PTHrP function have not been tested in the clinic. Here, the effects of a humanized anti-PTHrP monoclonal antibody (mAb) on bone metastasis in a human xenograft model are shown.

Increased renal calcium reabsorption by parathyroid hormone-related protein is a causative factor in the development of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy refractory to osteoclastic bone resorption inhibitors.

Purpose: Bisphosphonate and calcitonin lower blood calcium in humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM) by suppressing osteoclastic bone resorption, but repeated administration of these drugs often leads to relapse. In this study, we examined the roles of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in the development of bisphosphonate- and calcitonin-refractory HHM.

Experimental Design: Nude rats bearing the LC-6 JCK tumor xenograft (LC-6 rats) exhibited high bone turnover and HHM.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) as a causative factor of cancer-associated wasting: possible involvement of PTHrP in the repression of locomotor activity in rats bearing human tumor xenografts.

Nude rats bearing the LC-6-JCK human lung cancer xenograft displayed cancer-associated wasting syndrome in addition to humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy. In these rats, not only PTHrP but also several other human proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, leukemia-inducing factor, IL-8, IL-5 and IL-11, were secreted to the bloodstream. Proinflammatory cytokines induce acute-phase reactions, as evidenced by a decrease of serum albumin and an increase in alpha1-acid glycoprotein.

Dose-response study of 22-oxacalcitriol in patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.

The dose-response relationships and the safety of administering 22-oxacalcitriol (OCT) to patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism (2HPT) under regular three-times-weekly hemodialysis (HD) were evaluated by double-blind parallel group design. A total of 203 patients with 2HPT were randomly allocated into four groups, and 5 microg (Group L), 10 microg (Group M), or 15 microg (Group H) OCT, or placebo (Group P) was administrated at the end of every HD for 12 weeks. Reductions of intact-parathyroid hormone (iPTH) concentration greater than 30% from baseline were observed in 7.

Circulating FGF-23 is regulated by 1alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and phosphorus in vivo.

Fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23), a novel phosphate-regulating factor, was elevated in hypophosphatemic patients with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia and also in patients with chronic kidney disease. These observations suggested the pathophysiological importance of FGF-23 on phosphate homeostasis. However, regulation of FGF-23 production is still unclear.

Generation of a humanized monoclonal antibody against human parathyroid hormone-related protein and its efficacy against humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy.

A humanized monoclonal antibody against parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) was generated from the mouse monoclonal antibody raised against the peptide corresponding to the N-terminal 34 amino acids of the human PTHrP [(PTHrP(1-34)]. The humanized antibody interacted with the PTHrP(1-34) with a kD value of 1.90 x 10(-10) M, and the epitope resides between the amino acids 20 and 30 of the PTHrP.

Overexpression of CR/periphilin downregulates Cdc7 expression and induces S-phase arrest.

Cdc7 expression repressor (CR)/periphilin has been originally cloned as an interactor with periplakin, a precursor of the cornified cell envelope, and suggested to constitute a new type of nuclear matrix. We here show that CR/periphilin is a ubiquitously expressed nuclear protein with speckled distribution. Overexpression of CR/periphilin induces S-phase arrest.

Comparison of serum bone resorption markers in the diagnosis of skeletal metastasis.

Background: There are several bone resorption markers which are generated by different mechanisms. The serum level of 3 different bone resorption markers in cancer patients with or without skeletal metastasis was compared to see whether the markers exhibit clinically significant differences useful for metastatic screening.

Patients And Methods: Serum bone metabolic markers were measured in 75 cancer patients with and 201 cancer patients without skeletal metastasis.

p19ARF-induced p53-independent apoptosis largely occurs through BAX.

Combined disruption of the ARF gene and the p53 gene causes mouse predisposition to tumors of a wider variety and at a higher frequency than disruption of the p53 gene, indicating that the ARF gene has p53-independent anti-tumor function in addition to p53-dependent function. Coincidentally with this notion, ectopic expression of the p19(ARF) induces apoptosis for wild-type mouse embryo fibroblasts which have been immortalized by introduction of the SV40 virus genome (SV40-MEFs). The protein expression levels of p53, p21(Cip1), and Bax were not upregulated by ectopic expression of p19(ARF) in SV40-MEFs, indicating that expression of p19(ARF) induced apoptosis through p53-independent pathways in this system.

ik3-2, a relative to ik3-1/Cables, is involved in both p53-mediated and p53-independent apoptotic pathways.

ik3-2 is a close relative to ik3-1/Cables, an associator with cdk3 and cdk5. ik3-1/Cables has been identified to be a candidate tumor suppressor for colon and head/neck cancers. In agreement, it has been pointed out that ik3-1/Cables is a regulator for both p53- and p73-induced apoptosis [J.

Treatment of malignancy-associated hypercalcemia and cachexia with humanized anti-parathyroid hormone-related protein antibody.

Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) plays a central role in humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy (HHM), which is one of the most frequent paraneoplastic syndromes. PTHrP produced by the tumor acts through a common PTH/PTHrP receptor to promote bone resorption, inhibit calcium excretion from the kidney, and induce hypercalcemia. Patients with HHM often develop cachexia associated with typical symptoms such as anorexia, malaise, nausea, constipation, polyuria, polydipsia, and confusion.

Vitamin D-dependent recruitment of DNA-PK to the chromatinized negative vitamin D response element in the PTHrP gene is required for gene repression by vitamin D.

The mechanism of transcriptional repression by nuclear hormone receptors, especially in the presence of the ligands, is largely unknown. We previously reported that 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1,25 vitamin D3) inhibited expression of the parathyroid hormone-related polypeptide (PTHrP) gene through the interaction between the liganded monomeric vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the negative DNA element in the PTHrP gene (nVDRE(RP)). In this study, we employed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay and confirmed that 1,25 vitamin D3 recruited DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs) to the chromatinized nVDRE(RP).