PPARgamma and Agonists against Cancer: Rational Design of Complementation Treatments.

PPARgamma is a member of the ligand-activated nuclear receptor superfamily: its ligands act as insulin sensitizers and some are approved for the treatment of metabolic disorders in humans. PPARgamma has pleiotropic effects on survival and proliferation of multiple cell types, including cancer cells, and is now subject of intensive preclinical cancer research. Studies of the recent decade highlighted PPARgamma role as a potential modulator of angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor and interleukin-6 control prostate neuroendocrine differentiation via feed-forward mechanism.

Purpose: PEDF (pigment epithelium-derived factor) promotes the differentiation and survival of neuronal cells, and expands the adult neuronal stem cell niche. In the prostate PEDF is suppressed by androgen with unclear physiological consequences. We report that PEDF induced the neuroendocrine differentiation of prostate cancer cells, which was accompanied by neurite outgrowth and chromogranin A expression.

Transient potential receptor channel 4 controls thrombospondin-1 secretion and angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma.

Angiogenic switch in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is attributed to the inactivation of the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor, stabilization of hypoxia inducible factor-1 transcription factor and increased vascular endothelial growth factor. To evaluate the role of an angiogenesis inhibitor, thrombopsondin-1 (TSP1), we compared TSP1 production in human RCC and normal tissue and secretion by the normal renal epithelium (human normal kidney, HNK) and RCC cells. Normal and RCC tissues stained positive for TSP1, and the levels of TSP1 mRNA and total protein were similar in RCC and HNK cells.