Metabolomic profiling reveals potential markers and bioprocesses altered in bladder cancer progression.

Although alterations in xenobiotic metabolism are considered causal in the development of bladder cancer, the precise mechanisms involved are poorly understood. In this study, we used high-throughput mass spectrometry to measure over 2,000 compounds in 58 clinical specimens, identifying 35 metabolites which exhibited significant changes in bladder cancer. This metabolic signature distinguished both normal and benign bladder from bladder cancer.

Novel role of androgens in mitochondrial fission and apoptosis.

Androgen and androgen receptors (AR) play critical roles in the proliferation of prostate cancer through transcriptional regulation of target genes. Here, we found that androgens upregulated the expression of dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1), which is involved in the induction of mitochondrial fission, a common event in mitosis and apoptosis. Clinical tissue samples and various prostate cancer cell lines revealed a positive correlation between Drp1 and AR levels.

Role of TGF-β and BMP7 in the pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis.

To understand the molecular pathogenesis of oral submucous fibrosis (OSF), which is a chronic inflammatory disease, gene expression profiling was performed in 10 OSF tissues against 8 pooled normal tissues using oligonucleotide arrays. Microarray results revealed differential expression of 5,288 genes (P ≤ 0.05 and fold change ≥ 1.

Metabolites of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (NP) in serum have the potential to delineate pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth highest cause of cancer related deaths in the United States, has the most aggressive presentation resulting in a very short median survival time for the affected patients. Early detection of PDAC is confounded by lack of specific markers that has motivated the use of high throughput molecular approaches to delineate potential biomarkers. To pursue identification of a distinct marker, this study profiled the secretory proteome in 16 PDAC, 2 carcinoma in situ (CIS) and 7 benign patients using label-free mass spectrometry coupled to 1D-SDS-PAGE and Strong Cation-Exchange Chromatography (SCX).