Publications by authors named "Maria Leonor Peixoto"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how cancer cells influence the fitness of surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME) cells through a mechanism involving a long non-coding RNA called Tu-Stroma, which alters the expression of Flower isoforms, impacting their growth advantage.
  • The expression of Flower Win isoforms in cancer cells enhances their dominance over TME cells that express Flower Lose isoforms, leading to reduced fitness in the TME.
  • Targeting Flower proteins with a humanized monoclonal antibody in mice has shown promising results, significantly reducing cancer growth and metastasis while improving survival rates and protecting organs from potential lesions.
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Exploring the intricate interplay within and between nucleic acids, as well as their interactions with proteins, holds pivotal significance in unraveling the molecular complexities steering cancer initiation and progression. To investigate these interactions, a diverse array of highly specific and sensitive molecular techniques has been developed. The selection of a particular technique depends on the specific nature of the interactions.

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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a clinically challenging disease usually diagnosed at advanced or metastasized stage. By this year end, there are an expected increase in 62,210 new cases and 49,830 deaths in the United States, with 90% corresponding to PDAC subtype alone. Despite advances in cancer therapy, one of the major challenges combating PDAC remains tumor heterogeneity between PDAC patients and within the primary and metastatic lesions of the same patient.

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The comparison of fitness between cells leads to the elimination of less competent cells in the presence of more competent neighbors via cell competition (CC). This phenomenon has been linked with several cancer-related genes and thus may play an important role in cancer. Various processes are involved in the regulation of tumor initiation and growth, including tumor hypoxia, clonal stem cell selection, and immune cell response, all of which have been recently shown to have a potential connection with the mechanisms involved in CC.

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Cancer is a complex disease with high incidence and mortality rates. The important role played by the tumor microenvironment in regulating oncogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis is by now well accepted in the scientific community. SPARC is known to participate in tumor-stromal interactions and impact cancer growth in ambiguous ways, which either enhance or suppress cancer aggressiveness, in a context-dependent manner.

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