Correlation of Immunomodulatory Cytokines with Tumor Volume and Cerebrospinal Fluid in Vestibular Schwannoma Patients.

Sporadic vestibular schwannomas (VSs) often exhibit slow or negligible growth. Nevertheless, some VSs increase significantly in volume within a few months or grow continuously. Recent evidence indicates a role of inflammation in promoting VS growth.

Myositis in Lewis rats induced by the superantigen Staphylococcal enterotoxin A.

The aetiology of inflammatory myopathies is not clearly known. A predominance of activated Cd8+ T lymphocytes in inflammatory infiltrates has already been detected. Superantigens activate lymphocytes in an oligoclonal manner.

Identification of human endogenous retrovirus transcripts in Hodgkin Lymphoma cells.

During the last decades, the prognosis for patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) has been steadily improved. Nevertheless, new and less toxic therapy strategies have to be developed especially for patients with advanced disease. The activation of human endogenous retroviruses (HERV) is suspected to occur in HL and therefore, HERV might represent interesting target structures.

Glutathione-S-transferases and Chemotherapy Resistance of Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cell Lines.

Background: Glutathione-S-transferases (GSTs) are associated with multidrug resistance of tumor cells and are involved in drug detoxification and control of apoptosis. We analyzed the impact of GSTs on apoptosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) cells.

Materials And Methods: Expression of GST isoforms in HL cell lines was assessed by analysis of DNA microarray data and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).

Gene Expression Music Algorithm-Based Characterization of the Ewing Sarcoma Stem Cell Signature.

Gene Expression Music Algorithm (GEMusicA) is a method for the transformation of DNA microarray data into melodies that can be used for the characterization of differentially expressed genes. Using this method we compared gene expression profiles from endothelial cells (EC), hematopoietic stem cells, neuronal stem cells, embryonic stem cells (ESC), and mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and defined a set of genes that can discriminate between the different stem cell types. We analyzed the behavior of public microarray data sets from Ewing sarcoma ("Ewing family tumors," EFT) cell lines and biopsies in GEMusicA after prefiltering DNA microarray data for the probe sets from the stem cell signature.

Expression and Regulation of the Endogenous Retrovirus 3 in Hodgkin's Lymphoma Cells.

Human endogenous retroviruses (ERV) are an integral part of our genome. Expression of ERV is usually switched off but reactivation of ERV has been observed in varying human diseases including cancer. Recently, reactivation of ERV associated promoters in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) cells has been described.

Characterization of Ewing sarcoma associated cancer/testis antigens.

The prognosis of patients suffering from tumors of the Ewing family (EFT) is still poor. Immunotherapy strategies are pursued and EFT-specific antigens have to be identified as targets for cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). Due to the lack of expression of cancer/testis antigens (CTA) in normal tissues, these antigens are partially able to induce immune responses in cancer patients.

Hodgkin's lymphoma RNA-transfected dendritic cells induce cancer/testis antigen-specific immune responses.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) can kill Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) cells, and CTL have been used for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive HL. For patients with EBV-negative HL, this strategy cannot be employed and alternative target structures have to be defined. In order to establish a system for the stimulation of HL-reactive T cells, we used dendritic cells (DC) as antigen-presenting cells for autologous T cells and transfected these DC with RNA from established HL cell lines.

Expression of multiple membrane-associated phospholipase A1 beta transcript variants and lysophosphatidic acid receptors in Ewing tumor cells.

The prognosis for patients with advanced stages of Ewing family tumors (EFT) is very poor. EFT express high levels of phosphatidic acid specific membrane-associated phospholipase A1 beta (lipase I, LIPI). LIPI is a cancer/testis antigen and the high tumor specificity suggests that LIPI might be an attractive target for new diagnostic and/or therapeutic developments.

Down-regulation of achaete-scute complex homolog 1 (ASCL1) in neuroblastoma cells induces up-regulation of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2).

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most common extra-cranial solid pediatric tumor. The prognosis of patients with NB has been improved during the last decades. However, treatment results for patients with advanced tumor stages are still unsatisfying.