Cancer cell CCL5 mediates bone marrow independent angiogenesis in breast cancer.

It has recently been suggested that the chemokine receptor (CCR5) is required for bone marrow (BM) derived endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) mediated angiogenesis. Here we show that suppression of either cancer cell produced CCL5, or host CCR5 leads to distinctive vascular and tumor growth defects in breast cancer. Surprisingly, CCR5 restoration in the BM alone was not sufficient to rescue the wild type phenotype, suggesting that impaired tumor growth associated with inhibiting CCL5/CCR5 is not due to defects in EPC biology.

Essential steps and practical applications for database studies.

As the information that is collected from health care encounters becomes more available, managed care pharmacy will have greater insights on the impact of pharmaceutical policy on patient outcomes. Database studies provide valuable information that depicts actual health care consumption and provides a tool to help manage the health care benefit. As compared with clinical trials, one of the strengths of database studies is that they are nonintrusive to patients and providers.