'I Can Step outside My Comfort Zone.'.

On embarking upon such a multifactorial, professional degree as Pharmacy, students often find it difficult to meld the scientific- and practice-based components of the course. In final year of the undergraduate Masters of Pharmacy degree (MPharm) within the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences at Robert Gordon University (RGU), students undertake a research project within a specific area. The aims of this study were to explore the effectiveness of a novel practice based approach to a biomedical science project, to identify elements of difficulty in the process, and to explore students' perceptions and reflections.

Cytochrome P450 1B1: a novel anticancer therapeutic target.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP)1B1 is overexpressed in tumor cells and is also recognized as a biomarker of the tumor phenotype. This review highlights the tremendous potential of this enzyme as a novel cancer therapeutic target. The range of therapeutic strategies including immunotherapeutics, CYP1B1-activated prodrugs and CYP1B1 inhibitors, that are currently being developed to exploit the presence and activity of CYP1B1 in tumor cells is outlined.

Profiling cytochrome P450 expression in ovarian cancer: identification of prognostic markers.

Purpose: The cytochromes P450 are a multigene family of enzymes with a central role in the oxidative metabolism of a wide range of xenobiotics, including anticancer drugs and biologically active endogenous compounds. The purpose of this study was to define the cytochrome P450 profile of ovarian cancer and identify novel therapeutic targets and establish the prognostic significance of expression of individual cytochrome P450s in this type of cancer.

Experimental Design: Immunohistochemistry for a panel of 23 cytochrome P450s and cytochrome P450 reductase was done on an ovarian cancer tissue microarray consisting of 99 primary epithelial ovarian cancers, 22 peritoneal metastasis, and 13 normal ovarian samples.

The candidate oncogene ZNF217 is frequently amplified in colon cancer.

In this study we have defined the changes in gene copy number of the candidate oncogene ZNF217 during colon cancer development and progression. This gene is mapped to chromosome 20q and lies within 20q13.2, a region which we have previously shown to be highly amplified in colorectal cancer by comparative genomic hybridization.

Cytochrome P450 enzymes: novel options for cancer therapeutics.

The concept of overexpression of individual forms of cytochrome P450 enzymes in tumor cells is now becoming well recognized. Indeed, a growing body of research highlights the overexpression of P450s, particularly CYP1B1, in tumor cells as representing novel targets for anticancer therapy. The purpose of this review is to outline the novel therapeutic options and opportunities arising from both enhanced endogenous expression of cytochrome P450 in tumors and cytochrome P450-mediated gene therapy.

Quantitative analysis of the Ah receptor/cytochrome P450 CYP1B1/CYP1A1 signalling pathway.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) drug metabolising enzymes CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 are regulated through the ligand-activated aryl hydrocarbon (Ah) receptor. Differential expression of CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 mRNA and protein has previously been reported in human tissues with the presence of the message often extrapolated to indicate the presence of protein. The aim of this study was to clarify these potentially misleading findings, by analysing components of the Ah receptor pathway (CYP1B1, CYP1A1, Ah receptor and ARNT) using a combination of quantitative real-time RT-PCR and immunoblotting.