Genetic variation in the base excision repair pathway and bladder cancer risk.

Genetic polymorphisms in DNA repair genes may impact individual variation in DNA repair capacity and alter cancer risk. In order to examine the association of common genetic variation in the base-excision repair (BER) pathway with bladder cancer risk, we analyzed 43 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 12 BER genes (OGG1, MUTYH, APEX1, PARP1, PARP3, PARP4, XRCC1, POLB, POLD1, PCNA, LIG1, and LIG3). Using genotype data from 1,150 cases of urinary bladder transitional cell carcinomas and 1,149 controls from the Spanish Bladder Cancer Study we estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) adjusting for age, gender, region and smoking status.

Nuclear IKK activity leads to dysregulated notch-dependent gene expression in colorectal cancer.

Nuclear functions for IkappaB kinase (IKK), including phosphorylation of histone H3 and nuclear corepressors, have been recently described. Here, we show that IKK is activated in colorectal tumors concomitant with the presence of phosphorylated SMRT (silencing mediator of retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor) corepressor that is aberrantly localized in the cytoplasm. In these tumors, IKKalpha associates to the chromatin of specific Notch targets, leading to the release of SMRT.

Ab initio study of a Bi3+ impurity in Cs2NaYCl6 and Y2O3: comparison of perturbative and variational electron correlation methods.

Ab initio study of excitation energies and oscillator strengths for absorption towards the (3)P(1) and (1)P(1) states of the Bi(3+) ion has been performed for the Bi(3+) ion in gas phase and as a dopant of the cubic elpasolite Cs(2)NaYCl(6) and the yttria Y(2)O(3) crystal using the ab initio embedded-cluster method. The ground and excited states were computed with a relativistic spin-orbit configuration interaction approach suited for heavy elements. Electron correlation was treated in the scalar relativistic scheme with perturbative, variational, and coupled-cluster methods.

Bladder cancer and exposure to water disinfection by-products through ingestion, bathing, showering, and swimming in pools.

Bladder cancer has been associated with exposure to chlorination by-products in drinking water, and experimental evidence suggests that exposure also occurs through inhalation and dermal absorption. The authors examined whether bladder cancer risk was associated with exposure to trihalomethanes (THMs) through ingestion of water and through inhalation and dermal absorption during showering, bathing, and swimming in pools. Lifetime personal information on water consumption and water-related habits was collected for 1,219 cases and 1,271 controls in a 1998-2001 case-control study in Spain and was linked with THM levels in geographic study areas.

The p53 pathway and outcome among patients with T1G3 bladder tumors.

Purpose: The aim was to analyze Tp53 and HDM2 in T1G3 bladder tumors and to determine the prognostic value of their alterations.

Experimental Design: Tumors (n = 119) were extracted from a prospective study of 1,356 bladder cancers. Tp53 mutations (exons 4-9) were assessed by sequencing of PCR products.

Use of analgesics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, genetic predisposition, and bladder cancer risk in Spain.

Background: We assessed use of nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen), phenacetin, and metamizol (dipyrone) and risk of bladder cancer and their interaction with polymorphisms in drug-metabolizing genes.

Methods: We analyzed personal interview data from 958 incident bladder cancer cases and 1,029 hospital controls from a multicenter case-control study in Spain. A drug matrix was developed to estimate cumulative lifetime dose of active ingredients.

PIK3CA mutations are an early genetic alteration associated with FGFR3 mutations in superficial papillary bladder tumors.

Bladder tumors constitute a very heterogeneous disease. Superficial tumors are characterized by a high prevalence of FGFR3 mutations and chromosome 9 alterations. High-grade and muscle-invasive tumors are characterized by Tp53 mutations and aneuploidy.

Prospective study of FGFR3 mutations as a prognostic factor in nonmuscle invasive urothelial bladder carcinomas.

Purpose: To determine the frequency and the prognostic value of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) mutations in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder tumors according to tumor stage and grade.

Patients And Methods: Seven hundred seventy-two patients with newly diagnosed bladder tumors were recruited. Tumors were reviewed by expert pathologists.

Photochemical oxidation processes for the elimination of phenyl-urea herbicides in waters.

Four phenyl-urea herbicides (linuron, chlorotoluron, diuron, and isoproturon) were individually photooxidized by monochromatic UV radiation in ultra-pure aqueous solutions. The influence of pH and temperature on the photodegradation process was established, and the first-order rate constants and quantum yields were evaluated. The sequence of photodecomposition rates was: linuron>chlorotoluron>diuron>isoproturon.

Smoking and bladder cancer in Spain: effects of tobacco type, timing, environmental tobacco smoke, and gender.

We examined the effects of dose, type of tobacco, cessation, inhalation, and environmental tobacco smoke exposure on bladder cancer risk among 1,219 patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer and 1,271 controls recruited from 18 hospitals in Spain. We used unconditional logistic regression to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the association between bladder cancer risk and various characteristics of cigarette smoking. Current smokers (men: OR, 7.

DCC regulates cell adhesion in human colon cancer derived HT-29 cells and associates with ezrin.

The deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC) gene encodes a 170- to 190-kDa protein of the Immunoglobulin superfamily. Firstly identified as a tumor suppressor gene in human colorectal carcinomas, the main function for DCC has been described in the nervous system as part of a receptor complex for netrin-1. Moreover, roles in mucosecretory cell differentiation and as inducer of apoptosis have also been reported.

Hair dye use is not associated with risk for bladder cancer: evidence from a case-control study in Spain.

An increased bladder cancer risk has been suggested among users of hair dyes. We evaluated this association among females in a hospital-based case-control study in Spain (152 female incident cases, 166 female controls). The effect of hair dye use was also evaluated among potentially susceptible subgroups defined by NAT1, NAT2, CYP1A2, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1 genotypes.

A degradation-sensitive anionic trypsinogen (PRSS2) variant protects against chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis is a common inflammatory disease of the pancreas. Mutations in the genes encoding cationic trypsinogen (PRSS1) and the pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (SPINK1) are associated with chronic pancreatitis. Because increased proteolytic activity owing to mutated PRSS1 enhances the risk for chronic pancreatitis, mutations in the gene encoding anionic trypsinogen (PRSS2) may also predispose to disease.

Methotrexate resistance in vitro is achieved by a dynamic selectionprocess of tumor cell variants emerging during treatment.

Genetic instability leads to tumor heterogeneity, which in turn provides a source of cell variants responsible for drug resistance. However, the source of resistant cells during the process of acquired resistance is poorly understood. Our aim has been to characterize the mechanism by which acquired resistance to methotrexate emerges during the course of cancer cell treatment in vitro.

Characterization of human Rab20 overexpressed in exocrine pancreatic carcinoma.

In a large-scale analysis of gene expression in pancreatic cancer, we isolated the homologue of the mouse Rab20. The mouse protein was previously identified during a search for novel Rab proteins, a family of small GTP-binding proteins involved in the regulation of intracellular vesicular transport. The Rab20 protein has no close relationship to any member of the Rab protein subfamily.

Assessment of lifetime exposure to trihalomethanes through different routes.

Objectives: To evaluate lifetime exposure to trihalomethanes (THM) through ingestion, inhalation, and dermal absorption in a hospital based case-control study of bladder cancer conducted between 1998 and 2001 in five areas of Spain. The study base was comprised of subjects living in the catchment areas of the participating hospitals.

Methods: Individual information on water related habits was obtained from personal interviews of 1219 cases and 1271 controls: residential and occupational history, drinking water source at each residence and job, amount of water consumption, frequency and duration of showering, bathing, and swimming pool attendance.

A proteomic approach to the identification of new tPA receptors in pancreatic cancer cells.

We have developed a strategy to identify putative tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA)receptors present in pancreatic cancer cells by affinity capture with tPA-Sepharose followed by 2-DE and MALDI-MS PMF. Proteins pulled down from either total lysates or raft membrane fractions were characterized and compared with those from a total lysate of an endothelial cell line (HUVEC) to identify pancreas-restricted tPA receptors. A total of 31 proteins were found by this approach, including annexin A2, already described as a tPA receptor in pancreas and endothelial cells, other proteins acting as tPA receptors (i.

Genetic variation in the nucleotide excision repair pathway and bladder cancer risk.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is critical for protecting against damage from carcinogens in tobacco smoke. We evaluated the influence of common genetic variation in the NER pathway on bladder cancer risk by analyzing 22 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in seven NER genes (XPC, RAD23B, ERCC1, ERCC2, ERCC4, ERCC5, and ERCC6). Our study population included 1,150 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder and 1,149 control subjects from Spain.

Photosensitizer method to determine rate constants for the reaction of carbonate radical with organic compounds.

Carbonate radical (CO3*-) is a powerful oxidant that is present in sunlit surface waters and in waters treated by advanced oxidation processes. The production of CO3*- in aqueous solution through oxidation of carbonate anion by excited triplet states of aromatic ketones was investigated in this study to provide new methods for the determination of rate constants and to explore a possible photoinduced pathway of CO3*- formation in the aquatic environment. Rate constants for triplet quenching by carbonate anion of up to 3.

Oxidation of acetovanillone by photochemical processes and hydroxyl radicals.

Acetovanillone [Ethanone, 1-(4-hydroxy-3-metoxyphenyl)] is one of the major pollutants that is present in the wastewater produced during the boiling of raw material in the cork industry. The oxidation of its aqueous solutions by monochromatic UV radiation alone and combined with hydrogen peroxide, Fenton's reagent and the photo-Fenton system has been investigated. In the single UV radiation process, the apparent rate constants and the quantum yields are determined, and in the UV/H2O2 combination, the additional efficiency in the oxidation process due to the presence of hydrogen peroxide is established.

Complement consumption by Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida in seabream, red porgy and seabass normal and immune serum. Effect of the capsule on the bactericidal effect.

A virulent strain of Photobacterium damselae subsp. piscicida (Pdp) was grown without (C form) or with (C+ form) glucose supplementation, the latter to enhance capsule formation. Both forms were resistant to killing by normal serum of seabream, red porgy and seabass.

The Wnt pathway is active in a small subset of pancreas cancer cell lines.

Activation of the Wnt pathway plays an important role in the development of a wide variety of tumor types. Two genes involved in the activation of this pathway in tumors are Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) and beta-catenin. Here, we analyze the activity of the Wnt pathway in cultured cells derived from ductal and acinar pancreatic adenocarcinomas using a reporter assay dependent on the activity of the beta-catenin/Tcf4 complex.

P53 as a prognostic marker for bladder cancer: a meta-analysis and review.

Background: P53 is the most widely investigated molecular marker in bladder cancer. We aimed to review comprehensively the evidence for use of changes in P53 to predict bladder-cancer recurrence, progression, and mortality.

Methods: We reviewed 168 publications from 117 studies.

NAT2 slow acetylation, GSTM1 null genotype, and risk of bladder cancer: results from the Spanish Bladder Cancer Study and meta-analyses.

Background: Many reported associations between common genetic polymorphisms and complex diseases have not been confirmed in subsequent studies. An exception could be the association between NAT2 slow acetylation, GSTM1 null genotype, and bladder-cancer risk. However, current evidence is based on meta-analyses of relatively small studies (range 23-374 cases) with some evidence of publication bias and study heterogeneity.