Stakeholder engagement to ensure the sustainability of biobanks: a survey of potential users of biobank services.

Biobanks are important infrastructures facilitating biomedical research. After a decade of rolling out such infrastructures, a shift in attention to the sustainability of biobanks could be observed in recent years. In this regard, an increase in the as yet relatively low utilisation rates of biobanks has been formulated as a goal.

Effects of paclitaxel on permanent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cell lines and identification of anti-apoptotic caspase 9b.

Purpose: Paclitaxel is an effective chemotherapeutic agent against various human tumors inducing apoptosis via binding to β-tubulin of microtubules and arresting cells mainly in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. However, the underlying specific molecular mechanisms of paclitaxel on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) have not been identified yet.

Methods: The apoptotic effects and mechanisms of paclitaxel on different permanent HPV-negative HNSCC cell lines (UT-SCC-24A, UT-SCC-24B, UT-SCC-60A and UT-SCC-60B) were determined by flow cytometry assays, polymerase chain reaction analysis, immunofluorescence-based assays and sequencing studies.

Stem cell profiling in head and neck cancer reveals an Oct-4 expressing subpopulation with properties of chemoresistance.

Objectives: In the past decade cancer, including head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), is increasingly being regarded as a stem cell associated disease which arises from cells with the property of stemness. According to the cancer stem cell (CSC) theory, only a specific subpopulation of cancer cells has the ability to initiate and perpetuate cancer growth, especially under treatment. In this article we describe a subpopulation of cells within HNSCC that expresses the stemness factor Oct-4, which leads to apoptotic resistance after exposure to chemotherapeutic agents.

Cytokine changes in response to radio-/chemotherapeutic treatment in head and neck cancer.

Background: Radiation and systemic chemotherapy are standard treatment strategies for advanced or metastatic head and neck cancer. However, little is known about the implications and changes in the tumor microenvironment, including the T-helper (TH)1/TH2 balance in response to these treatment regimens. The aim of the current study was to unravel the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation on cytokine changes.

Characterisation of gp34, a GPI-anchored protein expressed by schizonts of Theileria parva and T. annulata.

Using bioinformatics tools, we searched the predicted Theileria annulata and T. parva proteomes for putative schizont surface proteins. This led to the identification of gp34, a GPI-anchored protein that is stage-specifically expressed by schizonts of both Theileria species and is downregulated upon induction of merogony.