Phase II trial of mapatumumab, a fully human agonist monoclonal antibody to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1), in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

Background: This phase II study examined the efficacy of mapatumumab in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Patients And Methods: Patients with stage IIIB or stage IV advanced primary NSCLC were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive up to 6 courses of standard-dose paclitaxel and carboplatin or a combination of paclitaxel, carboplatin, and mapatumumab (10 mg/kg or 30 mg/kg). Primary efficacy end points were overall response rate and median progression-free survival (PFS).

Prediction of proapoptotic anticancer therapeutic response in vivo based on cell death visualization and TRAIL death ligand-receptor interaction.

Tumor growth is often associated with insufficient apoptosis. The Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) and its proapoptotic receptors death receptor 4 (DR4) and DR5 agonistic monoclonal antibodies are being developed as targeted therapeutics because they kill cancer cells while sparing normal cells. A challenge to targeted therapeutics is the selection of patients who are most likely to benefit from targeted drugs because of the heterogeneity of cancer.

Spectral imaging-based methods for quantifying autophagy and apoptosis.

Spectral imaging systems are capable of detecting and quantifying subtle differences in light quality. In this study we coupled spectral imaging with fluorescence and white light microscopy to develop new methods for quantifying autophagy and apoptosis. For autophagy, we employed multispectral imaging to examine spectral changes in the fluorescence of LC3-GFP, a chimeric protein commonly used to track autophagosome formation.

Trail receptors: targets for cancer therapy.

A human tumor cell's ability to avoid the normal regulatory mechanisms of cell growth, division, and death are the hallmarks of transformation and cancer. Numerous novel therapeutic agents currently in preclinical or clinical evaluation aim to revive the normal regulation or evade these regulatory defects and induce growth arrest and cell death. One of the cell death pathways that has garnered significant interest, as a potential target for therapeutic intervention, is the programmed cell death pathway regulated by the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand receptors (TRAIL-RS).

Deletion of Stat3 blocks mammary gland involution and extends functional competence of the secretory epithelium in the absence of lactogenic stimuli.

The transcription factor Stat3 is activated through tyrosine phosphorylation by many cytokines and is a fundamental mediator of their signals. In the mammary gland, Stat3 activity increases sharply shortly after weaning, and involution is delayed in mice, that contain a mutant Stat3 lacking 33 amino acids including the key tyrosine residue. We have now generated a more extensive mutation of Stat3 through the deletion of exons 15-21 in mammary epithelium.