DNA damage response revisited: the p53 family and its regulators provide endless cancer therapy opportunities.

Antitumor therapeutic strategies that fundamentally rely on the induction of DNA damage to eradicate and inhibit the growth of cancer cells are integral approaches to cancer therapy. Although DNA-damaging therapies advance the battle with cancer, resistance, and recurrence following treatment are common. Thus, searching for vulnerabilities that facilitate the action of DNA-damaging agents by sensitizing cancer cells is an active research area.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition, regulated by β-catenin and Twist, leads to esophageal wall remodeling in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis.

Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) is an antigen-triggered inflammatory condition of the esophageal lining characterized by eosinophilic infiltration. EoE is associated with significant remodeling, and although this remodeling is reversed by current treatment regimens, symptoms of EoE and associated remodeling reappear upon cessation of therapies. We hypothesized that structural remodeling of cell-cell adhesion is a key factor in the pathogenesis of EoE and that epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) was a viable molecular process to lead to this remodeling.

Inhibition of triple negative breast cancer metastasis and invasiveness by novel drugs that target epithelial to mesenchymal transition.

Invasive breast cancer (BrCa) is predicted to affect 1 in 9 women in a lifetime;1 in 32 will die from this disease. The most aggressive forms of BrCa, basal-like/triple-negative phenotype (TNBC), are challenging to treat and result in higher mortality due high number of metastatic cases. There is a paucity of options for TNBC treatment, which highlights the need for additional innovative treatment approaches.

Sulforaphane (SFA) protects neuronal cells from oxygen & glucose deprivation (OGD).

Background: Perinatal brain injury results in neurodevelopmental disabilities (neuroDDs) that include cerebral palsy, autism, attention deficit disorder, epilepsy, learning disabilities and others. Commonly, injury occurs when placental circulation, that is responsible for transporting nutrients and oxygen to the fetus, is compromised. Placental insufficiency (PI) is a reduced supply of blood and oxygen to the fetus and results in a hypoxic-ischemic (HI) environment.

Graphene Oxide Nanoparticles Induce Apoptosis in wild-type and CRISPR/Cas9-IGF/IGFBP3 knocked-out Osteosarcoma Cells.

Osteosarcoma affects both adolescents and adults, and some improvement in the survival rate for affected patients has been reached in the last decade. Still, non-specificity and systemic toxicity may limit traditional therapeutic approaches to some extent. The insulin growth factor 1 () and its binding protein () have been implicated in the tumorigenesis.

Osteosarcoma progression is associated with increased nuclear levels and transcriptional activity of activated β-Catenin.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is an aggressive primary bone malignancy that has peak incidence in children and young adults <25 years of age. Despite current multimodal treatments, no significant change in patient outcome has been observed in two decades. Presently, there is a lack of established, reliable baseline prognostic markers for aggressive OS, other than extent and site of disease involvement.

Active β-catenin is regulated by the PTEN/PI3 kinase pathway: a role for protein phosphatase PP2A.

Dysregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling has been associated with the development and progression of many cancers. The stability and subcellular localization of β-catenin, a dual functional protein that plays a role in intracellular adhesion and in regulating gene expression, is tightly regulated. However, little is known about the transcriptionally active form of β-catenin, Active Beta Catenin (ABC), that is unphosphorylated at serine 37 (Ser37) and threonine 41 (Thr41).

Osteogenic Sarcoma: A 21st Century Review.

Compared to other bone tumors, bone osteogenic sarcoma (BOS) continues to confer a much grimmer prognosis as the survival benefit of traditional chemotherapy treatment regimens is still unsatisfactory. Chemotherapy was demonstrated to be effective in eradicating both primary tumor and pulmonary metastases in the last century, with effective agents used in various combination regimens having changed the survival rate from less than 10% to 75%. The most common primary bone cancer, BOS is conventionally a primary intramedullary high-grade malignant tumor characterized by malignant cells forming immature bone or osteoid.

Intestinal and gastric permeability in children with eosinophilic esophagitis and reflux esophagitis.

Objectives: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergic and immune-mediated entity that leads to a characteristic inflammation of esophageal mucosa. Patients complain of dysphagia and reflux-like symptoms. As many as 80% of patients with EoE may also have a history of atopy, and patients with asthma and eczema have previously been shown to have increased intestinal permeability.

β-catenin is O-GlcNAc glycosylated at Serine 23: implications for β-catenin's subcellular localization and transactivator function.

Background: We have previously reported that β-catenin is post-translationally modified with a single O-linked attachment of β-N-acetyl-glucosamine (O-GlcNAc). We showed that O-GlcNAc regulated β-catenin's subcellular localization and transcriptional activity.

Objective: The objectives of this investigation were to identify the putative O-GlcNAc sites of β-catenin and the relevance of identified sites in the regulation of β-catenin's localization and transcriptional activity.

Angiogenic remodeling in pediatric EoE is associated with increased levels of VEGF-A, angiogenin, IL-8, and activation of the TNF-α-NFκB pathway.

Objectives: Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a clinicopathologic diagnosis characterized by inflammation and infiltration of eosinophils at the esophageal mucosa. The underlying etiology of EoE remains elusive. Inflammatory diseases, such as asthma, are associated with structural remodeling of the airways, which includes angiogenesis.

Expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin in two cholangiocarcinoma cell lines (OZ and HuCCT1) with different degree of invasiveness of the primary tumor.

Background: Cholangiocarcinoma (CC) is the most frequent malignant epithelial tumor of the biliary system. CC has received increasing interest due to its different etiologic factors, invasiveness, and the difficulty of diagnosis at an early stage. The pathogenesis of CC has not been clearly defined, but cohesiveness of tumor cells seems to be a critical factor.

Role of IGF-1/IGF-1R in regulation of invasion in DU145 prostate cancer cells.

Background: Prostate cancer progression to androgen independence is the primary cause of mortality by this tumor type. The IGF-1/IGF-1R axis is well known to contribute to prostate cancer initiation, but its contribution to invasiveness and the downstream signalling mechanisms that are involved are unclear at present.

Results: We examined the invasive response of androgen independent DU145 prostate carcinoma cells to IGF-1 stimulation using Matrigel assays.

O-GlcNAc-glycosylation of beta-catenin regulates its nuclear localization and transcriptional activity.

Beta-catenin plays a role in intracellular adhesion and regulating gene expression. The latter role is associated with its oncogenic properties. Phosphorylation of beta-catenin controls its intracellular expression but mechanism/s that regulates the nuclear localization of beta-catenin is unknown.

The role of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) in cancer progression.

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK) is an intracellular protein, which interacts with the cytoplasmic domains of integrin beta and beta3 subunits. ILK is a 59 kDa protein containing a phosphoinositide phospholipid-binding domain flanked by an N-terminal ankyrin repeat domain and a C-terminal serine/threonine protein kinase domain. Genetic and biochemical evidence have established an essential role of ILK in connecting integrins to the actin cytoskeleton.

Overexpression of vimentin: role in the invasive phenotype in an androgen-independent model of prostate cancer.

The androgen-sensitive LNCaP prostate cancer cell line is less invasive than hormone-insensitive lines. CL1, an aggressive, hormone-insensitive LNCaP subline derived by continuous passaging in hormone-depleted medium, was compared with the parental cell line by cDNA microarray analysis. The gene coding for the intermediate filament protein vimentin was found to be highly up-regulated in the CL1 subline.