Hepatocarcinoma cells stimulate the growth, migration and expression of pro-angiogenic genes in human hepatic stellate cells.

Background: Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and other fibrogenic cell types are frequently found around hepatocellular carcinoma. It is unknown whether hepatocarcinoma cells regulate the biological functions of HSC.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the paracrine effects of hepatocarcinoma cells on human HSC using a co-culture system.

Stem cells: therapeutic present and future.

Ever since the first embryonic stem cells were isolated in the 1990s scientists and clinicians as well as the general public have followed the development of the field with great attention. As unspecialized cells capable of dividing, renewing and differentiating into specialized cells, stem cells hold great promise as a therapeutic strategy for many diseases, especially those of degenerative nature. In 2006, stem cells were actively investigated in preclinical and clinical settings to manage heart failure, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury, stroke, hematologic disorders, renal cell carcinoma, solid tumor cancer, Crohn's disease and cirrhosis, among other disorders.

Take-home message: are we "off target"?

Targeted anticancer therapies interfere with specific molecules and block the growth and spread of cancer. In the last decade, the concept of targeted drugs has gained much support from the scientific and medical community as a result of positive outcomes in clinical trials with cancer patients. Particularly, the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), gefitinib (Iressa), sorafenib (Nexavar) and sunitinib malate (Sutent) against various cancer types led to their rapid approval and broad clinical use.

Glial-restricted precursors: patterns of expression of opioid receptors and relationship to human immunodeficiency virus-1 Tat and morphine susceptibility in vitro.

Recent evidence suggests that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-induced pathogenesis is exacerbated by opioid abuse and that the synergistic toxicity may result from direct actions of opioids in immature glia or glial precursors. To assess whether opioids and HIV proteins are directly toxic to glial-restricted precursors (GRPs), we isolated neural stem cells from the incipient spinal cord of embryonic day 10.5 ICR mice.

Stem cells: therapeutic present and future.

Ever since the first embryonic stem cells were isolated in the 1990s scientists and clinicians as well as the general public have followed the development of the field with great attention. As unspecialized cells capable of dividing, renewing and differentiating into specialized cells, stem cells hold great promise as a therapeutic strategy for many diseases, especially those of degenerative nature. In 2006, stem cells were actively investigated in preclinical and clinical settings to manage heart failure, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury, stroke, hematologic disorders, renal cell carcinoma, solid tumor cancer, Crohn's disease and cirrhosis, among other disorders.