Icaritin enhances the efficacy of cetuximab against triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a greater risk of recurrence and metastasis along with a worse prognosis compared with other subtypes of breast cancer. Studies have revealed that mitogenic estrogen signaling is involved in the malignant proliferation of TNBC cells through a novel variant of the estrogen receptor, estrogen receptor α-36 (ER-α36). The results of the present study demonstrated that knockdown of ER-α36 expression in TNBC cells using short hairpin RNA inhibited rapid estrogen signaling bypass activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Inhibition of the ALDH18A1-MYCN positive feedback loop attenuates -amplified neuroblastoma growth.

-amplified neuroblastoma (NB) is characterized by poor prognosis, and directly targeting MYCN has proven challenging. Here, we showed that aldehyde dehydrogenase family 18 member A1 (ALDH18A1) exerts profound impacts on the proliferation, self-renewal, and tumorigenicity of NB cells and is a potential risk factor in patients with NB, especially those with amplification. Mechanistic studies revealed that ALDH18A1 could both transcriptionally and posttranscriptionally regulate MYCN expression, with MYCN reciprocally transactivating ALDH18A1 and thus forming a positive feedback loop.