Background: Small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SI-NET) are highly differentiated and genetically stable malignant tumors, yet they often present with advanced metastatic spread at the time of diagnosis. In contrast to many other types of malignant tumors, primary SI-NET are often asymptomatic and typically smaller in size compared to adjacent lymph node metastases. This study explores the hypothesis that stimulating the chemosensing olfactory receptor 51E1 (OR51E1) decreases SI-NET proliferation suggesting a mechanism that explains a difference in proliferative rate based on tumor location.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe SARS-CoV-2 virus is currently causing a global pandemic. Infection may result in a systemic disease called COVID-19, affecting primarily the respiratory tract. Often the gastrointestinal tract and kidneys also become involved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall intestine neuroendocrine tumor (SI-NET), the most common cancer of the small bowel, often displays a curious multifocal phenotype with several tumors clustered together in a limited intestinal segment. SI-NET also shows an unusual absence of driver mutations explaining tumor initiation and metastatic spread. The evolutionary trajectories that underlie multifocal SI-NET lesions could provide insight into the underlying tumor biology, but this question remains unresolved.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors (SINETs) frequently present with lymph node and liver metastases at the time of diagnosis, but the molecular changes that lead to the progression of these tumors are largely unknown. Sequencing studies have only identified recurrent point mutations at low frequencies with CDKN1B being the most common harboring heterozygous mutations in less than 10% of all tumors. Although SINETs are genetically stable tumors with a low frequency of point mutations and indels, they often harbor recurrent hemizygous copy number alterations (CNAs) yet the functional implications of these CNA are unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF177Lu-octreotate is an FDA-approved radionuclide therapy for patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) expressing somatostatin receptors. The 177Lu-octreotate therapy has shown promising results in clinical trials by prolonging progression-free survival, but complete responses are still uncommon. The aim of this study was to improve the 177Lu-octreotate therapy by means of combination therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to define the miRNA profile of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors and to search for novel molecular subgroups and prognostic biomarkers. miRNA profiling was conducted on 42 tumors from 37 patients who underwent surgery for small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis of miRNA profiles identified two groups of tumor metastases, denoted cluster M1 and M2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExperimental models of neuroendocrine tumour disease are scarce, and no comprehensive characterisation of existing gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumour (GEPNET) cell lines has been reported. In this study, we aimed to define the molecular characteristics and therapeutic sensitivity of these cell lines. We therefore performed immunophenotyping, copy number profiling, whole-exome sequencing and a large-scale inhibitor screening of seven GEPNET cell lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lu-[DOTA, Tyr]-octreotate (Lu-octreotate) is used for treatment of patients with somatostatin receptor (SSTR) expressing neuroendocrine tumors. However, complete tumor remission is rarely seen, and optimization of treatment protocols is needed. In vitro studies have shown that irradiation can up-regulate the expression of SSTR1, 2 and 5, and increase Lu-octreotate uptake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) can be treated by peptide receptor radionuclide therapy using radiolabeled somatostatin analogs. However, the efficacy of such treatment is low and needs to be optimized. Our study evaluated the potential radiosensitizing effects of inhibition of nicotineamide phosphoribosyltransferase on Lu-DOTATATE treatment in a NET model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe wanted to define the transcriptome of small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors in order to identify clinically relevant subgroups of tumors, prognostic markers and novel targets for treatment. Genome-wide expression profiling was conducted on tumor biopsies from 33 patients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors of the distal ileum and metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis identified three groups of tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: Histone deacetylases (HDACs) modulate lysine acetylation on histones and are frequently deregulated in cancer. HDAC inhibitors with potent anti-tumour effects have been developed and are now being tested in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of valproic acid (VPA), an inhibitor of class I and class IIa HDACs, on neuroendocrine tumour (NET) cell growth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) can be effectively treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However, some patients with GIST develop drug resistance, and alternative treatment strategies are therefore needed. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTR) in GIST as a target for peptide receptor-mediated radiotherapy (PRRT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours of the gastrointestinal tract often present with metastases and hormonal symptoms. These patients can be palliated by interventional tumour reduction and medical treatment with somatostatin analogues; no effective chemotherapy is available. Radionuclide therapy via somatostatin receptors is one new therapeutic alternative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumour hypoxia is associated with increased metastatic potential and resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Ileal carcinoids are usually metastatic at the time of diagnosis and respond poorly to chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of hypoxia in ileal carcinoids and the response of tumour cells to induced hypoxia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: FUS, EWS and TAF15 are structurally similar multifunctional proteins that were first discovered upon characterization of fusion oncogenes in human sarcomas and leukemias. The proteins belong to the FET (previously TET) family of RNA-binding proteins and are implicated in central cellular processes such as regulation of gene expression, maintenance of genomic integrity and mRNA/microRNA processing. In the present study, we investigated the expression and cellular localization of FET proteins in multiple human tissues and cell types.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe have examined the global gene expression profile of small intestinal carcinoids by microarray analysis. High expression of a number of genes was found including amyloid precursor-like protein 1 (APLP1). Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot analysis demonstrated higher expression of APLP1 in carcinoid metastases relative to primary tumours indicating a role of APLP1 in tumour dissemination.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCHS 828, a cyanoguanidine with potent experimental antitumoural activity, inhibits activation of nuclear factor-kappaB. In the present study, marked antitumoural activity of peroral CHS 828 was shown against three different human neuroendocrine tumours, midgut carcinoid (GOT1), pancreatic carcinoid (BON), and medullary thyroid carcinoma (GOT2), transplanted in nude mice. Our results indicate that CHS 828 can be a candidate drug for treatment of neuroendocrine tumours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanisms controlling differentiation and lineage specification of neural stem cells are still poorly understood, and many of the molecules involved in this process and their specific functions are yet unknown. We investigated the effect of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) on neural stem cells by infecting adult hippocampus-derived rat progenitors with an adenovirus encoding the constitutively active form of ASK1. Following ASK1 overexpression, a significantly larger number of cells differentiated into neurons and a substantial increase in Mash1 transcription was observed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor is a nucleocytoplasmic protein. The nuclear accumulation of APC was recently found to vary depending on cell density, suggesting that putative APC function(s) in the nucleus is controlled by the establishment of cell contacts. We report here that the density-dependent redistribution of APC between nucleus and cytoplasm prevails in 6/6 thyroid and colorectal carcinoma cell lines.
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