Evolving therapeutic targets in renal cell carcinoma.

Purpose Of Review: Recent developments in the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) will be discussed, with emphasis on data published over the past year. The genetics and molecular biology of the various histologic subtypes of kidney cancer will be reviewed, as these subtle yet important genomic and metabolic alterations provide the opportunity for rational drug development and personalized treatment regimens.

Recent Findings: Additional targeted agents continue to be added to the uro-oncologist's armamentarium in the fight against metastatic kidney cancer.

Quality control methodology for high-throughput protein-protein interaction screening.

Protein-protein interactions are key to many aspects of the cell, including its cytoskeletal structure, the signaling processes in which it is involved, or its metabolism. Failure to form protein complexes or signaling cascades may sometimes translate into pathologic conditions such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases. The set of all protein interactions between the proteins encoded by an organism constitutes its protein interaction network, representing a scaffold for biological function.

DEAD box 1 (DDX1) expression predicts for local control and overall survival in early stage, node-negative breast cancer.

Background: DEAD box 1 (DDX1) is an RNA helicase with a number of roles, including translation initiation, RNA splicing and modification, and possibly DNA double-strand break repair. Amplification of DDX1 expression has been implicated in tumors including neuroblastoma, Wilms tumor, retinoblastoma, and testicular carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of DDX1 expression in patients with breast cancer treated with breast-conserving therapy.

Ductal carcinoma in situ treated with breast-conserving surgery and accelerated partial breast irradiation: comparison of the Mammosite registry trial with intergroup study E5194.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence (IBTR) in ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) patients treated in the American Society of Breast Surgeons MammoSite Breast Brachytherapy Registry Trial who met the criteria for E5194 treated with local excision and adjuvant accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI).

Methods: A total of 194 patients with DCIS were treated between 2002 and 2004 in the Mammosite registry trial; of these, 70 patients met the enrollment criteria for E5194: 1) low to intermediate grade (LIG)-pathological size >0.3 but <2.

Catabolic efficiency of aerobic glycolysis: the Warburg effect revisited.

Background: Cancer cells simultaneously exhibit glycolysis with lactate secretion and mitochondrial respiration even in the presence of oxygen, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. The maintenance of this mixed metabolic phenotype is seemingly counterintuitive given that aerobic glycolysis is far less efficient in terms of ATP yield per moles of glucose than mitochondrial respiration.

Results: Here, we resolve this apparent contradiction by expanding the notion of metabolic efficiency.

Optimal cytoplasmatic density and flux balance model under macromolecular crowding effects.

Macromolecules occupy between 34% and 44% of the cell cytoplasm, about half the maximum packing density of spheres in three dimension. Yet, there is no clear understanding of what is special about this value. To address this fundamental question we investigate the effect of macromolecular crowding on cell metabolism.