Tag Archives: cell

Possible new druggable target in Ewing’s Sarcoma

"We started with all the microRNAs downstream from the EWS/FLI1 fusion and narrowed in on microRNA-22. But then we looked even further downstream from there and found that microRNA-22 works through another gene, KDM3A, to cause this cancer. When we turned down this gene (KDM3A) in lab studies, we observed a profound inhibition of the tumorigenic properties of Ewing Sarcoma cells," says Paul Jedlicka, MD, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor of pathology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. …

Study questions anti-cancer mechanisms of drug tested in clinical trials

But new research appearing the week of Jan. 13 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that activation of AMPK may actually fuel cancer growth. Researchers from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center who led the study also recommend that clinicians testing metformin for cancer treatment consider a careful re-evaluation of their clinical data. The researchers report on extensive laboratory tests that conclude metformin does stop cancer, although not by activating AMPK…

Study: Autophagy predicts which cancer cells live, die when faced with anti-cancer drugs

"In these studies, say we treat cells with the IC-50 of a drug — at that dose, 50 percent of cells should live and 50 percent of cells should die. But the fundamental question is why does cell A die whereas cell B lives? What we show is that the difference may be due to random variation in the amount of autophagy that’s going on," says Andrew Thorburn, PhD, deputy director of the CU Cancer Center. Previous studies show that autophagy promotes cell survival — under conditions of stress or shortage, cells break down non-necessary components to provide energy or use the same strategy to prevent cellular damage by degrading and recycling potentially damaging proteins. …

Scientists control cells following transplantation, from inside out

Associate Professor Jeffrey Karp, PhD, and James Ankrum, PhD, demonstrate in this month’s issue of Nature Protocols how to load cells with microparticles that provide the cells cues for how they should behave over the course of days or weeks as the particles degrade. "Regardless of where the cell is in the body, it’s going to be receiving its cues from the inside," said Karp, a Harvard Stem Cell Institute Principal Faculty member at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. "This is a completely different strategy than the current method of placing cells onto drug-doped microcarriers or scaffolds, which is limiting because the cells need to remain in close proximity to those materials in order to function. Also these types of materials are too large to be infused into the bloodstream." Cells are relatively simple to control in a Petri dish. …

Retinoblastoma dysfunction promotes pancreatic cancer cell growth, study shows

Murray Korc, M.D., the Myles Brand Professor of Cancer Research at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a researcher at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center, and colleagues have shown that the retinoblastoma protein, a tumor suppressor, often malfunctions in pancreatic cancer. That dysfunction enables an inhibitory protein to promote pancreatic cancer growth. The research was published online today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. As a result of the dysfunctional retinoblastoma protein, pancreatic cancer cells lose their ability to be inhibited by transforming growth factor-beta, or TGF-β, which is a key negative regulator of cell proliferation, according to Dr…

Regulation of cancer-causing protein could lead to new therapeutic targets

Atsuo Sasaki, PhD, a member of the CCC, the UC Cancer Institute and the UC Brain Tumor Center as well as an assistant professor in the division of hematology oncology within the department of internal medicine, is the principal investigator on the study, which is published in the Dec. 13, 2013, online edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. …