Study lead Menashe Bar-Eli, Ph.D., professor of Cancer Biology, reported a previously unknown target for CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein), a transcription factor that regulates other transcription factors involved in melanoma development. …
The findings were published online by the journal Nature Medicine. Ovarian cancer is divided into four different histological subtypes. …
The technology is known as the “FISH investigation protocol” (Fluorescent in situ hybridization) — it optimises current flow cytometry processes, resulting in a greater visibility of the transcription of RNA, a key step in the transmission of cellular information. …
Scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report that hedgehog, a unique cell signaling pathway known to contribute to many types of cancer, may be behind breast cancer metastasis. This molecular message service works with the lncRNA known as BCAR4 giving the genetic green light for tumor growth. “Our study of BCAR4 and the hedgehog signaling pathway has provided evidence for lncRNAs’ regulator roles in aggressive breast cancers progression,” said Liuqing Yang, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular and cellular oncology, whose findings are published in this month’s issue of Cell…
Now a research team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has identified an unexpected link between a transcription factor known to regulate speech and language development and metastatic colonization of breast cancer. Currently described online in Cell Stem Cell, the new findings demonstrate that, when silenced, the FOXP2 transcription factor, otherwise known as the speech gene, endows breast cancer cells with a number of malignant traits and properties that enable them to survive — and thrive. “We have identified a previously undescribed function for the transcription factor FOXP2 in breast cancer,” explains senior author Antoine Karnoub, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Pathology at BIDMC and Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. “We have found that depressed FOXP2 [a member of the forkhead family of transcriptional regulators] and elevated levels of its upstream inhibitor microRNA 199a are prominent features of clinically advanced breast cancers that associate with poor patient survival.” Karnoub’s lab investigates the roles that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play in the development and metastasis of breast cancer…
An estimated quarter of the 500 U.S. adolescents and young adults diagnosed each year with this aggressive disease fail to respond to standard chemotherapy drugs that target cancer cells. In a report on the work conducted with mice and human laboratory cells, and published in the Oct. 23 edition of the journal Nature, the NYU Langone team concludes that the enzyme JMJD3 — (pronounced ju-mon-ji D3) — acts as a cancer “on” switch by splitting off a chemical methyl group of another protein that is usually methylated by a tumor-suppressing enzyme. …
The so-called Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription, or STATs, are key components of many different signalling pathways. Not surprisingly, then, when something goes wrong with their regulation the consequences can be severe and many types of cancer are known to be associated with increased activities of one or more STAT protein. STAT3 is a frequent culprit and is often found to be activated in tumour cells. Considerable efforts are going into developing inhibitors of STAT3 for use in cancer therapy but it is unclear whether these will turn out to be suitable for use in patients. …
Ancient Greek warriors were fed a special diet that better prepared them for the demands of battle on distant fields. Cancer cells that metastasize may do the same thing according to a new study revealing previously unknown differences between cancer cells that continue to grow at the original tumor site, and those that travel to other organs. Given that a cancer cell’s unyielding ability to metastasize is the primary cause of cancer-related death, understanding how they successfully migrate can be lifesaving…
Malignant mesothelioma has received widespread notoriety because it occurs frequently in the lung linings of people exposed to asbestos. However, asbestos does not always cause this particular cancer that kills 43,000 people worldwide each year. Many mesothelioma patients were never exposed to asbestos. “Mesothelioma is a disease that continues to have a significant burden worldwide, and the treatment option is really suboptimal. …
In a study published last year, the group succeded in eradicating lung tumors in transgenic mice by adopting the same strategy involving the expression of Omomyc, a Myc inhibitor designed by Soucek. They also confirmed that there were no side effects post-administration of repeated and long-term treatment. Importantly, there was no evidence of resistance to therapy — one of the greatest challenges in the treatment of cancer. …