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Expression of Cancer/Testis Antigens is Correlated with Improved Survival in Glioblastoma

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Expression of Cancer/Testis Antigens is Correlated with Improved Survival in Glioblastoma ABSTRACT Background:  Glioblastoma (GBM) confers a dismal prognosis despite advances in current therapy. Cancer-testis antigens (CTA) comprise families of tumor-associated antigens that are immunogenic in different cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the expression profile of a large number of CTA genes in GBM. Methods:  We selected, from 153 CTA genes, those genes potentially expressed in GBM. The expression pattern of 30 CTA was then evaluated by RT-PCR in a series of 48 GBM and 5 normal brain samples. The presence of CTCFL protein was also evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Results:  Among the genes with no expression in normal brain, ACTL8 (57%), OIP5 (54%), XAGE3 (44%) and CTCFL (15%) were frequently expressed in GBM, while over 85% of the tumors expressed at least 1 of these four CTA. Coexpression of two or more CTA occurred in 49% of cases. CTCFL protein expression was d

Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone suppress in vivo tumor growth and gene expression in triple negative breast cancers

Antagonists of growth hormone-releasing hormone suppress in vivo tumor growth and gene expression in triple negative breast cancers ABSTRACT This study evaluated the effects of a modern antagonistic analog of GHRH on tumor growth and on expression of inflammatory cytokine genes in two models of human triple negative breast cancers (TNBC). The TNBC subtype is refractory to the treatment options available for other hormone-independent breast cancers. Inflammatory cytokines play a major role in the cellular signaling associated with breast cancer pathogenesis and enhance epithelial-mesenchymal transitions (EMT), drug resistance, and metastatic potential. Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide which regulates the synthesis and release of growth hormone by the pituitary and is an autocrine/paracrine growth factor for multiple human cancers. The effects of analogs of GHRH on tumoral cytokine expression have not been previously investigated. Animals bearing xen

Neuropilins are multifunctional coreceptors involved in tumor initiation, growth, metastasis and immunity

Neuropilins are multifunctional coreceptors involved in tumor initiation, growth, metastasis and immunity ABSTRACT The neuropilins (Nrps) are multifunctional proteins involved in development, immunity and cancer. Neuropilin-1 (Nrp1), or its homologue neuropilin-2 (Nrp2), are coreceptors that enhance responses to several growth factors (GFs) and other mediators. Nrps are coreceptors for the class 3 semaphorins (SEMA3), involved in axonal guidance, and several members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family. However, recent findings reveal they have a much broader spectrum of activity. They bind transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and its receptors, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and its receptor (cMet), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) and its receptors, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), and integrins. Nrps also promote Hedgehog signaling. These ligands and pathways are all relevant to angiogenesis and wound healing. In the immune system, the Nrps are expressed p

Aging: Cancer – an unlikely couple

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Aging: Cancer – an unlikely couple     https://www.aging-us.com/issue/v9i9 At first glance, the molecular and cellular mechanisms governing aging and cancer appear to be completely distinct, even opposite in terms of their phenotypes. On one hand, aging represents a slow, often degenerative decline in cellular functions, while cancer cells are thought be “hyper-functional”. But are they really that opposite? It is no secret that aging increases one’s susceptibility to many diseases, including cancer. In fact, as aging populations throughout the world increase, there has been an unprecedented rise in cancer incidence and mortality. More than 50 percent of all cancers are diagnosed in patients 65 years or older [1]. There is now more than ever an urgent need to better understand the interplay between aging and cancer. This knowledge will undoubtedly improve clinical management of geriatric cancer patients. Here, we discuss some intriguing factors linking these two seemingly paradoxical c

To Oncotarget or not to Oncotarget

To Oncotarget or not to Oncotarget Starting from January 2018, Oncotarget is no longer listed in SCIE (Science Citation Index Expanded). This is shocking news to a lot of scientists because the journal was deemed a “rising star” in the field of molecular biology & genetics just a short three months ago by Clarivate Analytics (see the blog post here), the very company that delisted Oncotarget from their journal index products. To some people, it may not be completely surprising because earlier Oncotarget was dropped from MEDLINE, the journal index database of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM). Neither MEDLINE nor Clarivate Analytics gave specific reasons of removing Oncotarget from their indexes. Interested readers can find MEDLINE’s guidelines for deselecting journals here, and Clarivate Analytics’ criteria for indexing journals in their lists here. For a brief period after Oncotarget was removed from MEDLINE, new articles published in the journal could not be searched in P

Oncotarget From Wikipedia

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Oncotarget From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncotarget Jump to navigation Jump to search Oncotarget     Language English Edited  by Mikhail Blagosklonny , Andrei V. Gudkov Publication details History 2010-present Publisher Impact Journals Frequency Weekly Open access Yes License Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License Standard abbreviations ISO 4 Oncotarget Indexing ISSN 1949-2553 OCLC  no. 408119940 Links Journal homepage Online archive Oncotarget  is a twice weekly  peer-reviewed   open access  bio-medical journal covering research on all aspects of  oncology  and publishing sub-sections on topics beyond oncology. The journal was established in 2010 and is published by Impact Journals. The  editors-in-chief  are  Mikhail Blagosklonny  and Andrei V. Gudkov. In 2017, the journal was dropped from  MEDLINE . [1] [2]  In 2018  Clarivate Analytics , who maintain the most prominent  Impact factor  index, delisted the journal from the  Journal Citation Rep