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Nathan Goodyear

Anticancer mechanisms of cannabinoids - 0 views

  • modulating key cell signalling pathways involved in the control of cancer cell proliferation and survival
  • cannabinoids inhibit angiogenesis and decrease metastasis in various tumour types in laboratory animals
  • Cannabis sativa L. (marijuana)
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  • of the approximately 108 cannabinoids produced by C. sativa, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (thc) is the most relevant because of its high potency and abundance in plant preparations
  • Tetrahydrocannabinol exerts a wide variety of biologic effects by mimicking endogenous substances—the endocannabinoids anandamide3 and 2-arachidonoylglycerol4,5—that engage specific cell-surface cannabinoid receptors
  • two major cannabinoid-specific receptors—cb1 and cb2
  • transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V, member 1
  • orphan G protein–coupled receptor 55
  • Most of the effects produced by cannabinoids in the nervous system and in non-neural tissues rely on cb1 receptor activation
  • the cb2 receptor was initially described to be present in the immune system6, but was more recently shown to also be expressed in cells from other origins
  • cardiovascular tone, energy metabolism, immunity, and reproduction
  • cannabinoids are well known to exert palliative effects in cancer patients
  • best-established use is the inhibition of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting
  • thc and other cannabinoids exhibit antitumour effects in a wide array of animal models of cancer
  • cannabinoid receptors and their endogenous ligands are both generally upregulated in tumour tissue compared with non-tumour tissue
  • cb2 promotes her2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) pro-oncogenic signalling in breast cancer
  • pharmacologic activation of cannabinoid receptors decreases tumour growth
  • endocannabinoid signalling can also have a tumour-suppressive role
  • pharmacologic stimulation of cb receptors is, in most cases, antitumourigenic. Nonetheless, a few reports have proposed a tumour-promoting effect of cannabinoids
  • most prevalent effect is the induction of cancer cell death by apoptosis and the inhibition of cancer cell proliferation
  • impair tumour angiogenesis and block invasion and metastasis
  • thc and other cannabinoids induce the apoptotic death of glioma cells by cb1- and cb2-dependent stimulation
  • Autophagy is primarily a cytoprotective mechanism, although its activation can also lead to cell death
  • autophagy is important for cannabinoid antineoplastic activity
  • autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in the mechanism of cannabinoid-induced cell death
  • the effect of cannabinoids in hormone- dependent tumours might rely, at least in part, on the ability to interfere with the activation of growth factor receptors
  • glioma cells), pharmacologic blockade of either cb1 or cb2 prevents cannabinoid-induced cell death with similar efficacy
  • other types of cancer cells (pancreatic48, breast24, or hepatic43 carcinoma cells, for example), antagonists of cb2 but not of cb1 inhibit cannabinoid antitumour actions
  • thc promotes cancer cell death in a cb1- or cb2-dependent manner (or both) at lower concentrations
  • cannabidiol (cbd), a phytocannabinoid with a low affinity for cannabinoid receptors15, and other marijuana-derived cannabinoids57 have also been proposed to promote the apoptotic death of cancer cells acting independently of the cb1 and cb2 receptors
  • In cancer cells, cannabinoids block the activation of the vascular endothelial growth factor (vegf) pathway, an inducer of angiogenesi
  • In vascular endothelial cells, cannabinoid receptor activation inhibits proliferation and migration, and induces apoptosis
  • cb1 or cb2 receptor agonists (or both) reduce the formation of distant tumour masses in animal models of both induced and spontaneous metastasis, and inhibit adhesion, migration, and invasiveness of glioma64, breast65,66, lung67,68, and cervical68 cancer cells in culture
  • the ceramide/p8–regulated pathway plays a general role in the antitumour activity of cannabinoids targeting cb1 and cb2
  • cbd, by acting independently of the cb1 and cb2 receptors, produces a remarkable anti-tumour effect—including reduction of invasiveness and metastasis
  • cannabinoids can also enhance immune system–mediated tumour surveillance in some contexts
  • ability of thc to reduce inflammation75,76, an effect that might prevent certain types of cancer
  • recent observations suggest that the combined administration of cannabinoids with other anticancer drugs acts synergistically to reduce tumour growth
  • combined administration of gemcitabine (the benchmark agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer) and various cannabinoid agonists synergistically reduced the viability of pancreatic cancer cells
  • Other reports indicated that anandamide and HU-210 might also enhance the anticancer activity of paclitaxel89 and 5-fluorouracil90 respectively
  • Combined administration of thc and cbd enhances the anticancer activity of thc and reduces the dose of thc needed to induce its tumour growth-inhibiting activity
  • Preclinical animal models have yielded data indicating that systemic (oral or intraperitoneal) administration of cannabinoids effectively decreases tumour growth
  • Combinations of cannabinoids with classical chemotherapeutic drugs such as the alkylating agent temozolomide (the benchmark agent for the management of glioblastoma80,84) have been shown to produce a strong anticancer action in animal models
  • pharmacologic inhibition of egfr, erk83, or akt enhances the cell-death-promoting action of thc in glioma cultures (unpublished observations by the authors), which suggests that targeting egfr and the akt and erk pathways could enhance the antitumour effect of cannabinoids
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    Good review of the anticancer effects of cananbinoids.
Nathan Goodyear

Oncotarget | NADH autofluorescence, a new metabolic biomarker for cancer stem cells: Id... - 0 views

  • Vitamin C was ~10 times more potent than 2-DG for the targeting of CSCs
  • Cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are thought to be the root cause of chemotherapy-resistance and radio-resistance
  • ultimately leading to treatment failure in patients with advanced disease [1-3]. They have been directly implicated mechanistically in tumor recurrence and metastasis, resulting in poor patient survival
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  • mitochondrial biogenesis may be a key driver of the CSC phenotype
  • Our results indicate that increased mitochondrial oxidative stress and high NADH levels are both key characteristics of the CSC metabolic phenotype
  • high levels of NAD(P)H auto-fluorescence are known to be a surrogate marker for mitochondrial “power”, high OXPHOS capacity and increased ATP production
  • CSCs may be strictly dependent on NAD(P)H to maintain their enhanced mitochondrial function
  • an intact NAD+ salvage pathway is strictly required for mammosphere formation, supporting our results using NAD(P)H auto-fluorescence, which enriched CSC activity by more than 5-fold.
  • Since glycolysis is especially critical for maintaining the TCA cycle, OXPHOS and overall mitochondrial function, we next assessed the effects of known glycolytic inhibitors
  • we show that two other natural products that function as effective glycolysis inhibitors, also inhibited mammosphere formation. More specifically, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), which induces oxidative stress and inhibits the activity of GAPDH (a key glycolytic enzyme) [17], also inhibited mammosphere formation, with an IC-50 of 1 mM (Figure 7B). Therefore, vitamin C was ~10 times more potent than 2-DG at targeting CSC propagation
  • silibinin (the major active constituent of silymarin, an extract of milk thistle seeds) [18], which specifically functions as an inhibitor of glucose uptake, blocked mammosphere formation, with an IC-50 between 200 and 400 µM
  • caffeic acid phenyl ester (CAPE), a key component of honey-bee propolis, has potent anti-cancer properties
  • Propolis has a strong history of medicinal use, dating back more than 2,000 years
  • Because of it aromatic ring structure (Figure 8), we speculated that CAPE might function as a potent inhibitor of oxidative mitochondrial metabolism
  • CAPE quantitatively inhibits the mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and, in turn, induces the onset of aerobic glycolysis (ECAR)
  • CAPE shows a clear selectivity for targeting CSCs and adherent cancer cells, relative to normal fibroblasts.
  • CAPE functions as a “natural” mitochondrial OXPHOS inhibitor, that preferentially targets the CSC sub-population. This could explain CAPE’s known anti-cancer properties
  • Our data directly shows that a small fraction of the total cell population, characterized by increased PGC1α activity, high mitochondrial ROS/H2O2 and high NADH levels, has the ability to survive and grow under anchorage-independent conditions, driving mammosphere formation
  • We highlight the utility of certain natural products, such as Silibinin, Vitamin C and CAPE, that could be used to therapeutically target CSCs. Silibinin is the major active component of silymarin, which is an extract prepared from milk thistle seeds.
  • high NADH is a property that is conserved between normal and cancerous stem cells
  • Previous studies have also shown that when non-CSCs and CSCs are both fed mitochondrial fuels (such as L-lactate or ketone bodies), that CSCs quantitatively produce more NADH in response to this stimulus
  • CSCs may be strictly dependent on NADH to maintain their enhanced mitochondrial function
  • The Noble Prize winner, Linus Pauling, was among the first to describe and clinically test the efficacy of Vitamin C, as a relatively non-toxic anti-cancer agent
  • Vitamin C has two mechanisms of action. First, it is a potent pro-oxidant, that actively depletes the reduced glutathione pool, leading to cellular oxidative stress and apoptosis in cancer cells. Moreover, it also behaves as an inhibitor of glycolysis, by targeting the activity of GAPDH, a key glycolytic enzyme.
  • Here, we show that Vitamin C can also be used to target the CSC population, as it is an inhibitor of energy metabolism that feeds into the mitochondrial TCA cycle and OXPHOS
  • Vitamin C may prove to be promising agent for new clinical trials, aimed at testing its ability to reduce CSC activity in cancer patients, as an add-on to more conventional therapies, to prevent tumor recurrence, further disease progression and metastasis
  • Interestingly, a breast cancer based clinical study has already shown that the use of Vitamin C, concurrent with or within 6 months of chemotherapy, significantly reduces both tumor recurrence and patient mortality
  • CAPE quantitatively reduces mitochondrial oxygen consumption (OCR), while inducing a reactive increase in glycolysis (ECAR). As such, it potently inhibits mammosphere formation with an IC-50 of ~2.5 µM. Similarly, it also significantly inhibits cell migration
  • we also demonstrate that 7 different inhibitors of key energetic pathways can be used to effectively block CSC propagation, including three natural products (silibinin, ascorbic acid and CAPE). Future studies will be necessary to test their potential for clinical benefit in cancer patients.
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    The future of cancer therapy is cancer stem cells.  Study finds that Vitamin C, silymarin, and bee propolis blocks mitochondrial energy pathways in cancer stem cells.  Vitamin C is a known glycolytic inhbitor. Vitamin C was found to inhibit glycolysis via GAPDH targeting to inhibit the energy pathways of the mitochondria in CSCs.  The authors propse that Vitamin C can be used as add on therapies for conventional therapies to specifically attack the CSCs and their contribution to recrurence, treatment resistance, and metastasis potential all in addition to the ability of vitamin C to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.
Nathan Goodyear

microRNA Expression in Ethnic Specific Early Stage Breast Cancer: an Integration and Co... - 0 views

  • dysregulated miRNA could be involved in tumor cell proliferation and growth as well as cell cycle progression
  • under-expression of miR-497, 376c and 1271 in Lebanese breast cancer tissues
  • The upregulated miR-183 in our samples was predicted to be responsible for the decrease in expression of the BTG1 mRNA whose protein is involved in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in breast cancer cells18.
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  • nother molecule related to cell proliferation that was over-expressed in our data and suggested as a target of downregulated miR-376c is AURKA
  • the over-expression of miR-183 and miR-21 in Lebanese breast cancer tissues is consistent with downregulation of two important tumor suppressor predicted targets: AKAP12 whose protein regulates cellular adhesion dynamics by controlling cytoskeletal architecture, cell migration, and mitogenic signaling20; and LATS2 whose protein causes cell cycle arrest
  • dysregulation in cancer particularly in breast cancer highlights their importance in tumor development
  • mRNA-miRNA integration analysis of early breast cancer revealed a potential role of miRNA in increasing cellular proliferation and progression, and decreasing invasion and migration
  • most of the miRNA dysregulated in Lebanese breast cancer patients are similar to those dysregulated in American patients, differences in miRNA expression exist and could be attributed either to the patients’ age at diagnosis or to ethnic variation in miRNA epigenetic regulation and sequence variation of pre-miRNA
  • the number one cancer killer of women worldwide
  • microRNA (miRNA) are small non-coding 18–25 nucleotide RNA molecules currently being studied as potential diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic biomarkers for cancer and other diseases
  • Extensive research on these post-transcriptional modulators has proven that they are deregulated in breast cancerous tissues and even in biological fluids from breast cancer patients
  • five candidate miRNAs (miR-10b, miR-148b, miR-221, miR-21, and miR-155)
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    Epigenetics plays a role, via disregulated miRNA, in increased cell growth, progression, and invasion in Lebanese women with breast cancer.  It is not just genetics that play a role, but epigenetics.
Nathan Goodyear

Cancers | Free Full-Text | A Second WNT for Old Drugs: Drug Repositioning against WNT-D... - 0 views

  • To date nearly half of known human tumors show a dysregulation of the WNT signaling pathway
  • It should be also noted that the WNT pathway is not exclusively employed during development or overactivated in cancer. In adults many healthy tissues rely on it for renewal and homeostasis maintenance, most notably the intestine, haematopoietic system, hair, bones and skin. Therefore one might expect adverse reactions in all these organ systems, which has indeed been observed for many WNT-targeting compounds upon attempts to push them into the clinics
  • The intestine seems to be the most vulnerable in this regard
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  • Ivermectin inhibits proliferation of human colon cancer and lung cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo
  • The anti-proliferative action, affecting both the bulk tumor cells and CSCs, was linked in this study to inhibition of WNT signaling
  • the anti-WNT IC50 of ivermectin is 5–10 times (~1–2 µM vs. 10 µM) lower than that of its toxic effect against chloride channels
  • oral bioavailability of the drug, as for other antiparasitic drugs discussed in this section, is very low
  • Toxicity studies in vivo have also demonstrated a wide therapeutic index for ivermectin
  • Its anti-proliferative activity has been demonstrated in a wide array of cancer cell lines representative of WNT-dependent cancers: non-small lung carcinoma [96], multiple myeloma [97], hepatoma [98], adrenocortical carcinoma [99], ovarian cancer [100] and glioblastoma
  • Niclosamide inhibits the canonical WNT pathway
  • In addition to inhibiting the canonical WNT pathway, niclosamide may mediate its anticancer activities through several other signaling pathways such as NOTCH [107], MTOR [108], NF-κB [97] and STAT3 [96]
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    review article highlights older medications that have anti-Wnt pathway effects in cancer.  Roughly, 50% of cancer involve upregulated Wnt pathway activity. Other drugs of note: metformin
Nathan Goodyear

Dichloroacetate (DCA) as a potential metabolic-targeting therapy for cancer - 0 views

  • The generic drug dichloroacetate is an orally available small molecule that, by inhibiting the pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, increases the flux of pyruvate into the mitochondria, promoting glucose oxidation over glycolysis
  • The most important reason for the poor performance of cancer drugs is the remarkable heterogeneity and adaptability of cancer cells. The molecular characteristics of histologically identical cancers are often dissimilar and molecular heterogeneity frequently exists within a single tumour.
  • Because GO is far more efficient in generating ATP compared with GLY (producing 36 vs 2 ATP per glucose
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  • molecule), cancer cells upregulate glucose receptors and significantly increase glucose uptake in an attempt to ‘catch up
  • early carcinogenesis often occurs in a hypoxic microenvironment, the transformed cells have to rely on anaerobic GLY for energy production.
  • Hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is activated in hypoxic conditions
  • evidence suggests that transformation to a glycolytic phenotype offers resistance to apoptosis
  • non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma
  • Dichloroacetate activated the pyruvate dehydrogenase, which resulted in increased delivery of pyruvate into the mitochondria
  • DCA increased GO and depolarised the mitochondria, returning the membrane potential towards the levels of the non-cancer cells, without affecting the mitochondria of non-cancerous cells
  • induction of apoptosis by DCA in non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and glioblastoma cell lines
  • DCA was shown to induce apoptosis in endometrial (Wong et al, 2008) and prostate (Cao et al, 2008) cancer cells
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    DCA as targeted therapy in cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

Vitamin C increases viral mimicry induced by 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine | PNAS - 0 views

  • Vitamin C alone at concentrations up to 57 μM had little effect on cell growth but was toxic at 228 μM (SI Appendix, Fig. S1B), in line with recent studies of high vitamin C concentrations (125–2,000 μM)
  • In our combination approach, vitamin C increased the effects of low doses of 5-aza-CdR, with 57 μM vitamin C almost doubling the growth inhibition
  • Using the Chou–Talalay method (28), we found that the two compounds indeed acted synergistically, rather than additively, to inhibit cancer cell growth over the physiological ranges of vitamin C in healthy individuals (26–84 μM)
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  • These results show that targeting the cancer DNA methylome by combining low-dose 5-aza-CdR and vitamin C stimulates the expression of ERVs, the induction of a cell-autonomous immune activation response, and increased apoptosis of cancer cells
  • The addition of vitamin C to treatment protocols therefore may be a straightforward way to increase the clinical efficacy of such drugs in MDS and leukemia patients
  • Vitamin C deficiency has been seen previously in patients with multiple types of cancer, including hematological malignancies (35⇓–37). We predict that these patients might receive the most benefits from the combination treatment.
  • induction of an innate immune response
  • We therefore measured plasma concentrations of vitamin C in a small number of patients with miscellaneous hematologic malignancies. Strikingly, 58% of patients with hematological neoplasia who were not taking vitamin C supplements had severe vitamin C deficiency (serum concentration <11.4 μM, at which clinical features of scurvy may be manifested) (34), and 33% had vitamin C levels below the normal range
  • it is possible that vitamin C was oxidized to DHA before it was transported into the cells
  • Oral administration of vitamin C should be sufficient for the therapeutic strategy, because the concentrations reported in this study would not require i.v. administration.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This statement lacks a basic understanding of vitamin C pharmacokinetics.
  • Vitamin C is an essential nutrient for humans and has been reported to increase IFN levels in human cells upon virus infection
  • daily treatment with vitamin C alone at physiological concentrations enhanced the expression of viral-defense genes relative to untreated cells
  • When combined with low-dose 5-aza-CdR, physiological concentrations of vitamin C synergistically inhibited cancer-cell growth and induced apoptosis. Such synergy was associated with increased ERV expression and dsRNA in treated cells. The mechanism of action differs from that of vitamin C at higher doses, which involves its pro-oxidant activity, including GSH inhibition, to generate reactive oxygen species
  • This activity has been shown to induce DNA damage and to enhance the sensitivities of myeloid malignancies, multiple myeloma, and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma to arsenic trioxide (41⇓⇓–44). It also can increase chemosensitivity of ovarian cancer cells (27) and selectively kill KRAS or BRAF mutant colorectal cancer cells by inhibiting GAPDH
  • reactive oxygen species
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    91% of patients with hematologic malignancies have vitamin C levels that are either low or severly deficient. This study found that vitamin C plus low dose DNA methyltransferase inhibitors have synergistic inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and increased apoptosis.  Unfortunately, the authors claimed that oral vitamin C would be sufficient which indicates an incredible lack of understanding of vitamin C pharmacokinetics.
Nathan Goodyear

In vivo loss-of-function screens identify KPNB1 as a new druggable oncogene in epitheli... - 0 views

  • we functionally validated a potent EOC oncogene, KPNB1, and showed its clinical relevance to human EOC
  • a well-established antiparasitic drug, ivermectin, has antitumor effects on EOC through its inhibition of KPNB1
  • EOC has high intertumor and intratumor heterogeneity at the molecular and epigenetic levels
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  • the mortality rate of EOC has not been significantly changed for several decades
  • Sequencing revealed that almost all tumors (96%) had mutations in TP53, which serves as a major driver of this cancer
  • Low-prevalence but statistically significant mutations in nine other genes including NF1, BRCA1, BRCA2, RB1, and CDK12 were also identified, but the majority of genes were mutated at low frequency, making it difficult to distinguish between driver and passenger mutations
  • KPNB1 inhibition via any of three KPNB1 siRNAs or importazole treatment induced apoptosis in human EOC cell lines (Fig. 3 A–F and Fig. S4), and was accompanied by an increase in the expression levels of the proapoptotic proteins BAX and cleaved caspase-3
  • Stable overexpression of KPNB1 in SKOV3 and OVCAR3 (Fig. S6) significantly accelerated cell proliferation/survival (Fig. 5 A–C), confirming that KPNB1 functions as an oncogene in EOC
  • KPNB1 overexpression significantly decreased caspase-3/7 activity (Fig. 5D), in addition to the expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and BAX proteins (Fig. 5E). KPNB1 overexpression also decreased p21 and p27 protein levels (Fig. 5E), as opposed to their increase by KPNB1 inhibition
  • KPNB1 functions as an antiapoptotic and proproliferative oncogene in EOC.
  • Patients with higher expression levels of KPNB1 showed earlier recurrence and worse prognosis than those with lower expression levels of KPNB1
  • KPNB1 acts as an oncogene in human EOC and represents a promising therapeutic target.
  • ivermectin treatment suppressed cell proliferation/viability in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 7A), indicating that it exerts an antitumor effect on EOC
  • ivermectin also induced apoptosis
  • ivermectin increased the expression levels of BAX, and cleaved PARP, as well as p21 and p27
  • KPNB1 inhibition is responsible for the antitumor effect of ivermectin
  • we found that ivermectin synergistically reduced cell proliferation/viability in combination with paclitaxel in human EOC cells
  • Single treatment of ivermectin or paclitaxel reduced tumor growth in nude mice, but, notably, combination treatment of ivermectin and paclitaxel almost completely suppressed tumor growth
  • ERBB2, is amplified and overexpressed in many cancers, including breast (31), ovary (31), colon (32), bladder (33), non-small-cell lung (34), and gastric cancer (35), and is a poor prognostic factor in certain cancer types
  • KPNB1 was the second-highest-ranked gene identified in our screen
  • Increased KPNB1 protein levels have been reported in several cancers, including cervical cancer (42), hepatocellular carcinoma (43), and glioma (44), suggesting KPNB1’s oncogenic potential in these tumor types
  • our findings suggest that KPNB1 might serve as a master regulator of cell cycle by regulating several cell cycle-related proteins, including p21, p27, and APC/C family members
  • higher and/or more-frequent doses of ivermectin than currently approved for humans are well tolerated in humans
  • none of the mice in this study treated with the effective dosage of ivermectin for in vivo anticancer therapy showed severe adverse event
  • we found that the combination of ivermectin and paclitaxel produces a stronger antitumor effect on EOC cell lines than either drug alone
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    Ivermectin found to be pro-apoptotic for the epithelial ovarian cancer oncogene, KPNB1 in in Vivo study.  This effective anti-parasitic drug inhibits the KPNB1 oncogene.
Nathan Goodyear

Nivolumab for previously treated unresectable metastatic anal cancer (NCI9673): a multi... - 0 views

  • Patients received a median of six doses of nivolumab
  • four of the first 12 patients had partial responses
  • Nine (24% [95% CI 15–33]) of 37 patients achieved a response (seven partial responses and two complete responses
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  • no treatment-related deaths
  • the most common adverse events were anaemia (26 [70%]), fatigue (25 [68%]), and rash
  • hypothyroidism
  • hypothyroidism
  • nivolumab-related autoimmune hypothyroidism, which resolved after a short course of corticosteroids
  • No grade 3 or 4 adverse events occurred
  • Nivolumab resulted in objective responses in 24% of patients with metastatic SCCA
  • Historically, doublet chemotherapy with cisplatin and fluorouracil has been the most common treatment for patients with metastatic SCCA
  • our results suggest that immune checkpoint blockade agents might extend overall survival beyond currently available therapies, especially if provided early in the disease treatment course
  • the dose of nivolumab we used differs from the 2016 recommendation of a fixed 240 mg every 2 weeks
  • 25% of patients develop distant metastases
  • most patients with localised SCCA are cured by chemoradiation
  • More than 90% of cases of SCCA are linked to prior infection with human papillomavirus (HPV)
  • Within tumour cells, HPV oncoproteins are immunogenic and can trigger an anti-tumour host immune response by recruitment of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes
  • Tumour cells express PD-L1 and, on binding its inhibitory receptor PD-1 on the surface of T cells, downregulate T-cell activation and thwart the local anti-tumour immune response
  • Nivolumab is a humanised monoclonal antibody against PD-1 that disrupts this interaction, enabling T-cell cytotoxicity. It has activity as a monotherapy in advanced solid cancers, such as head and neck cancer, melanoma, non-small-cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma
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    study finds nivolumab helpful in some patients with surgically unresectable or metastatic anal cancer.  The dose used was 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks. 
Nathan Goodyear

Evolving landscape of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer t... - 0 views

  • 15%–20%
  • key mediator of cell growth, differentiation, and survival
  • of higher histological grade and are more likely to invade axillary lymph nodes
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  • shortened survival and an increased risk of disease recurrence and metastasis
  • Currently, four HER2-directed agents are approved for the treatment of patients with HER2+ breast cancer: trastuzumab, pertuzumab, lapatinib, and ado-trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1)
  • biosimilars
  • trastuzumab may provide greater benefit when administered concurrently with chemotherapy rather than after, and this has become the standard approach
  • concurrent use of anthracyclines (ie, doxorubicin or epirubicin) and trastuzumab is not recommended because of an increased risk for cardiac toxicity
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      avoid herceptin in conjuction with antracyclines i.e. doxorubicin
  • Sequential doxorubicin plus cyclophosphamide followed by concomitant paclitaxel or docetaxel and trastuzumab is recommended for most patients
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      top recommended regimen combination
  • Guidelines also recommend trastuzumab in combination with paclitaxel, docetaxel and carboplatin, or docetaxel and cyclophosphamide, particularly for patients with increased risk for cardiac toxicity or those with small (≤1 cm), node-negative HER2+ tumors
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      good alternative in patients with increased risk of cardiac toxicity.
  • guidelines recommend up to 1 year of adjuvant trastuzumab
  • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with trastuzumab is associated with higher rates of pathologic complete response (pCR) than chemotherapy alone or in combination with lapatinib
  • the combination of trastuzumab, lapatinib, and chemotherapy is not recommended because it failed to demonstrate noninferiority versus trastuzumab and chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting
  • recommend the combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and chemotherapy as neoadjuvant treatment for patients with locally advanced HER2+ breast cancer and for some patients (node-positive or tumor ≥2 cm) with early-stage disease
  • neoadjuvant chemotherapy in combination with pertuzumab and trastuzumab reduced the risk of progression or death by 31% and recurrence or death by 40% versus trastuzumab alone
  • Concurrent chemotherapy and HER2-directed therapy improves survival outcomes over chemotherapy alon
  • dual inhibition of HER2 with trastuzumab and pertuzumab in combination with paclitaxel reduced the risk of death or progression by approximately 40% compared with concurrent trastuzumab and paclitaxel
  • the combination of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and taxane chemotherapy is the preferred first-line regimen
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    HER-2 + breast cancer = appx 15-20% of all breast cancers and is a marker of worse prognosis and an indication for targeted immunotherapy blockade.
Nathan Goodyear

Update on Programmed Death-1 and Programmed Death-Ligand 1 Inhibition in the Treatment ... - 0 views

  • Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4), the first immune checkpoint receptor to be clinically targeted, is exclusively expressed on the surface of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in lymphatic tissue and is involved in T-cell regulation, proliferation, and tolerance
  • programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor antibodies, which restores T-cell effector function and augments the host anti-tumor response by blocking the binding of either programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) and/or PD-L2 to PD-1 receptors
  • lung cancer is the first and second cause of cancer mortality in men and women
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  • Eighty-five percent of lung cancers are non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
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    To read update article on PD-1 and immunotherapy.
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone: a vascular hormone in health and disease - 0 views

  • Testosterone has beneficial effects on several cardiovascular risk factors, which include cholesterol, endothelial dysfunction and inflammation
  • In clinical studies, acute and chronic testosterone administration increases coronary artery diameter and flow, improves cardiac ischaemia and symptoms in men with chronic stable angina and reduces peripheral vascular resistance in chronic heart failure.
  • testosterone is an L-calcium channel blocker and induces potassium channel activation in vascular smooth muscle cells
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  • Animal studies have consistently demonstrated that testosterone is atheroprotective, whereas testosterone deficiency promotes the early stages of atherogenesis
  • there is no compelling evidence that testosterone replacement to levels within the normal healthy range contributes adversely to the pathogenesis of CVD (Carson & Rosano 2011) or prostate cancer (Morgentaler & Schulman 2009)
  • bidirectional effect between decreased testosterone concentrations and disease pathology exists as concomitant cardiovascular risk factors (including inflammation, obesity and insulin resistance) are known to reduce testosterone levels and that testosterone confers beneficial effects on these cardiovascular risk factors
  • Achieving a normal physiological testosterone concentration through the administration of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) has been shown to improve risk factors for atherosclerosis including reducing central adiposity and insulin resistance and improving lipid profiles (in particular, lowering cholesterol), clotting and inflammatory profiles and vascular function
  • It is well known that impaired erectile function and CVD are closely related in that ED can be the first clinical manifestation of atherosclerosis often preceding a cardiovascular event by 3–5 years
  • no decrease in the response (i.e. no tachyphylaxis) of testosterone and that patient benefit persists in the long term.
  • free testosterone levels within the physiological range, has been shown to result in a marked increase in both flow- and nitroglycerin-mediated brachial artery vasodilation in men with CAD
  • Clinical studies, however, have revealed either small reductions of 2–3 mm in diastolic pressure or no significant effects when testosterone is replaced within normal physiological limits in humans
  • Endothelium-independent mechanisms of testosterone are considered to occur primarily via the inhibition of voltage-operated Ca2+ channels (VOCCs) and/or activation of K+ channels (KCs) on smooth muscle cells (SMCs)
  • Testosterone shares the same molecular binding site as nifedipine
  • Testosterone increases the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and enhances nitric oxide (NO) production
  • Testosterone also inhibited the Ca2+ influx response to PGF2α
  • one of the major actions of testosterone is on NO and its signalling pathways
  • In addition to direct effects on NOS expression, testosterone may also affect phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5 (PDE5A)) gene expression, an enzyme controlling the degradation of cGMP, which acts as a vasodilatory second messenger
  • the significance of the action of testosterone on VSMC apoptosis and proliferation in atherosclerosis is difficult to delineate and may be dependent upon the stage of plaque development
  • Several human studies have shown that carotid IMT (CIMT) and aortic calcification negatively correlate with serum testosterone
  • t long-term testosterone treatment reduced CIMT in men with low testosterone levels and angina
  • neither intracellular nor membrane-associated ARs are required for the rapid vasodilator effect
  • acute responses appear to be AR independent, long-term AR-mediated effects on the vasculature have also been described, primarily in the context of vascular tone regulation via the modulation of gene transcription
  • Testosterone and DHT increased the expression of eNOS in HUVECs
  • oestrogens have been shown to activate eNOS and stimulate NO production in an ERα-dependent manner
  • Several studies, however, have demonstrated that the vasodilatory actions of testosterone are not reduced by aromatase inhibition
  • non-aromatisable DHT elicited similar vasodilation to testosterone treatment in arterial smooth muscle
  • increased endothelial NOS (eNOS) expression and phosphorylation were observed in testosterone- and DHT-treated human umbilical vein endothelial cells
  • Androgen deprivation leads to a reduction in neuronal NOS expression associated with a decrease of intracavernosal pressure in penile arteries during erection, an effect that is promptly reversed by androgen replacement therapy
  • Observational evidence suggests that several pro-inflammatory cytokines (including interleukin 1β (IL1β), IL6, tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), and highly sensitive CRP) and serum testosterone levels are inversely associated in patients with CAD, T2DM and/or hypogonadism
  • patients with the highest IL1β concentrations had lower endogenous testosterone levels
  • TRT has been reported to significantly reduce TNFα and elevate the circulating anti-inflammatory IL10 in hypogonadal men with CVD
  • testosterone treatment to normalise levels in hypogonadal men with the MetS resulted in a significant reduction in the circulating CRP, IL1β and TNFα, with a trend towards lower IL6 compared with placebo
  • parenteral testosterone undecanoate, CRP decreased significantly in hypogonadal elderly men
  • Higher levels of serum adiponectin have been shown to lower cardiovascular risk
  • Research suggests that the expression of VCAM-1, as induced by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as TNFα or interferon γ (IFNγ (IFNG)) in endothelial cells, can be attenuated by treatment with testosterone
  • Testosterone also inhibits the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL6, IL1β and TNFα in a range of cell types including human endothelial cells
  • decreased inflammatory response to TNFα and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in human endothelial cells when treated with DHT
  • The key to unravelling the link between testosterone and its role in atherosclerosis may lay in the understanding of testosterone signalling and the cross-talk between receptors and intracellular events that result in pro- and/or anti-inflammatory actions in athero-sensitive cells.
  • testosterone functions through the AR to modulate adhesion molecule expression
  • pre-treatment with DHT reduced the cytokine-stimulated inflammatory response
  • DHT inhibited NFκB activation
  • DHT could inhibit an LPS-induced upregulation of MCP1
  • Both NFκB and AR act at the transcriptional level and have been experimentally found to be antagonistic to each other
  • As the AR and NFκB are mutual antagonists, their interaction and influence on functions can be bidirectional, with inflammatory agents that activate NFκB interfering with normal androgen signalling as well as the AR interrupting NFκB inflammatory transcription
  • prolonged exposure of vascular cells to the inflammatory activation of NFκB associated with atherosclerosis may reduce or alter any potentially protective effects of testosterone
  • DHT and IFNγ also modulate each other's signalling through interaction at the transcriptional level, suggesting that androgens down-regulate IFN-induced genes
  • (Simoncini et al. 2000a,b). Norata et al. (2010) suggest that part of the testosterone-mediated atheroprotective effects could depend on ER activation mediated by the testosterone/DHT 3β-derivative, 3β-Adiol
  • TNFα-induced induction of ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin as well as MCP1 and IL6 was significantly reduced by a pre-incubation with 3β-Adiol in HUVECs
  • 3β-Adiol also reduced LPS-induced gene expression of IL6, TNFα, cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2 (PTGS2)), CD40, CX3CR1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, MMP9, resistin, pentraxin-3 and MCP1 in the monocytic cell line U937 (Norata et al. 2010)
  • This study suggests that testosterone metabolites, other than those generated through aromatisation, could exert anti-inflammatory effects that are mediated by ER activation.
  • The authors suggest that DHT differentially effects COX2 levels under physiological and pathophysiological conditions in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells and via AR-dependent and -independent mechanisms influenced by the physiological state of the cell
  • There are, however, a number of systematic meta-analyses of clinical trials of TRT that have not demonstrated an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events or mortality
  • The TOM trial, which was designed to investigate the effect of TRT on frailty in elderly men, was terminated prematurely as a result of an increased incidence of cardiovascular-related events after 6 months in the treatment arm
  • trials of TRT in men with either chronic stable angina or chronic cardiac failure have also found no increase in either cardiovascular events or mortality in studies up to 12 months
  • Evidence may therefore suggest that low testosterone levels and testosterone levels above the normal range have an adverse effect on CVD, whereas testosterone levels titrated to within the mid- to upper-normal range have at least a neutral effect or, taking into account the knowledge of the beneficial effects of testosterone on a series of cardiovascular risk factors, there may possibly be a cardioprotective action
  • The effect of testosterone on human vascular function is a complex issue and may be dependent upon the underlying androgen and/or disease status.
  • the majority of studies suggest that testosterone may display both acute and chronic vasodilatory effects upon various vascular beds at both physiological and supraphysiological concentrations and via endothelium-dependent and -independent mechanisms
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    Good deep look into the testosterone and CVD link.
Nathan Goodyear

How We Read Oncologic FDG PET/CT | Cancer Imaging | Full Text - 0 views

  • In early PET literature focusing on analysis of solitary pulmonary nodules, some researchers defined malignancy based on a SUVmax threshold of greater than 2.5
  • We contend that SUV analysis has virtually no role in this setting.
  • tumours grow as spheres, whereas inflammatory processes are typically linear
  • ...35 more annotations...
  • Far more important than the SUVmax is the pattern rather than intensity of metabolic abnormality and the correlative CT findings
  • Descriptively, we define SUV < 5 as “low intensity”, 5–10 as “moderate”, 10–15 as “intense” and >15 as “very intense”
  • Evolving literature suggests that intensity of uptake is an independent prognostic factor and in some tumour subtypes superior to histopathologic characterisation.
  • aerobic glycolysis
  • Our practice of thresholding the grey and colour scale to liver as detailed above results in similar image intensity to a fixed upper SUV threshold of 8 to 10
  • The advantage of using the liver as a reference tissue is also aided by this organ having rather low variability in metabolic activity
  • When the liver is abnormal and cannot be used as a reference organ, we use the default SUV setting of an upper SUV threshold of 8
  • One of the most challenging aspects of oncologic FDG PET/CT review, however, is to recognise all the patterns of metabolic activity that are not malignant and which consequently confound interpretation
  • Many benign and inflammatory processes are also associated with high glycolytic activity
  • Future articles in the “How I Read” series will address the specific details of reading PET/CT in various cancers
  • The intensity of uptake in metastases usually parallels that in the primary site of disease
  • For example, discordant low-grade activity in an enlarged lymph node in the setting of intense uptake in the primary tumour suggests it is unlikely malignant and more likely inflammatory or reactive
  • By CT criteria the enlarged node is ‘pathologic’ but the discordantly low metabolic signature further characterises this is as non-malignant since such a node is not subject to partial volume effects and therefore the intensity of uptake should be similar to the primary site
  • The exception is when the lymph node is centrally necrotic as a small rim of viable tumour is subject to partial volume effects with expectant lower intensity of uptake; integrating the CT morphology is therefore critical to reaching an accurate interpretation
  • Small nodes that are visualised on PET are conversely much more likely to be metastatic as such nodes are subject to partial volume effects.
  • The exception to this rule is tumours with a propensity for tumour heterogeneity at different sites
  • The combination of FDG and a more specific tracer, which visualises the well-differentiated disease can be very useful to characterise this phenomenon
  • “metabolic signature”
  • For the majority of malignant processes, the intensity of metabolic abnormality correlates with degree of aggressiveness or proliferative rate.
  • a negative PET/CT study in a patient with biopsy proven malignancy would be considered false-negative
  • Warburg effect
  • There, however, are a significant minority of tumours that utilise substrates other glucose such as glutamine or fatty acids as a source of the carbon atoms required for growth and proliferation
  • This includes a subset of diffuse gastric adenocarcinomas, signet cell colonic adenocarcinomas and some sarcomas, particularly liposarcoma
  • There may be a role for other radiotracers such as fluorothymidine (FLT) or amino acid substrates in this setting.
  • Some tumours harbour mutations that result in defective aerobic mitochondrial energy metabolism, effectively simulating the Warburg effect
  • patients with hereditary paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma highlight this phenomenon
  • These have intense uptake on FDG PET/CT despite often having low proliferative rate.
  • Uterine fibroids, hepatic adenomas, fibroadenomas of the breast and desmoid tumours are benign or relatively benign lesions that can have quite high FDG-avidity.
  • Metabolic activity switches off rapidly following initiation of therapy
  • Common examples where patients have commenced active therapy but the referrer is requesting “staging” includes hormonal therapy (eg. tamoxifen) in breast cancer, oral capecitabine in colorectal cancer or high dose steroids in Hodgkin’s lymphoma
  • It is therefore critical to perform PET staging before commencement of anti-tumour therapy
  • The potential advantage of routine diagnostic CT is improved anatomic localisation and definition
  • Without intravenous contrast, additional identification of typical oncologic complications such as pulmonary embolism or venous thrombosis cannot be identified
  • If the study is performed as an “interim” restaging study after commencement of therapy but before completion, in order to reach a valid or clinically useful conclusion findings must be interpreted in the context of known changes that occur at a specific timing and type of therapy
  • The most well studied use of interim PET is in Hodgkin’s lymphoma where repeat PET after two cycles of ABVD-chemotherapy provides powerful prognostic information and may improve outcomes by enabling early change of management
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    good read on the PET/CT scan reading.  They mention that tumors are spheres and inflammation is linear, yet inflammation coexists with cancer; hard to simply delineate these on simple terms. I do agree aon the metabolic signature of the PET/CT scan
Nathan Goodyear

Mistletoe (Viscum album) extract targets Axl to suppress cell proliferation and overcom... - 0 views

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    Mistletoe found to inhibit cancer cell proliferation and reduce chemo-resistance.
Nathan Goodyear

Very small embryonic-like stem cells are involved in pancreatic regeneration and their ... - 0 views

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    Dysfunctional VSEL triggers cancer? That is the proposal here.
Nathan Goodyear

Cross-kingdom inhibition of breast cancer growth by plant miR159 - 0 views

  • MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a major family of small RNAs, are ∼23 nt-long single strands of RNA that bind to mRNA transcripts to inhibit their translation
  • A recent study by Zhang et al. reported that plant-derived miRNAs can be found in human serum.
  • The group demonstrates that the plant miRNA miR168 may be taken up through dietary intake to inhibit the expression of its target low-density lipoprotein receptor 1 in the liver21, providing the first evidence that miRNA in food may influence gene expression in mammalian organs.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • A more recent finding by the same group shows that a plant miRNA from honeysuckle is able to inhibit Influenza A replication22, indicating that plant miRNAs may be useful for treating human diseases.
  • We found that plant miR159 could be detected in human sera and its levels were inversely correlated with BC incidence and progression.
  • We further identified TCF7 as a mammalian target for miR159 and showed the anti-proliferative function of miR159 in BC cells using in vitro and in vivo models, demonstrating for the first time that a plant miRNA is able to influence BC cell growth.
  • certain dietary miRNAs from plants and other species may serve as highly affordable and powerful means of treatment with minimal inconvenience to patients.
  • miR159 which (using a synthetic mimic) targets TCF7 to inhibit the proliferation of cells whose growth is dependent on TCF7 such as the BC cells MDA-MB-231
  • our study using a BC model clearly indicates the anti-tumor effect of orally administered synthetic miR159 in its naturally existing form with the plant-specific 2'-O-methylation, suggesting the feasibility of using synthetic forms of plant miRNAs as dietary supplements in the treatment of human cancers, including those outside of the GI track
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    Plant microRNA found to exist in human serum from gut absorption to then alter genetic expression in in-vitro and in vivo studies.
Nathan Goodyear

Small Molecule Antagonists of the Wnt/Beta-Catenin Signaling Pathway Target Breast Tumo... - 0 views

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    The Wnt/Beta-Catenin pathway found to be involved in breast cancer initiation in in Vitro and in Vivo study of Her2/Neu study.
Nathan Goodyear

The combination of artesunate and carboplatin exerts a synergistic anti-tumour effect o... - 0 views

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    Artesunate and carboplatin chemotherapy shows synergistic anti-cancer effects.
Nathan Goodyear

Development of PD-1/PD-L1 Pathway in Tumor Immune Microenvironment and Treatment for No... - 0 views

  • the lack of immunologic control is recognized as a hallmark of cancer currently
  • Programmed death-1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1 play a key role in tumor immune escape and the formation of tumor microenvironment, closely related with tumor generation and development
  • Blockading the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway could reverse the tumor microenvironment and enhance the endogenous antitumor immune responses.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • environmental factors, living habits, genetic mutations, dysfunction of the immune system and so on
  • special tumor immune microenvironment
  • cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CLTA-4), Programmed death-1 (PD-1) and its ligands PD-L1 (B7H1) and PD-L2 (B7-DC)
  • CTLA-4 regulates T cell activity in the early stage predominantly, and PD-1 mainly limits the activity of T-cell in the tumor microenvironment at later stage of tumor growth
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    PD-1 to read.
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