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Nathan Goodyear

Press-pulse: a novel therapeutic strategy for the metabolic management of cancer | Nutr... - 0 views

  • A “press” disturbance was considered a chronic environmental stress on all organisms in an ecological community
  • “pulse” disturbances were considered acute events that disrupted biological communities to produce high mortality
  • Neoplasia involving dysregulated cell growth is the biological endpoint of the disease
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  • Data from the American Cancer Society show that the rate of increase in cancer deaths/year (3.4%) was two-fold greater than the rate of increase in new cases/year (1.7%) from 2013 to 2017
  • cancer is predicted to overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death in Western societies
  • cancer can also be recognized as a metabolic disease.
  • glucose is first split into two molecules of pyruvate through the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas glycolytic pathway in the cytosol
  • Aerobic fermentation, on the other hand, involves the production of lactic acid under normoxic conditions
  • persistent lactic acid production in the presence of adequate oxygen is indicative of abnormal respiration
  • Otto Warburg first proposed that all cancers arise from damage to cellular respiration
  • The Crabtree effect is an artifact of the in vitro environment and involves the glucose-induced suppression of respiration with a corresponding elevation of lactic acid production even under hyperoxic (pO2 = 120–160 mmHg) conditions associated with cell culture
  • the Warburg theory of insufficient aerobic respiration remains as the most credible explanation for the origin of tumor cells [2, 37, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57].
  • The main points of Warburg’s theory are; 1) insufficient respiration is the predisposing initiator of tumorigenesis and ultimately cancer, 2) energy through glycolysis gradually compensates for insufficient energy through respiration, 3) cancer cells continue to produce lactic acid in the presence of oxygen, and 4) respiratory insufficiency eventually becomes irreversible
  • Efraim Racker coined the term “Warburg effect”, which refers to the aerobic glycolysis that occurs in cancer cells
  • Warburg clearly demonstrated that aerobic fermentation (aerobic glycolysis) is an effect, and not the cause, of insufficient respiration
  • all tumor cells that have been examined to date contain abnormalities in the content or composition of cardiolipin
  • The evidence supporting Warburg’s original theory comes from a broad range of cancers and is now overwhelming
  • respiratory insufficiency, arising from any number mitochondrial defects, can contribute to the fermentation metabolism seen in tumor cells.
  • data from the nuclear and mitochondrial transfer experiments suggest that oncogene changes are effects, rather than causes, of tumorigenesis
  • Normal mitochondria can suppress tumorigenesis, whereas abnormal mitochondria can enhance tumorigenesis
  • In addition to glucose, cancer cells also rely heavily on glutamine for growth and survival
  • Glutamine is anapleurotic and can be rapidly metabolized to glutamate and then to α-ketoglutarate for entry into the TCA cycle
  • Glucose and glutamine act synergistically for driving rapid tumor cell growth
  • Glutamine metabolism can produce ATP from the TCA cycle under aerobic conditions
  • Amino acid fermentation can generate energy through TCA cycle substrate level phosphorylation under hypoxic conditions
  • Hif-1α stabilization enhances aerobic fermentation
  • targeting glucose and glutamine will deprive the microenvironment of fermentable fuels
  • Although Warburg’s hypothesis on the origin of cancer has created confusion and controversy [37, 38, 39, 40], his hypothesis has never been disproved
  • Warburg referred to the phenomenon of enhanced glycolysis in cancer cells as “aerobic fermentation” to highlight the abnormal production of lactic acid in the presence of oxygen
  • Emerging evidence indicates that macrophages, or their fusion hybridization with neoplastic stem cells, are the origin of metastatic cancer cells
  • Radiation therapy can enhance fusion hybridization that could increase risk for invasive and metastatic tumor cells
  • Kamphorst et al. in showing that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells could obtain glutamine under nutrient poor conditions through lysosomal digestion of extracellular proteins
  • It will therefore become necessary to also target lysosomal digestion, under reduced glucose and glutamine conditions, to effectively manage those invasive and metastatic cancers that express cannibalism and phagocytosis.
  • Previous studies in yeast and mammalian cells show that disruption of aerobic respiration can cause mutations (loss of heterozygosity, chromosome instability, and epigenetic modifications etc.) in the nuclear genome
  • The somatic mutations and genomic instability seen in tumor cells thus arise from a protracted reliance on fermentation energy metabolism and a disruption of redox balance through excess oxidative stress.
  • According to the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer, the large genomic heterogeneity seen in tumor cells arises as a consequence, rather than as a cause, of mitochondrial dysfunction
  • A therapeutic strategy targeting the metabolic abnormality common to most tumor cells should therefore be more effective in managing cancer than would a strategy targeting genetic mutations that vary widely between tumors of the same histological grade and even within the same tumor
  • Tumor cells are more fit than normal cells to survive in the hypoxic niche of the tumor microenvironment
  • Hypoxic adaptation of tumor cells allows for them to avoid apoptosis due to their metabolic reprograming following a gradual loss of respiratory function
  • The high rates of tumor cell glycolysis and glutaminolysis will also make them resistant to apoptosis, ROS, and chemotherapy drugs
  • Despite having high levels of ROS, glutamate-derived from glutamine contributes to glutathione production that can protect tumor cells from ROS
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      reason to eliminate glutamine in cancer patients and even GSH with cancer patients
  • It is clear that adaptability to environmental stress is greater in normal cells than in tumor cells, as normal cells can transition from the metabolism of glucose to the metabolism of ketone bodies when glucose becomes limiting
  • Mitochondrial respiratory chain defects will prevent tumor cells from using ketone bodies for energy
  • glycolysis-dependent tumor cells are less adaptable to metabolic stress than are the normal cells. This vulnerability can be exploited for targeting tumor cell energy metabolism
  • In contrast to dietary energy reduction, radiation and toxic drugs can damage the microenvironment and transform normal cells into tumor cells while also creating tumor cells that become highly resistant to drugs and radiation
  • Drug-resistant tumor cells arise in large part from the damage to respiration in bystander pre-cancerous cells
  • Because energy generated through substrate level phosphorylation is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells, tumor cells are more dependent than normal cells on the availability of fermentable fuels (glucose and glutamine)
  • Ketone bodies and fats are non-fermentable fuels
  • Although some tumor cells might appear to oxidize ketone bodies by the presence of ketolytic enzymes [181], it is not clear if ketone bodies and fats can provide sufficient energy for cell viability in the absence of glucose and glutamine
  • Apoptosis under energy stress is greater in tumor cells than in normal cells
  • A calorie restricted ketogenic diet or dietary energy reduction creates chronic metabolic stress in the body
  • . This energy stress acts as a press disturbance
  • Drugs that target availability of glucose and glutamine would act as pulse disturbances
  • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can also be considered another pulse disturbance
  • The KD can more effectively reduce glucose and elevate blood ketone bodies than can CR alone making the KD potentially more therapeutic against tumors than CR
  • Campbell showed that tumor growth in rats is greater under high protein (>20%) than under low protein content (<10%) in the diet
  • Protein amino acids can be metabolized to glucose through the Cori cycle
  • The fats in KDs used clinically also contain more medium chain triglycerides
  • Calorie restriction, fasting, and restricted KDs are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, and pro-apoptotic and thus can target and eliminate tumor cells through multiple mechanisms
  • Ketogenic diets can also spare muscle protein, enhance immunity, and delay cancer cachexia, which is a major problem in managing metastatic cancer
  • GKI values of 1.0 or below are considered therapeutic
  • The GKI can therefore serve as a biomarker to assess the therapeutic efficacy of various diets in a broad range of cancers.
  • It is important to remember that insulin drives glycolysis through stimulation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex
  • The water-soluble ketone bodies (D-β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate) are produced largely in the liver from adipocyte-derived fatty acids and ketogenic dietary fat. Ketone bodies bypass glycolysis and directly enter the mitochondria for metabolism to acetyl-CoA
  • Due to mitochondrial defects, tumor cells cannot exploit the therapeutic benefits of burning ketone bodies as normal cells would
  • Therapeutic ketosis with racemic ketone esters can also make it feasible to safely sustain hypoglycemia for inducing metabolic stress on cancer cells
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Ketones are much more than energy adaptabilit, but actually are therapeutic.
  • ketone bodies can inhibit histone deacetylases (HDAC) [229]. HDAC inhibitors play a role in targeting the cancer epigenome
  • Therapeutic ketosis reduces circulating inflammatory markers, and ketones directly inhibit the NLRP3 inflammasome, an important pro-inflammatory pathway linked to carcinogenesis and an important target for cancer treatment response
  • Chronic psychological stress is known to promote tumorigenesis through elevations of blood glucose, glucocorticoids, catecholamines, and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1)
  • In addition to calorie-restricted ketogenic diets, psychological stress management involving exercise, yoga, music etc. also act as press disturbances that can help reduce fatigue, depression, and anxiety in cancer patients and in animal models
  • Ketone supplementation has also been shown to reduce anxiety behavior in animal models
  • This physiological state also enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, while reducing the side effects
  • lower dosages of chemotherapeutic drugs can be used when administered together with calorie restriction or restricted ketogenic diets (KD-R)
  • Besides 2-DG, a range of other glycolysis inhibitors might also produce similar therapeutic effects when combined with the KD-R including 3-bromopyruvate, oxaloacetate, and lonidamine
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      oxaloacetate is a glycolytic inhibitor, as is doxycycline, and IVC.
  • A synergistic interaction of the KD diet plus radiation was seen
  • It is important to recognize, however, that the radiotherapy used in glioma patients can damage the respiration of normal cells and increase availability of glutamine in the microenvironment, which can increase risk of tumor recurrence especially when used together with the steroid drug dexamethasone
  • Poff and colleagues demonstrated that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) enhanced the ability of the KD to reduce tumor growth and metastasis
  • HBOT also increases oxidative stress and membrane lipid peroxidation of GBM cells in vitro
  • The effects of the KD and HBOT can be enhanced with administration of exogenous ketones, which further suppressed tumor growth and metastasis
  • Besides HBOT, intravenous vitamin C and dichloroacetate (DCA) can also be used with the KD to selectively increase oxidative stress in tumor cells
  • Recent evidence also shows that ketone supplementation may enhance or preserve overall physical and mental health
  • Some tumors use glucose as a prime fuel for growth, whereas other tumors use glutamine as a prime fuel [102, 186, 262, 263, 264]. Glutamine-dependent tumors are generally less detectable than glucose-dependent under FDG-PET imaging, but could be detected under glutamine-based PET imaging
  • GBM and use glutamine as a major fuel
  • Many of the current treatments used for cancer management are based on the view that cancer is a genetic disease
  • Emerging evidence indicates that cancer is a mitochondrial metabolic disease that depends on availability of fermentable fuels for tumor cell growth and survival
  • Glucose and glutamine are the most abundant fermentable fuels present in the circulation and in the tumor microenvironment
  • Low-carbohydrate, high fat-ketogenic diets coupled with glycolysis inhibitors will reduce metabolic flux through the glycolytic and pentose phosphate pathways needed for synthesis of ATP, lipids, glutathione, and nucleotides
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    Cancer is a mitochondrial disease? So says the well published Dr Seyfried. Glucose and glutamine drive cancer growth.
Nathan Goodyear

Cancer cells metabolically "fertilize" the tumor microenvironment with hydrogen peroxid... - 0 views

  • reducing oxidative stress with powerful antioxidants, is an important strategy for cancer prevention, as it would suppress one of the key early initiating steps where DNA damage and tumor-stroma metabolic-coupling begins. This would prevent cancer cells from acting as metabolic “parasites
  • Oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts triggers autophagy and mitophagy, resulting in compartmentalized cellular catabolism, loss of mitochondrial function, and the onset of aerobic glycolysis, in the tumor stroma. As such, cancer-associated fibroblasts produce high-energy nutrients (such as lactate and ketones) that fuel mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism in cancer cells. We have termed this new energy-transfer mechanism the “reverse Warburg effect.
  • Then, oxidative stress, in cancer-associated fibroblasts, triggers the activation of two main transcription factors, NFκB and HIF-1α, leading to the onset of inflammation, autophagy, mitophagy and aerobic glycolysis in the tumor microenvironment
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  • oxidative stress and ROS, produced in cancer-associated fibroblasts, has a “bystander effect” on adjacent cancer cells, leading to DNA damage, genomic instability and aneuploidy, which appears to be driving tumor-stroma co-evolution
  • tumor cells produce and secrete hydrogen peroxide, thereby “fertilizing” the tumor microenvironment and driving the “reverse Warburg effect.”
  • This type of stromal metabolism then produces high-energy nutrients (lactate, ketones and glutamine), as well as recycled chemical building blocks (nucleotides, amino acids, fatty acids), to literally “feed” cancer cells
  • loss of stromal caveolin (Cav-1) is sufficient to drive mitochondrial dysfunction with increased glucose uptake in fibroblasts, mimicking the glycolytic phenotype of cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • oxidative stress initiated in tumor cells is transferred to cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • Then, cancer-associated fibroblasts show quantitative reductions in mitochondrial activity and compensatory increases in glucose uptake, as well as high ROS production
  • These findings may explain the prognostic value of a loss of stromal Cav-1 as a marker of a “lethal” tumor microenvironment
  • Interruption of this process, by addition of catalase (an enzyme that detoxifies hydrogen peroxide) to the tissue culture media, blocks ROS activity in cancer cells and leads to apoptotic cell death in cancer cells
  • our results may also explain the “field effect” in cancer biology,5 as hydrogen peroxide secreted by cancer cells, and the propagation of ROS production, from cancer cells to fibroblasts, would create an increasing “mutagenic field” of ROS production, due to the resulting DNA damage
  • aerobic glycolysis takes place in cancer-associated fibroblasts, rather than in tumor cells, as previously suspected.
  • In this new paradigm, cancer cells induce oxidative stress in neighboring cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts have the largest increases in glucose uptake
  • cancer cells secrete hydrogen peroxide, which induces ROS production in cancer-associated fibroblasts
  • Then, oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblast leads to decreases in functional mitochondrial activity, and a corresponding increase in glucose uptake, to fuel aerobic glycolysis
  • cancer cells show significant increases in mitochondrial activity, and decreases in glucose uptake
  • fibroblasts and cancer cells in co-culture become metabolically coupled, resulting in the development of a “symbiotic” or “parasitic” relationship.
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts undergo aerobic glycolysis (producing lactate), while cancer cells use oxidative mitochondrial metabolism.
  • We have previously shown that oxidative stress in cancer-associated fibroblasts drives a loss of stromal Cav-1, due to its destruction via autophagy/lysosomal degradation
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is sufficient to induce further oxidative stress, DNA damage and autophagy, essentially mimicking pseudo-hypoxia and driving mitochondrial dysfunction
  • loss of stromal Cav-1 is a powerful biomarker for identifying breast cancer patients with early tumor recurrence, lymph-node metastasis, drug-resistance and poor clinical outcome
  • this type of metabolism (aerobic glycolysis and autophagy in the tumor stroma) is characteristic of a lethal tumor micro-environment, as it fuels anabolic growth in cancer cells, via the production of high-energy nutrients (such as lactate, ketones and glutamine) and other chemical building blocks
  • the upstream tumor-initiating event appears to be the secretion of hydrogen peroxide
  • one such enzymatically-active protein anti-oxidant that may be of therapeutic use is catalase, as it detoxifies hydrogen peroxide to water
  • numerous studies show that “catalase therapy” in pre-clinical animal models is indeed sufficient to almost completely block tumor recurrence and metastasis
  • by eliminating oxidative stress in cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment,55 we may be able to effectively cut off the tumor's fuel supply, by blocking stromal autophagy and aerobic glycolysis
  • breast cancer patients show systemic evidence of increased oxidative stress and a decreased anti-oxidant defense, which increases with aging and tumor progression.68–70 Chemotherapy and radiation therapy then promote further oxidative stress.69 Unfortunately, “sub-lethal” doses of oxidative stress during cancer therapy may contribute to tumor recurrence and metastasis, via the activation of myofibroblasts.
  • a loss of stromal Cav-1 is associated with the increased expression of gene profiles associated with normal aging, oxidative stress, DNA damage, HIF1/hypoxia, NFκB/inflammation, glycolysis and mitochondrial dysfunction
  • cancer-associated fibroblasts show the largest increases in glucose uptake, while cancer cells show corresponding decreases in glucose uptake, under identical co-culture conditions
  • Thus, increased PET glucose avidity may actually be a surrogate marker for a loss of stromal Cav-1 in human tumors, allowing the rapid detection of a lethal tumor microenvironment.
  • it appears that astrocytes are actually the cell type responsible for the glucose avidity.
  • In the brain, astrocytes are glycolytic and undergo aerobic glycolysis. Thus, astrocytes take up and metabolically process glucose to lactate.7
  • Then, lactate is secreted via a mono-carboxylate transporter, namely MCT4. As a consequence, neurons use lactate as their preferred energy substrate
  • both astrocytes and cancer-associated fibroblasts express MCT4 (which extrudes lactate) and MCT4 is upregulated by oxidative stress in stromal fibroblasts.34
  • In accordance with the idea that cancer-associated fibroblasts take up the bulk of glucose, PET glucose avidity is also now routinely used to measure the extent of fibrosis in a number of human diseases, including interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, postsurgical scars, keloids, arthritis and a variety of collagen-vascular diseases.
  • PET glucose avidity and elevated serum inflammatory markers both correlate with poor prognosis in breast cancers.
  • PET signal over-estimates the actual anatomical size of the tumor, consistent with the idea that PET glucose avidity is really measuring fibrosis and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment.
  • human breast and lung cancer patients can be positively identified by examining their exhaled breath for the presence of hydrogen peroxide.
  • tumor cell production of hydrogen peroxide drives NFκB-activation in adjacent normal cells in culture6 and during metastasis,103 directly implicating the use of antioxidants, NFκB-inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents, in the treatment of aggressive human cancers.
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    Good description of the communication between cancer cells and fibroblasts.  This theory is termed the "reverse Warburg effect".
Nathan Goodyear

Tumor regionalization after surgery: Roles of the tumor microenvironment and neutrophil... - 0 views

  • tumor surgery must be carefully considered because the risk of metastasis could be increased by the surgical procedure.
  • NETosis, which is the process of forming neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)
  • surgery-induced metastasis
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  • surgery per se can promote cancer metastasis through a series of local and systemic events
  • surgery results in a serious wound that disrupts the structural barrier preventing the outspreading of cancer cells, change the properties of the cancer cells and stromal cells remaining in the tumor microenvironment, or impairs the host defense systems against cancers
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Key point; add to presentation on surgery and metastasis
  • After the primary tumor is surgically removed, the metastases can start to grow vigorously via neoangiogenesis because the circulating inhibitors disappear
  • infection and inflammation during the postoperative period have been reported to increase the risk of cancer recurrence in patients
  • Surgeons have long suspected that surgery, even if it is a necessary step in cancer treatment, facilitates cancer metastasis
  • Surgery-induced cancer metastasis has been well established in animal models
  • tumor cell dissemination, tumor-favoring immune responses, and neoangiogenesis
  • the surgical resection of primary tumors is beneficial is controversial
  • CTCs abruptly increase just after surgery
  • Even externally palpitating tumors for diagnosis could increase the numbers of CTCs in skin cancer and breast cancer
  • excessive glucocorticoids negatively modulate immune functions
  • immune surveillance against tumors is considered to be impaired by surgical stress
  • In addition to glucocorticoids, during stimulation of the HPA axis, the catecholamine hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine are released from the adrenal medulla
  • NK cell suppression may be attributed to increased levels of catecholamines as well as glucocorticoids
  • In mice bearing a primary tumor, it was observed that the removal of the primary tumor facilitated the growth of highly vascularized metastases
  • primary tumors may secrete angiogenic inhibitors as well as angiogenic activators
  • second phase of tumor recurrence and metastasis, which are newly acquired events, rather than just outcomes of incomplete treatment.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Another key point
  • double-edged sword
  • HIF-1 in neutrophils plays a critical role in NETosis and bacteria-killing activity
  • neutrophils play various roles in the initiation and progression of cancer
  • NETosis
  • many inflammatory and neoplastic diseases
  • formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), which are large extracellular complexes composed of chromatin and cytoplasmic/granular proteins1
  • NETosis has been highlighted as an inflammatory event that promotes cancer metastasis
  • Once activated, neutrophils produce intracellular precursors by using DNA, histones, and granular and cytoplasmic proteins and then spread the mature form of NETs out around themselves
  • A series of these events is called NETosis.
  • neutrophil elastase, myeloperoxidase, cathepsin G, proteinase 3, lactoferrin, gelatinase, lysozyme C, calprotectin, neutrophil defensins, and cathelicidins
  • innate immune response against infection
  • Neutrophils are the most abundant type of granulocytes, comprising 40–70% of all white blood cells
  • two types of NEToses, suicidal (or lytic) NETosis and vital NETosis
  • Suicidal NETosis mainly depends on the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS)
  • Since neutrophils die during this process, it is called suicidal NETosis.
  • vital NETosis
  • vital NETosis occurs independently of ROS production
  • Vital NETosis can be induced by Gram-negative bacteria. LPS
  • NETs are present in a variety of cancers, such as lung cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, and leukemia
  • neutrophils actively undergo NETosis in the tumor microenvironment
  • Hypoxia
  • NETosis plays a pivotal role in noninfectious autoimmune diseases,
  • cytokines
  • tumor-derived proteases
  • tumor exosomes
  • NETosis generally actively progresses in the tumor microenvironment.
  • the proliferative cytokines TGFβ and IL-10 and the angiogenic factor VEGF are representative of neutrophil-derived tissue repair proteins.
  • NETosis is a defense system to protect the body from invading pathogens
  • when neutrophils are excessively stimulated, they produce excess NETs, thereby leading to pathological consequences
  • plasma levels of NETosis markers are elevated after major surgeries
  • local invasion, intravasation into the blood or lymphatic vessels, escape from the immune system, anchoring to capillaries in target organs, extravasation into the organs, transformation from dormant cells to proliferating cells, colonization to micrometastases, and growth to macrometastases
  • NETs promote metastasis at multiple steps
  • NETs loosen the ECM and capillary wall to promote the intravasation of cancer cells
  • NETs and platelets wrap CTCs, which protects them from attack by immune cells and shearing force by blood flow
  • NETs promote the local invasion of cancer cells by degrading the extracellular matrix (ECM)
  • neutrophil elastase, matrix metalloproteinase 9, and cathepsin G
  • NETs also promote the intravasation of cancer cells
  • millions of tumor cells are released into the circulation every day,
  • NETs can wrap up CTCs with platelets
  • β1-integrin plays an important role in the interaction between CTCs and NETs
  • NET-platelet-CTC aggregates.
  • After metastasizing to distant tissues, tumor cells are often found to remain dormant for a period of time and unexpectedly regrow late
  • NETs are believed to participate in the reactivation of dormant cancer cells in metastatic regions
  • NET-associated proteases NE and MMP-9 were found to be responsible for the reactivation of dormant cancer cells
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    Surgery induced metastasis: it is real and steered by NETosis.
Nathan Goodyear

Progesterone metabolites regulate induction, growth, and suppression of estrogen- and p... - 0 views

  • in vitro studies had shown that the progesterone metabolites, 5α-dihydroprogesterone (5αP) and 3α-dihydroprogesterone (3αHP), respectively, exhibit procancer and anticancer effects on receptor-negative human breast cell lines
  • Onset and growth of ER/PR-negative human breast cell tumors were significantly stimulated by 5αP and inhibited by 3αHP
  • When both hormones were applied simultaneously, the stimulatory effects of 5αP were abrogated by the inhibitory effects of 3αHP and vice versa
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  • Treatment with 3αHP subsequent to 5αP-induced tumor initiation resulted in suppression of further tumorigenesis and regression of existing tumors
  • Tumorigenesis of ER/PR-negative breast cells is significantly enhanced by 5αP and suppressed by 3αHP, the outcome depending on the relative concentrations of these two hormones in the microenvironment in the breast regions
  • The findings show that the production of 5αP greatly exceeds that of 3αHP in ER/PR-negative tumors and that treatment with 3αHP can effectively block tumorigenesis and cause existing tumors to regress
  • hypothesis that a high 3αHP-to-5αP concentration ratio in the microenvironment may foster normalcy in noncancerous breast regions.
  • a large proportion (about 30% to 60%) of breast tumors are ER and/or PR negative
  • about 90% of normal proliferating breast epithelial cells are receptor negative
  • Our previous in vitro studies had shown that breast tissues and cell lines readily convert progesterone to 5α-pregnanes, such as 5αP, and delta-4-pregnenes, such as 3αHP (Figure ​(Figure1),1), and that tumorous breast tissues [15] and tumorigenic breast cell lines [16] produce higher levels of 5αP and lower levels of 3αHP than do normal breast tissues and nontumorigenic cell lines
  • The progesterone metabolism studies suggested that increases in 5αP and decreases in 3αHP production accompany the shift toward breast cell neoplasia and tumorigenicity
  • In vitro studies on five different human breast cell lines showed that cell proliferation and detachment are significantly increased by 5αP and decreased by 3αHP
  • the prevailing theory of hormonal regulation of breast cancer, as well as hormone-based therapies, revolves around estrogen and/or progesterone and ER/PR-positive breast cells and tumors.
  • Not only do these "receptor-negative" breast cancers fail to benefit from current hormonal therapies, but they also generally exhibit more-aggressive biologic behaviors and poorer prognosis than the receptor-positive ones
  • The results of the studies reported here show for the first time that the progesterone metabolites, 5αP and 3αHP, act as hormones that regulate ER/PR-negative breast tumor formation, growth, and regression
  • The onset of the ER/PR-negative human breast cell tumors in mice was considerably accelerated, and the growth significantly stimulated, by just one or two applications of 5αP
  • In contrast, 3αHP retarded onset of tumor formation, suppressed tumor growth, and inhibited or regressed existing 5αP-induced tumors
  • When both hormones were administered simultaneously, the effects of one were abrogated by the effects of the other.
  • The 5αPR and 3αHPR (which are associated with the plasma membranes of both ER/PR-positive [19] and ER/PR-negative [29] cells) are distinct from each other and from known ER, PR, androgen, and corticosteroid receptors, and lack affinity for other steroids, such as progesterone, estrogen, androgens, corticosteroids, and other progesterone metabolites
  • Levels of 5αPR are upregulated by 5αP itself and estradiol, and downregulated by 3αHP in both ER/PR-positive and -negative cells
  • ndications are that 5αP acts via the surface receptor-linked mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK; Erk1/2) pathway; 5αP significantly stimulates activation of Erk1/2 [30], increases the Bcl-2/Bax expression ratio [18] and actin depolymerization [31], and decreases expression of actin and adhesion plaque-associated vinculin [31], resulting in decreased apoptosis and increased mitosis and cell detachment
  • 3αHP appears to suppress protein kinase C (PKC), phospholipase C (PLC), Ca2+ mobilization (unpublished observations), and the Bcl-2/Bax expression ratio [18], and increases expression of the cell-cycle inhibitor p21 [18], resulting in increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation and detachment of breast cell lines.
  • serum from mice with tumors had significantly more 5αP than 3αHP
  • the tumors, which on average had about threefold higher concentrations of 5αP than the respective sera, and >10-fold higher 5αP than 3αHP levels
  • Previous in vitro metabolism studies showed that human breast tumor tissues convert significantly more progesterone to 5α-pregnanes like 5αP and less to 4-pregnenes like 3αHP than do paired normal (nontumorous) tissues
  • Similar differences in progesterone metabolism and enzyme gene expressions were observed between tumorigenic and nontumorigenic breast cell lines
  • breast carcinomas are able to synthesize progesterone
  • The current findings, along with the previous in vitro studies, suggest that the relative concentrations of 5αP and 3αHP in the breast microenvironment constitute important autocrine/paracrine determinants not only for tumorigenesis but also for potential regression of tumors and the maintenance of normalcy of ER/PR-negative breast cells/tissues.
  • Evidence presented here shows that a high concentration of 5αP, relative to 3αHP in the microenvironment, promotes initiation and growth of tumors, whereas a higher concentration of 3αHP, relative to 5αP, suppresses tumorigenesis and promotes normalcy
  • 5α-reductase and 5αPR levels are upregulated by 5αP
  • in the 3αHP-treated mice, the elevated 3αHP levels, relative to 5αP, in the microenvironment could have opposed progression to xenograft neoplasia by its inherent anticancer actions and the suppression of 5αP synthesis and 5αPR expression
  • the opposing actions of the progesterone metabolites also appear to exert some control over the estrogen-regulated effects on breast cancer by their ability to modulate ER numbers in ER-positive cells
  • because both ER/PR-negative and ER/PR-positive, as well as normal and tumorigenic human breast cell lines, have been shown to respond to 5αP and 3αHP in vitro, it is suggested that these endogenously produced progesterone metabolites may also play regulatory hormonal roles in ER/PR-positive breast cancers, as well as in the maintenance of normalcy in nontumorous breast tissues.
  • The in vivo data provide further evidence that progesterone metabolites, such as 5αP and 3αHP, deserve to be considered as active hormones in their own right, rather than inactive waste products
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    Progesterone metabolites and breast cancer
Nathan Goodyear

Frontiers | Management of Glioblastoma Multiforme in a Patient Treated With Ketogenic M... - 0 views

  • The SOC for GBM was modified in this patient to initiate KMT prior to surgical resection, to eliminate steroid medication, and to include HBOT as part of the therapy
  • the greatest therapeutic benefit for patients (near 1.0)
  • The observed reduction in blood glucose in our patient would reduce lactic acid fermentation in the tumor cells, while the elevation of ketone bodies would fuel normal cells thus protecting them from hypoglycemia and oxidative stress
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  • Previous studies showed that GBM survival and tumor growth was correlated with blood glucose levels
  • Evidence indicates that glioma cells cannot effectively use ketone bodies for energy due to defects in the number, structure, and function of their mitochondria
  • The accuracy of the GKI as a predictor for therapeutic efficacy, however, is better when ketone bodies are measured from the blood than when measured from the urine
  • A reduction of glucose-driven lactic acid fermentation would not only increase tumor cell apoptosis, but would also reduce inflammation and edema in the tumor microenvironment thus reducing tumor cell angiogenesis and invasion
  • Besides serving as a metabolic fuel for GBM, glutamine is also an essential metabolite for normal immune cells
  • therapies that inhibit glutamine availability and utilization must be strategically employed to avoid inadvertent impairment of immune cell functions
  • we used the non-toxic green tea extract, EGCG, and chloroquine in an attempt to limit glutamine availability to the tumor cells
  • EGCG is thought to target the glutamate dehydrogenase activity that facilitates glutamine metabolism in GBM cells
  • Chloroquine, on the other hand, will inhibit lysosomal digestion thus restricting fermentable amino acids and carbohydrates from phagocytosed materials in the tumor microenvironment
  • HBOT to increase oxidative stress in the tumor cells
  • As glucose and glutamine fermentation protect tumor cells from oxidative stress, reduced availability of these metabolites under ketosis could enhance the therapeutic action of HBOT, as we recently described
  • Prior to subtotal tumor resection and standard of care (SOC), the patient conducted a 72-h water-only fast
  • Following the fast, the patient initiated a vitamin/mineral-supplemented ketogenic diet (KD) for 21 days that delivered 900 kcal/day
  • KD (increased to 1,500 kcal/day at day 22
  • the patient received metformin (1,000 mg/day), methylfolate (1,000 mg/day), chloroquine phosphate (150 mg/day), epigallocatechin gallate (400 mg/day), and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) (60 min/session, 5 sessions/week at 2.5 ATA)
  • Biomarkers showed reduced blood glucose and elevated levels of urinary ketones with evidence of reduced metabolic activity (choline/N-acetylaspartate ratio) and normalized levels of insulin, triglycerides, and vitamin D
  • This is the first report of confirmed GBM treated with a modified SOC together with KMT and HBOT, and other targeted metabolic therapies
  • Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant of the primary adult brain cancers
  • less than 20% of younger adults generally survive beyond 24 months
  • glucose and glutamine are the primary fuels that drive the rapid growth of most tumors including GBM
  • Glucose drives tumor growth through aerobic fermentation (Warburg effect), while glutamine drives tumor growth through glutaminolysis
  • The fermentation waste products of these molecules, i.e., lactic acid and succinic acid, respectively, acidify the tumor microenvironment thus contributing further to tumor progression
  • Glucose and glutamine metabolism is also responsible for the high antioxidant capacity of the tumor cells thus making them resistant to chemo- and radiotherapies
  • The reliance on glucose and glutamine for tumor cell malignancy comes largely from the documented defects in the number, structure, and function of mitochondria and mitochondrial-associated membranes
  • These abnormalities cause the neoplastic GBM cells to rely more heavily on substrate level phosphorylation than on oxidative phosphorylation for energy
  • dexamethasone not only increases blood glucose levels but also increases glutamine levels through its induction of glutamine synthetase activity
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      use mannitol instead
  • Calorie restriction and restricted KD are anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-invasive, and also kill tumor cells through a proapoptotic mechanism
  • Evidence also shows that therapeutic ketosis can act synergistically with several drugs and procedures to enhance cancer management improving both progression free and overall survival
  • hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) increases oxidative stress on tumor cells especially when used alongside therapies that reduce blood glucose and raise blood ketones
  • The glutamine dehydrogenase inhibitor, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is also proposed to target glutamine metabolism
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    Case study of Glioblastoma treated with ketogenic metabolic therapy as an adjuct to modified standard therapy.
Nathan Goodyear

Mitochondrial Fission Induces Glycolytic Reprogramming in Cancer-Associated Myofibrobla... - 0 views

  • L-lactate functions as an onco-metabolite, stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis and OXPHOS in adjacent cancer cells, directly providing energy for tumor growth
  • Oxidative stress in stromal fibroblasts then induces their metabolic conversion into cancer-associated fibroblasts. Such oxidative stress drives the onset of autophagy, mitophagy, and aerobic glycolysis in fibroblasts, resulting in the local production of high-energy mitochondrial fuels (such as L-lactate, ketone bodies, and glutamine). These recycled nutrients are then transferred to cancer cells, where they are efficiently burned via oxidative mitochondrial metabolism (OXPHOS)
  • stromal L-lactate serves as a high-energy mitochondrial “fuel” for cancer cells. We have termed this new model of cancer metabolism “Two-Compartment Tumor Metabolism”, where two opposing metabolic compartments co-exist, side-by-side, with stromal glycolysis fueling OXPHOS in cancer cells
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  • Two-Compartment Tumor Metabolism
  • Reverse Warburg Effect”, is that catabolic fibroblasts should promote tumor growth, without any increases in angiogenesis
  • when cancer cells use L-lactate as a mitochondrial fuel source, this metabolic phenotype is a predictor of lethal cancer metabolism
  • tumor microenvironment is intimately involved in tumor development and progression
  • mitochondrial dysregulation is likely the “root cause” of several human disease(s), and especially epithelial cancers
  • Both in vitro and in vivo studies have now provided convincing evidence that “activated” stromal fibroblasts, a.k.a., myofibroblasts, may play a critical role in initiating tumor recurrence, via paracrine interactions with adjacent tumor epithelial cells
  • A new hypothesis is that cancer is not a cell autonomous disease, but rather a disease of the tumor microenvironment
  • cancer cells behave as metabolic parasites, by inducing oxidative stress in adjacent normal fibroblasts
  • recent experimental evidence indicates that cancer-associated fibroblasts have a catabolic phenotype, and undergo autophagy and mitophagy, resulting in the onset of glycolytic metabolism, driving L-lactate production, and its release into the tumor microenvironment
  • oncogenic mutations in cancer cells lead to ROS production and the “secretion” of hydrogen peroxide species
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    A good discussion of what is proposed the Reverse Warburg effect.  A process by which the local environment dictates tumor progression.  The cancer cells release ROS primarily in the form of H2O2 and this leads to Cancer Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) in the stroma.  The altered stromal environment increases ROS further and promotes ocogenic metabolites through the classic Warburg effect.  This high lactate production from the CAFs then is used by the cancer cells via classic oxidative phosphorylation.  Complex, beautiful and still an the understanding is a work in progress.   This study/article points to the importance of oxidative stress in some cancer development through CAFs.
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.
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  • 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.
Nathan Goodyear

Role of Oxidative Stress and the Microenvironment in Breast Cancer Development and Prog... - 0 views

  • oxidative stress leads to HIF-1α accumulation
  • increased levels of hydrogen peroxide in exhaled breath condensate from patients with localized breast malignancy, associated with increased clinical severity
  • Oxidative stress generated by breast cancer cells activates HIF-1α and NFκB in fibroblasts, leading to autophagy and lysosomal degradation of Cav-1
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  • Comparing mitochondrial metabolic activity revealed a difference between stroma and epithelial cells
  • metalloproteinases (MMP) such as MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9 increase extracellular matrix turnover and are themselves activated by oxidative stress
  • Overexpression of NOX4 in normal breast epithelial cells results in cellular senescence, resistance to apoptosis, and tumorigenic transformation, as well as increased aggressiveness of breast cancer cells
  • Lowered expression of Cav-1 not only leads to myofibroblast conversion and inflammation but also seems to impact aerobic glycolysis, leading to secretion of high energy metabolites such as pyruvate and lactate that drive mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in cancer cells
  • Reverse Warburg Effect
  • secreted transforming growth factor β (TGFβ), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), fibroblast growth factor 2, and stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF1) are able to activate fibroblasts and increase cancer cell proliferation
  • oxidative stress has an important role in the initiation and preservation of breast cancer progression
  • cancer preventive role of healthy mitochondria
  • the cancer cells produce hydrogen peroxide and by driving the “Reverse Warburg Effect” initiate oxidative stress in fibroblasts. As a result of this process, fibroblasts exhibited reduced mitochondrial activity, increased glucose uptake, ROS, and metabolite production.
  • Oxidative stress results from an imbalance between unstable reactive species lacking one or more unpaired electrons (superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, hydroxyl radical, reactive nitrogen species) and antioxidants
  • cancer cells are able to induce drivers of oxidative stress, autophagy and mitophagy: HIF-1α and NFκB in surrounding stroma fibro-blasts
  • Studies show that loss of Cav-1 in adjacent breast cancer stroma fibroblasts can be prevented by treatment with N-acetyl cysteine, quercetin, or metformin
  • However, diets rich in antioxidants have fallen short in sufficiently preventing cancer
  • obstructing oxidative stress in the tumor microenvironment can lead to mitophagy and promote breast cancer shutdown is a promising discovery for the development of future therapeutic interventions.
  • It is widely held that HIF-1α function is dependent upon its location within the tumor microenvironment. It acts as a tumor promoter in CAFs and as a tumor suppressor in cancer cells
  • It was reported that overexpression of recombinant (SOD2) (Trimmer et al., 2011) or injection of SOD, catalase, or their pegylated counterparts can block recurrence and metastasis in mice
  • hydrogen peroxide is one of the main factors that can push fibroblasts and cancer cells into senescence
  • Recent studies show that in the breast cancer microenvironment, oxidative stress causes mitochondrial dysfunction
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    Really fascinating article on tumor signaling. The article points to a complex signaling between cancer cells and stromal fibroblasts that results in myofibroblast transformation that increases the microenvironment favorability of cancer. This article points to oxidative stress as the primary driving force.  
Nathan Goodyear

The impact of the microbiome in cancer: Targeting metabolism of cancer cells and host -... - 0 views

  •  
    Studies have found that high-salt diet can enhance the function of natural killer (NK) cells by enriching the abundance of Bifidobacterium, thus inhibiting tumor growth (63). High dietary fiber can enrich A. muciniphila, activate innate immunity, reshape the tumor microenvironment, and exert the function of inhibiting tumor (64). Notably, Wargo et al. have confirmed that high-dietary fiber diet can enhance anti-tumor immunity and increase the infiltration of tumor-killing T cells, while commercial probiotics treatment alone does not enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy. This study suggests that probiotics intervention is strain-specific and should be put in a specific dietary environment to make sense, to some extent (65).
Nathan Goodyear

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy induces breast cancer metastasis through a TMEM-mediated mecha... - 0 views

  •  
    Study looked at tumor microenvironment of metastasis structures (TMEMs) involved in metastasis. It has also been shown that taxane-based chemotherapies promote tumor regrowth by inducing angiogenesis. In this study, the tumor growth was slowed with taxanes chemotherapies, but it increased TMEMs and thus metastatic potential.
Nathan Goodyear

Clinical experience with intravenous administration of ascorbic acid: achievable levels... - 0 views

  • Patients with higher tumor markers are likely to have higher tumor burden, higher oxidative stress and, therefore, are more likely to have lower post IVC plasma levels.
  • Our data also showed that cancer patients with metastasis tend to have lower post-IVC vitamin C levels than those without metastasis
  • Lower peak plasma concentrations are obtained in cancer patients than in healthy subjects. Cancer patients who are deficient in vitamin C prior to therapy tend to achieve lower plasma levels post infusion.
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  • Patients with higher inflammation or tumor burdens, as measured by CRP levels or tumor antigen levels, tend to show lower peak plasma ascorbate levels after IVC.
  • Patients with metastatic tumors tend to achieve lower post infusion plasma ascorbate levels than those with localized tumors.
  • The inflammatory microenvironment of cancer cells leads to increasing oxidative stress, which apparently depletes vitamin C, resulting in lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood samples post IVC infusion. Another explanation for this finding may be that cancers are themselves more metabolically active in their uptake of vitamin C, causing subjects to absorb more of the vitamin, and as a results show lower plasma ascorbate concentrations in blood post IVC infusion.
  • Most of the prostate cancer patients studied, 75±19% (95% confidence), showed reductions in PSA levels during the course of their IVC therapy
  • Laboratory studies suggest that, at high concentrations, ascorbate does not interfere with chemotherapy or irradiation and may enhance efficacy in some situations
  • Cameron and Pauling observed fourfold survival times in terminal cancer patients treated with intravenous ascorbate infusions followed by oral supplementation
  • Meta-analyses of clinical studies involving cancer and vitamins also conclude that antioxidant supplementation does not interfere with the efficacy of chemotherapeutic regiments
  • patients with severely elevated CRP levels attain plasma ascorbate concentrations after IVC infusions that are only 65% of those attained for subjects with normal CRP levels
  • The finding of decreased plasma ascorbate levels in cancer patients may relate to the molecular structure of ascorbic acid; in particular, the similarity of its oxidized form, dihydroascorbic acid, to glucose
  • Since tumor have increased requirement for glucose [67], transport of dehydroascorbate into the cancer cells via glucose transport molecules and ascorbate through sodium-dependent transporter may be elevated
  • Increased accumulation of ascorbic acid in the tumor site was supported by measurements of the level of ascorbic acid in tumors in animal experiments
  • Regarding inflammation, 73±13% of subjects (95% confidence) showed a reduction in CRP levels during therapy. This was an even more dramatic 86±13% (95% confidence) in subjects who started therapy with CRP levels above 10 mg/L
  • IVC therapy appears to reduce CRP levels in cancer patients.
  • CRP concentrations directly correlate with disease activity in many cases and can contribute to disease progression through a range of pro-inflammatory properties.
  • Being an exquisitely sensitive marker of systemic inflammation and tissue damage, CRP is very useful in screening for organic disease and monitoring treatment responses
  • ncreases in CRP concentrations have been associated with poorer prognosis of survival in cancer patients, particularly with advance disease independent of tumor stage
  • patients with advanced malignancies may have lower level of ascorbic acid in tissue, creating a higher demand for the vitamin C
  • patients treated by IVC with follow-up several year showed that suppression of inflammation in cancer patients by high-dose IVC is feasible and potentially beneficial
  • Inflammation is a marker of high cancer risk, and poor treatment outcome
  • The subjects with highly elevated CRP concentrations have a three-fold elevation “all-cause” mortality risk and a twenty-eight fold increase in cancer mortality risk
  • cancer patients may need higher doses to achieve a given plasma concentration.
  • patients with lower vitamin C levels may see more distribution of intravenously administered ascorbate into tissues and thus attain less in plasma.
  • When treating patients with IVC, the first treatment likely serves to replenish depleted tissue stores, if those subjects were vitamin C deficient at the beginning of the treatment. Then, in subsequent treatments, with increasing doses, higher plasma concentrations can be attained. On-going treatments serve to progressively reduce oxidative stress in cancer patients.
  • large doses given intravenously may result in maximum plasma concentrations of roughly 30 mM, a level that has been shown to be sufficient for preferential cytotoxicity against cancer cells
  • oral intake of vitamin C exceeded 200 mg administered once daily, it was difficult to increase plasma and tissue concentrations above roughly 200 μM.
  •  
    Great review on the use of IV vitamin C in cancer and to reduce inflammation.  The article does a great job of discussing the mechanism of vitamin C therapy in cancer as well as the proposed reasons for low vitamin C in cancer patients.  The study also highlights the obstacles to rise in vitamin C levels post IV vitamin C in cancer patients.
Nathan Goodyear

NETosis and Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in COVID-19: Immunothrombosis and Beyond - PMC - 0 views

  • Pneumonia is a typical symptom of COVID-19 infection, while acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multiple organ failure are common in severe COVID-19 patients
  • NETs are important for preventing pathogen invasion, their excessive formation can result in a slew of negative consequences, such as autoimmune inflammation and tissue damage
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection has also been linked to increased neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios, which is associated with disease severity and clinical prognosis
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  • NETosis is a special form of programmed cell death in neutrophils, which is characterized by the extrusion of DNA, histones, and antimicrobial proteins in a web-like structure known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Definition
  • increased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a crucial intracellular process that causes NETosis
  • Another indirect route of SARS-CoV-2-induced NET production is platelet activation
  • When NETs are activated in the circulation, they can also induce hypercoagulability and thrombosis
  • In COVID-19, major NET protein cargos of NETs (i.e., NE, MPO, and histones) are significantly elevated.
  • SARS-CoV-2 can also infect host cells through noncanonical receptors such as C-type lectin receptors
  • Immunopathological manifestations, including cytokine storms and impaired adaptive immunity, are the primary drivers behind COVID-19, with neutrophil infiltration being suggested as a significant cause
  • NETosis and NETs are increasingly recognized as causes of vascular injury
  • SARS-CoV-2 and its components (e.g., spike proteins and viral RNA) attach to platelets and increase their activation and aggregation in COVID-19, resulting in vascular injury and thrombosis, both of which are linked to NET formation
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Connects SARS-CoV-2 to TLR on Platelets to NETosis to metastasis.
  • NET formation may be caused by activated platelets rather than SARS-CoV-2 itself
  • NETosis, leading to aberrant immunity such as cytokine storms, autoimmune disorders, and immunosuppression.
  • early bacterial coinfections were more prevalent in COVID-19 patients than those infected with other viruses
  • NETosis and NETs may also have a role in the development of post COVID-19 syndromes, including lung fibrosis, neurological disorders, tumor growth, and worsening of concomitant disease
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      NETosis-> tumor growth
  • NETs and other by-products of NETosis have been shown to act as direct inflammation amplifiers. Hyperinflammation
  • “cytokine storm”
  • SARS-CoV-2 drives NETosis and NET formation to allow for the release of free DNA and by-products (e.g., elastases and histones). This may trigger surrounding macrophages and endothelial cells to secrete excessive proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which, in turn, enhance NET formation and form a positive feedback of cytokine storms in COVID-19
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Cycle of hyperinflammation
  • NET release enables self-antigen exposure and autoantibody production, thereby increasing the autoinflammatory response
  • patients with COVID-19 who have higher anti-NET antibodies are more likely to be detected with positive autoantibodies [e.g., antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)]
  • COVID-19 NETs may act as potential inducers for autoimmune responses
  • have weakened adaptive immunity as well as a high level of inflammation
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Immunomodulation
  • tumor-associated NETosis and NETs promote an immunosuppressive environment in which anti-tumor immunity is compromised
  • NETs have also been shown to enhance macrophage pyroptosis in sepsis
  • facilitating an immunosuppressive microenvironment
  • persistent immunosuppression may result in bacterial co-infection or secondary infection
  • can enhance this process by interacting with neutrophils through toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), platelet factor 4 (PF4), and extracellular vesicle-dependent processes
  • NET-induced immunosuppression in COVID-19 in the context of co-existing bacterial infection
  • Following initial onset of COVID-19, an estimated 50% or more of COVID-19 survivors may develop multi-organ problems (e.g., pulmonary dysfunction and neurologic impairment) or have worsening concomitant chronic illness
  • NETs in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of severe COVID-19 patients cause EMT in lung epithelial cells
  • decreased E-cadherin (an epithelial marker) expression
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Leads to emt
  • COVID-19 also has a long-term influence on tumor progression
  • Patients with tumors have been shown to be more vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent development of severe COVID-19
  • patients who have recovered from COVID-19 may have an increased risk of developing cancer or of cancer progression and metastasis
  • awaken cancer cells
  • NETs have been shown to change the tumor microenvironment
  • enhance tumor progression and metastasis
  • vitamin C has been tested in phase 2 clinical trials aimed at reducing COVID-19-associated mortality by reducing excessive activation of the inflammatory response
  • vitamin C is an antioxidant that significantly attenuates PMA-induced NETosis in healthy neutrophils by scavenging ROS
  • vitamin C may also inhibit NETosis and NET production in COVID-19
  • Metformin
  • Vitamin C
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    NETosis intimately involved in progressive COVID, long COVID, autoimmunity, and cancer
Nathan Goodyear

Effect of tumor microenvironment on pathogenesis of the head and neck squamous cell car... - 1 views

  •  
    Nice review of the tumor microenvironment in the treatment of cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

The human tumor microbiome is composed of tumor type-specific intracellular bacteria | ... - 0 views

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    Fascinating relationship b/t tumors and tumor microbiome.
Nathan Goodyear

Bicarbonate and dichloroacetate: Evaluating pH altering therapies in a mouse model for ... - 0 views

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    Tumor Microenvironment is hypoxia and acid which negates effects of therapies such as DCA. Alkalinization of the tumor micronenvironment is a means to open the tumor to the effects of therapies such as DCA.
Nathan Goodyear

Acute Metabolic Alkalosis Enhances Response of C3H Mouse Mammary Tumors to the Weak Bas... - 0 views

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    alkalinization of the tumor microenvironment with NaHCO3 in mouse model improves deliver of chemotherapy to tumor.
Nathan Goodyear

We're Not "DON" Yet: Optimal Dosing and Prodrug Delivery of 6-Diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine ... - 0 views

  • Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in blood
  • Rapidly proliferating healthy cells (GI epithelium, lymphocytes) or cells under physiologic stress have increased demand for glutamine
  • Glutamine is transported into cells by one of multiple amino acid transporters (e.g. ASCT2, BOAT2), several of which are thought to be upregulated in cancer cells
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  • it is hydrolyzed to glutamate and ammonia by glutaminase (‘glutaminolysis’)
  • Glutamate, produced from glutamine by glutaminase and glutamine amidotransferase activities, may be further metabolized to alpha ketoglutarate and provide a carbon skeleton source for the mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA cycle)
  • Glutamine-derived glutamate is also involved in the synthesis of the reducing equivalent glutathione, vital to maintaining cellular redox status
  • Many tumors become largely dependent on glutamine to provide carbon and nitrogen building blocks needed for proliferation
  • In cancer model systems, Eagle and colleagues first demonstrated tumor cells in culture require supplementation with exogenous glutamine for efficient proliferation
  • It was subsequently shown that when deprived of glutamine tumor cells undergo apoptosis
  • The most well-characterized oncogene to regulate glutamine metabolism is MYC (9), which enhances glutaminase expression, upregulates glutamine transporters, and enhances glutamine utilization in energy production and biosynthesis
  • Other pro-tumorigenic regulators such as KRAS and mTOR, as well as tumor suppressors (p53, VHL) have also been associated with alterations in glutamine metabolism
  • Tumor cells are highly adaptable and alter nutrient uptake and metabolic networks to resist single agent glutaminase inhibition
  • cells in the microenvironment of several tumor types upregulate glutamine production, thereby enabling tumor cells to escape glutaminase inhibition
Nathan Goodyear

Treatment-induced secretion of WNT16B promotes tumor growth and acquired resistance to ... - 0 views

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    increased expression of Wnt family member wingless-type MMTV integration site family member 16B (WNT16B) by the tumor microenvironment in response to cytotoxic damage and signals through the canonical Wnt pathway to promote tumor growth and chemotherapy resistance
Nathan Goodyear

Mechanisms of Immunosuppression in the Tumor Microenvironment - 0 views

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    Not a study, but a good short read on the immune system in the TME, i.e., immunosuppression, Treg, TGF-beta...
Nathan Goodyear

Effector CD4 and CD8 T Cells and Their Role in the Tumor Microenvironment | SpringerLink - 0 views

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    Great review of the CD4 and CD8 cells in the tumor microenvironment and their role in cancer progression or cancer control
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