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Nathan Goodyear

Induction of metastasis, cancer stem cell phenotype, and oncogenic metabolism in cancer... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC5282724

EMT TME metastasis cancer stem cells cancer MMP2 Notch MMP-9 MMP-2 radioresistance Hedgehog CSC MMP9 Snail HIF-1alpha tumor microenvironment epithelial to mesenchymal transition TGF-beta radiation

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 09 Feb 21 - No Cached
  • More than half of cancer patients are treated with IR at some point during their treatment
  • fractionation schedule is the delivery of 1.8–2.0 Gy per day, five days per week
  • Nuclear DNA is the primary target of IR; it causes DNA damage (genotoxic stress) by direct DNA ionization
  • ...121 more annotations...
  • IR also indirectly induces DNA damage by stimulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) production
  • IR is known to induce EMT in vitro
  • p53 is activated in response to IR-induced DNA damage
  • IR paradoxically also promotes tumour recurrence and metastasis
  • DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs)
  • cancer cells undergoing EMT acquire invasive and metastatic properties
  • changes in the tumour microenvironment (TME)
  • IR seems to induce EMT and CSC phenotypes by regulating cellular metabolism
  • EMT, stemness, and oncogenic metabolism are known to be associated with resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy
  • Hanahan and Weinberg proposed ten hallmarks of cancer that alter cell physiology to enhance malignant growth: 1) sustained proliferation, 2) evasion of growth suppression, 3) cell death resistance, 4) replicative immortality, 5) evasion of immune destruction, 6) tumour-promoting inflammation, 7) activation of invasion and metastasis, 8) induction of angiogenesis, 9) genome instability, and 10) alteration of metabolism
  • EMT is a developmental process that plays critical roles in embryogenesis, wound healing, and organ fibrosis
  • IR is known to induce stemness and metabolic alterations in cancer cells
  • transforming growth factor-β [TGF-β], epidermal growth factor [EGF]) and their associated signalling proteins (Wnt, Notch, Hedgehog, nuclear-factor kappa B [NF-κB], extracellular signal-regulated kinase [ERK], and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase [PI3K]/Akt
  • activate EMT-inducing transcription factors, including Snail/Slug, ZEB1/δEF1, ZEB2/SIP1, Twist1/2, and E12/E47
  • Loss of E-cadherin is considered a hallmark of EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce EMT to enhance the motility and invasiveness of several cancer cells, including those of breast, lung, and liver cancer, and glioma cells
  • IR may increase metastasis in both the primary tumour site and in normal tissues under some circumstance
  • sublethal doses of IR have been shown to enhance the migratory and invasive behaviours of glioma cells
  • ROS are known to play an important role in IR-induced EMT
  • High levels of ROS trigger cell death by causing irreversible damage to cellular components such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, whereas low levels of ROS have been shown to promote tumour progression—including tumour growth, invasion, and metastasis
  • hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is involved in IR-induced EMT
  • Treatment with the N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a general ROS scavenger, prevents IR-induced EMT, adhesive affinity, and invasion of breast cancer cells
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 09 Feb 21
       
      NAC for all patients receiving radiation therapy
  • Snail has been shown to play a crucial role in IR-induced EMT, migration, and invasion
  • IR activates the p38 MAPK pathway, which contributes to the induction of Snail expression to promote EMT and invasion
  • NF-κB signalling that promotes cell migration
  • ROS promote EMT to allow cancer cells to avoid hostile environments
  • HIF-1 is a heterodimer composed of an oxygen-sensitive α subunit and a constitutively expressed β subunit.
  • Under normoxia, HIF-1α is rapidly degraded, whereas hypoxia induces stabilisation and accumulation of HIF-1α
  • levels of HIF-1α mRNA are enhanced by activation of the PI3K/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)
  • IR is known to increase stabilisation and nuclear accumulation of HIF-1α, since hypoxia is a major condition for HIF-1 activation
  • IR induces vascular damage that causes hypoxia
  • ROS is implicated in IR-induced HIF-1 activation
  • IR causes the reoxygenation of hypoxic cancer cells to increase ROS production, which leads to the stabilisation and nuclear accumulation of HIF-1
  • IR increases glucose availability under reoxygenated conditions that promote HIF-1α translation by activating the Akt/mTOR pathway
  • The stabilised HIF-1α then translocates to the nucleus, dimerizes with HIF-1β, and increases gene expression— including the expression of essential EMT regulators such as Snail—to induce EMT, migration, and invasion
  • TGF-β signalling has been shown to play a crucial role in IR-induced EMT
  • AP-1 transcription factor is involved in IR-induced TGF-β1 expression
  • Wnt/β-catenin signalling is also implicated in IR-induced EMT
  • Notch signalling is known to be involved in IR-induced EMT
  • IR also increases Notch-1 expression [99]. Notch-1 is known to induce EMT by upregulating Snail
  • PAI-1 signalling is also implicated in IR-induced Akt activation that increases Snail levels to induce EMT
  • EGFR activation is known to be associated with IR-induced EMT, cell migration, and invasion by activating two downstream pathways: PI3K/Akt and Raf/MEK/ERK
  • ROS and RNS are also implicated in IR-induced EGFR activation
  • IR has also been shown to activate Hedgehog (Hh) signalling to induce EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce Akt activation through several signalling pathways (EGFR, C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 [CXCR4]/C-X-C motif chemokine 12 [CXCL12], plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 [PAI-1]) and upstream regulators (Bmi1, PTEN) that promote EMT and invasion
  • CSCs possess a capacity for self-renewal, and they can persistently proliferate to initiate tumours upon serial transplantation, thus enabling them to maintain the whole tumour
  • Conventional cancer treatments kill most cancer cells, but CSCs survive due to their resistance to therapy, eventually leading to tumour relapse and metastasis
  • identification of CSCs, three types of markers are utilised: cell surface molecules, transcription factors, and signalling pathway molecules
  • CSCs express distinct and specific surface markers; commonly used ones are CD24, CD34, CD38, CD44, CD90, CD133, and ALDH
  • Transcription factors, including Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, c-Myc, and Klf4,
  • signalling pathways, including those of TGF-β, Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch, platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), and JAK/STAT
  • microRNAs (miRNAs), including let-7, miR-22, miR-34a, miR-128, the miR-200 family, and miR-451
  • Non-CSCs can be reprogrammed to become CSCs by epigenetic and genetic changes
  • EMT-inducing transcription factors, such as Snail, ZEB1, and Twist1, are known to confer CSC properties
  • Signalling pathways involved in EMT, including those of TGF-β, Wnt, and Notch, have been shown to play important roles in inducing the CSC phenotype
  • TGF-β1 not only increases EMT markers (Slug, Twist1, β-catenin, N-cadherin), but also upregulates CSC markers (Oct4, Sox2, Nanog, Klf4) in breast and lung cancer cells
  • some CSC subpopulations arise independently of EMT
  • IR has been shown to induce the CSC phenotype in many cancers, including breast, lung, and prostate cancers, as well as melanoma
  • Genotoxic stress due to IR or chemotherapy promotes a CSC-like phenotype by increasing ROS production
  • IR has been shown to induce reprogramming of differentiated cancer cells into CSCs
  • In prostate cancer patients, radiotherapy increases the CD44+ cell population that exhibit CSC properties
  • IR also induces the re-expression of stem cell regulators, such as Sox2, Oct4, Nanog, and Klf4, to promote stemness in cancer cells
  • EMT-inducing transcription factors and signalling pathways, including Snail, STAT3, Notch signalling, the PI3K/Akt pathway, and the MAPK cascade, have been shown to play important roles in IR-induced CSC properties
  • STAT3 directly binds to the Snail promoter and increases Snail transcription, which induces the EMT and CSC phenotypes, in cisplatin-selected resistant cells
  • Other oncogenic metabolic pathways, including glutamine metabolism, the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), and synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol, are also enhanced in many cancers
  • metabolic reprogramming
  • HIF-1α, p53, and c-Myc, are known to contribute to oncogenic metabolism
  • metabolic reprogramming
  • tumour cells exhibit high mitochondrial metabolism as well as aerobic glycolysis
  • occurring within the same tumour
  • CSCs can be highly glycolytic-dependent or oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS)-dependen
  • mitochondrial function is crucial for maintaining CSC functionality
  • cancer cells depend on mitochondrial metabolism and increase mitochondrial production of ROS that cause pseudo-hypoxia
  • HIF-1 then enhances glycolysis
  • CAFs have defective mitochondria that lead to the cells exhibiting the Warburg effect; the cells take up glucose, and then secrete lactate to 'feed' adjacent cancer cells
  • lactate transporter, monocarboxylate transporter (MCT)
  • nutrient microenvironment
  • Epithelial cancer cells express MCT1, while CAFs express MCT4. MCT4-positive, hypoxic CAFs secrete lactate by aerobic glycolysis, and MCT1-expressing epithelial cancer cells then uptake and use that lactate as a substrate for the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle
  • MCT4-positive cancer cells depend on glycolysis and then efflux lactate, while MCT1-positive cells uptake lactate and rely on OXPHOS
  • metabolic heterogeneity induces a lactate shuttle between hypoxic/glycolytic cells and oxidative/aerobic tumour cells
  • bulk tumour cells exhibit a glycolytic phenotype, with increased conversion of glucose to lactate (and enhanced lactate efflux through MCT4), CSC subsets depend on oxidative phosphorylation; most of the glucose entering the cells is converted to pyruvate to fuel the TCA cycle and the electron transport chain (ETC), thereby increasing mitochondrial ROS production
  • the major fraction of glucose is directed into the pentose phosphate pathway, to produce redox power through the generation of NADPH and ROS scavengers
  • HIF-1α, p53, and c-Myc, are known to contribute to oncogenic metabolism
  • regulatory molecules involved in EMT and CSCs, including Snail, Dlx-2, HIF-1, STAT3, TGF-β, Wnt, and Akt, are implicated in the metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells
  • HIF-1 induces the expression of glycolytic enzymes, including the glucose transporter GLUT, hexokinase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and MCT, resulting in the glycolytic switch
  • HIF-1 represses the expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK), which inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), thereby inhibiting mitochondrial activity
  • STAT3 has been implicated in EMT-induced metabolic changes as well
  • TGF-β and Wnt play important roles in the metabolic alteration of cancer cells
  • Akt is also implicated in the glycolytic switch and in promoting cancer cell invasiveness
  • EMT, invasion, metastasis, and stemness
  • pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), LDH, and pyruvate carboxylase (PC), are implicated in the induction of the EMT and CSC phenotypes
  • decreased activity of PKM2 is known to promote an overall shift in metabolism to aerobic glycolysis
  • LDH catalyses the bidirectional conversion of lactate to pyruvate
  • High levels of LDHA are positively correlated with the expression of EMT and CSC markers
  • IR has been shown to induce metabolic changes in cancer cells
  • IR enhances glycolysis by upregulating GAPDH (a glycolysis enzyme), and it increases lactate production by activating LDHA, which converts pyruvate to lactate
  • IR enhances glycolysis by upregulating GAPDH (a glycolysis enzyme), and it increases lactate production by activating LDHA, which converts pyruvate to lactate
  • IR also elevates MCT1 expression that exports lactate into the extracellular environment, leading to acidification of the tumour microenvironment
  • IR increases intracellular glucose, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose, and products of pyruvate (lactate and alanine), suggesting a role for IR in the upregulation of cytosolic aerobic glycolysis
  • Lactate can activate latent TGF-
  • lactate stimulates cell migration and enhances secretion of hyaluronan from CAF that promote tumour metastasis
  • promote tumour survival, growth, invasion, and metastasis; enhance the stiffness of the ECM; contribute to angiogenesis; and induce inflammation by releasing several growth factors and cytokines (TGF-β, VEGF, hepatocyte growth factor [HGF], PDGF, and stromal cell-derived factor 1 [SDF1]), as well as MMP
  • tumours recruit the host tissue’s blood vessel network to perform four mechanisms: angiogenesis (formation of new vessels), vasculogenesis (de novo formation of blood vessels from endothelial precursor cells), co-option, and modification of existing vessels within tissues.
  • immunosuppressive cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), MDSCs, and regulatory T cells, and the immunosuppressive cytokines, TGF-β and interleukin-10 (IL-10)
  • immunosuppressive cells such as tumour-associated macrophages (TAM), MDSCs, and regulatory T cells, and the immunosuppressive cytokines, TGF-β and interleukin-10 (IL-10)
  • intrinsic immunogenicity or induce tolerance
  • cancer immunoediting’
  • three phases: 1) elimination, 2) equilibrium, and 3) escape.
  • The third phase, tumour escape, is mediated by antigen loss, immunosuppressive cells (TAM, MDSCs, and regulatory T cells), and immunosuppressive cytokines (TGF-β and IL-10).
  • IR can elicit various changes in the TME, such as CAF activity-mediated ECM remodelling and fibrosis, cycling hypoxia, and an inflammatory response
  • IR activates CAFs to promote the release of growth factors and ECM modulators, including TGF-β and MMP
  • TGF-β directly influences tumour cells and CAFs, promotes tumour immune escape, and activates HIF-1 signalling
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 09 Feb 21
       
      And now the receipts
  • MMPs degrade ECM that facilitates angiogenesis, tumour cell invasion, and metastasis
    • Nathan Goodyear
      Nathan Goodyear on 09 Feb 21
       
      Receipts and mechanisms
  • IR also promotes MMP-2/9 activation in cancer cells to promote EMT, invasion, and metastasis
  • IR-induced Snail increases MMP-2 expression to promote EMT
  • Radiotherapy has the paradoxical side-effect of increasing tumour aggressiveness
  • IR promotes ROS production in cancer cells, which may induce the activation of oncogenes and the inactivation of tumour suppressors, which further promote oncogenic metabolism
  • Metabolic alterations
  • oncogenic metabolism
  • elicit various changes in the TME
  • Although IR activates an antitumour immune response, this signalling is frequently suppressed by tumour escape mechanisms
  • Nathan Goodyear on 09 Feb 21
     
    Important review article.
Nathan Goodyear

Anticancer mechanisms of cannabinoids - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC4791144

THC cannabinoids cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 18 Sep 18 - No Cached
  • 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)
  • ...41 more annotations...
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • two major cannabinoid-specific receptors—cb1 and cb2
  • 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
  • Nathan Goodyear on 18 Sep 18
     
    Good review of the anticancer effects of cananbinoids.
Nathan Goodyear

BMC Cancer | Full text | A lactate shuttle system between tumour and stromal cells is a... - 0 views

www.biomedcentral.com/...352

cancer prostate cancer CAFs cancer associated fibroblasts mono-carboxylate transporters

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 12 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Under hypoxic conditions, tumour cells primarily use glycolysis for energy, producing lactate, which is expelled to the tumour microenvironment, allowing tumours to continue their glycolytic activity
  • Sonveaux et al. showed that lactate, which is generally considered a waste product, is preferred over glucose by oxidative tumour cells as their primary energy source
  • MCT4 is a low-affinity transporter, which is abundant in highly glycolytic muscle cells and is one of the many target genes of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α)
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Other targets of HIF-1α include glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1), the main transporter involved in glucose uptake [9,10]; lactate dehydrogenase V (LDHV), which is responsible for the conversion of pyruvate into lactate; pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase isozyme 1 (PDK1), which is responsible for the phosphorylation and consequent inactivation of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH); and carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX), a hypoxia-related protein involved in pH regulation [11]. Alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR), pristanoyl-CoA oxidase (ACOX-3) and D-bifunctional protein (DBP), are also important fatty acid oxidation-related proteins in prostate cancer
  • the essential role played by the cross-talk between stroma and epithelium in carcinogenesis and prostate cancer progression has been increasingly recognised
  • strong membranous expression of MCT1 was consistently observed in cancer cells, suggesting a role for MCT1 in the transport of lactate into tumour cells from the acidic extracellular matrix, suggesting that lactate might be used as a fuel by oxidative cancer cells.
  • Our hypothesis is in agreement with those of Fiaschi et al.[17], who describe the metabolic reprogramming of CAFs towards the Warburg phenotype as a result of contact with prostate cancer cells
  • Using in vitro studies, they showed lactate production and efflux by de novo expressed MCT4 in CAFs and also demonstrated that, upon contact with CAFs, prostate cancer cells were reprogrammed towards aerobic metabolism, with an increase in lactate uptake via the lactate transporter MCT1.
  • pharmacological inhibition of MCT1-mediated lactate uptake dramatically affected PCa cell survival and tumour outgrowth
  • In this model, “energy transfer” or “metabolic coupling” between the tumour stroma and epithelial cancer cells fuels tumour growth and metastasis via oxidative mitochondrial metabolism in anabolic cancer cells
  • the concomitant expression of MCT1 in tumour cells and MCT4 in fibroblasts in the same tissue is clinically significant, and associated with poor prognosis.
  • Nathan Goodyear on 12 Nov 14
     
    Study confirms the importance of the crosstalk between cancer cells and CAFs via MCTs in prostate cancer.
Nathan Goodyear

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

cancerimagingjournal.biomedcentral.com/...s40644-016-0091-3

PET_CT PET scan CT cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 20 Feb 18 - No Cached
  • 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
  • Nathan Goodyear on 20 Feb 18
     
    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
Sundhar krishna

Pituitary Tumor Removal India at Affordable Cost - 0 views

www.biggestclassifieds.com/index.php

endoscope skull base surgery endocrinologist craniotomy neuro ophthalmologist pituitary gland tumours glomus tumors adenoma removal nasal cerebello pontine angle tumour sphenoid sinus treatment endoscopic csf leak repair fungal sinusitis fibrous dysplasia

shared by Sundhar krishna on 19 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Sundhar krishna on 19 Jul 12
     
    Krishna Eye and Ent is one of the best hospital for skull base surgery India. We offer treatment for tumors like pituitary gland tumours, glomus tumors, cerebello pontine angle tumour and treatment for fungal sinusitis, endoscopic csf leak repair.
Nathan Goodyear

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

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC5809128

cancer anal cancer nivolumab immunotherapy

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 13 Jul 18 - No Cached
  • 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
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • 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
  • Nathan Goodyear on 13 Jul 18
     
    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

Renin-angiotensin system and cancer: A review - 0 views

www.oatext.com/system-and-cancer-A-review.php

renin angiotensin system cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 10 Sep 18 - No Cached
  • crucial role of the RAS in the development and maintenance of cancer
  • kidneys, which produce renin in response to decreased arterial pressure, reduced sodium in the distal tubule, or sympathetic nervous system activity via the β-adrenergic receptors
  • Renin is secreted from the juxtaglomerular cells into the bloodstream where it encounters angiotensinogen (AGN), normally produced by the liver
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • Renin catalyses the conversion of AGN to angiotensin I (ATI), which is quickly cleaved by angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) to form angiotensin II (ATII)
  • ATII triggers the release of aldosterone from the adrenal glands, which stimulates reabsorption of sodium and water and thereby increases blood volume and blood pressure
  • ATII also acts on smooth muscle to cause vasoconstriction of the arterioles
  • ATII promotes the release of antidiuretic hormone from the posterior pituitary gland, which results in water retention and triggers the thirst reflex
  • ability of non-CSCs to ‘de-differentiate’ into CSCs due to epigenetic or environmental factors, which further increases the complexity of tumour biology and treatment
  • efficacy of RAS modulators on cancer in both cancer models and cancer patients
  • A localised (‘paracrine’) RAS mechanism has been identified in many types of cancers, and interruption of the control of the RAS is thought to be the basis for its role in cancer
  • Components of the RAS are expressed by these CSCs, supporting the hypothesis of the presence of a ‘paracrine RAS’ in regulating these CSCs
  • Renin is an enzyme normally released by the kidneys in response to falling arterial pressure
  • a study of GBM demonstrating overexpression of PRR coupled with the observation that inhibition of renin reduces cellular proliferation and promotes apoptosis
  • PRR has been found to be vital for normal Wnt signalling
  • A major focus of PRR research is its relationship with Wnt signalling
  • suggest a crucial role for PRR activation on the proliferation of CSCs, possibly via Wnt/β-catenin signalling, leading to carcinogenesis.
  • Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), also known as CD143, is the endothelial-bound peptidase which physiologically converts ATI to ATII
  • ACE is crucial in the regulation of blood pressure, angiogenesis and inflammation
  • results suggest that an overactive ACE promotes cancer growth and progression, and an inhibited or low-activity ACE may have cancer-protective effects
  • When bound to ATII or ATIII it causes vasoconstriction by stimulating the release of vasopressin, reabsorption of water and sodium by promoting secretion of aldosterone and insulin, fibrosis, cellular growth and migration, pro-inflammation, glucose release from the liver, increased plasma triglyceride concentration, and reduced gluconeogenesis
  • ATIIR1 is a G-protein-coupled receptor, with downstream signalling involved in vasodilation, hypertrophy and NF-κB activation leading to TNF-α and PAI-1 expression
  • ATIIR1 has well-documented links with cancer, with one study demonstrating its overexpression in ~20% of breast cancer patients
  • the effect of RAS dysregulation has been associated with increased VEGF expression and angiogenesis in cancers
  • In ovarian and cervical cancer, ATIIR1 overexpression has been shown to be an indicator of tumour invasiveness
  • administration of ATIIR1 blockers (ARBs) have been associated with reduced tumour size, reduction in tumour vascularisation, lower occurrence of metastases, and lower VEGF levels
  • Nathan Goodyear on 10 Sep 18
     
    Great review on RAS in cancer.
pharmacybiz

Conditions Causing Type 2 Diabetes And High BP : Study - 0 views

www.pharmacy.biz/abetes-and-high-blood-pressure

pharmacy-business Prevalence-of-hypertension-in-type-2-diabetes Type-2-diabetes-and-hypertension-treatment Type-1-diabetes-and-hypertension Hypertension-and-diabetes

shared by pharmacybiz on 17 Jan 22 - No Cached
  • pharmacybiz on 17 Jan 22
     
    A study by scientists in a UK university has shown the scale of the prevalence of a condition that can lead to various cardiometabolic diseases. The study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal on Tuesday (January 4) has prompted calls for changes to healthcare policy after researchers revealed, for the first time, the scale of the impact of the condition associated with benign tumours that can lead to type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Up to 10 per cent of adults have a benign tumour, or lump, known as an 'adrenal incidentaloma' in their adrenal glands which can be associated with the overproduction of hormones including the stress steroid hormone cortisol that can lead to type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Previous small studies suggested that one in three adrenal incidentalomas produce excess cortisol, a condition called mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS). An international research team led by the University of Birmingham carried out the largest ever prospective study of over 1,305 patients with adrenal incidentalomas to assess their risk of high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes and their cortisol production by comparing patients with and without MACS.
Nathan Goodyear

Adapted ECHO-7 virus Rigvir immunotherapy (oncolytic virotherapy) prolongs survival in ... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC4560272

RIGVIR cancer oncolytic therapy immunotherapy cancer immunotherapy

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 16 Oct 18 - No Cached
  • Rigvir is a 2 ml frozen solution
  • ECHO-7 virus strain, Picornaviridae family, Enterovirus genus, Enteric Cytopathic Human Orphan (ECHO) type 7, group IV, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus
  • a few side effects were reported, for example subfebrile temperature (37.5°C for a couple of days), pain in the tumour area, sleepiness and diarrhoea
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • In this retrospective study, however, there was no record of any untoward side effect from Rigvir treatment or its discontinuation
  • Early observations of tumour regressions after virus infections have been published starting from the late 19th century
  • The present results show that in substage IB, IIA, IIB and IIC melanoma patients, Rigvir administration after surgery significantly (P<0.05) prolongs survival compared with patients who were managed according to current published guidelines
  • no value higher than grade 2 was recorded in Rigvir-treated patients. This is in contrast to most other cancer therapies, where grades 3 and 4 are frequently observed
  • Administration of virus induces the formation of neutralising antibodies that might potentially influence the efficiency of Rigvir
  • In 94 healthy adult participants tested, the titres were found to be low (1 : 20 to 1 : 62) 39,40. When tested in 155 adult cancer patients who had not been treated with Rigvir, neutralising antibodies against ECHO-7 were detected in ∼50% of the patients
  • the presence of ECHO-7 antibodies was shown to increase with age in children and level off to a plateau of around 75% in adults
  • Rigvir is an immunomodulator that affects both the humoral, antibody-mediated, and the cellular immune systems
  • neutralising antibodies do not affect efficacy when local or regional administration is used
  • it reduces the viability of melanoma, as well as pulmonary, gastric, pancreatic, bone, and breast cancer cell cultures
  • It is oncolytic in melanoma and rectum cancer patients
  • shown to improve the 5-year survival in rectum cancer patients
  • Nathan Goodyear on 16 Oct 18
     
    RIGVIR shown to improve survival against standard therapy in stage IB, IIA, IIB, and IIC in malignant melanoma patients in retrospective study. Side effects are minimal. Neutralizing antibodies are an area to watch that likely effects individual outcome beyond that of the type of cancer
Nathan Goodyear

Specific chemotherapeutic agents induce metastatic behaviour through stromal- and tumou... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...25988668

Chemotherapy "chemotherapy metastasis" metastasis cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 23 Jan 19 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 23 Jan 19
     
    paclitaxel and carboplatin accelerated lung metastasis in tumour-bearing mice.
Nathan Goodyear

Availability of evidence of benefits on overall survival and quality of life of cancer ... - 0 views

www.bmj.com/bmj.j4530

cancer cancer treatment survival quality of life

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 20 Dec 17 - No Cached
  • Although the goal of cancer treatment is to improve the quantity and quality of life,123 clinical trials designed to gain regulatory approval for new drugs often evaluate indirect or “surrogate” measures of drug efficacy. These endpoints show that an agent has biological activity, but they are not reliable surrogates for improved survival4567891011 or quality of life46111213
  • two recent systematic reviews suggest that the strength of association between surrogates in cancer clinical trials and life extension is generally low
  • Available data from the US show that only a small proportion of cancer treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unequivocally show benefits on survival or quality of life.30
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • We sought to systematically evaluate the evidence base for all new drugs and new indications for the treatment of solid tumours and haematological malignancies approved by the EMA in the five year period 2009-13
  • Three investigators (AP, EP, and EG) independently extracted data on and descriptively analysed the following trial features: characteristics of the participant population, study design (randomisation, crossover from experimental to control group, and blinding of investigators and participants), experimental and control groups, enrolment, primary and secondary endpoints, magnitude of benefit on survival and quality of life, and narrative interpretation of the findings
  • Only 18 of the 68 (26%) were supported by a pivotal study powered to evaluate overall survival as the primary outcome
  • From 2009 to 2013, the EMA approved use of 48 oncology drugs
  • Seventeen drugs were approved for treatment of haematological malignancies and 51 for treatment of solid tumours
  • Overall, 72 clinical trials supported the approval of 68 novel drug uses
  • Our scoring was limited to drugs for solid tumours
  • Among 68 cancer drug indications approved by the EMA in the period 2009-13, and with a median of 5.4 years’ follow-up, only 35 (51%) were associated with a significant improvement in survival (26/35) or quality of life (9/35) over existing treatment options, placebo, or as add on treatment
  • Only two of the 26 drugs shown to extend life also showed benefits on quality of life
  • 33 (49%) had not shown any improvement on survival or quality of life
  • This systematic evaluation of oncology drug approvals by the EMA in 2009-13 shows that most of the drugs (39/68, 57%) entered the market without evidence of improved survival or quality of life
  • At a minimum 3.3 years after market entry, there was still no conclusive evidence that 33 of these 39 cancer drugs either extended or improved life
  • What are potential reasons for the paucity of drug approvals with demonstrable survival advantages over existing treatments?
  • Firstly, only 18 (26%) indications for use in our cohort were supported by trials in which extension of life was the primary outcome
  • None of the pivotal studies supporting oncology drug approvals from 2009 to 2013 included quality of life as a primary outcome measure
  • Most new oncology drugs authorised by the EMA in 2009-13 came onto the market without clear evidence that they improved the quality or quantity of patients’ lives
  • Nathan Goodyear on 20 Dec 17
     
    New study from European Medicines Agency questions alot of the new cancer drugs brought to the market 2009-2013.  57% of the new drugs (39/68) were brought to the market without evidence of improved survival or quality of life.
Nathan Goodyear

Repurposing Drugs in Oncology (ReDO)-chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as anti-cancer ... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC5718030

chloroquine hydroxychloroquine cancer repurposed drugs

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 03 May 21 - No Cached
  • HCQ, doses for long-term use range between 200 and 400 mg per day.
  • Short-term administration of CQ or HCQ rarely causes severe side effects
  • Short-term administration of CQ or HCQ rarely causes severe side effects
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • bone marrow suppression
  • cardiomyopathy
  • irreversible retinal toxicity
  • hypoglycaemia
  • daily doses up to 400 mg of HCQ or 250 mg CQ for several years are considered to carry an acceptable risk for CQ-induced retinopathies, with the exception of individuals of short stature
  • chronic CQ or HCQ therapy be monitored through regular ophthalmic examinations (3–6 month intervals), full blood counts and blood glucose level checks
  • long-term HCQ exposure, skeletal muscle function and tendon reflexes should be monitored for weakness
  • both CQ and HCQ, specific caution is advised in patients suffering from impaired hepatic function (especially when associated with cirrhosis), porphyria, renal disease, epilepsy, psoriasis, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and known hypersensitivity to 4-aminoquinoline compounds
  • CQ and HCQ can effectively increase the efficacy of various anti-cancer drugs
  • CQ can prevent the entrapment of protonated chemotherapeutic drugs by buffering the extracellular tumour environment and intracellular acidic spaces
  • This study recommends an adjuvant HCQ dose of 600 mg, twice daily.
  • HCQ addition was shown to produce metabolic stress in the tumours
  • HCQ (400 mg/day)
  • important effects of CQ and HCQ on the tumour microenvironment
  • The main and most studied anti-cancer effect of CQ and HCQ is the inhibition of autophagy
  • the expression levels of TLR9 are higher in hepatocellular carcinoma, oesophageal, lung, breast, gastric and prostate cancer cells as compared with adjacent noncancerous cells, and high expression is often linked with poor prognosis
  • TLR9-mediated activation of the NF-κB signalling pathway and the associated enhanced expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-7 and cyclo-oxygenase 2 mRNA
  • HCQ can activate caspase-3 and modulate the Bcl-2/Bax ratio inducing apoptosis in CLL, B-cell CLL and glioblastoma cells
  • In triple-negative breast cancer, CQ was shown to eliminate cancer stem cells through reduction of the expression of Janus-activated kinase 2 and DNA methyl transferase 1 [106] or through induction of mitochondrial dysfunction, subsequently causing oxidative DNA damage and impaired repair of double-stranded DNA breaks
  • CQ or HCQ would be considered for use in combination with immunomodulation anti-cancer therapies
  • Therapies used in combination with CQ or HCQ include chemotherapeutic drugs, tyrosine kinase inhibitors, various monoclonal antibodies, hormone therapies and radiotherapy
  • Most studies hypothesise that CQ and HCQ could increase the efficacy of other anti-cancer drugs by blocking pro-survival autophagy.
  • daily doses between 400 and 1200 mg for HCQ are safe and well tolerated, but two studies identified 600-mg HCQ daily as the MTD
  • HCQ is often administered twice daily to limit plasma fluctuations and toxicity
Nathan Goodyear

Demystified . . . Human endogenous retroviruses - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC1187282

HERV retroviruses human endogenous retroviruses

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 14 May 18 - No Cached
  • HERVs have been inherited by successive generations and it is possible that some have conferred biological benefits
  • However, several HERVs have been implicated in certain cancers and autoimmune diseases
  • HERVs constitute about 1% of the human genome
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • Human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) represent footprints of previous retroviral infection and have been termed “fossil viruses”
  • HERVs possess a similar genomic organisation to present day exogenous retroviruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human T cell leukaemia virus (HTLV)
  • Retroviruses in effect are retrograde, because the flow of genetic information is reversed compared with the normal pathway of molecular biosynthesis—DNA → RNA → protein. Indeed, all retroviruses necessitate the conversion of viral RNA into a cDNA intermediary, which is catalysed by the enzyme reverse transcriptase
  • Overall, human endogenous retroviruses constitute about 1% of the human genome”
  • some HERVs have been implicated in certain autoimmune diseases and cancers
  • A unit of sugar, phosphate, and base is strictly termed a nucleotide
  • human genes are composed of exons, which are transcribed and translated into amino acids
  • introns, which are interspersed between exons and represent non-translated regions that contribute to the large size of some genes
  • convincing argument for the possible involvement of HERVs in malignancy
  • HERVs may be involved in carcinogenesis by virtue of the expression of HERV mRNA,26 functional proteins,27 or retroviral-like particles
  • They may also be associated with the generation of new promoters29 or the activation of proto-oncogenes
  • inhibition of an effective immune response,
  • encode immunosuppressive proteins
  • “It has been suggested that HERV-K may be important in the progression of testicular germ cell tumours through inhibition of an effective immune response”
  • HERV-K might be important in the pathogenesis of human breast cancer
  • activation of proto-oncogenes of the ras family is common in many tumour types, and some studies have suggested a potential role for HERVs in ras activation
  • Nathan Goodyear on 14 May 18
     
    good review of HERVs.
Nathan Goodyear

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

joe.endocrinology-journals.org/...R47.full

testosterone hormone health disease hormones men male cardiovascular disease CVD

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 13 May 13 - No Cached
  • 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
  • ...54 more annotations...
  • 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
  • Nathan Goodyear on 13 May 13
     
    Good deep look into the testosterone and CVD link.
Nathan Goodyear

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

joe.endocrinology-journals.org/...R25.full

male hormone hormones testosterone hypogonadal-obesity-adipocytokine hypothesis

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • E2 and the inflammatory adipocytokines tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin 6 (IL6) inhibit hypothalamic production of GNRH and subsequent release of LH and FSH from the pituitary
  • Leptin, an adipose-derived hormone with a well-known role in regulation of body weight and food intake, also induces LH release under normal conditions via stimulation of hypothalamic GNRH neurons
  • In human obesity, whereby adipocytes are producing elevated amounts of leptin, the hypothalamic–pituitary axis becomes leptin resistant
  • ...39 more annotations...
  • there is evidence from animal studies that leptin resistance, inflammation and oestrogens inhibit neuronal release of kisspeptin
  • Beyond hypothalamic action, leptin also directly inhibits the stimulatory action of gonadotrophins on the Leydig cells of the testis to decrease testosterone production; therefore, elevated leptin levels in obesity may further diminish androgen status
  • Prostate cancer patients with pre-existing T2DM show a further deterioration of insulin resistance and worsening of diabetic control following ADT
  • ADT for the treatment of prostatic carcinoma in some large epidemiological studies has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of developing MetS and T2DM
  • Non-diabetic men undergoing androgen ablation show increased occurrence of new-onset diabetes and demonstrate elevated insulin levels and worsening glycaemic control
  • increasing insulin resistance assessed by glucose tolerence test and hypoglycemic clamp was shown to be associated with a decrease in Leydig cell testosterone secretion in men
  • The response to testosterone replacement of insulin sensitivity is in part dependent on the androgen receptor (AR)
  • Low levels of testosterone have been associated with an atherogenic lipoprotein profile, characterised by high LDL and triglyceride levels
  • a positive correlation between serum testosterone and HDL has been reported in both healthy and diabetic men
  • up to 70% of the body's insulin sensitivity is accounted for by muscle
  • Testosterone deficiency is associated with a decrease in lean body mass
  • relative muscle mass is inversely associated with insulin resistance and pre-diabetes
  • GLUT4 and IRS1 were up-regulated in cultured adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells following testosterone treatment at low dose and short-time incubations
  • local conversion of testosterone to DHT and activation of AR may be important for glucose uptake
  • inverse correlation between testosterone levels and adverse mitochondrial function
  • orchidectomy of male Wistar rats and associated testosterone deficiency induced increased absorption of glucose from the intestine
  • (Kelley & Mandarino 2000). Frederiksen et al. (2012a) recently demonstrated that testosterone may influence components of metabolic flexibility as 6 months of transdermal testosterone treatment in aging men with low–normal bioavailable testosterone levels increased lipid oxidation and decreased glucose oxidation during the fasting state.
  • Decreased lipid oxidation coupled with diet-induced chronic FA elevation is linked to increased accumulation of myocellular lipid, in particular diacylglycerol and/or ceramide in myocytes
  • In the Chang human adult liver cell line, insulin receptor mRNA expression was significantly increased following exposure to testosterone
  • Testosterone deprivation via castration of male rats led to decreased expression of Glut4 in liver tissue, as well as adipose and muscle
  • oestrogen was found to increase the expression of insulin receptors in insulin-resistant HepG2 human liver cell line
  • FFA decrease hepatic insulin binding and extraction, increase hepatic gluconeogenesis and increase hepatic insulin resistance.
  • Only one, albeit large-scale, population-based cross-sectional study reports an association between low serum testosterone concentrations and hepatic steatosis in men (Völzke et al. 2010)
  • This suggests that testosterone may confer some of its beneficial effects on hepatic lipid metabolism via conversion to E2 and subsequent activation of ERα.
  • hypogonadal men exhibiting a reduced lean body mass and an increased fat mass, abdominal or central obesity
  • visceral adipose tissue was inversely correlated with bioavailable testosterone
  • there was no change in visceral fat mass in aged men with low testosterone levels following 6 months of transdermal TRT, yet subcutaneous fat mass was significantly reduced in both the thigh and the abdominal areas when analysed by MRI (Frederiksen et al. 2012b)
  • ADT of prostate cancer patients increased both visceral and subcutaneous abdominal fat in a 12-month prospective observational study (Hamilton et al. 2011)
  • Catecholamines are the major lipolysis regulating hormones in man and regulate adipocyte lipolysis through activation of adenylate cyclase to produce cAMP
  • deficiency of androgen action decreases lipolysis and is primarily responsible for the induction of obesity (Yanase et al. 2008)
  • may be some regional differences in the action of testosterone on subcutaneous and visceral adipose function
  • proinflammatory adipocytokines IL1, IL6 and TNFα are increased in obesity with a downstream effect that stimulates liver production of CRP
  • observational evidence suggests that IL1β, IL6, TNFα and CRP are inversely associated with serum testosterone levels in patients
  • TRT has been reported to significantly reduce these proinflammatory mediators
  • This suggests a role for AR in the metabolic actions of testosterone on fat accumulation and adipose tissue inflammatory response
  • testosterone treatment may have beneficial effects on preventing the pathogenesis of obesity by inhibiting adipogenesis, decreasing triglyceride uptake and storage, increasing lipolysis, influencing lipoprotein content and function and may directly reduce fat mass and increase muscle mass
  • Early interventional studies suggest that TRT in hypogonadal men with T2DM and/or MetS has beneficial effects on lipids, adiposity and parameters of insulin sensitivity and glucose control
  • Evidence that whole-body insulin sensitivity is reduced in testosterone deficiency and increases with testosterone replacement supports a key role of this hormone in glucose and lipid metabolism
  • Impaired insulin sensitivity in these three tissues is characterised by defects in insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity, in particular into skeletal muscle, impaired insulin-mediated inhibition of hepatic glucose production and stimulation of glycogen synthesis in liver, and a reduced ability of insulin to inhibit lipolysis in adipose tissue
  • Nathan Goodyear on 08 May 13
     
    Great review of the Hypogonadal-obesity-adipocytokine hypothesis.
Nathan Goodyear

ScienceDirect - Cancer Letters : The glutathione-related detoxification pathway in the ... - 0 views

www.sciencedirect.com/...S030438350000481X

glutathione breast cancer

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 11 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 11 Nov 11
     
    glutathione disruption is a component of breast cancer development
Nathan Goodyear

Low circulating adiponectin levels in women with... [Tumour Biol. 2014] - PubMed - NCBI - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...24414393

adiponectin PCOS polycystic ovarian syndrome women hormone hormones

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 05 Feb 14 - No Cached
  • Nathan Goodyear on 05 Feb 14
     
    low adiponectin levels associated with PCOS in women.  
Nathan Goodyear

Postmenopausal circulating levels of 2- and 16α-hydroxyestrone and risk of en... - 0 views

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...PMC3241553

estrogen metabolism 2-hydroxyestrone 4-hydroxyestrone estrogen metabolites cancer uterine cancer endometrial cancer hormones 2:16alpha-OHE1 2:16

shared by Nathan Goodyear on 07 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • our results do not support the hypothesis that greater metabolism of oestrogen via the 2-OH pathway, relative to the 16α-OH pathway, protects against endometrial cancer. Indeed our results are more suggestive of an increase in risk, rather than a decrease, with higher levels of 2-OHE1
  • women with a higher 2-OHE1 : 16α-OHE1 ratio did not have a decreased risk of endometrial cancer as compared with women with a lower ratio
  • The findings from this first prospective epidemiological study of oestrogen metabolites and endometrial cancer are in line with results from prospective studies on breast cancer, another oestrogen-related cancer. None of the seven studies on breast cancer reported significant associations overall
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • On the whole, prospective epidemiological data do not support the hypothesis that the 2-hydroxyestrogen pathway is protective, and the 16α-hydroxyestrogen pathway harmful, in hormone-dependent cancers
  • Both 2- and 4-hydroxyestrogens are catecholestrogens, and it has been suggested that catecholestrogens increase risk of oestrogen-mediated cancers through direct genotoxic effects, rather than through stimulation of cell proliferation via binding to oestrogen receptors
  • the evidence is stronger for 4-hydroxyestrogens than for 2-hydroxyestrogens
  • a significant increase in risk of breast cancer with levels of 2-OHE1 has also been reported previously, although it was limited to hormone receptor-negative tumours
  • Nathan Goodyear on 07 Oct 15
     
    2:16 hydroxyestrone ratio not associated with uterine cancer risk.
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