Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

An alcohol-induced rise in estrogens as a consequence of alcohol catabolism in the liver has been reported

The only study that looked at the association between alcohol and wine consumption in healthy women did not report a clear association

smoking has been reported to increase induction of the 2-hydroxylation metabolic pathway (24). However, the few epidemiological studies conducted on healthy women showed no difference in estrogen metabolites with smoking status (22) or smoking dose (20), in line with our findings.

Family history of a first-degree family member with breast cancer confers a 2- to 4-fold risk of developing breast cancer

16% of breast cancers are due to unidentified hereditary factors

Estrogen metabolism occurs through enzymes whose activity is determined by the presence of specific genetic polymorphisms, thus can be defined as unique to each individual.

the metabolism is also influenced by a number of environmental factors, which change over a lifetime

significantly lower 2:16 OHE ratio in women who have known breast cancer risk factors compared with healthy women

There was an additional significant association specifically with BMI and alcohol use, which also supports the evidence that these factors affect estrogen metabolism

Profiling estrogen metabolites may identify women who are more likely to develop breast cancer within a population of women with known risk factors

uncoupling of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation is believed to be its anti-helminthic mechanism of action

we hypothesized that niclosamides antagonistic effects on OTICs could, in part, be due to its disruption of metabolism

Our results showed that genes participating in protein complexes of oxidative phosphorylation were downregulated

niclosamide treatment resulted in a more than 20% increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in cultured OTICs

niclosamide, which has proved to be safe and effective for the past 2 decades against numerous parasites, inhibited OTIC growth both in vitro and in vivo

niclosamide represses metabolic enzymes responsible for bioenergetics, biosynthesis, and redox regulation specifically in OTICs, presumably leading to mitochondrial intrinsic apoptosis pathways, loss of tumor stemness, and growth inhibition

Niclosamide is believed to inhibit mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation

Niclosamide was reported to inactivate NF-κB, causing mitochondrial damage and the generation of ROS, leading to apoptosis of leukemic stem cells

niclosamide were identified in a screen for mTOR-signaling inhibitors

mTOR was reported to maintain stemness properties of HSCs by inhibiting mitochondrial biogenesis and ROS levels (39), implying that mTOR inhibitors (such as niclosamide) may interfere with mitochondria and various metabolic pathways in TICs via disruption of antioxidant responses

We observed Wnt hyperactivity in OTICs, in agreement with previous hypotheses of Wnt inhibitor effectiveness as an ovarian cancer therapy

niclosamide has now been independently identified in screens for Wnt inhibitors

downregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin target oncogenes survivin and c-Myc

ovarian carcinogenesis, the cell-to-cell signaling pathway Notch (8), were also suppressed by niclosamide (data not shown). These results agree with another recent niclosamide study in leukemia (49), and it has been widely hypothesized that disruption of Notch signaling may represent a highly effective therapy for ovarian and other solid tumors, via its essentiality to maintaining TIC stemness

It is noteworthy that among the many mechanisms that may mediate associations between microbiota and human health [21]–[22], pro-inflammatory and immune cell activation in colon mucosa are of great importance in relation to malignancy

B. fragilis has been shown to induce mucosal regulatory T-cell responses in the intestine involving TH17 cell recruitment in experimental models

the elevations of Bacteroides in the stool and/or IL17 immunoreactive cells in the normal mucosa appear to be promising sensitive markers

Anemia has also been identified as an adverse prognostic factor

mild (10 g/dl—normal), moderate (8–10 g/dl), severe (6.5–8 g/dl) and life threatening (<6.5 g/dl or unstable patient) anemia

anemia in cancer patients is often multifactorial.

Cancer itself can directly cause or exacerbate anemia either by suppressing hematopoiesis through bone marrow infiltration or production of cytokines that lead to iron sequestration, or by reduced red blood cell production

in inflammatory anemia, iron deficiency should be defined by a low transferrin saturation of <20%, ferritin levels of <100 ng/ml and a low reticulocyte hemoglobin concentration of <32 pg

anemia to thrombocytosis, as commonly seen in cancer patients

TNF-α inhibits hemoglobin production

treatment itself may be a major cause of anemia

Other cytokines, such as interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1 and interferon-γ, have also been shown to inhibit erythroid precursors in vitro [9], albeit to a lesser extent

In inflammation, from whatever cause, IL-6 induces the liver to produce hepcidin. Hepcidin decreases iron absorption from the bowel and blocks iron utilization in the bone marrow

Numerous in vitro studies have illustrated the central role of TNF-α in the pathogenesis of anemia

nephrotoxic effects of particular cytotoxic agents such as platinum salts can also lead to the persistence of anemia through reduced Epo production by the kidney

Currently two options are at the disposal of the clinician for the treatment of anemia in cancer patients: transfusion of packed red blood cells and the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs)

The goal of the treatment is to relieve the symptoms of anemia such as fatigue and dyspnea.

Transfusion of 1 unit of packed red blood cells has been estimated to result in an increase in the hemoglobin level of 1 g/dl in a normal-sized adult

a higher mortality rate in patients receiving ESA treatment

Recent concerns regarding the risk of thromboembolism in patients treated with ESA have been corroborated by the meta-analyses conducted by Tonnelli and Bennett

the mortality rate of EOC has not been significantly changed for several decades

Sequencing revealed that almost all tumors (96%) had mutations in TP53, which serves as a major driver of this cancer

Low-prevalence but statistically significant mutations in nine other genes including NF1, BRCA1, BRCA2, RB1, and CDK12 were also identified, but the majority of genes were mutated at low frequency, making it difficult to distinguish between driver and passenger mutations

KPNB1 inhibition via any of three KPNB1 siRNAs or importazole treatment induced apoptosis in human EOC cell lines (Fig. 3 A–F and Fig. S4), and was accompanied by an increase in the expression levels of the proapoptotic proteins BAX and cleaved caspase-3

Stable overexpression of KPNB1 in SKOV3 and OVCAR3 (Fig. S6) significantly accelerated cell proliferation/survival (Fig. 5 A–C), confirming that KPNB1 functions as an oncogene in EOC

KPNB1 overexpression significantly decreased caspase-3/7 activity (Fig. 5D), in addition to the expression levels of cleaved caspase-3 and BAX proteins (Fig. 5E). KPNB1 overexpression also decreased p21 and p27 protein levels (Fig. 5E), as opposed to their increase by KPNB1 inhibition

KPNB1 functions as an antiapoptotic and proproliferative oncogene in EOC.

Patients with higher expression levels of KPNB1 showed earlier recurrence and worse prognosis than those with lower expression levels of KPNB1

KPNB1 acts as an oncogene in human EOC and represents a promising therapeutic target.

ivermectin treatment suppressed cell proliferation/viability in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 7A), indicating that it exerts an antitumor effect on EOC

ivermectin also induced apoptosis

ivermectin increased the expression levels of BAX, and cleaved PARP, as well as p21 and p27

KPNB1 inhibition is responsible for the antitumor effect of ivermectin

we found that ivermectin synergistically reduced cell proliferation/viability in combination with paclitaxel in human EOC cells

Single treatment of ivermectin or paclitaxel reduced tumor growth in nude mice, but, notably, combination treatment of ivermectin and paclitaxel almost completely suppressed tumor growth

ERBB2, is amplified and overexpressed in many cancers, including breast (31), ovary (31), colon (32), bladder (33), non-small-cell lung (34), and gastric cancer (35), and is a poor prognostic factor in certain cancer types

KPNB1 was the second-highest-ranked gene identified in our screen

Increased KPNB1 protein levels have been reported in several cancers, including cervical cancer (42), hepatocellular carcinoma (43), and glioma (44), suggesting KPNB1’s oncogenic potential in these tumor types

our findings suggest that KPNB1 might serve as a master regulator of cell cycle by regulating several cell cycle-related proteins, including p21, p27, and APC/C family members

higher and/or more-frequent doses of ivermectin than currently approved for humans are well tolerated in humans

none of the mice in this study treated with the effective dosage of ivermectin for in vivo anticancer therapy showed severe adverse event

we found that the combination of ivermectin and paclitaxel produces a stronger antitumor effect on EOC cell lines than either drug alone

Niclosamide blocked TNFα-induced IκBα phosphorylation, translocation of p65, and the expression of NF-κB-regulated genes

Niclosamide also inhibited the DNA binding of NF-κB to the promoter of its target genes

niclosamide has two independent effects: NF-kB activation and ROS elevation

The Wnt signaling pathway plays fundamental roles in directing tissue patterning in embryonic development, in maintaining tissue homeostasis in differentiated tissue, and in tumorigenesis

niclosamide is a potent inhibitor of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway

The Notch signaling pathway plays important roles in a variety of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, cell fate decisions, and maintenance of stem cells

niclosamide potently suppresses the luciferase activity of a CBF-1-dependent reporter gene in both a dose-dependent and a time-dependent manners in K562 leukemia cells

niclosamide treatment abrogated the epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulated dimerization and nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of Stat3, and induced cell growth inhibition and apoptosis in several types of cancer cells (e.g. Du145, Hela, A549) that exhibit relatively higher levels of Stat3 constitutive activation

niclosamide can rapidly increase autophagosome formation

niclosamide induced autophagy and inhibited mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1)

Niclosamide has low toxicity in mammals (oral median lethal dose in rats >5000 mg/kg

Niclosamide is active against cancer cells such as AML and colorectal cancer cells, not only as a monotherapy but also as part of combination therapy, in which it has been found to be synergistic with frontline chemotherapeutic agents (e.g., oxaliplatin, cytarabine, etoposide, and daunorubicin)

Because niclosamide targets multiple signaling pathways (e.g., NF-κB, Wnt/β-catenin, and Notch), most of which are closely involved with cancer stem cells, it holds promise in eradicating cancer stem cells

Under steady-state conditions, intracellular GSH is maintained at millimolar concentrations, which keeps cells in a reduced environment and serves as the principal intracellular redox buffer when cells are subjected to an oxidative stressor including H2O2 (26). Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity catalyzes the reduction of H2O2 to water with the conversion of GSH to glutathione disulfide (GSSG). Under steady-state conditions, GSSG is recycled back to GSH by glutathione disulfide reductase using reducing equivalents from NADPH. However, under conditions of increased H2O2 flux, this recycling mechanism may become overwhelmed leading to a depletion of intracellular GSH (27, 28).

ascorbate radiosensitization can create an overwhelming oxidative stress to pancreatic cancer cells resulting in oxidation/depletion of the GSH intracellular redox buffer, resulting in cell death.

Treatment with the combination of ascorbate + IR significantly delayed tumor growth compared to controls or ascorbate alone

Ascorbate + IR also significantly increased overall survival compared to controls, IR alone or ascorbate alone

54% of mice treated with the combination of IR + ascorbate had no measurable tumors

Glutathione is a measurable marker indicative of the oxidation state of the thiol redox buffer in cells. In severe systemic oxidative stress, the GSSG/2GSH couple may become oxidized, i.e. the concentration of GSH decreases and GSSG may increase because the capacity to recycle GSSG to GSH becomes rate-limiting

This suggests that the very high levels of pharmacological ascorbate in these experiments may have a pro-oxidant toward red blood cells as seen by a decrease in the capacity of the intracellular redox buffer

These data support the hypothesis that ascorbate radiosensitization does not cause an increase in oxidative damage from lipid-derived aldehydes to other organs.

Our current study demonstrates the potential for pharmacological ascorbate as a radiosensitizer in the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

pharmacological ascorbate enhances IR-induced cell killing and DNA fragmentation leading to induction of apoptosis in HL60 leukemia cells

pharmacological ascorbate significantly decreases clonogenic survival and inhibits the growth of all pancreatic cancer cell lines as a single agent, as well as sensitizes cancer cells to IR

Hurst et al. demonstrated that pharmacological ascorbate combined with IR leads to increased numbers of double-strand DNA breaks and cell cycle arrest when compared to either treatment alone

pharmacological ascorbate could serve as a “pro-drug” for the delivery of H2O2 to tumors

the double-strand breaks induced by H2O2 were more slowly repaired

The combination of ascorbate and IR provide two distinct mechanisms of action: ascorbate-induced toxicity due to extracellular production of H2O2 that then diffuses into cells and causes damage to DNA, protein, and lipids; and radiation-induced toxicity as a result of ROS-induced damage to DNA. In addition, redox metal metals like Fe2+ may play an important role in ascorbate-induced cytotoxicity. By catalyzing the oxidation of ascorbate, labile iron can enhance the rate of formation of H2O2; labile iron can also react with H2O2. Recently our group has demonstrated that pharmacological ascorbate and IR increase the labile iron in tumor homogenates from this murine model of pancreatic cancer

we demonstrated that ascorbate or IR alone decreased tumor growth, but the combination treatment further inhibited tumor growth, indicating that pharmacological ascorbate is an effective radiosensitizer in vivo

data suggest that pharmacological ascorbate may protect the gut locally by decreasing IR-induced damage to the crypt cells, and systemically, by ameliorating increases in TNF-α

whereas the expression of SVCT-2 is ubiquitous

differential sensitivity to VC may result from variations in VC flow into cells, which is dependent on SVCT-2 expression.

high-dose VC significantly impaired both the tumorspheres initiation (Fig. 4d, e) and the growth of established tumorspheres derived from HCC cells (Fig. 4f, g) in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

The antioxidant, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), preventing VC-induced ROS production (a ROS scavenger), completely restored the viability and colony formation among VC-treated cells

DNA double-strand damage was found following VC treatment

DNA damage was prevented by NAC

Interestingly, the combination of VC and cisplatin was even more effective in reducing tumor growth and weight

Consistent with the in vitro results, stemness-related genes expressions in tumor xenograft were remarkably reduced after VC or VC+cisplatin treatment, whereas conventional cisplatin therapy alone led to the increase of CSCs

VC is one of the numerous common hepatoprotectants.

Interestingly, at extracellular concentrations greater than 1 mM, VC induces strong cytotoxicity to cancer cells including liver cancer cells

we hypothesized that intravenous VC might reduce the risk of recurrence in HCC patients after curative liver resection.

Intriguingly, the 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) for patients who received intravenous VC was 24%, as opposed to 15% for no intravenous VC-treated patients

Median DFS time for VC users was 25.2 vs. 18 months for VC non-users

intravenous VC use is linked to improved DFS in HCC patients.

In this study, based on the elevated expression of SVCT-2, which is responsible for VC uptake, in liver CSCs, we revealed that clinically achievable concentrations of VC preferentially eradicated liver CSCs in vitro and in vivo

Additionally, we found that intravenous VC reduced the risk of post-surgical HCC progression in a retrospective cohort study.

Three hundred thirty-nine participants (55.3%) received 2 g intravenous VC for 4 or more days after initial hepatectomy

As the key protein responsible for VC uptake in the liver, SVCT-2 played crucial roles in regulating the sensitivity to ascorbate-induced cytotoxicity

we also observed that SVCT-2 was highly expressed in human HCC samples and preferentially elevated in liver CSCs

SVCT-2 might serve as a potential CSC marker and therapeutic target in HCC

CSCs play critical roles in regulating tumor initiation, relapse, and chemoresistance

we revealed that VC treatment dramatically reduced the self-renewal ability, expression levels of CSC-associated genes, and percentages of CSCs in HCC, indicating that CSCs were more susceptible to VC-induced cell death

as a drug for eradicating CSCs, VC may represent a promising strategy for treatment of HCC, alone or particularly in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs

In HCC, we found that VC-generated ROS caused genotoxic stress (DNA damage) and metabolic stress (ATP depletion), which further activated the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21, leading to G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and caspase-dependent apoptosis in HCC cells

we demonstrated a synergistic effect of VC and chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin on killing HCC both in vitro and in vivo

Intravenous VC has also been reported to reduce chemotherapy-associated toxicity of carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients,38 but the specific mechanism needs further investigation

Our retrospective cohort study also showed that intravenous VC use (2 g) was related to the improved DFS in HCC patients after initial hepatectomy

several clinical trials of high-dose intravenous VC have been conducted in patients with advanced cancer and have revealed improved quality of life and prolonged OS

high-dose VC was not toxic to immune cells and major immune cell subpopulations in vivo

high recurrence rate and heterogeneity

tumor progression, metastasis, and chemotherapy-resistance

SVCT-2 was highly expressed in HCC samples in comparison to peri-tumor tissues

high expression (grade 2+/3+) of SVCT-2 was in agreement with poorer overall survival (OS) of HCC patients (Fig. 1c) and more aggressive tumor behavior

SVCT-2 is enriched in liver CSCs

these data suggest that SVCT-2 is preferentially expressed in liver CSCs and is required for the maintenance of liver CSCs.

pharmacologic concentrations of plasma VC higher than 0.3 mM are achievable only from i.v. administration

The viabilities of HCC cells were dramatically decreased after exposure to VC in dose-dependent manner

VC and cisplatin combination further caused cell apoptosis in tumor xenograft

These results verify that VC inhibits tumor growth in HCC PDX models and SVCT-2 expression level is associated with VC response

qPCR and IHC analysis demonstrated that expression levels of CSC-associated genes and percentages of CSCs in PDXs dramatically declined after VC treatment, confirming the inhibitory role of VC in liver CSCs

Hyperthermia differs fundamentally from fever in that it elevates the core body temperature without changing the physiological set point

hyperthermia is induced by increasing the heat load and/or inactivating heat dissipation

mor cells [2]. Although significant cell killing could be achieved by heating cells or tissues to temperatures > 42°C for 1 or more hours, the application, measurement and consistency of this temperature range within the setting of cancer clinical trials

mild temperature hyperthermia (ie, within the fever-range, 39–41°C)

moderate hyperthermia (41°C)

Hsps are a family of stress-induced proteins

they are key regulators of cellular protein activity, turnover and trafficking

Hsps ensure appropriate post-translational protein folding, and are able to refold denatured proteins, or mark irreversibly damaged proteins for destruction

the ability of fever-range hyperthermia to induce reactive immunity against tumor antigens through DCs and NK-cells is likely mediated by Hsps

thermotolerance

Hsps support the malignant phenotype of cancer cells by not only affecting the cells’ survival, but also participating in angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis and immortalization mechanisms

Hsps released from stressed or dying cells activate dendritic cells (DCs), transforming them into mature APCs

In theory, fever-range hyperthermia may take advantage of tumor cell Hsps by inducing their release from tumor cells and augmenting DC priming against tumor antigens

In several models of hyperthermia, heat-treated tumors exhibited improved DC priming and generation of systemic immunity to tumor cell

hyperthermia alone can enhance antigen display by tumor cells, thus rendering them even more susceptible to programmed immune clearance

Fever-range hyperthermia may also induce Hsps

Hsps may exert an adjuvant effect by bolstering MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecule expression by DCs

thermal ablation of liver tumors in particular has demonstrated an ability to potentiate immune responses [57, 58] and elicit robust T-cell infiltrates at ablation sites

specific Hsp, Hsp70, directly inhibits apoptosis pathways in cancer cells, as demonstrated in human pancreatic, prostate and gastric cancer cells

Cross-priming is the ability of extracellular Hsps complexed to tumor peptides to be internalized and presented in the context of MHC class I molecules on APCs, thus allowing potent priming of CTLs against tumor antigens

It has been reported that Hsps are generated from necrotic tumor cell lysates, but not from tumor cells undergoing apoptosis

tumor cells exposed to hyperthermia in the heat shock range (42°C for 4h) prior to lysing, DC activation and cross-priming were significantly enhanced with the application of heat

Due to the ability of Hsps to activate DCs directly by chaperoning tumor antigens upon their release [28], it is possible that both local and regional immune stimulation can be achieved with hyperthermia.

support the use of hyperthermia as an inducer of Hsps to serve as ‘danger signals’, activating antitumor immune responses

whole-body hyperthermia not only augments immune responses, but also stimulates the migration of skin-derived DCs to draining lymph nodes

suggest a valuable role of hyperthermia in DC cancer vaccine strategies

In mice treated with fever-range whole-body hyperthermia, tumor growth was significantly inhibited and NK-cell infiltration increased

exposure to fever-range hyperthermia resulted in improved endogenous NK-cell cytotoxicity to several cancer types

improved activation and function of DCs and NK cells following hyperthermia

Hyperthermia increases the expression ICAM-1 a key adhesion molecule,

The combined effects of hyperthermia on lymphoid tissue endothelium and lymphocytes can promote immune surveillance and increase the probability of naive lymphocytes leaving the circulation and encountering their cognate antigen displayed by DCs in lymphoid organs.

In independent clinical studies, whole-body hyperthermia resulted in a transient decrease in circulating lymphocytes in patients with advanced cancer [12, 94, 99, 100], a finding which mirrored observations in animal models in which lymphocyte entry into lymph noeds was increased following hyperthermia treatment [93]. Enhanced recruitment of lymphocytes to lymphoid tissues may be exploited in the treatment of malignancies.

The initial tumor antigen presentation and initiation of clonal expansion of CTLs transpires in the lymph nodes and cannot take place outside this specialized compartment

the ability of DCs present in the lymph nodes to stimulate an anti-tumor immune response is critical

hyperthermia has been shown to improve immune surveillance by T-cell

and to increase DC trafficking to lymph nodes

4-hydroxyestradiol and 16α-hydroxyestrone increasing proliferation and decreasing apoptosis in a manner similar to estradiol; however, these effects were achieved only at concentrations 10-fold higher than estradiol (39). In contrast, 2-hydroxyestradiol did not have substantial proliferative or antiapoptotic effects

In our study, the associations with both 2-hydroxyestrone and 16α-hydroxyestrone were nonsignificantly inverse and we did not observe a consistent trend or significant associations between the 2-hydroxyestrone:16α-hydroxyestrone ratio and breast cancer risk

Ratios of the 3 hydroxylation pathways were not significantly associated with risk although the 2:16-pathway and 4:16-pathway ratios were suggestively inversely associated

a significant inverse association with the ratio of parent estrogens to estrogen metabolites

several potentially estrogenic and genotoxic mechanisms

Estrogen metabolites also can be genotoxic

Catechol estrogens can be oxidized into quinones and induce DNA damage directly through the formation of DNA adducts, or indirectly via redox cycling and generation of reactive oxygen species

the oxidized forms of the catechol estrogens differ in their ability to damage DNA through adducts, with oxidized 2-catechols forming stable and reversible DNA adducts and oxidized 4-catechols forming unstable adducts, which lead to depurination and mutations

2- and 4-catechols have been shown to produce reactive oxygen species and induce oxidative DNA damage

act independently from the ER

16α-Hydroxyestrone also may be genotoxic

While the catechol estrogens have estrogenic and genotoxic potential, the methylated catechol estrogens, which are catechol estrogens with one hydroxyl group methylated, have been hypothesized to lower the risk of breast cancer

The suggested mechanisms are indirect, by decreasing circulating levels of catechol estrogens and thereby the opportunity for catechols to exert genotoxic or proliferative effects, or direct, by inhibiting tumor growth and inducing apoptosis

the balance between phase I (oxidation) and phase II (methylation) metabolism of estrogen may be important in hormonally related cancer development.

Despite the estrogenic and genotoxic potential of many of the estrogen metabolites, we only observed a significantly increased breast cancer risk with one estrogen metabolite, 17-epiestriol, which has particularly strong estrogenic activity and binds to both ERα and ERβ with an affinity comparable with estradiol

As GcMAF therapy progressed the MAF precursor activity of all five patients increased and their serum Nagalase activity decreased inversely

As GcMAF therapy progressed, the MAF precursor activity increased with a concomitant decrease in serum Nagalase activity

serum Nagalase is proportional to tumor burden

as GcMAF therapy progressed, serum Nagalase activity decreased and, concomitantly, tumor burden decreased

the serum Nagalase activities of all 16 patients decreased as GcMAF therapy progressed

annual computed tomographic scans of these patients confirmed them being tumor recurrence-free for the 7 years

undifferentiated cells were killed rapidly during the first few weeks, and the differentiated cells were killed slowly in the remaining GcMAF therapeutic period

PSA levels of prostatectomized patients decreased as serum Nagalase decreased during GcMAF therapy

In patients without tumor resection, however, although serum Nagalase activity decreased as GcMAF therapy progressed, their PSA values remained unchanged. The result suggests that the PSA derived from tumor-bearing prostate did not change while tumor burden decreased. Because tumor-induced inflammation in the noncancerous prostate tissues causes secretion of PSA [38], the PSA produced from these inflamed noncancerous prostate tissues cannot be changed by the decrease in tumor burden

Advanced cancer patients have high serum Nagalase activities, resulting in no macrophage activation and severe immunosuppression that explain why cancer patients die with overwhelming infection

Prognostic utility of serum α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase and immunosuppression resulted from deglycosylation of serum Gc protein in oral cancer patients

The upregulated expression of CB receptors and the elevated levels of endocannabinoids have been observed in a variety of cancer cells (skin, prostate, and colon cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, endometrial sarcoma, glioblastoma multiforme, meningioma and pituitary adenoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, chemically induced hepatocarcinoma, mantel cell lymphoma)

concentration of endocannabinoids, expression level of their receptors, and the enzymes involved in their metabolism frequently are associated with an aggressiveness of cancer

CB2 receptor contributes to human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) pro‐oncogenic signaling and an overexpression of CB2 increases susceptibility for leukemia development after leukemia viral infection

endocannabinoid‐degrading enzymes are upregulated in cancer cell lines and in human tumors

Many cannabinoids, ranging from phytocannabinoids (THC, CBD), endocannabinoids (2‐arachidonoylglycerol, anandamide), to synthetic cannabinoids (JWH‐133, WIN‐55,212‐2), have shown ability to inhibit proliferation, metastasis, and angiogenesis in a variety of models of cancer

Despite some inconsistent data, the main effect of cannabinoids in a tumor is the inhibition of cancer cells’ proliferation and induction of cancer cell death by apoptosis

CB1 and CB2 receptor agonists stimulate apoptotic cell death in glioma cells by induction of de novo synthesis of ceramide, sphingolipid with proapoptotic activity

process of autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in mechanism of cell death induced by cannabinoids

none of the men stopped testosterone supplementation due to prostate cancer recurrence, and none demonstrated cancer progression

PSA level did transiently rise in one patient; however, none exceeded a PSA of 1.5 ng ml−1 to raise concern for biochemical recurrence

after 19 months on TRT, 10 hypogonadal patients with a history of undergoing a radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer had no PSA recurrence and had statistically significant improvements in serum total testosterone and hypogonadal symptoms

Similarly, Kaufman and Graydon14 examined case records of seven hypogonadal men who had undergone curative RP with symptoms of hypogonadism and low serum testosterone levels treated with testosterone replacement. No biochemical or clinical evidence of cancer recurrence was noted

In a much larger case series, Khera et al.15 reviewed the records of 57 men who received TRT following RP. After an average of 36 months following RP, testosterone replacement was initiated and followed for an average of 13 months. Mean testosterone values rose significantly and once again, there was no increase in PSA values and, therefore, no diagnosed biochemical recurrence

Four of the patients in the treatment group were found to have cancer recurrence, compared with eight in the control group

All biochemical recurrences were seen in individuals with high-risk disease