Showing papers in "Seminars in Cancer Biology in 2003"

TL;DR: The p53 tumor suppressor protein is a short-lived protein, which is stabilized in response to cellular stress, and the exact site of degradation of p53 is presently under debate.

TL;DR: A role for microRNAs in oncogenesis is proposed and recent data suggests that a special class of ncRNAs called micro RNAs might be involved in human disease.

TL;DR: In this paper, a review assembles the laboratory and clinical evidence that cytotoxic chemotherapy and anti-angiogenic therapy are each dependent on endothelial cell apoptosis, and demonstrates that endothelial cells in the vascular bed of tumors precedes apoptosis of tumor cells, even when the tumor has been made drug resistant.

TL;DR: This review will focus on the regulation of p27 proteolysis and its consequences for tumorigenesis.

TL;DR: The transcription factor NF-kappaB is a key regulator in oncogenesis by promoting proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis, which tips the balance between proliferation and apoptosis toward malignant growth in tumor cells.

TL;DR: The extrinsic cell death pathway is initiated upon ligand-receptor interactions at the cell surface including FASligand-FAS/APO1, TNF-TNF receptors, and TRAIL-TRAIL receptors.

TL;DR: Current knowledge of the molecular control of cell death is described and the role of pro- and anti-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 protein family in tumourigenesis andAnti-cancer therapy is discussed.

TL;DR: Current understanding of HIF/pVHL/prolyl hydroxylase pathway is outlined and the implications for VHL-associated cancer are considered.

TL;DR: Thorough characterization of the major oncoproteins of human papillomaviruses has shown that both E6 and E7 exploit the ubiquitin-proteasome system to degrade and, thus, to functionally inactivate negative cell-regulatory proteins including members of the p110(RB) family and p53.

TL;DR: The mechanisms of NF-kappaB activation in normal and tumor cells are described, prevalent notions regarding the factor's contribution to tumorigenicity are reviewed, and the possibility of differential targeting of the involved ubiquitination machinery is discussed.

TL;DR: Specific ELISpot assays demonstrate that sHLA-G molecules expressing intron-4 sequences are preferentially secreted by peripheral blood monocytes, and high concentration of these molecules should systemically or at the tumor side reduce the immune surveillance and thus favour the progression of cancer.

TL;DR: Recent advances in the understanding of RING finger and Ringer finger-related E3s with emphasis on BRCA1 and the tumor autocrine motility factor receptor are summarized and the potential for components of the ubiquitin pathway for proteasomal degradation as molecular targets are discussed.

TL;DR: A phase III trial indicated a survival benefit for Melacine in the subset of melanoma patients who express the HLA class I antigens A2 and/or HLA-C3, and this finding must now be prospectively confirmed.

TL;DR: This work reviews the studies done by the group that described for the first time HLA-G expression in malignancies such as melanomas, renal and breast carcinomas and investigates the biological relevance of such HLAs expression in the evasion of malignant cells from antitumor immune response.

TL;DR: It is possible that the expression of HLA-G itself may account for induction of Th2-skewing state and the production of IL-10, thence establishing a vicious circle of immune abrogation in cancer.

TL;DR: The recent studies describing the regulated monoubiquitination of the FANCD2 protein are reviewed and the interaction of the FA pathway with other DNA damage response pathways is discussed.

TL;DR: The t(14;18)-translocation can frequently detected in the peripheral blood and tissue samples from healthy individuals and it has been postulated that this translocation is a primary event for the subsequent development of a follicular lymphoma.

TL;DR: The role of protein ubiquitylation in the process that terminates signaling is reviewed, and several adaptor proteins are concentrated on, including c-Cbl and Hgs, to elucidate the complexity of receptor sorting for degradation.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed strategies designed to replace this defective tumor suppressor protein, as well as forced expression of a novel cancer specific apoptosis inducing gene, melanoma differentiation associated gene-7 (mda-7), offer promise for restoring apoptosis in tumor cells.

TL;DR: The indirect recognition of HLA-G as peptide presented by Hla-E and recognized by the CD94/NKG2 receptor family might further power the battle between the immune system and tumor cells.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors review known differences in the apoptotic machinery in cancer cells and how this knowledge can be used to increase the efficiency of tumor treatment, and show that dysfunction of the apoptosis machinery might be an important determinant of resistance to anticancer drugs.

TL;DR: Univariate and multivariate analyses of cumulative data for Canvaxin therapeutic polyvalent cancer vaccine have demonstrated the prognostic significance of this allogeneic whole-cell preparation as a postoperative adjuvant treatment for patients with stage III and IV melanoma.

TL;DR: Surprisingly, anti-tumor CTL responses significantly declined upon initiation of therapy, but reappeared when IL-2 administration was paused, which underlines the importance of frequent sampling of blood and tumor biopsies to be analyzed with a combination of state of the art technologies in order to gain detailed information on the interactions between cancer cells and cells of the immune system.

TL;DR: This review highlights the most important clinical studies and discusses their limits, in terms of both immune and clinical response considering the formulation of the vaccine (cellular, peptide/protein; DNA, etc.) or the features of immune cells used in adoptive immunotherapy.

TL;DR: Review of the current knowledge of genetic and molecular alterations associated with the higher grade transformation of FCL suggests that the process that leads to clinically and phenotypically similar end-point can occur by functionally diverse genetic lesions.

TL;DR: The immunogenicity of antigens delivered on DCs has now been demonstrated in cancer patients and some clinical responses without any significant toxicity have been observed.

TL;DR: The therapeutic potential of a RNAi-mediating vector was recently demonstrated by the stable suppression of oncogenic K-Ras in tumor cells and a new tool for blocking oncogenes in cancer cells has emerged.

TL;DR: This work proposes to focus on molecularly defined vaccine components, and evaluate their immunogenicity with highly reproducible and standardized methods for ex vivo immune monitoring, to select optimized vaccines for subsequent clinical efficacy testing in large scale phase III trials.

TL;DR: Investigations in lymphoproliferative disorders show a frequent and variable distribution of alternatively spliced HLA-G mRNA isoforms, a rare cell surface expression in diffuse large cell lymphomas with HLA class I loss, and an increased serum level of sHLA-G.

TL;DR: It is argued that successful immunization is one of several steps required for tumor clearance while more needs to be understood about how T cells localize and are effective within a tumor microenvironment impervious to the execution of their effector function.