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Journal of Cancer Research Updates

Obesity and Breast Cancer: Molecular and Epidemiological Evidence
Pages 30-42
Nehad M. Ayoub and Amal Kaddoumi

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-2279.2015.04.01.3

Published: 19 February 2015

 


Abstract: Carcinoma of the breast is a leading cause of cancer deaths among women world-wide. Obesity is recognized as a well-established risk factor for epithelial tumors including the mammary epithelium. Adipose tissue is considered to be metabolically active organ with the ability to secrete a wide range of biologically active adipokines. Multiple studies have evaluated the potential mechanisms correlating obesity to increased risk of breast cancer. Altered circulating levels of adipokines or changed adipokine signaling pathways are now increasingly recognized to be associated with breast cancer development and progression. Leptin and adiponectin were the main adipokines that have been investigated in the context of breast cancer in both preclinical and epidemiological studies. Obesity is also believed to promote inflammatory response and induce activity of key enzymes like aromatase, leading to higher risk of breast cancer development. The goal of this review is to provide recent insights into the potential molecular mechanisms linking adipokines to the etiopathogenesis of breast cancer including recently identified adipokines and trying to correlate these molecular mechanisms to more established metabolic and hormonal dysregulations of obesity. A better understanding of the interplay between adipokines and other deregulated mechanisms in obesity is important for the development of preventive strategies with therapeutic potential against breast cancer in obese patients.

Keywords: Adipokines, Obesity, Leptin, Adiponectin, Visfatin, Inflammation.
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Journal of Cancer Research Updates

Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities of Raspberry Extracts
Pages 54-59
You-Qiu Xue, Ke-Jun Cheng, Jian-Ge Qiu, Xiao-Long Mei, Wen-Ji Zhang, Qi-Wei Jiang, Wu-Ming Qin, Yang Yang, Di-Wei Zheng, Yao Chen, Meng-Ning Wei, Dong-Mei Huo, Xing Wei and Zhi Shi

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-2279.2015.04.02.2

Published: 07 May 2015

 


Abstract: The raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is an economical important berry crop that contains phytochemicals such as polyphenols and flavonoids with potential health benefits. This study addresses the antioxidant and anticancer effects of raspberry and its root extracts. Raspberry and raspberry root were extracted with ethanol, and separated into petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butyl alcohol and water fraction. Most extracts showed the powerful activities to scavenge DPPH radical, eliminate hydroxyl free radical ion, and inhibit the growth of human cancer cells, suggesting their promising application on health care.

Keywords: Raspberry, antioxidant, anticancer.

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Journal of Cancer Research Updates

The Role of Exosomes and its Cargos in Drug Resistance of Cancer
Pages 179-187
Yujie Xie and Liwu Fu

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-2279.2015.04.04.6

Published: 26 November 2015

 


Abstract: Chemotherapy is one of the main therapies in cancer and plays an important role in controlling tumor progression, which can offer a longer overall survival (OS) for patients. But as the accumulation of drugs used in vivo, cancer cells develop drug resistance, even multi-drug resistance (MDR), that can cause failure of the whole therapy. The similar phenomenon can be observed in vitro. There are several mechanisms of drug resistance such as drug efflux, mediated by extracellular vesicles. Exosomes, a subset of extracellular vesicles (EVs), can be secreted by many types of cells and transfer proteins, lipids, and miRNA/mRNA/DNAs between cells in vitro and in vivo. Particularly cancer cells secrete more exosomes than healthy cells and resistance cells secrete more exosomes than sensitive cells. Exosomes have function of intercellular communication and molecular transfer, both associated with tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and drug resistance. In this paper, we will review the current knowledge regarding the emerging roles of exosomes and its cargo in drug resistance.

Keywords: Exosomes, drug resistance, drug efflux, antibody, miRNAs, lncRNA, P-glycoprotein, EMT.

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Journal of Cancer Research Updates

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) Testing in Specimens of Tumor and Myometrial Tissues During Surgical Treatment of Gestational Trophoblastic Tumors
Pages 122-126
Reda Hemida, Mohammad Arafa, Hosam AbdElfattah and Doaa Sharaf-Eldin

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-2279.2015.04.03.3

Published: 13 August 2015


Abstract: Background: Gestational trophoblastic tumors originate from trophoblastic tissues and secrete human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG). Surgical treatment may be a line of treatment of chemoresistant cases.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of hCG dipsticks in detection of hCG in tissues of trophoblastic tumors and healthy myometrium during surgery of trophoblastic tumors.

Methods: We included 19 samples of tumor and apparently healthy myometrial tissues during surgical treatment of 5 cases of gestational trophoblastic tumors. The hCG dipstick was immersed in a solution containing 1x1 cm of tumor or myometrial tissues. The results of the tests were compared to the histopathological results.

Results: The mean age of patients were 38.8 years, the mean parity was 3.4. The mean serum B-hCG level was 101,745.6 mu/ml. Except for one specimen in case 5, all results of the hCG dipsticks were concordant with final histopathologic analysis of the specimens. Sensitivity of hCG test was 100% and specificity was 90%.

Conclusion: Intraoperative detection of hCG in different tissues and suspicious masses can be considered as simple, rapid, inexpensive, and reliable test. It can be used to detect the trophoblastic nature of tissues if frozen section is not available as some low resource setting countries. We recommend further larger prospective studies to compare the accuracy and reliability of this novel technique and frozen section analysis.

Keywords: Trophoblatic tumors, surgery, hCG test.

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Journal of Cancer Research Updates

Establishment and Characterization of Primary Human Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell Line (CD44+ve)
Pages 59-66
Amoura Abouelnaga, Ghada A. Mutawa, Hassan Abdelghaffar, Mohamed Sobh, Sahar Hamed and Shaker A. Mousa

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6000/1929-2279.2016.05.02.3

Published: 15 April 2016 


Abstract: Ovarian cancer is ranked as the 7th most lethal cancer worldwide with 239,000 new cases annually. The mortality rate is high because most ovarian tumors are diagnosed at advanced stages and are resistant to chemotherapy and thus incurable due to the lack of effective early detection of ovarian tumors. There is a small sub-population of ovarian tumor cells capable of self-renewal and differentiation into different cancer cell types, called cancer stem cells (CSCs), which might be responsible for cancer relapse. The CD44+ phenotype in ovarian tumor cells elucidates cancer initiating cell-like properties of promoting differentiation, metastasis, and chemotherapy-resistance. Increased expression of genes previously associated with CSCs promotes regenerative capacity by promoting stem cell function that can drive cancer relapse and metastasis. In this study we present a method to isolate the primary epithelial ovarian cancer cells from human solid tumor and establish CD44+ve primary ovarian cancer stem cell (OCSCCD44+ve) line using magnetic microbeads. Also we evaluated the expression of stemness genes Nanog, Sox2, Oct4, and Nestin by real-time qPCR analysis. Thequantitative analysis by real-time qPCRshows that OCSCCD44+ve overexpressed the embryonic stem cell marker genes Nanog, Oct4, Sox2, and Nestin when compared with ovarian cancer cells OCCCD44-ve as positive control and ovarian cells as negative control. We demonstrate that CD44 in malignant ovarian tumors is a critical molecule that exhibits cancer stem cell properties that enhance tumorigenicity and cancer metastasis. Our results provide a better understanding of ovarian CSCs, which is important for future in vivo studies with subsequent target therapy for preclinical studies.

Keywords: Ovarian cancer, Cancer stem cell, Stemness genes, CD44, Chemo-resistance.

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