Cancers, Volume 7, Issue 4

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a class of non-coding RNAs that exert pivotal roles in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. MiRNAs are involved in many biological processes and slight modulations in their expression have...

Primary myelofibrosis (PMF), per WHO criteria, is a clonal myeloproliferative neoplasm that usually presents with a proliferation of granulocytic and megakaryocytic lineages with an associated fibrous deposition and extramedullary hematopoiesis. The...

Cancer tissues are composed of cancer cells and the surrounding stromal cells (e.g., fibroblasts, vascular endothelial cells, and immune cells), in addition to the extracellular matrix. Most studies investigating carcinogenesis and the progression, i...

Background: Polymorphisms in the hemochromatosis (HFE) gene are associated with excessive iron absorption from the diet, and pro-oxidant effects of iron accumulation are thought to be a risk factor for several types of cancer. Methods: The C282Y (rs1...

Many carcinogen- and human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated head and neck cancers (HNSCC) display a hematopoietic cell infiltrate indicative of a T-cell inflamed phenotype and an underlying anti-tumor immune response. However, by definition, these tu...

Humans have 10 genes that belong to the Ras association (RA) domain family (RASSF). Among them, RASSF7 to RASSF10 have the RA domain in the N-terminal region and are called the N-RASSF proteins. In contradistinction to them, RASSF1 to RASSF6 are refe...

Proinflammation can predispose the body to autoimmunity and cancer. We have reported that iPLA₂β^−/− mice are susceptible to autoimmune hepatitis and colitis. Here we determined whether cytokine release by immune cells could be affected by iPLA₂β defi...

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with several human cancers, including head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). HPV expresses the viral oncogene E7 that binds to the retinoblastoma protein (RB1) in order to activate the E2F pathwa...

The microenvironment of malignant gliomas is described according to its definition in the literature. Beside tumor cells, a series of stromal cells (microglia/macrophages, pericytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells, normal and reactive astrocytes) rep...

Paclitaxel (Taxol^®) is a member of the taxane class of anticancer drugs and one of the most common chemotherapeutic agents used against many forms of cancer. Paclitaxel is a microtubule-stabilizer that selectively arrests cells in the G2/M phase of t...

The canonical hedgehog (HH) pathway is a multicomponent signaling cascade (HH, protein patched homolog 1 (PTCH1), smoothened (SMO)) that plays a pivotal role during embryonic development through activation of downstream effector molecules, namely gli...

Adult T cell leukemia-lymphoma is a rare disease with a high mortality rate, and is challenging for the clinician. Early allogeneic stem cell transplant can confer durable remission. As novel therapeutic agents become available to treat T cell malign...

Pancreatic cancer is without any doubt the malignancy with the poorest prognosis and the lowest survival rate. This highly aggressive disease is rarely diagnosed at an early stage and difficult to treat due to its resistance to radiotherapy and chemo...

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has been the standard care for patients with advanced prostate cancer (PC) since the 1940s. Although ADT shows clear benefits for many patients, castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) inevitably occurs. In fact...

The purpose of the present study was to establish a non-surgical breast-conserving treatment (BCT) using KORTUC II radiosensitization treatment. A new radiosensitizing agent containing 0.5% hydrogen peroxide and 0.83% sodium hyaluronate (a CD44 ligan...

Oncoviruses cause tremendous global cancer burden. For several DNA tumor viruses, human genome integration is consistently associated with cancer development. However, genomic features associated with tumor viral integration are poorly understood. We...

Tumor staging systems for laryngeal cancer (LC) have been developed to assist in estimating prognosis after treatment and comparing treatment results across institutions. While the laryngeal TNM system has been shown to have prognostic information, v...

A common characteristic of many cancer cells is that they suffer from oxidative stress. They, therefore, require effective redox regulatory systems to combat the higher levels of reactive oxygen species that accompany accelerated growth compared to t...

Over the last few years the increasing usage of “-omic” platforms, supported by next-generation sequencing, in the analysis of breast cancer samples has tremendously advanced our understanding of the disease. New driver and passenger mutations, rare...

There is an increasing body of evidence establishing the advantages of dual-energy CT (DECT) for evaluation of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Focusing on a single-source DECT system with fast kVp switching, we will review the principl...

Non-coding RNAs have long been associated with cancer development and progression, and since their earliest discovery, their clinical potential in identifying and characterizing the disease has been pursued. Long non-coding (lncRNAs), a diverse class...

Obese postmenopausal women have an increased breast cancer risk, the principal mechanism for which is elevated estrogen production by adipose tissue; also, regardless of menstrual status and tumor estrogen dependence, obesity is associated with biolo...

Medulloblastoma (MB), a primitive neuroectomal tumor of the cerebellum, is the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor. The cause of MB is largely unknown, but aberrant activation of Hedgehog (Hh) pathway is responsible for ~30% of MB. Despite ag...

The loss of tumour suppressor gene function is a hallmark of malignant transformation and can occur by a variety of genetic and/or epigenetic alterations. We have previously characterised p38δ mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) as a tumour suppr...

The goal of this article is to provide a critical review of the transient receptor potential melastatin-subfamily member 8 (TRPM8) in cancers, with an emphasis on its roles in cellular proliferation, survival, and invasion. The TRPM8 ion channels reg...

Recent genomic sequencing studies have provided valuable insight into genetic aberrations in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Despite these great advances, certain hurdles exist in translating genomic findings to clinical care. Further correlat...

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSC) is among the most lethal forms of cancer in women. By analyzing the mRNA-seq reads from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we uncovered a novel cancer-enriched chimeric RNA as the result of splicing between MUC1,...

Early detection and improved therapies for many cancers are enhancing survival rates. Although many cytotoxic therapies are approved for aggressive or metastatic cancer; response rates are low and acquisition of de novo resistance is virtually univer...

The application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to characterize cancer genomes has resulted in the discovery of numerous genetic markers. Consequently, the number of markers that warrant routine screening in molecular diagnostic laboratories, oft...

Discussions of therapeutic suppression of hedgehog (Hh) signaling almost exclusively focus on receptor antagonism; however, hedgehog’s biosynthesis represents a unique and potentially targetable aspect of this oncogenic signaling pathway. Here, we re...

The tumor stroma acts as an essential microenvironment of the cancer cells, which includes many different types of non-cancerous cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Stromal fibroblasts (SFs) are the major cellular constituents of the tumor stro...

Cell migration and guidance are complex processes required for morphogenesis, the formation of tumor metastases, and the progression of human cancer. During migration, guidance molecules induce cell directionality and movement through complex intrace...

Activity in the Hedgehog pathway, which regulates GLI-mediated transcription, is important in organogenesis and stem cell regulation in self-renewing organs, but is pathologically elevated in many human malignancies. Mutations leading to constitutive...

Solid tumors are complex and unstructured organs that, in addition to cancer cells, also contain other cell types. Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) represent an important population in the tumor microenviroment and participate in several stage...

The treatment of melanoma has been revolutionized by new therapies targeting MAPK signaling or the immune system. Unfortunately these therapies are hindered by either primary resistance or the development of acquired resistance. Resistance mechanisms...