Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and the second leading cause of death in women. While tamoxifen (TAM) remains to be a first-line agent for prevention and treatment of estrogenreceptor (ER) positive breast tumors, TAM resistance represents one of the biggest clinical challenges in breast cancer therapy.

Green tea consumption has been shown to exhibit cancer-preventive activities in preclinical studies. Polyphenon E (Poly E) is a green tea standardized extract. This study was undertaken to examine the antiproliferative effect and pro-oxidant activity of Poly E on PC3 prostate cancer cells.

The objectives of the thesis: Research in the toxin/protein having bioactive isolated from Heterometrus laoticus (H. laoticus) scorpion and krait Bungarus fasciatus (B. fasciatus) snake venom.

The objectives of the thesis: Research in the toxin/protein having bioactive isolated from Heterometrus laoticus (H. laoticus) scorpion and krait Bungarus fasciatus (B. fasciatus) snake venom.

The objectives of the thesis: Manufacturing multifunctional nanoparticles including: Fe3O4 nanoparticles (magnetical properties) coated with biocompatible polymers, attaching drugs (Cur, Dox) and targeted folate factor (optical properties)) that are well dispersed in water, able to target the cancer.Experiment and evaluate the effect of the nanoparticles on cancer cell lines such as HT29; HeLa; HepG2 ... and on experimental animals.

The spermine analogue N1,N11-diethylnorspermine (DENSPM) efficiently depletes the cellular pools of putrescine, spermidine and spermine by down-regulating the activity of the polyamine biosynthetic enzymes and up-regulating the activity of the catabolic enzyme spermidine/ spermine N1-acetyltransferase (SSAT). In the breast cancer cell line L56Br-C1, treatment with 10 lM DENSPM induced SSAT activity 60 and 240-fold at 24 and 48 h after seeding, respectively, which resulted in polyamine depletion. ...

A differential display method was used to study genes the expression of which is altered during growth inhibition induced by medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA). A tran-script of G-protein-coupled receptor 30 (GPR30) was upregulated by MPA in estrogen-treated MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Northern-blot analysis showed a progestin-specific primary target gene, which was enhanced by prog-esterone and different progestins, but not by dihydrotestos-terone or dexamethasone, and which was abrogated by antiprogestin RU486....

Minichromosome maintenance proteins (Mcm) 2–7 play essential roles in eukaryotic DNA replication. Several reports have indicated the usefulness of Mcm proteins as markers of cancer cells in histopathological diagnosis. However, their mode of expression and pathophysiological significance in cancer cells remain to be clarified. We com-paredthe level of expressionofMcmproteins amonghuman HeLa uterine cervical carcinoma cells, SV40-transformed human fibroblast GM00637 cells andnormal human fibro-blastWI-38 cells....

We have isolated a cDNA that encodes a novel serine protease, prosemin, from human brain. The cDNA of human prosemin is 1306 bp, encoding 317 amino acids. It showed significant homology with the sequence of a chromosome 16 cosmid clone (accession no. NT_037887.4). The prosemin gene contains six exons and five introns. The amino acid sequence of prose-min shows significant homology to prostasin,c-tryptase, and testisin (43%, 41%, and 38% identity, respectively), the genes of which are also located on chromosome 16. ...

We determined differentially expressed genes in HT29 human colon cancer cells, both after short treatment with methotrexate (MTX) and after the resistance to MTX had been established. Screening was performed using Atlas Human Cancer 1.2K cDNA arrays. The analysis was carried out using Atlasimage 2.01 andgenespring6.1 software. Among the differen-tially expressed genes we chose for further validation were inosine mono-phosphate dehydrogenase type II (IMPDH2), inosine monophosphate cyclohydrolase and survivin as up-regulated genes, and topoisomerase I (TOP1) and vimentin as down-regulated genes. ...

We investigated the role ofb3Gal-T5, a member of the b1,3galactosyltransferase (b1,3Gal-T) family, in cancer-associated glycosylation, focusing on the expression of sialyl-Lewis a (sLe a , the epitope of CA19.9 antigen), poly N-acetyllactosamines, and sialyl-Lewis x (sLe x )antigen.A clone permanently expressing an antisense fragment of b3Gal-T5 was obtained from the human pancreas adeno-carcinoma cell line BxPC3 and characterized. Bothb1,3Gal-T activity and sLe a expression are dramatically impaired in the clone. ...

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A) is the only cellular protein that contains the unusual amino acid hypusine [N e -(4-amino-2-hydroxybutyl)lysine]. Vertebrates carry two genes that encode two eIF5A isoforms, eIF5A-1 and eIF5A-2, which, in humans, are 84% identical. eIF5A-1 mRNA (1.3 kb) and protein (18 kDa) are constitutively expressed in human cells. In contrast, expression of eIF5A-2 mRNA (0.7–5.6 kb) and eIF5A-2 protein (20 kDa) varies widely.

We found that benomyl, a benzimidazole fungicide, strongly suppressed the reassembly of cold-depolymerized spindle microtubules in HeLa cells. Benomyl perturbed microtubule-kinetochore attachment and chromosome alignment at the metaphase plate. Benomyl also significantly decreased the distance between the sister kinetochore pairs in metaphase cells and increased the level of the checkpoint protein BubR1 at the kinetochore region, indicating that benomyl caused loss of tension across the kineto-chores....

The mechanism behind the growth-promoting effect of insulin is a subject of debate. Employing RT4 bladder cancer cells, we examined the cross-talk between insulin and the epidermal growth factor system. We found that insulin induced a time- and dose-dependent (25–1000 nmolÆL )1 insulin) increase in mRNA expression of three ligands from the epidermal growth factor system.

Physalis philadelphicaLam, commonly known as a tomatillo, is a staple of the Mesoamerican cuisine. In our laboratory, an ethyl acetate-soluble extract and four withanolides [ixocarpalactone A (IxoA), ixocarpalac-tone B, philadelphicalactone B, and withaphysacarpin] were isolated. Stud-ies conducted on Hepa-1c1c7 hepatoma cells revealed that withanolides were potent inducers of quinone reductase, suggesting possible cancer chemo-protective activity.

The multidrug resistance-associated protein transporter ABCC1 (MRP1) is an integral plasma membrane protein involved in the multidrug resistance phenotype. It actively expels a number of cytotoxic molecules from cells. To gain insight into the modulation of the functional properties of this integral membrane protein by cholesterol, a main component of the lipid bilayer, we used multidrug-resistant GLC4⁄ADR cells,

Exposure of cells to ionizing radiation induces activation of multiple signal-ing pathways that play a critical role in controlling cell death. However, the basis for linkage between signaling pathways and the cell-death machin-ery in response to ionizing radiation remains unclear.

The oxidation and inactivation of protein tyrosine phosphatases is one mechanism by which reactive oxygen species influence tyrosine phosphory-lation-dependent signaling events and exert their biological functions. In the present study, we determined the redox status of endogenous protein tyrosine phosphatases in HepG2 and A431 human cancer cells, in which reactive oxygen species are produced constitutively.

A major contributing factor to the development of breast cancer is decreased functional expression of breast cancer susceptibility gene 1, BRCA1. Another key contributor to tumorigenesis is hypoxia. Here we show that hypoxia increased the nuclear localization of BRCA1 in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468 human breast cancer cell lines without changing its steady-state expression level.

Tumor protein D52 (TPD52) is a protein found to be overexpressed in prostate and breast cancer due to gene amplification. However, its physio-logical function remains under investigation. In the present study, we inves-tigated the response of the LNCaP human prostate carcinoma cell line to deregulation of TPD52 expression.