Oncotarget

In myeloma patients, high levels of soluble BCMA (sBCMA) can limit the efficacy of BCMA-directed therapies. Belantamab-mafodotin is a BCMA antibody-drug conjugate and shows good overall response rates in heavily pretreated patients but progression-free survival data are poor. As the drug induces apoptosis, we hypothesized that sBCMA includes extracellular vesicles (EV) and thus evaluated numbers of BCMA-EV before and during belantamab therapy in 10 myeloma patients. BCMA-EV were significantly higher in patients prior to Belantamab (median: 3227/μl; p = ...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Metastasizing cells display a unique metabolism, which is very different from the Warburg effect that arises in primary tumors. Over short time frames, oxidative phosphorylation and ATP generation are prominent. Over longer time frames, mitochondrial biogenesis becomes a pronounced feature and aids metastatic success. It has not been known whether or how these two phenomena are connected. We hypothesized that Osteopontin splice variants, which synergize to increase ATP levels in deadherent cells, also increase the mitochondrial mass via the same signaling mechanisms...

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PURPOSE: To examine the risk factors for arm morbidity following breast cancer treatments, taking a broad view of all types of physical morbidity, including prolonged pain, lymphedema, decreased range of motion, and functional limitations. METHODS: A systematic literature review was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Guidelines. Studies exploring the risk factors for prolonged arm morbidity following breast cancer surgery and treatments were included...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Somatic HER2 mutations are a novel class of therapeutic targets across different cancer types. Treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) neratinib as a single agent continues to be evaluated in HER2-mutant metastatic disease. However, responses are heterogeneous, with frequent early progression. Herein, we discuss the under-explored effects of individual HER2 mutant alleles on therapeutic response, a role for HER2 mutation in metastatic propensity, and differences in patient outcomes in ER+ invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) versus invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC)...

Breast cancer is the leading cancer among females worldwide. Disease outcome depends on the hormonal status of the cancer and whether or not it is metastatic, but there is a need for more efficacious therapeutic strategies where first line treatment fails. In this study, Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH) inhibition and endocannabinoids were examined as therapeutic alternatives. FAAH is an integral membrane enzyme that hydrolyzes endocannabinoids, rendering them inactive, and FAAH inhibition is predicted to increase cancer cell death...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Intravital microscopy in live mice has shown that the elimination of epithelial cells during hair follicle regression involves supra-basal cell differentiation and basal cell apoptosis through synergistic action of TGF-β (transforming growth factor) and mesenchymal-epithelial interactions. In this process the basal epithelial cells are not internally committed to death and the mesenchymal dermal papilla (DP) plays essential role in death induction. Because the DP cells are not necessary for completion of the cycle but only for its initiation it is still an open question what is the mechanism leading to the propagation of apoptosis towards the regenerative stem cell population...

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common type of cancer among women in Kazakhstan. To date, little data are available on the spectrum of genetic variation in Kazakh women with BC. We aimed to identify population-specific genetic markers associated with the risk of developing early-onset BC and test their association with clinical and prognostic factors. The study included 224 Kazakh women diagnosed with BC (≤40 age). Entire coding regions (>1700 exons) and the flanking noncoding regions of 94 cancer-associated genes were sequenced from blood DNA using MiSeq platform...

Drug resistance is a major barrier against successful treatments of cancer patients. Gain of stemness under drug pressure is a major mechanism that renders treatments ineffective. Identifying approaches to target cancer stem cells (CSCs) is expected to improve treatment outcomes for patients. To elucidate the role of cancer stemness in resistance of colorectal cancer cells to targeted therapies, we developed spheroid cultures of patient-derived BRAFmut and KRASmut tumor cells and studied resistance mechanisms to inhibition of MAPK pathway through phenotypic and gene and protein expression analysis...

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UDP-glucose-6-dehydrogenase (UGDH) is a cytosolic, hexameric enzyme that converts UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid (UDP-GlcUA), a key reaction in hormone and xenobiotic metabolism and in the production of extracellular matrix precursors. In this review, we classify UGDH as a molecular indicator of tumor progression in multiple cancer types, describe its involvement in key canonical cancer signaling pathways, and identify methods to inhibit UGDH, its substrates, and its downstream products. As such, we position UGDH as an enzyme to be exploited as a potential prognostication marker in oncology and a therapeutic target in cancer biology...