Carcinogenic Process (carcinogenic + process)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Loss of heterozygosity on chromosome 6 in HPV-16 positive cervical carcinomas carrying the DRB1*1501-DQB1*0602 haplotype

GENES, CHROMOSOMES AND CANCER, Issue 4 2004
Hugo Arias-Pulido
High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs), specifically HPV-16 and -18, have been associated with the development of carcinoma in situ (CIS) and of invasive cervical cancer (CC). However, only a small fraction of HPV-infected women will show signs of disease progression, suggesting that other factors in the carcinogenic pathway are needed. We previously demonstrated that human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB1*1501-DQB1*0602 (high risk) was associated with the development of CIS and CC tumors in HPV-16-positive patients. To characterize the molecular changes that could be relevant to tumor progression, we compared the extent of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on chromosome 6 in HPV-16-positive CIS patients who were carriers of high-risk and neutral HLA haplotypes. CIS and CC cases demonstrated similar LOH patterns. A wide range of LOH frequencies was found at 6p (10,53%) and 6q (5,28%) in CIS cases, suggesting that LOH is an early event in the carcinogenic process. A comparative analysis of LOH frequencies in the high-risk versus the neutral HLA haplotypes showed a statistically significant difference in the extent of LOH at 6p24,p25 (58.6% versus 25.8%; P = 0.018) and at 6p21.3 (79.3% versus 35.5%; P = 0.001), a region that contains the HLA complex. LOH at this region could affect genes encoding HLA class I,II molecules, as well as factors responsible for the assembly, transport, and stable expression of HLA molecules. These losses may be a reflection of both an abnormal immune response and a general genome-wide instability resulting from virus persistence. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Dietary and other risk factors in women having fibrocystic breast conditions with and without concurrent breast cancer: A nested case-control study in Shanghai, China

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 6 2005
Wenjin Li
Abstract Risk of breast cancer is increased in women with proliferative benign breast conditions. Most of these conditions, however, do not progress to breast cancer. The purpose of our study was to identify factors possibly associated with this progression. Women with proliferative fibrocystic breast conditions alone (214), and women with proliferative fibrocystic breast conditions and concurrent breast cancer (130), were compared to each other, and each of these groups of women were also compared to 1,070 controls; and 176 women with non-proliferative benign breast conditions alone, and 155 also with breast cancer, were similarly compared. All study subjects were selected from a cohort of women enrolled in a trial of breast self-examination in Shanghai. Women were interviewed to ascertain information on suspected risk factors for breast cancer and dietary habits. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Increased risks of both proliferative fibrocystic breast conditions alone, and with breast cancer, were associated with low parity, a prior benign breast lump and breast cancer in a first-degree relative. Decreasing trends in the risk of both conditions with increasing intake of fruits and vegetables were observed. No factors were significantly associated with risk of breast cancer relative to risk of proliferative changes. Similar, but in some instances weaker, associations were observed for non-proliferative fibrocystic conditions with and without breast cancer. The possible risk or protective factors that were observed in our study most likely alter the risk of breast cancer at an early stage in the carcinogenic process, and probably do not alter risk of progression from proliferative fibrocystic breast conditions to breast cancer. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Aberrant methylation and loss of expression of O6 -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase in pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma

PATHOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, Issue 6 2005
Osamu Furonaka
O6 -Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) is a DNA repair protein that protects cells against the carcinogenic effects of alkylating agents. The methylation status of the MGMT gene was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and expression status was investigated by immunohistochemistry in 70 cases of pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma (pulmonary SqCC), including 23 cases of the central type and 47 cases of the peripheral type, and in 53 cases of the peripheral type of pulmonary adenocarcinoma (AC). The frequency of MGMT methylation was 36% in SqCC and 42% in AC. Cases with MGMT methylation correlated significantly with T factor in SqCC (P = 0.047) and AC (P = 0.03). In SqCC, the frequency of MGMT methylation was 26% in the central type and 40% in the peripheral type; a significant correlation was not found (P = 0.29). In AC with mixed subtypes showing MGMT methylation, the level of MGMT expression in the bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) area (non-invasive status) was significantly higher than that in the papillary or acinar AC area (invasive status; P = 0.0002). This trend was not found in AC with mixed subtypes showing no MGMT methylation (P = 0.10). These findings suggest that MGMT inactivation is an event that occurs in the late carcinogenic process in SqCC and AC, and that AC progress from non-invasive status to invasive status with MGMT inactivation induced by the promoter DNA methylation. [source]


Rapid and sensitive on-line liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric determination of an ethylene oxide-DNA adduct, N7-(2-hydroxyethyl)guanine, in urine of nonsmokers

RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 5 2008
Chih-Chun Jean Huang
Ethylene oxide (EtO) is classified as a known human carcinogen. The formation of EtO-DNA adducts is considered as an important early event in the EtO carcinogenic process. An isotope-dilution on-line solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry method was then developed to analyze one of the EtO-DNA adducts, N7-(2-hydroxyethyl)guanine (N7-HEG), in urine of 46 nonsmokers with excellent accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The merits of this method include small sample volume (only 120,µL urine required), automated sample cleanup, and short total run time (12 minutes per sample). This method demonstrates its high-throughput capacity for future molecular epidemiology studies on the potential health effects resulting from the low-dose EtO exposure. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Molecularly targeted therapies for glioma,

ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 6 2009
Ryuya Yamanaka MD
Over the past decade, molecularly targeted therapies have been added to cytotoxic and antiendocrine drugs in the treatment of cancer, with the aim of targeting the molecular pathways that underlie the carcinogenic process and maintain the cancer phenotype. Success with some of these agents has suggested that identification and validation of drug targets is the starting point for the development of active, safe, and effective drugs. The main molecular targets used to develop anticancer drugs are cell surface receptors, signal transduction pathways, gene transcription targets, ubiquitin-proteasome/heat shock proteins, and tumor microenvironment components. Here, we review the development of the main molecularly targeted noncytotoxic agents studied in glioma, highlighting lessons derived from the development of these novel drugs and proposing new horizons for the clinical development of molecularly targeted therapies. Ann Neurol 2009;66:717,729 [source]


Frequent and preferential infection of Treponema denticola, Streptococcus mitis, and Streptococcus anginosus in esophageal cancers

CANCER SCIENCE, Issue 7 2004
Michihiro Narikiyo
Multiple cancers frequently occur in the upper digestive tract. One possible explanation is that specific bacterial infection stimulates the normal epithelium to initiate inflammation and/or promotes carcinogenesis. This study was undertaken to determine which bacterial species is predominantly associated with esophageal cancer. We examined the bacterial diversity in this type of cancer and in the saliva from healthy people by using a culture-independent molecular method. Here we report the preferential and frequent infection of the oral periodontopathic spirochete Treponema denticola (T. denticola), Streptococcus mitis (S. mitis), and Streptococus anginosus (S. anginosus) in esophageal cancer from different regions of the world, and we also describe the induction of inflammatory cytokines by infection of S. anginosus and S. mitis. Our present data suggest that these three bacteria could have significant roles in the carcinogenic process of many cases of esophageal cancer by causing inflammation and by promoting the carcinogenic process, and that eradication of these three bacteria may decrease the risk of recurrence. [source]


Renal carcinogenesis: Genotype, phenotype and dramatype

CANCER SCIENCE, Issue 2 2003
Okio Hino
Cancer is a heritable disorder of somatic cells. Environment and heredity are both important in the carcinogenic process. The Eker rat model of hereditary renal carcinoma (RC) is an example of a Mendelian dominantly inherited predisposition to a specific cancer in an experimental animal. Forty years after the discovery of the Eker rat in Oslo, we and Knudson's group independently identified a germline retrotransposon insertion in the rat homologue of the human tuberous sclerosis (TSC2) gene. To our knowledge, this was the first isolation of a Mendelian dominantly predisposing cancer gene in a naturally occurring animal model. Recently, we discovered a new hereditary renal carcinoma in the rat. This rat was named the "Ninon''rat and its predisposing (Nihon) gene could be a novel renal tumor suppressor gene. This article will review the utility of these unique models for the study of problems in carcinogenesis; e.g., species-specific differences in tumorigenesis, cell stage and tissue/cell-type specific tumorigene-sis, multistep carcinogenesis, modifier gene(s) in renal carcinogenesis, cancer prevention and the development of therapeutic treatments which can be translated to human patients, as well as how environmental factors interact with cancer susceptibility gene(s). (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 142,147) [source]


Infectious causes of cancer: an evolving educational saga

CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION, Issue 11 2009
G. Pappas
Scientific interest in the aetiological relationship between infectious diseases and cancer is constantly increasing for numerous reasons. First, increased numbers of neoplasias have been definitely aetiologically correlated with specific pathogens. Second, the pathways that lead to carcinogenesis have shed light on numerous important cellular processes. Third, infection as a cause of cancer is preventable, and thus cancer is preventable, either at a primary stage by inhibition of infection or, secondarily, by inhibition of the carcinogenic process. The latter reason lies behind two of the major public health campaigns of recent years, namely vaccination for hepatitis B virus and human papilloma virus. [source]