前沿科技及其它

Cancer is a disease of altered cellular homeostasis. Therefore, pathways for induction of differentiation and programmed cell death are being considered as targets for therapeutic approaches (1,2). Data indicate that those lung cancer patients whose tumors demonstrate squamous ...

-substance P (6-11) (antagonist G) is a novel class of anti-cancer agent that inhibits small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell growth in vitro and in vivo and is entering Phase II clinical investigation for the treatment of SCLC (1,2). Although antagonist G blocks SCLC cell growth (IC50 = 24.5 � 1.5 and 38.5 � 1.5 μM for the ...

Apoptosis, a unique mode of cell death that occurs physiologically as part of a “program” to eliminate unwanted cells, was first described in 1972 (1) and is now one of the most active areas of biologic research. This process occurs during development, as a defense mechanism when cells are damaged by dis ...

Angiogenesis—the development and formation of new blood vessels—is important in a variety of processes such as growth and differentiation, wound healing, and the formation of neoplasms. An avascular tumor grows to a size of 2-3 mm and only rapidly expands when it becomes vascularized. Many ce ...

Lung cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer deaths in both men and women in the U.S. (1). Although tobacco smoking is accepted as the number one cause of this devastating disease, our understanding of the acquired genetic changes leading to lung cancer is still rudimentary. Lung cancer is classifi ...

The clinical management of lung neoplasia now involves considerations of several diagnostic categories that were not in common use only a few years ago. In particular, there is now an increased recognition of neuroendocrine differentiation in lung cancer, including acknowledgment ...

Epidemiology has identified several etiological factors in lung cancer, of which the most important are exposure to cigarette smoke and other uses of tobacco products (1,2). Epidemiological studies also have proved the synergistic effects between many of these factors, for example sm ...

Human lung cancers are divided into small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the two types having distinct clinical, histological, and biological features. Clinically, SCLC tends to present as a disseminated cancer that is not amenable to surgical resection and is ...

Neoplastic disease occurs more frequently in immunocompromised patients than in the general population. It may be the presenting condition in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The appearance of Kaposi ’s sarcoma (KS) in young men in the United States in the early 19 ...

Several critical polypeptide growth factors have been identified for the lung, including transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). The three mammalian TGF-β isoforms, TGF-β1, TGF-β2, and TGF-β3, are homologous growth mediators that have been shown to participate in multiple biolog ...

The insulin-like growth factors (IGF), named for their structural homology to proinsulin, are potent mitogens involved in the endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine regulation of growth. IGF bioactivity may be altered by changes to any level of the IGF axis. The IGF axis is comprised of IGF-I and IGF- ...

Lung cancer is the most common fatal type of cancer in the developed world. The overwhelming majority of cases of lung cancer are caused by tobacco products (1), and even with the best therapeutic approaches, less than 15% of diagnosed cases survive 5 years (2). It has been noted that even after smoking cess ...

Lung tissue is exposed to higher concentrations of oxygen than most other tissues. In addition, cigarette smoke and environmental toxic particles not only contain reactive oxygen species (ROS), but also enhance ROS production and activate various oxidant generating mechanisms in the ...

Activation of the ras/raf signal transduction pathway has been shown to be involved in many proliferative and developmental signals as well as in transformation and tumorigenicity of many types of cancers (1-4). However, small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines, and SCLC in patients, rarely po ...

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors comprise a group of compounds that show promise as cancer preventives. COX-2 is an inducible enzyme that catalyzes the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. The anti-inflammatory effects of aspirin and oth ...

Deletion at a specific locus in a chromosome in cancer cells is assumed to imply the existence of a tumor-suppressor gene. As a result of multi-step carcinogenesis, there are several hotspots of allelic deletion in lung cancer (1). The most frequent loci where allelic deletions occur in lung cancer t ...

Abnormalities in mucin-type glycoprotein expression have been documented in a variety of cancers, identifying these molecules as targets for immunologically based therapies and prognostic/diagnostic assays. Epithelial mucin proteins are synthesized by cells lining the d ...

Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) such as intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), vascular adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), and lymphocyte function-associated antigen (LFA-1) facilitate interaction among cells of various lineages and are therefore crucial in the complex proces ...

Bronchogenic carcinoma is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality, with the prognosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma remaining poor in advancedstaged tumors despite improved efforts in earlier diagnosis and combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Underst ...

Mapping of receptor binding to specific structures, or cells within tissue samples, provides valuable information regarding biological and pathological mechanisms. Such information may potentially be translated into targeted therapies, especially in the field of cancer tr ...