前沿科技及其它

As described in Chapter 2 by Brooks, it has long been possible to localize antigens immunocytochemically using specific antibodies in conjunction with a label that is visible microscopically. Although much information can be derived by localizing a single protein/peptide, it is often u ...

A lectin is “a protein or glycoprotein of non-immune origin, not an enzyme, that binds to carbohydrates and agglutinates cells” (1). Lectins are naturally occurring substances, most commonly derived from plant or sometimes invertebrate sources, that can be exploited in the laboratory to de ...

Early hematogenous spread of cancer cells must be regarded as major cause for the later development of metastatic disease in patients with completely resected solid tumors, which account for the majority of cancer-related deaths in industrialized nations. Because current procedu ...

Integrins form a major family of heterodimeric cell surface receptors. Individual family members each comprise noncovalently linked, dissimilar, a- and β-subunits. Each subunit is the product of a different gene (1), and a-subunits appear to have evolved separately from β-subunits (2). S ...

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from a preexisting vascular network, is a complex multistep process under the control of positive and negative factors (bi1,bi2). Growth, progression, and metastasis of malignant tumors are angiogenesis-dependent processes (3-b ...

The ability of most carcinomas to metastasize to different organs, where they grow and gradually destroy the surrounding tissues, is the feature of this disease that both increases morbidity and significantly reduces a patient's survival time. One of the ways of contributing to the predict ...

Angiogenesis describes the development of new vessels from existing blood vessels and is a crucial physiological process involved in embryo development, wound healing, and the female reproductive cycle. However, angiogenesis has also been shown to be required for tumor growth and met ...

In situ hybridization (ISH) to localize sites of expression of mRNA is widely applicable to studies of invasion and metastasis in human pathology specimens and tissues from experimental animals or cell cultures. ISH can provide crucial information about where a specific gene is expresse ...

In situ hybridization describes the annealing of a labeled nucleic acid to complementary nucleic acid sequences in a fixed target (e.g., chromosomes, free nuclei, nuclei in tissue sections, and DNA) followed by visualisation of the location of the probe. Since its development about 30 yr ago (1,2 ...

Analysis of gene expression within tumors is frequently performed on the messenger RNA (mRNA). This chapter first describes the purification of mRNA from either tissues or cell culture and then describes the quantification by ribonuclease protection assay. Having initially purif ...

For cancer cells to form a metastasis, cells from the primary tumor must overcome the local adhesive forces, migrate and invade the microcirculation, arrest at a secondary site, and then finally proliferate (1). As implied by its multstep nature, cancer metastasis is a complex and dynamic proce ...

The application of Southern blotting to determine the methylation status of a particular gene has already been alluded to in Chapter 17 by Tennant et al., and methodology for Southern blotting described. This chapter examines methylation analysis of CpG islands in more depth and describes a t ...

In oncology, the correct assessment of tumor stage is crucial information, as it relates to disease-free interval and prognosis. Routine staging modalities use histopathology to evaluate the presence or absence of metastasis mainly in tissues such as lymph nodes, as described in Chapter 1 ...

Mathematical modeling is emerging as a powerful predictive tool in many areas of biology and medicine, with applications to cancer metastasis increasingly widespread and effective. This type of modeling involves quantitatively accurate representations of specific cellular ...

Cell-free systems derived from Xenopus eggs represent a powerful tool, intermediate between in vitro and in vivo model systems. Here, we describe protocols to prepare cell-free extracts recapitulating several aspects of the DNA damage response, including the DNA damage-dependent a ...

A short-term whole-skin organ culture model has been established to enable the investigation of cell cycle perturbations in epidermal layer cells following exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR). This model affords the opportunity to manipulate the growth and nutrient conditio ...

The checkpoint kinase Chk2 is activated in response to DNA damage through pathways requiring protein kinases ATM and/or ATR. The means by which Chk2 is activated by these kinases still remains to be addressed. Here we describe a cell-free system to study the activation of Chk2. Chk2 produced by a wheat ...

The clinical use of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) as an anticancer drug has been so far limited to loco-regional treatments because of severe dose-limiting toxicity. This chapter intends to review the targeting approaches and the animal models that have been developed in an attempt to improve the ...

To study tumor therapeutic treatment modalities, whether from a clinical, preclinical, or fundamental point of view, the use of clinically relevant animal models is indispensable. Particularly when the treatment comprises a multitargeted approach, (e.g., both tumor cells and endo ...

Among the cardiovascular pathologies, ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of congestive heart failure as well as permanent premature disabilities. Reperfusion of a previously ischemic heart is a standard clinical procedure. Even if beneficial, reperfusion triggers an in ...