Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027819 (neuroblastoma)
 27,800 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

If the study of tumor immunology is to have a profound impact on clinical medicine, certain hypotheses must be proven to be valid. First and foremost, it must be demonstrated that malignant tissue possesses antigenic substances (probably protein moieties) that are unique to that particular malignant process. In addition, these antigenic substances must be very similar in histologically similar tumors. Second, the host defense mechanisms must be capable of reacting to these tumor-associated antigens. The reaction is, of course, necessary in order to develop both diagnostic and therapeutic routes of application. The reaction of the immunologic system to these tumor-associated antigens could be monitored as an early serodiagnostic tool for subclinical cancer, and the cytotoxic reaction holds great promise as an immunotherapeutic tool. The essence of tumor immunologic research can thus be stated in the form of the following questions: 1. Do histologically similar cancers from identical primary sites share common tumor-associated antigens? 2. Does the immunologic system react to these antigens? 3. Can this reaction be assayed on one hand for serodiagnosis and augmented on the other for immunotherapy? Specific antigens have been found in animal tumors and have been divided into two classes: the viral induced tumors, which share common antigens when caused by the same viral agent, and carcinogen-induced tumors, which appear to have unique antigenic determinants for each tumor. In recent years a great many human tumors have been found to have tumor-associated antigens; these include colonic carcinoma, neuroblastoma, melanoma, soft tissue and osteogenic sarcoma, bladder carcinoma and Burkitt's lymphoma. This report includes evidence for the existence of such antigens in adenocarcinoma of the ovary and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. The laboratory evidence that has been presented would suggest that there are both a cell-mediated response and humoral response to the antigenic determinants of these two gynecologic cancers. It would appear that the mediated (lymphocyte) effect is considerably more cytotoxic and definitive than the humoral factors measured. In addition, the allogenic experiments would suggest strongly that indeed (at least with regard to these two cancers) histologically similar cancers from the same organ share common antigenic determinants. The identification and isolation of these tumor-associated antigens appears complex. The complexity is increased when one studies patients afflicted with these cancers for plasma carcinoembryonic antigens. This antigen, which was thought to be specific for adenocarcinoma of the colon, is found in the blood of a significant number of patients with adenocarcinoma of the ovary and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix.
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PMID:Tumor-associated antigens in gynecologic cancer. 76 38

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase is the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, the diverse array of end products of which are vital for a variety of cellular functions, including cholesterol synthesis and cell cycle progression. We showed previously that this enzyme holds a critical role in regulating tumor cell fate, including cell death, as its expression is down-regulated in response to retinoic acid, a potent anticancer therapeutic. Indeed, direct inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase with lovastatin, a competitive inhibitor of this enzyme, induced a pronounced apoptotic response in neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemic cells. We have now extended this work and evaluated a wide variety and large number of tumor-derived cell lines for their sensitivity to lovastatin-induced apoptosis. These cell lines were exposed to a wide range (0-100 microM) of lovastatin for 2 days and assayed for cell viability using the 3,4,5-dimethyl thiazlyl-2,2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and the induction of apoptosis by flow cytometric and ultrastructural analyses. Lovastatin induced a pronounced apoptotic response in cells derived from juvenile monomyelocytic leukemia, pediatric solid malignancies (rhabdomyosarcoma and medulloblastoma), and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and of the head and neck. Interestingly, the subset of malignancies that are particularly sensitive to lovastatin-induced apoptosis correspond to those tumor subtypes that are sensitive to the biological and antiproliferative effects of retinoids in vitro. The nature of the biologically active form of lovastatin has been challenged recently as the growth-inhibitory effects of this drug were attributed to its prodrug lactone form that does not inhibit HMG-CoA reductase function. In this report, we demonstrate that the apoptotic properties of lovastatin are triggered by the open ring acid form that is a potent inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase activity. Thus, we have identified a subset of tumors that are sensitive to lovastatin-induced apoptosis and show HMG-CoA reductase as a potential therapeutic target of these cancers.
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PMID:Differential sensitivity of various pediatric cancers and squamous cell carcinomas to lovastatin-induced apoptosis: therapeutic implications. 1120 4

Prevalent mutations in the mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) pathway have been identified in cervical squamous cell carcinoma in a large-scale genome sequencing effort. Furthermore, mutations in the rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (RAS)/Raf/Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway have also been revealed to have important roles in the pathogenesis of human cancer. However, whether the potential hotspot mutations in ERK2 and other components of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway also exist in Chinese patients with cervical carcinoma remains to be elucidated. In the present study, a total of 260 patients with cervical carcinoma of distinct subtypes were analyzed for the presence of potential hotspot mutations in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway. No ERK2 mutations were detected in these samples; however, Kirsten RAS (KRAS) p.G12D (c.35G>A) mutation was identified in 2/26 (7.7%) cervical adenocarcinoma cases, including 1/20 cervical mucinous adenocarcinoma and 1/6 cervical endometrioid carcinoma cases. In addition, no mutations in the ERK1, neuroblastoma RAS, Harvey RAS or B-Raf proto-oncogene serine/threonine kinase genes were detected in the present study. These results indicated that ethnic differences may be a primary reason for the discrepancy in ERK2 mutation frequencies between the current study and previous studies. Furthermore, mutation in the KRAS gene, but not other genes in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway, may have an active role in the pathogenesis of cervical carcinoma.
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PMID:Mutational analysis of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway in 260 Han Chinese patients with cervical carcinoma. 2878 78