Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0033036 (APC)
 10,214 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To investigate the molecular mechanisms of tuberous sclerosis (TSC) histopathologic lesions, we have tested for loss of heterozygosity the two TSC loci (TSC1 and TSC2) and seven tumor suppressor gene-containing regions (TP53, NF1, NF2, BRCA1, APC, VHL, and MLM) in 20 hamartomas from 18 TSC patients. Overall, eight angiomyolipomas, eight giant cell astrocytomas, one cortical tuber, and three rhabdomyomas were analyzed. Loss of heterozygosity at either TSC locus was found in a large fraction of the informative patients, both sporadic (7/14) and familial (1/4). Interestingly, a statistically significant preponderance of loss of heterozygosity at TSC2 was observed in the sporadic group (P < 0.01). Among the possible explanations considered, the bias in the selection for TSC patients with the most severe organ impairment seems particularly appealing. According to this view, a TSC2 defect might confer a greater risk for early kidney failure or, possibly, a more rapid growth of a giant cell astrocytoma. None of the seven antioncogenes tested showed loss of heterozygosity, indicating that the loss of either TSC gene product may be sufficient to promote hamartomatous cell growth. Finally, the observation of loss of heterozygosity at different markers in an astrocytoma and in an angiomyolipoma from the same patient might suggest the multifocal origin of the second-hit mutation.
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PMID:Apparent preferential loss of heterozygosity at TSC2 over TSC1 chromosomal region in tuberous sclerosis hamartomas. 882 21

Somatic mosaicism is a frequent phenomenon in mendelian disorders that exhibit a high proportion of new mutations; however, mutant alleles present at low frequency are difficult to detect and characterize. We have previously shown that denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) can detect TSC1 and TSC2 mutations in tuberous sclerosis patients with low-level somatic mosaicism, even when direct sequencing cannot identify the causative lesion. Characterization of these mutations traditionally involves extensive sequencing of cloned products. To overcome this limitation, we have utilized DHPLC with an in-line fraction collector to isolate low-level heteroduplex peaks that can be directly sequenced to reveal the mutation. We have successfully applied this technique to resolve the mutations 2724-1G>C in TSC1and 1462-28del42bp, 1774del4bp, and N1643K (4947C>G) in TSC2, which were present in only 6.5-17% of the patients' alleles. We have also applied this technique to successfully resolve seven somatic APC mutations in colorectal tumor samples that were previously undetectable by direct PCR product sequencing. This method may simplify many of the currently challenging goals in mutation detection.
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PMID:Characterizing mutations in samples with low-level mosaicism by collection and analysis of DHPLC fractionated heteroduplexes. 1255 57

The study of hereditary tumor syndromes has laid a solid foundation toward understanding the genetic basis of cancer. One of the latest examples comes from the study of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). As a member of the phakomatoses, TSC is characterized by the appearance of benign tumors, most notably in the central nervous system, kidney, heart, lung, and skin. While classically described as "hamartomas," the pathology of the lesions has features suggestive of abnormal cellular proliferation, size, differentiation, and migration. Occasionally, tumors progress to become malignant (i.e., renal cell carcinoma). The genetic basis of this disease has been attributed to mutations in one of two unlinked genes, TSC1 and TSC2. Cells undergo bi-allelic inactivation of either gene to give rise to tumors in a classic tumor suppressor "two-hit" paradigm. The functions of the TSC1 and TSC2 gene products, hamartin and tuberin, respectively, have remained ill defined until recently. Genetic, biochemical, and biologic analyses have highlighted their role as negative regulators of the mTOR signaling pathway. Tuberin, serving as a substrate of AKT and AMPK, mediates mTOR activity by coordinating inputs from growth factors and energy availability in the control of cell growth, proliferation, and survival. Emerging evidence also suggests that the TSC 1/2 complex may play a role in modulating the activity of beta-catenin and TGFbeta. These findings provide novel functional links between the TSC genes and other tumor suppressors responsible for Cowden's disease (PTEN), Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (LKB1), and familial polyposis (APC). Common sporadic cancers such as prostate, lung, colon, endometrium, and breast have ties to these genes, highlighting the potential role of the TSC proteins in human cancers. Rapamycin, a specific mTOR inhibitor, has potent antitumoral activities in preclinical models of TSC and is currently undergoing phase I/II clinical studies.
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PMID:The tuberous sclerosis complex genes in tumor development. 1556 17

Tumors of the nervous system most often occur in both children and adults as sporadic events with no family history of the disease, but they are also among the clinical manifestations of a significant number of familial cancer syndromes, including familial retinoblastoma, neurofibromatosis 1 and 2, tuberous sclerosis, and Cowden, Turcot, Li-Fraumeni and nevoid basal cell carcinoma (Gorlin) syndromes. All of these syndromes involve transmissible genetic risk resulting from loss of a functional allele, or inheritance of a structurally defective allele, of a specific gene. These genes include RB1, NF1, NF2, TSC1, TSC2, TP53, PTEN, APC, hMLH1, hPSM2, and PTCH, most of which function as tumor suppressor genes. The same genes are also observed in mutated and inactive forms, or are deleted, in tumor cells in sporadic cases of the same tumors. The nature of the mutational events that give rise to these inactivated alleles suggests a possible role of environmental mutagens in their causation. However, only external ionizing radiation at high doses is clearly established as an environmental cause of brain, nerve and meningeal tumors in humans. Transplacental carcinogenesis studies in rodents and other species emphasize the extraordinary susceptibility of the developing mammalian nervous system to carcinogenesis, but the inverse relationship of latency to dose suggests that low transplacental exposures to genotoxicants are more likely to result in brain tumors late in life, rather than in childhood. While not all neurogenic tumor-related genes in humans have similar effects in experimental rodents, genetically engineered mice (GEM) increasingly provide useful insights into the combined effects of multiple tumor suppressor genes and of gene-environment interactions in the genesis of brain tumors, especially pediatric brain tumors such as medulloblastoma.
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PMID:Inducible and transmissible genetic events and pediatric tumors of the nervous system. 1701 46

The recent progress of the biology of the locally aggressive sarcomas of soft tissues and related connective tissue tumors enabled to reclassify molecular and histological entities of the disease. Six subgroups of sarcomas are identified with specific molecular alterations, the targeted treatments of which are the object of this article: 1) sarcomas with specific translocations with fusion oncogenes (DFSP, PVNS); 2) sarcomas with tyrosine kinase mutations (KIT in GIST); 3) tumors with deletion of tumor suppressor genes (TSC in the PEComes, NF1 involved in type 1 neurofibromatosis; 4) sarcomas with MDM2/CDK4 amplification in the 12q13-15 amplicon, i.e. well differentiated or dedifferentiated liposarcomas; 5) sarcomas with complex genetics present more unrefined genetic changes (leiomyosarcomas, osteosarcomas). On top these 5 groups, desmoids tumors characterized by alterations of the Wnt, beta catenin, APC, and giant cell tumors of the bone, in which RANK/RANKL operates a complex interaction between the cellular stroma and giant tumor cells. The identification of these abnormal ways of road marking to licence the development of effective targeted therapeutic agents against certain rare histological connective subcategories of sarcomas and tumors with local aggressiveness, in particular DFSP, PVNS, GCST, PEComes, endometrial stromal sarcomas, Ewing sarcomas, etc. Imatinib is used in the treatment of DFSP, characterized by a translocation of the gene PDGF, or in pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), a tumor of soft part also locally aggressive, caused by an abnormality of the gene coding for the M-CSF. Several clinical trials of phase I and II trials demonstrated the antitumor activity of anti-IGF1R antibodies in Ewing, whose fusion gene downregulates IGFBP3. Inhibitors of MDM2 are in the course of clinical evaluation in liposarcomas. Inhibitors of mTOR (sirolimus, temsirolimus) demonstrated an antitumoral activity in the PEComas. The molecular characterization of sarcomas allowed to develop therapeutic targeted to correct the responsible abnormalities. Translational research is and will be an essential tool for the development of new treatments and the identification of the mechanisms of answer and resistance set up by these tumors.
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PMID:[Targeted treatment of rare connective tissue tumors and sarcomas]. 2049 11

Endocrine tumors are a less common but important component of the clinical spectrum of a number of hereditary tumor syndromes such as neurofibromatosis type 1, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, the tuberous sclerosis complex, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, PTEN hamartoma tumor syndrome, and APC-associated polyposis. It is important to recognize the often unique clinical presentations of these tumors and possible strategies for presymptomatic screening and early diagnosis.
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PMID:Endocrine tumors associated with neurofibromatosis type 1, Peutz-Jeghers syndrome and other familial neoplasia syndromes. 2365 77