Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0178874 (tumor progression)
 40,807 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Recently, splice variants of CD44 have been described that confer metastatic potential to non-metastasizing rat pancreatic carcinoma and sarcoma cell lines. Using antibodies against variant CD44 (CD44v) sequences, we have examined the expression of variant CD44 glycoproteins on human lymphoid cells and tissues and in colorectal neoplasia. Lymphohematopoietic cells express low levels of CD44v glycoproteins. During the process of lymphocyte activation in vitro and in vivo, expression of CD44v glycoproteins is transiently upregulated. The reaction pattern of various antibodies indicates that these CD44 variants contain the domain encoded by exon v6, which is part of the variant that confers metastatic capability. In human colorectal neoplasia we observed overexpression of CD44 splice variants in all invasive carcinomas. Already at early stages of colorectal tumor progression exon v5 epitopes were overexpressed. Tumor progression was strongly related to expression of CD44 isoforms containing exon v6 encoded domains. The findings establish CD44 variants as tumor progression markers in colorectal cancer.
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PMID:Expression of CD44 splice variants during lymphocyte activation and tumor progression. 753 Jan 51

E-cadherin has been identified as a tumor (invasion) suppressor gene, which is mutated in 50% of diffuse-type human gastric carcinomas. In other carcinomas, the expression of E-cadherin is down-regulated in the poorly differentiated cells such as from breast, bladder, lung and colon. We have here examined the in vivo properties of the genomic E-cadherin promoter in well and poorly differentiated carcinoma cell lines in order to gain insights into the mechanisms of E-cadherin down-regulation in tumors. In vivo footprinting analysis revealed that positive regulatory elements of the E-cadherin promoter (a GC-rich region, the CCAAT-box and a palindromic element) are specifically bound by transcription factors in E-cadherin-expressing but not in non-expressing cells. The tested cell systems include more than a dozen carcinomas cell lines as well as mammary epithelial cells where E-cadherin expression can be switched off by activation of a Fos-estrogen receptor fusion protein and rhabdomyosarcoma cells where E-cadherin expression was induced by transfection with E1A. Mapping of DNase I hypersensitive sites showed that the chromatin structure in the promoter region is loosened in expressing but condensed in non-expressing cells. Furthermore, the endogenous E-cadherin promoter is specifically methylated at CpG sites in the undifferentiated cells. We also show that the in vivo properties of the promoter in E-caherin-negative carcinoma cells are similar as in mesenchymal cells, i.e. fibroblasts or sarcoma cells. These data suggest that silencing of the E-cadherin promoter during epithelialmesenchymal transition and tumor progression is due to a loss of factor binding in vivo and to chromatin rearrangement in the regulatory region.
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PMID:Progression of carcinoma cells is associated with alterations in chromatin structure and factor binding at the E-cadherin promoter in vivo. 763 Jun 31

Specific CD44 variant glycoproteins are overexpressed at particular stages of colorectal tumor progression. Some variants of the CD44 glycoprotein without exon v6 sequences appear at the earliest stage of tumorigenesis, i.e., in early adenomas. Expression of variants containing exon v6 sequences is largely restricted to the advanced stages of tumor development and in addition is more prevalent and intense in metastatic (Dukes C/D) than in nonmetastatic (Dukes A/B) carcinomas. The observation that CD44 variants containing a protein domain of CD44 that confers full metastatic potential to rat carcinoma and sarcoma cell lines is increasingly expressed during colorectal tumor progression indicates that this domain may have an important role in tumor progression and metastasis in humans. Information on v6 expression, which can be obtained by routine immunohistochemistry, may prove of important prognostic value, particularly in carcinomas (Dukes A and B) that have not yet given rise to detectable metastases.
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PMID:Expression of CD44 variant proteins in human colorectal cancer is related to tumor progression. 769 4

Inappropriate expression of Met, the receptor for hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor, has been implicated in sarcomagenesis via an autocrine mechanism. Sarcomas occur at high frequency in individuals with Li-Fraumeni syndrome as well as in p53-deficient mice. Here we show that these tumors express high levels of Met. Moreover, late passage fibroblast cell lines established from p53-deficient animals overexpress Met and can be tumorigenic in athymic nude mice, suggesting that progression occurs in vitro. The tumor explants display increased hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor expression and Met turnover, indicating that autocrine Met activation contributes to tumor progression. Thus, the loss of wild-type p53 appears to greatly enhance the opportunity for inappropriate Met expression. Loss of p53 function does not by itself cause transformation, but inappropriate Met expression may be an important factor in sarcomagenesis.
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PMID:Met proto-oncogene product is overexpressed in tumors of p53-deficient mice and tumors of Li-Fraumeni patients. 772 66

We have studied the organisation of the actin cytoskeleton in three related rat sarcoma cell populations of differing malignancy. They were derived by neoplastic progression from a population which had transformed spontaneously in vitro, and were distinguished by their ability to give rise to reproducibly different numbers of metastases, ranging from 10% to 80% of the animals inoculated. We found characteristic differences in the arrangement of the actin cytoskeleton. Confocal three-dimensional microscopy showed that nearly all of the least malignant population contained conspicuous actin stress fibres lying in the lower part of the cell parallel to the substratum and no other actin structures. Actin in the intermediate population was typically situated in a diffuse layer underlying the whole plasma membrane, in which no fibres could be seen. Two thirds of the most malignant population consisted of more rounded cells filled with a three-dimensional network of fine oblique actin fibres. There were focal contacts in all these cells; their area showed a regular decrease from 1.3 microns 2 to 0.4 microns 2. The differences in actin distribution were accompanied by differences in motility, which increased as malignancy increased. When individual cells were fixed after they had been tracked by time-lapse, their cytoskeleton type correlated with the speed at which they had moved. All these differences were enhanced at low pH. These findings point to the possibility that the three-dimensional network of fine actin fibres in acid culture could be a measure of the malignant potential of transformed cells in vitro.
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PMID:Actin cytoskeleton and motility in rat sarcoma cell populations with different metastatic potential. 804 47

Expression of the candidate metastasis-suppressor gene nm23-H1 has been shown to correlate inversely with metastatic potential in some human tumors, but not in all. Until now, few studies have been carried out on the activity of the homologous nm23-H2 gene in human cancer. No nm23 transcription studies exist for human lung cancer so far. To determine whether the nm23 genes could have a metastasis-suppressor function in non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), pulmonary sarcoma and carcinoids, we analysed both nm23-HI and nm23-H2 mRNA levels in 37 tumor samples obtained from patients who underwent potentially curative resection between 1986 and 1990, and in 4 metastatic tumors obtained from autopsy. As compared to corresponding healthy lung parenchyma, both nm23-HI and nm23-H2 transcript levels were elevated in 37 of 41 tumors. The increases in nm23 mRNA expression were stronger in advanced stages of squamous-cell carcinoma, large-cell carcinoma, sarcoma and carcinoids than in early stages of the respective tumor types. Within stages I and II of squamous-cell carcinoma, significantly higher nm23 mRNA levels were found in poorly differentiated tumors than in moderately differentiated ones. Moreover, an inverse correlation between nm23 expression and disease-free survival of the patients was observed. In conclusion, our results indicate that the increased nm23 expression in the analysed tumors is not consistent with the proposed metastasis-suppressor function, but the 2 nm23 genes nevertheless may be implicated in the mechanism of tumor progression.
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PMID:High levels of nm23-H1 and nm23-H2 messenger RNA in human squamous-cell lung carcinoma are associated with poor differentiation and advanced tumor stages. 837 20

Although VL30 retrotransposable elements have been associated with certain cancers for nearly twenty years, because of their expression in rodent malignancies and recombination into murine sarcoma viruses, their causative role, if any, in cancer has been uncertain and enigmatic. Recent findings suggest loss of normal transcriptional control of specific VL30 element expression may make a critical contribution to tumor progression at a step associated with malignant conversion, by bringing into play a cellular program normally involved in wound healing. This program, the fibroblast anoxic response system, includes an adaptation to glycolytic metabolism, secretion of metalloproteinases, and activation of an endonuclease. While appropriate for facilitating debris removal during wound healing, loss of control of this program in a cell which has already progressed to the benign neoplastic state has the potential to simultaneously produce the invasiveness and genomic instability characteristic of malignancy. Examination of tumors and tumor derived cell lines has confirmed that key aspects of this system are in fact activated in cancer.
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PMID:Anoxia, wound healing, VL30 elements, and the molecular basis of malignant conversion. 839 Aug 32

A recently described splice variant of CD44 expressed in metastasizing cell lines of rat tumors has been shown to confer metastatic potential to a non-metastasizing rat pancreatic carcinoma cell line and to non-metastasizing sarcoma cells. Homologues of this variant as well as several other CD44 splice variants are also expressed at the RNA level in human carcinoma cell lines from lung, breast, and colon, and in immortalized keratinocytes. Using antibodies raised against a bacterial fusion protein encoded by variant CD44 sequences, we studied the expression of variant CD44 glycoproteins in normal human tissues and in colorectal neoplasia. Expression of CD44 variant proteins in normal human tissues was readily found on several epithelial tissues including the squamous epithelia of the epidermis, tonsils, and pharynx, and the glandular epithelium of the pancreatic ducts, but was largely absent from other epithelia and from most non-epithelial cells and tissues. In human colorectal neoplasia CD44 variant proteins, including homologues of those which confer metastatic ability to rat tumors, were found on all invasive carcinomas and carcinoma metastases. Interestingly, focal expression was also observed in adenomatous polyps, expression being related to areas of dysplasia. The distribution of the CD44 variants in human tissues suggests that they play a role in a few restricted differentiation pathways and that in colorectal tumors one of these pathways has been reactivated. The finding that metastasis-related variants are already expressed at a relatively early stage in colorectal carcinogenesis and tumor progression, i.e., in adenomatous polyps, suggests the existence of a yet unknown selective advantage linked to CD44 variant expression. The continued expression in metastases would be compatible with a role in the metastatic process.
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PMID:A human homologue of the rat metastasis-associated variant of CD44 is expressed in colorectal carcinomas and adenomatous polyps. 841 89

Multifactorial resistance is the main mechanism of chemotherapy failure in cancers. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is related to the expression of a 170 kDa membrane glycoprotein, the so-called P-glycoprotein (P-gp). This protein is able to extrude drugs of various structures and mechanisms out of the cytoplasm. P-gp is a pronostic value in hemopathy as well as in child sarcoma, osteosarcoma and neuroblastoma. Modulator agents of different generations are capable of inhibiting P-gp. MDR modulation is obtained in hemopathies and is associated with an eradication of the P-gp (+) cell clones. In solid tumors, clinical trials using verapamil or cyclosporin are not so convincing. It is likely that other mechanisms of resistance are responsible for tumor progression, such as the MRP system, glutathion and topoisomerases. A better knowledge of multifactorial resistance and drug synthesis counteracting these resistance mechanisms will allow to elaborate new therapeutic basis for cancer therapy.
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PMID:[MDR (Multiple Drug Resistant) type of resistance to chemotherapy in clinical practice]. 886 40

Cells in tumors may be exposed to adverse conditions such as nutrient deprivation, acidic pH and hypoxia. It has been shown previously that exposure to hypoxia, acidosis and glucose starvation in vitro increases the experimental metastatic ability of murine KHT-LP1 sarcoma, SCC-VII squamous carcinoma and B16 melanoma cells. This effect was most marked when cells were allowed to recover under normal in vitro growth conditions before injection. In the present study we examined whether the invasive capacity of the cells could be influenced by these modifications of the cell microenvironment. We used Matrigel, a basement membrane-like preparation in a two-chamber invasion assay to address this issue. Both KHT-LP1 and SCC-VII murine cell lines showed an increased ability to invade through Matrigel after hypoxia, and glucose starvation, but there was no consistent change in invasive capacity following acidosis exposure. The results for hypoxia and glucose starvation are in agreement with our previous studies of metastatic ability for these cell lines and we confirmed this for KHT-LP1 cells exposed to hypoxia in the current study. In parallel with the invasion assays, we compared cathepsin (L + B) content of the cells in treated and control suspensions. The effect observed varied according to the cell line and the treatment received (hypoxia, glucose starvation). There was an increase of cathepsin content for KHT-LP1 cells exposed to hypoxia and this increase correlated well with the increase of the invasion ability through Matrigel. We did not observe any increase of cathepsin for hypoxia-treated SCC-VII or for KHT-LP1 and SCC-VII cells treated with glucose starvation. These results suggest that transient hypoxia and glucose starvation can increase the invasive ability of tumor cell lines and thus may cause tumor progression by facilitating the invasive step of the metastatic process. The increased levels of cathepsin (L + B) in the KHT-LP1 cells treated with hypoxia, compared to control non-treated cells, may play a part in this increased invasive capacity.
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PMID:Exposure to hypoxia, glucose starvation and acidosis: effect on invasive capacity of murine tumor cells and correlation with cathepsin (L + B) secretion. 900 2


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