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)

In the present study, the telomerase activity and the putative alterations of genes involved in cell-cycle control (p53, Fas and pRb) were investigated in a radiation-induced meningioma with multiple recurrences and pleural-pulmonary metastases (the patient, a 34-year-old male, had a history of carcinoma of the tongue of testicular lymphocytic lymphoma). Expression of VEGF and vasculature pattern were also studied. Expression of VEGF, pRb and p53 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of the tumor. VEGFmRNA was determined by competitive PCR. Fas, FasL and hTERT were evaluated by RT-PCR. Telomerase activity was examined by the TRAP assay. An intense vascularization was observed, supported by high expression of VEGFmRNA (isoforms 121 and 165). pRb and p53 were overexpressed. Fas was undetectable with PCR, whereas FasL was positive. Furthermore, the lesion showed an elevated telomerase activity (TPG, 22), according to the high expression of hTERT. These findings emphasized that even among generally benign neoplasms, such as meningiomas, some highly malignant tumors may develop, as in our case, in which several mechanisms were activated in the cancer progression to guarantee the immortalization of cellular clones (angiogenic phenomenon, activation of telomerase and of anti-apoptotic mechanisms) and the blood spread. Thus, the data illustrate the importance of searching for genetic aberrations (which are a hallmark of malignancy) in meningiomas, as predictive and reliable factors of the possibility to recur and to metastasize.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical and molecular study of radiation-induced multiple meningiomas with pleural and pulmonary metastasis. 1531 14

Normal human diploid cells have a limited life span and undergo replicative senescence after various limited population doublings. Cells must pass the senescence barrier to become immortal. The exact mechanisms of immortalization are not clear, although inactivation of the RB pathway, and/or the p53 pathway and activation of telomerase has been shown to be necessary for immortalization of certain cell types with DNA viruses or hTERT. Methylation-associated inactivation of tumor suppressor genes plays an important role in tumor progression. To test if gene-specific methylation contributes to the immortalized and transformed phenotype, we analyzed the methylation status of 17 genes in normal cells immortalized with SV40, hTERT, Ad5, Ad12-SV40 or HPV-18. Some of these immortalized lines were progressively transformed and tumorigenic in nude mice. We observed gene-specific methylation in the in vitro immortalized and transformed cells. SV40 and HPV18 immortalization resulted in different methylation spectra. In SV40- and h-TERT-immortalized prostate epithelial cells, the most frequently methylated gene was RASSF1A, while in HPV18-immortalized cell lines, the RAR-beta2 gene was universally methylated. Immortalization with SV40 resulted in methylation of a greater number of genes than immortalization with HPV. Furthermore, in SV40-immortalized cell lines, methylation affected different genes in fibroblasts compared with epithelial cells, suggesting that different mechanisms may be used by SV40 to immortalize cell lines of different origins. In HPV18-immortalized and subsequently transformed cell lines, the most commonly methylated genes were hormone responsive genes, such as AR, ER-beta and RAR-beta2. In general, more genes were methylated in neoplastically-transformed cell lines than in only immortalized cell lines, indicating that accumulation of epigenetic abnormalities may contribute to oncogenesis.
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PMID:A methylation profile of in vitro immortalized human cell lines. 1558 50

Telomerase is highly expressed in advanced stages of most cancers where it allows the clonal expansion of transformed cells by counteracting telomere erosion. Telomerase may also contribute to tumor progression through still undefined cell growth-promoting functions. Here, we inhibited telomerase activity in 2 human glioblastoma (GBM) cell lines, TB10 and U87MG, by targeting the catalytic subunit, hTERT, via stable RNA interference (RNAi). Although the reduction in telomerase activity had no effect on GBM cell growth in vitro, the development of tumors in subcutaneously and intracranially grafted nude mice was significantly inhibited by antitelomerase RNAi. The in vivo effect was observed within a relatively small number of population doublings, suggesting that telomerase inhibition may hinder cancer cell growth in vivo prior to a substantial shortening of telomere length. Tumor xenografts that arose from telomerase-inhibited GBM cells also showed a less-malignant phenotype due both to the absence of massive necrosis and to reduced angiogenesis.
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PMID:Telomerase inhibition by stable RNA interference impairs tumor growth and angiogenesis in glioblastoma xenografts. 1633 16

Genomic and proteomic efforts have discovered a complex list of biomarkers that identify human disease, stratify risk of disease within populations, and monitor drug or therapy responses for treatment. Attention is needed to characterize these biomarkers and to develop high-throughput technologies to evaluate their accuracy and precision. Telomerase activity is correlated with tumor progression, indicating cells that express telomerase possess aggressive clinical behavior and that telomerase activity could be a clinically important cancer biomarker. Traditionally, the detection of cancer has involved invasive procedures to procure samples. There is a need for less invasive approaches suitable for population- and clinic-based assays for cancer early detection. Esophageal balloon cytology (EBC) is a low-invasive screening technique, which samples superficial epithelial cells from the esophagus. Since telomerase activity is absent in superficial cells of normal esophageal squamous epithelium but is often present in superficial cells from dysplastic lesions and ESCCs, measuring telomerase activity in EBC samples may be a good way to screen for these lesions. The development of rapid real-time telomerase activity assays raises the possibility of extending such screening to high-risk populations. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of using rapid Real-Time Telomerase Repeat Amplification Protocol (RTTRAP) for the analysis of NIST telomerase candidate reference material and esophageal clinical samples. The telomerase activity of eight EBC samples was also measured by capillary electrophoresis of RTTRAP products, RApidTRAP, and hTERT mRNA RT-PCR assays. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of using the RTTRAP assay in EBC samples and suggest that individuals from high-risk populations can be screened for telomerase activity.
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PMID:Real-time telomerase assay of less-invasively collected esophageal cell samples. 1656 79

A therapeutic approach being investigated for a variety of pathologies is tissue regeneration using a patient's own cells. Such studies have been hampered due to the difficulty in growing epithelial cells for prolonged periods in culture. Replicative senescence due to short telomeres and p16 induced by culture stress work together to inhibit cell growth. Forced expression of telomerase (hTERT) can prevent replicative senescence, and expression of the cell cycle protein cdk4 can sequester p16, thereby immortalizing epithelial cells in culture. In the present study, we used this method to immortalize human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) to determine whether immortalized HBECs retain the ability to differentiate normally. HBECs were plated atop contracted collagen gels containing lung fibroblasts. This three-dimensional (3D) tissue model was cultured initially submerged, then raised to the air/liquid interface for up to 28 days. Normal differentiation was assessed by the presence of ciliated cells, goblet (mucin-producing) cells, and basal epithelial cells. Scanning electron microscopic observations revealed both ciliated and non-ciliated cells in these 3D tissues. Histological examination revealed the presence of mucin-producing cells, and immunohistochemistry using antibodies against p63 and keratin 14 showed the presence of basal cells. These results demonstrate that immortalized HBECs retain the capacity to differentiate into each of three cell types: basal, mucin-producing, and columnar ciliated epithelial cells. Such cells will be useful cellular reagents for research in aging, cancer progression, as well as normal bronchial epithelial differentiation and will help progress the use of engineered cells to enhance tissue regeneration.
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PMID:A three-dimensional model of differentiation of immortalized human bronchial epithelial cells. 1668 84

Telomerase activation and telomere maintenance are essential for cell immortalization and represent a rate-limiting step in cancer progression. The E6 oncoprotein of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) is known to activate telomerase, but its expression in CIN lesions and its prognostic value in cervical cancer (CC) are still incompletely understood. As part of our HPV-PathogenISS study, a series of 150 CCs and 152 CIN lesions were examined using immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for hTERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), and tested for HPV using PCR with three primer sets (MY09/11, GP5(+)/GP6(+), SPF). Follow-up data were available from all SCC patients, and 67 CIN lesions had been monitored with serial PCR for HPV after cone treatment. Expression of hTERT was increased in parallel with the grade of CIN, with major up-regulation upon transition to CIN3 (OR 18.81; 95% CI 8.48-41.69; P = 0.0001). Positive hTERT expression was 90% specific indicator of CIN, with 98.7% PPV, but suffers from low sensitivity (57.5%) and NPV (14.3%). hTERT expression was also significantly associated to HR-HPV with OR 3.38 (95% CI 1.90-6.02; P = 0.0001), but this association was confounded by the histological grade (Mantel-Haenszel common OR = 1.83; 95% CI 0.92-3.79; P = 0.086). Expression of hTERT did not predict clearance/persistence of HR-HPV after treatment of CIN, and it was not a prognostic predictor in cervical cancer in univariate or multivariate survival analysis. It was concluded that up-regulation of hTERT was closely associated with HR-HPV, due to activation by the E6 oncoprotein. hTERT is a late marker of cervical carcinogenesis, significantly associated with progression to CIN3. Theoretically, a combination of hTERT assay (showing high SP and PPV) with another test showing high SE and high NPV (e.g. Hybrid Capture 2 for HPV), should provide an ideal screening tool capable of high-performance detection of CIN lesions.
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PMID:Upregulation of telomerase (hTERT) is related to the grade of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, but is not an independent predictor of high-risk human papillomavirus, virus persistence, or disease outcome in cervical cancer. 1704 57

Cancer stem cells can play an important role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. However, it is still difficult to detect and isolate cancer stem cells. An alternative approach is to analyse stem cell-associated gene expression. We investigated the coexpression of three stem cell-associated genes, Hiwi, hTERT and survivin, by quantitative real-time-PCR in 104 primary soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). Multivariate Cox's proportional hazards regression analyses allowed correlating gene expression with overall survival for STS patients. Coexpression of all three stem cell-associated genes resulted in a significantly increased risk of tumor-related death. Importantly, tumors of patients with the poorest prognosis were of all four tumor stages, suggesting that their risk is based upon coexpression of stem cell-associated genes rather than on tumor stage.
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PMID:Stem cell-associated genes are extremely poor prognostic factors for soft-tissue sarcoma patients. 1752 44

Recent evidence assigns integrins and metalloproteinases (MMPs) an important role in regulating tumor cell progression. Here, we demonstrate that 3-O-methylfunicone (OMF), a secondary metabolite produced by Penicillium pinophilum, affects cell proliferation and motility of breast cancer MCF-7 cells, downregulating alphavbeta5 integrin, and inhibiting MMP-9 secretion. This effect was absent when the non-tumoral MCF-10 cell line was used. Inhibition of cell motility was also associated to modifications in cell shape and in the distribution of tubulin fibers of OMF-treated MCF-7 cells. In addition, a possible effect on survivin and hTERT was also investigated. We found that OMF strongly inhibits survivin and hTERT gene expression. The results of this study indicate that OMF-induced inhibition of cell motility may be mediated through the modulation of alphavbeta5 integrin and MMP-9 secretion. In addition, the inhibition of typical markers of tumor progression such as hTERT and survivin in MCF-7 and their inactivity towards MCF10 provide strong evidence for a potential use of OMF in anticancer therapy.
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PMID:3-O-methylfunicone produced by penicillium pinophilum affects cell motility of breast cancer cells, downregulating alphavbeta5 integrin and inhibiting metalloproteinase-9 secretion. 1756 55

Abrogation of telomere stability through loss-of-function mutations in telomere binding proteins contributes to genomic instability and cancer progression. Recently, Flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) was shown to contribute to telomere stability in human cells that had not yet activated a telomere maintenance mechanism, suggesting that abrogation of FEN1 function influences the transformation process by compromising telomere stability and driving genomic instability. Here, we analyse the telomeres in human cancer cells following FEN1 depletion. We show that FEN1 is required for telomere stability in cells that rely on the alternative lengthening of telomere (ALT) mechanism. Indeed, FEN1 depletion resulted in telomere dysfunction, characterized by formation of telomere dysfunction-induced foci (TIFs) and end-to-end fusions in ALT-positive cells. In contrast, no telomere phenotype was observed in telomerase-positive cells on FEN1 depletion, suggesting that ongoing telomerase activity protected telomeres. In consonance with this, we found that expression of the catalytic component of telomerase (hTERT) but not an inactive allele rescued telomere dysfunction on FEN1 depletion in ALT cells. Our data suggest that mutations that arise in FEN1 affect telomere stability and genome fidelity by promoting telomere fusions and anaphase-bridge-breakage cycles, which further drive genome instability and thereby contribute to the transformation process.
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PMID:FEN1 contributes to telomere stability in ALT-positive tumor cells. 1913 21

A central question in breast cancer biology is how cancer cells acquire telomerase activity required for unlimited proliferation. According to one model, proliferation of telomerase(-) pre-malignant cells leads to telomere dysfunction and increased genomic instability. Such instability leads in rare cases to reactivation of telomerase and immortalization. The mechanism of telomerase reactivation remains unknown. We have studied immortalization of cultured human mammary epithelial cells by c-Myc, a positive transcriptional regulator of the hTERT gene encoding the catalytic subunit of telomerase. Retrovirally introduced c-Myc cDNA resulted in immortalization of human mammary epithelial cells in which the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor, p16(INK4A), was inactivated by an shRNA-encoding retrovirus. However, while c-Myc introduction immediately resulted in increased activity of transiently transfected hTERT promoter reporter constructs, endogenous hTERT mRNA levels did not change until about 60 population doublings after c-Myc introduction. Increased endogenous hTERT transcripts and stabilization of telomeric DNA in cells expressing exogenous c-Myc coincided with telomere dysfunction-associated senescence in control cultures. Genome copy number analyses of immortalized cells indicated amplifications of some or all of chromosome 5, where hTERT genes are located. hTERT gene copy number, however, was not increased in one case. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that changes in chromosome 5, while not necessarily increasing hTERT gene copy number, resulted in removal of repressive chromatin structures around hTERT loci, allowing induction of hTERT transcription. These in vitro results model one possible sequence of events leading to immortalization of breast epithelial cells during cancer progression.
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PMID:Telomerase activation by c-Myc in human mammary epithelial cells requires additional genomic changes. 1977 May 80


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