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)

von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis (NF1) is a common hereditary disorder characterized by neural crest-derived tumors, particularly benign neurofibromas whose malignant transformation to neurofibrosarcomas can be fatal. The NF1 gene has been mapped to a small region of chromosome 17q, but neither the nature of the primary defect nor the mechanisms involved in tumor progression are understood. We have tested whether NF1 might be caused by the inactivation of a tumor suppressor gene on 17q, analogous to that on chromosome 22 in NF2, by searching for deletions of chromosome 17 in NF1-derived tumor specimens. Both neurofibrosarcomas from patients with "atypical" NF and 5 of 6 neurofibrosarcomas from NF1 patients displayed loss of alleles for polymorphic DNA markers on chromosome 17. However, the common region of deletion was on 17p and did not include the NF1 region of 17q. Since no loss of markers on chromosome 17 was observed in any of 30 benign tumors from NF1 patients, the 17p deletions seen in neurofibrosarcomas are probably associated with tumor progression and/or malignancy. This region contains a candidate gene for tumor progression, p53, which has recently been implicated in the progression of a broad array of human cancers. In a preliminary search for p53 aberrations by direct sequencing of polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA from 7 neurofibrosarcomas, 2 tumors that contained point mutations in exon 4 of the p53 gene were found, suggesting a role for this gene in at least some neurofibrosarcomas. Thus the formation of malignant neurofibrosarcomas may result from several independent genetic events including mutation of the NF1 gene, whose mechanism of tumorigenesis remains uncertain, and subsequent loss of a "tumor suppressor" gene on 17p, most likely p53.
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PMID:Chromosome 17p deletions and p53 gene mutations associated with the formation of malignant neurofibrosarcomas in von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis. 214 31

Allelic deletions in the nm23, a metastasis suppressor gene, are known to occur in neuroblastomas, breast and colorectal carcinomas. Down-regulation of nm23 expression has been reported in various rodent and human tumor cells with high metastasis phenotype. Colorectal tumors showed overexpression of nm23. To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of nm23, we isolated, cloned and sequenced the presumptive regulatory DNA fragment spanning the 5' region of the human nm23-H1 gene. The region's nucleotide sequence shows the presence of motifs typical for transcriptional elements such as TFIID, AP-1 and CTF/NF1. A common transcription initiation site is located at -136 upstream from the first ATG codon in placenta tissue, in breast, colorectal, prostate tumor cell lines and in primary colorectal tumor. Multiple transcription start sites were identified in tumor cell lines and colorectal tumor. When the promoter element was linked to a reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and transfected in human 2fTGH cells, strong CAT activity was detected, which also showed that the presence of AP-1 and CTF/NF1 elements are essential for promoter activity. A detailed study of the structure and function of the promoter element of the nm23-H1 gene will help in understanding the regulatory mechanisms of nm23 expression and its role in tumor progression, especially in metastasis.
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PMID:Isolation and characterization of the promoter region of human nm23-H1, a metastasis suppressor gene. 808 95

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), secreted by mesenchymal cells, has pleiotropic biological activities on several cell types. HGF and its receptor, the c-met proto-oncogene product (c-MET) have been implicated in the genesis and progression of several carcinomas and sarcomas. It has been suggested that MET/HGF autocrine signaling may contribute to tumorigenesis in sarcomas. HGF has been recently found to be a mitogen for rat Schwann cells and to be present in neurofibromas in NF1 patients. In this investigation, we assessed the immunoreactive patterns of HGF and MET in benign and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNST) using archival formalin-fixed tissue. The standard avidin-biotin-peroxidase method was used. All benign tumors were negative with HGF. Eight cases of MPNST were positive with both HGF and MET. In some malignant PNST, positivity with both ligand and the receptor may be indicative of an autocrine mediated signal transduction and may implicate HGF/MET in tumor progression. Immunoreactivity with MET was strikingly greater in MPNST in contrast to benign PNST; this finding may prove to be helpful in distinguishing some histologically low-grade MPNST from cellular and atypical benign PNST.
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PMID:Hepatocyte growth factor and c-MET in benign and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors. 930 31

We here review the literature on genetics related to pheochromocytoma. About 10 percent of these neuroendocrine tumors are hereditary and are most often associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN 2), von Hippel-Lindau disease, and neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF 1). Hereditary tumor syndromes such as the aforementioned ones, are ideal to study the molecular pathogenesis of tumorigenesis as opposed to sporadic tumors in which genetic alterations often merely represent epigenetic tumor progression phenomena. Recent advances in molecular genetics, especially of RET, VHL, NF1, and SDHD, helped better understand the pathogenesis of pheochromocytoma. In this paper, we not only summarize key points of genetic discoveries related to pheochromocytoma, but also report in table format all known RET germline mutations related to pheochromocytoma.
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PMID:Genetic aspects of pheochromocytoma. 1130 96

This study investigates differences in expression of the cell cycle/growth activation markers p53, p16, and p27, and their relationship with nerve sheath cell and proliferation markers among plexiform neurofibromas (PNF), NF1-related and non-NF1 MPNSTs of different histologic grades and between benign-appearing and malignant areas in the MPNSTs associated with PNFs. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded archival tissue from PNFs and MPNSTs were immunostained using the avidin-biotin-complex method with antibodies to S-100 protein (S-100), Leu7 (CD57), CD34, p16, p27, p53, Mib-1, and topoisomerase II-alpha (TopoIIalpha), with appropriate controls. All PNFs and most low-grade MPNSTs displayed diffuse or focal reactivity for S-100, Leu7, CD34, p16, and p27 and negative reactivity for p53, Mib-1, and TopoIIalpha. Most high-grade MPNSTs displayed decreased or negative reactivity to S-100, Leu7, CD34, p16, and p27 but increased reactivity to p53 (59%), Mib-1 (72%), and TopoIIalpha (72%). In addition, combined nuclear and cytoplasmic (nucleocytoplasmic) p27 staining, which was not seen in the PNF or low-grade MPNST, was observed in 33% of high-grade MPNSTs. These findings suggest that p53, p16, and p27 may be involved in tumor progression in the PNF-MPNST sequence. However, alterations in p53, p16, and p27 do not distinguish between low-grade MPNST and PNF, including PNF adjacent to high-grade MPNST. Although p53, p16, and p27 are unlikely to be reliable markers for early detection of tumor progression in MPNST, p53 reactivity was more frequent in NF1-associated high-grade MPNST and appeared to be a marker for high tumor grade. Combining immunohistochemical stains with histologic grading with careful examination of mitotic activity may provide insight into the progression of peripheral nerve sheath tumors.
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PMID:Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor: a comparison of grade, immunophenotype, and cell cycle/growth activation marker expression in sporadic and neurofibromatosis 1-related lesions. 1450 95

Cancers arise from the sequential acquisition of genetic alterations in specific genes. The high number of mutations in cancer cells led to the hypothesis that an early step in tumor progression is the generation of a genetic instability. The potent role of genetic instability in initiation and progression of colorectal cancers has been well defined in hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC) syndrome. HNPCC is a common hereditary disorder caused by germline mutations of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Somatic loss of the normal allele of the predisposition gene leads to a strong "mutator phenotype", characterized by a high rate of mutations in repetitive sequences. Nevertheless, the observation of frequent alterations of key growth regulatory genes in MMR-deficient cells such as NF1, APC, p53, K-Ras, with no significant excess of frameshift mutations and changes at short coding repeats, suggest that even in the presence of an inherited tendency to genomic instability, tumor progression is mainly driven by a process of natural selection.
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PMID:Mutational targets in colorectal cancer cells with microsatellite instability. 1652 6

Genetic inactivation of tumor suppressor genes initiates human cancers. However, interaction of accessory cells with the tumor-initiating cell within the microenvironment is often required for tumor progression. This paradigm is relevant to understanding neurofibroma development in neurofibromatosis type I patients. Somatic inactivation of the Nf1 tumor suppressor gene, which encodes neurofibromin, is necessary but not sufficient to initiate neurofibroma development. In contrast, neurofibromas occur with high penetrance in mice in which Nf1 is ablated in Schwann cells in the context of a heterozygous mutant (Nf1+/-) microenvironment. Neurofibromas are highly vascularized, and recent studies suggest that Nf1+/- mice have increased angiogenesis in vivo. However, the function of neurofibromin in human endothelial cells (ECs) and the biochemical mechanism by which neurofibromin regulates neoangiogenesis are not known. Utilizing Nf1+/- mice, primary human ECs and endothelial progenitor cells harvested from NF1 patients, we identified a discrete Ras effector pathway, which alters the proliferation and migration of neurofibromin-deficient ECs in response to neurofibroma-derived growth factors both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, these studies identify a unique biochemical pathway in Nf1+/- ECs as a potential therapeutic target in the neurofibroma microenvironment.
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PMID:Neurofibroma-associated growth factors activate a distinct signaling network to alter the function of neurofibromin-deficient endothelial cells. 1664 42

We describe a computational method that infers tumor purity and malignant cell ploidy directly from analysis of somatic DNA alterations. The method, named ABSOLUTE, can detect subclonal heterogeneity and somatic homozygosity, and it can calculate statistical sensitivity for detection of specific aberrations. We used ABSOLUTE to analyze exome sequencing data from 214 ovarian carcinoma tumor-normal pairs. This analysis identified both pervasive subclonal somatic point-mutations and a small subset of predominantly clonal and homozygous mutations, which were overrepresented in the tumor suppressor genes TP53 and NF1 and in a candidate tumor suppressor gene CDK12. We also used ABSOLUTE to infer absolute allelic copy-number profiles from 3,155 diverse cancer specimens, revealing that genome-doubling events are common in human cancer, likely occur in cells that are already aneuploid, and influence pathways of tumor progression (for example, with recessive inactivation of NF1 being less common after genome doubling). ABSOLUTE will facilitate the design of clinical sequencing studies and studies of cancer genome evolution and intra-tumor heterogeneity.
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PMID:Absolute quantification of somatic DNA alterations in human cancer. 2278 83

NF1 proteins are a family of transcription factors that act either as repressors or as activators. Functional studies indicate that NF1 participate in signaling pathways that regulate cell viability, proliferation and differentiation. Participation in regulation of genes important for tumor progression and metastasizing suggests a potential value of NF1 as a prognostic factor for certain types of cancer.
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PMID:New insights into the role of NF1 in cancer. 2337 91

Cancer-associated mutations in oncogene products and tumor suppressors contributing to tumor progression manifest themselves, at least in part, by deregulating microtubule-dependent cellular processes that play important roles in many cell biological pathways, including intracellular transport, cell architecture, and primary cilium and mitotic spindle organization. An essential characteristic of microtubules in the performance of these varied cell processes is their ability to continuously remodel, a phenomenon known as dynamic instability. It is therefore conceivable that part of the normal function of certain cancer-causing genes is to regulate microtubule dynamic instability. Here, we report the results of a high-resolution live-cell image-based RNA interference screen targeting a collection of 70 human tumor suppressor genes to uncover cancer genes affecting microtubule dynamic instability. Extraction and computational analysis of microtubule dynamics from EB3-GFP time-lapse image sequences identified the products of the tumor suppressor genes NF1 and NF2 as potent microtubule-stabilizing proteins. Further in-depth characterization of NF2 revealed that it binds to and stabilizes microtubules through attenuation of tubulin turnover by lowering both rates of microtubule polymerization and depolymerization as well as by reducing the frequency of microtubule catastrophes. The latter function appears to be mediated, in part, by inhibition of hydrolysis of tubulin-bound GTP on the growing microtubule plus end.
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PMID:Tumor suppressor NF2/Merlin is a microtubule stabilizer. 2428 79


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