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)

Recent molecular biology investigations have demonstrated that tumor progression and dissemination in bladder cancer is a highly complicated phenomenon, consisting of multiple distinct steps and regulated by a great number of different genes. Some of these genes involved in the specific steps of tumor progression and dissemination have been identified. Several oncogenes, e.g., the epithelial growth factor receptor (EGF-R), and tumor-suppressor genes, e.g., the p53 gene, have been found to correlate significantly with tumor progression. The decreased expression of cell-adhesion molecules such as E-cadherin appears to facilitate tumor-cell detachment in the primary tumor, whereas expression of the intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 might be of relevance for cell attachment at the metastatic site. Tumor invasion through the basement membrane has been correlated with a decreased expression of laminin and elevated urinary levels of acidic fibroblast growth factor. Although the complex processes related to dissemination are far from being completely understood, the finding of differential expression of distinct genes appears to provide the first targets for therapeutic intervention.
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PMID:Molecular biology of dissemination in bladder cancer--laboratory findings and clinical significance. 880 98

The ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) is the origin of the majority of human ovarian cancers. These adenocarcinomas are characterized by initial local growth followed by spreading into the peritoneal cavity at later stages of tumor progression. The cell-adhesion molecule E-cadherin (E-cad) plays an important role in maintaining tissue integrity. Disappearance or impaired function of E-cad have often been associated with tumor formation and invasion in vivo and in vitro. The cell-specific expression of E-cad was investigated in normal human ovaries (n = 12), in benign (n = 5) and borderline (n = 4) ovarian epithelial tumors and in adenocarcinomas of different stages and histological grades (n = 18), by immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting. An ovarian cancer cell line (NIH-OVCAR3) was used as a reference. The epithelial origin of the cells was confirmed with cytokeratin (AE1/AE3) staining. In normal ovaries, the expression of E-cad was limited to inclusion cysts or deep clefts lined with OSE, whereas no staining of the OSE could be demonstrated at the surface of the ovary. In contrast, benign and borderline tumors uniformly expressed E-cad. This was observed in malignant tumors of all stages despite their degree of differentiation. E-cad was also present in metastasis from such tumors. The cell-specific expression of E-cad in inclusion cysts of normal ovaries and in epithelial layers of borderline tumors indicates a role for E-cad in the early events of the progression to a malignant phenotype. E-cad was not downregulated in later stages of ovarian cancer progression.
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PMID:E-cadherin expression in human epithelial ovarian cancer and normal ovary. 922 4

Ovarian surface epithelium (OSE), the source of common epithelial carcinomas, is a simple mesothelium that during carcinogenesis acquires complex epithelial characteristics normally found in tubal, endometrial, and endocervical epithelia. These characteristics include the intercellular adhesive molecule E-cadherin. We examined cryostat sections of 12 normal ovaries by immunofluorescence and immunocytochemistry to determine whether E-cadherin is a component of normal OSE that is retained in ovarian cancers or whether it, like many other epithelial characteristics, is acquired in the course of metaplasia and neoplastic progression. E-cadherin expression by OSE varied with its location within the ovary and with cell shape. It was present inconsistently on the ovarian surface but was increased in surface invaginations and particularly in epithelial inclusion cysts. Independent of location, E-cadherin was most prominent in columnar, variable in cuboidal, and absent in flat OSE. This relationship to cell morphology accounts for the increased E-cadherin expression in inclusion cysts, which are sites of frequent metaplastic and dysplastic changes. These results suggest that the morphologic variation of OSE reflects differences in E-cadherin-mediated intercellular adhesion. Thus, the appearance of this adhesion molecule in columnar OSE may represent an early step in the increased commitment to epithelial phenotypes that accompanies metaplasia and neoplastic progression of OSE.
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PMID:Increased E-cadherin expression in ovarian surface epithelium: an early step in metaplasia and dysplasia? 942 Oct 91

An intensive search continues for reliable markers that would be clinically useful in the diagnosis of small tumors and in the evaluation of their predicted clinical outcome. One potential marker, extensively studied in human samples is the cell surface adhesion molecule CD44. The single CD44 gene codes for a large family of cell surface proteins by alternative splicing and severe abnormalities have been observed in the patterns of its expression in many types of human tumors using both protein and RNA-based analyses. These abnormalities are manifested by markedly increased levels of unusual transcripts and proteins in tumor cells compared to the corresponding normal tissues. Aberrant processing of immature CD44 transcripts has also been observed in tumor cells and this can lead to the inappropriate retention of introns and to the use of cryptic splice sites in the mRNA. Inappropriate expression patterns of the alternatively spliced exons have also been linked both to tumor progression and to metastatic potential. The clinical relevance of all these observations is demonstrated by the frequent detection of these abnormalities in samples from malignant tumors of many different organs and by their presence in pre-invasive and high risk pre-cancerous lesions. This article reviews the current information regarding the expression of the CD44 gene in tumor cells and its potential use as a marker in clinical evaluation. The overall conclusion is that with the use of the latest assay techniques and perhaps in combination with other molecular markers, analysis of CD44 expression can provide new and powerful assays for the detection of neoplastic disease.
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PMID:Clinical implications of anomalous CD44 gene expression in neoplasia. 963 41

Soluble factors such as growth factors and cytokines present in the tumor microenvironment regulate a variety of genes associated with malignant properties of tumor cells such as growth, migration, invasion, and metastatic capacities. CD44 is a multi-functional adhesion molecule involved in cell to cell and cell to extracellular matrix interaction, the trapping of growth factors and cytokines, and the regulation of cell traffic. Growth factors and cytokines modify the expression, selective isoform splicing and functions of CD44, resulting in changes in the biological properties of the cells. These include adhesion of circulating tumor cells to endothelium and body cavities, and survival in response to growth factors presented by the CD44 molecule. The modification of CD44 on both tumor and host cells by growth factors may play an important role in tumor progression.
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PMID:CD44 expression and growth factors. 963 42

Expression of splice variants of the CD44 adhesion molecule has been implicated in metastatic spread of various human tumor cells, including malignant lymphomas and colon, mammary, and gastric carcinomas, and has been correlated to a poor prognosis for the respective patients. To determine whether variant CD44 molecules might also contribute to the metastatic spread of cervical cancer, we analyzed the CD44 expression pattern in normal cervical epithelium and in low- and high-grade cervical dysplasia and compared it with invasive and metastasizing cervical cancers, including cell lines derived thereof by immunofluorescence and exon-specific PCR amplification of reverse-transcribed CD44 transcripts. We observed that normal cervical epithelium and dysplastic lesions express high levels of standard CD44 in the basal and spinous epithelial layers. CD44 molecules encompassing variant exons v5 and v6 are strongly expressed throughout the epithelium. Low levels of variants encompassing exon v7 are expressed in basal and spinous layers, with particular strength in the suprabasal layer. Low levels of epitopes encoded by v8 and v10 are expressed in the basal and spinous layers. In cervical cancers, including lymph node metastasis, we observed strong expression of v5 and v6, but almost no expression of v7, v8, and v10. Expression of the CD44 standard form appeared to be down-regulated in some cancers when compared to normal cervical epithelium. Thus, expression of variant CD44 molecules is related to distinct differentiation of mucosal squamous epithelia in the female genital tract. No correlation of the expression of variant CD44 isoforms, including the v7-v8 fusion epitope with tumor progression or lymphatic spread, was observed.
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PMID:Expression of CD44 splice variants in normal, dysplastic, and neoplastic cervical epithelium. 981 3

In a variety of human tumors, expression of splice variants of the adhesion molecule CD44 (CD44v) has been described as correlating with tumor progression. Here, we report on the expression of CD44v in melanocytes, nevi, primary melanomas, and cutaneous and lymph node metastases. Thirteen nevi, 65 primary melanomas of varying thickness, 39 cutaneous and 15 lymph node metastases, and melanocytes and a panel of melanoma lines were tested for surface expression of the standard form of CD44 and the variant exons v5, v6, v7, v7-v8, and v10 by immunohistology or fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Melanocytes did not express any variant isoform of CD44. However, nevi, as well as primary melanoma and melanoma metastases, stained to a varying degree with anti-CD44v5, anti-CD44v7-v8, and anti-CD44v10. Exons v6 and v7 were not detected on any of these tissue specimens. Compared with nevi, expression of exon v10 was up-regulated in thick primary tumors and skin metastases. Lymph node metastases displayed elevated levels of exon v5. Expression of CD44v in melanoma lines (n = 20) differed, inasmuch as many lines did not express variant isoforms; in particular, exon v10. Interestingly, however, the few CD44v5-positive melanoma lines metastasized in the nu/nu mouse. Because benign as well as malignant growth of melanocytes was accompanied by expression of CD44 variant isoforms, a linkage between expression of CD44 variant isoforms and malignant transformation or tumor progression was excluded. Considering the function of distinct isoforms, one might speculate that expression of exon CD44v5, which was up-regulated in lymph node metastases compared with nevi and primary melanoma, provided a growth stimulus. Exon v10 is present at high density in epidermal cells. The de novo expression of this exon in nevi and the increased expression in thick melanoma and skin metastases would be in line with the assumption of an anchoring advantage in the surrounding epidermal tissue.
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PMID:Expression of CD44 variant isoforms in malignant melanoma. 981 90

CD44 is a widely expressed cell surface adhesion molecule in which various isoforms arise from alternative RNA splicing mechanism. Overexpression of specific CD44 splice variant, i.e., CD44v8-10, has been found in several human malignancies and is considered to be associated with tumor progression and metastasis. We have demonstrated a novel molecular approach, CD44v8-10/CD44v10 competitive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (CC-RT-PCR) for the detection of cancer cells overexpressing CD44v8-10 by the measurement of the transcriptional level of CD44v8-10 relative to that of CD44v10 (v8-10/v10 ratio). In this study, we initially examined the expression of CD44 splice variants in human urothelial cancers and their adjacent normal urinary tissues by RT-PCR. Any CD44 variant isoforms were barely detectable in normal urinary tissues, whereas CD44v8-10 was predominantly expressed in 23 of the 30 (77%) urothelial cancer specimens. We then applied CC-RT-PCR to spontaneously voided urine samples from patients with 80 urothelial cancer and 50 various benign urologic diseases. The CC-RT-PCR analysis revealed that all of the samples associated with benign diseases presented a predominant expression of the CD44v10 transcript (the v8-10/v10 ratios = 0.00-0.87), whereas 62 of the 80 samples associated with urothelial cancers mostly expressed the CD44v8-10 transcript (the v8-10/v10 ratios > 1.00). In addition, the positivity rate obtained by the CC-RT-PCR analysis was high regardless of the pathological grade of the urothelial cancers, although the sensitivity of the cytological examination declined with decreasing tumor grade. Our findings suggest strongly that CC-RT-PCR is a non-invasive useful tool for the diagnosis of urine samples from patients with urothelial cancer.
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PMID:Highly specific and sensitive detection of malignancy in urine samples from patients with urothelial cancer by CD44v8-10/CD44v10 competitive RT-PCR. 984 62

Down-regulation of the cell-surface adhesion molecule CD44 has been suggested to play an important role in tumor progression and metastasis of prostate cancer. CD44 is encoded by a gene that contains a CpG-rich region (CpG island) in its 5' regulatory sequence. We tried to assess whether hypermethylation of this region is the mechanism responsible for CD44 transcriptional inactivation. A panel of prostatic-carcinoma cell lines, Du145, LNCaP, PC3, PC346C and TSU, was analyzed for CD44 mRNA and protein expression. Du145, PC3 and TSU were positive for CD44, whereas in LNCaP and PC346C both CD44 mRNA and protein expression was suppressed. Methylation-sensitive restriction-enzyme analysis of genomic DNA showed that, in contrast to the CD44-positive cell lines, the CD44-negative lines were hypermethylated in the CD44 promoter CpG island. Furthermore, treatment of a PC346C culture with the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine resulted in re-expression of CD44 mRNA. It is concluded that hypermethylation of the CD44 5' promoter region is one of the mechanisms by which CD44 expression is down-regulated in prostatic-carcinoma cell lines.
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PMID:Down-regulation of CD44 expression in human prostatic carcinoma cell lines is correlated with DNA hypermethylation. 993 87

Calpain, also named CANP (for calcium-activated neutral protease), is an intracellular cytoplasmatic non-lysosomal cysteine endopeptidase that requires calcium ions for activity. Many substrates of the calpain isoenzymes, such as the transcription factors c-Fos and c-Jun, the tumor supressor protein p53, protein kinase C, pp60c-src and the adhesion molecule integrin, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of different human tumors, suggesting an important role of the calpains in malignant diseases. We now report differential expression of the calpain I gene (CL I) in a variety of tumors, extending our study to a larger series of renal cell carcinomas. Using Northern-blot analysis, we studied calpain I expression in 30 renal cell carcinomas as compared with matched healthy tissues. Tumor samples were classified according to their histological type: 21 clear cell carcinomas, 4 chromophobe carcinomas, 3 papillary carcinomas and 2 oncocytomas. In renal tumor samples, calpain I gene mRNA was expressed at highly variable levels, significantly depending on the different histological types. Moreover, there was a correlation of higher calpain I expression with increased malignancy: within the clear cell carcinoma subset, tumor samples with advanced nodal status (N1 and N2) showed a significantly higher calpain I expression than tumors without metastasis to regional lymph nodes. Our data suggest an important role of calpain isoenzymes in carcinogenesis and tumor progression.
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PMID:Expression of calpain I messenger RNA in human renal cell carcinoma: correlation with lymph node metastasis and histological type. 998 24


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