Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0598934 (tumor growth)
 58,965 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine, with a wide range of biological effects. The diverse biological actions of IL-6 could play important roles in the enhancement or suppression of tumor growth and development. IL-6 has been seen to act as an autocrine and/or paracrine growth factor for various human tumors, including multiple myeloma, renal cancer, and AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma. However, IL-6 also can exert potent anti-tumor effects: administration of IL-6 has been seen to result in decreased tumor appearance in experimental animal systems. Therefore, potentially useful anti-tumor therapeutic strategies could include the inhibition of the activity of IL-6, or alternatively, the enhancement of anti-tumor responses by the administration of exogenous IL-6.
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PMID:Interleukin 6 and cancer treatment. 181 Apr 43

Kaposi's sarcoma, first described in 1972, is a rare, chronic neoplasm that occurs most often in elderly men of Eastern European origin. In the mid-twentieth century, more aggressive forms of Kaposi's sarcoma were found to be an endemic disease especially common among young black men in central Africa. Kaposi's sarcoma also occurs in iatrogenically immunosuppressed patients, such as kidney transplant recipients. In 1981, the sudden occurrence of an unusual, disseminated form of Kaposi's sarcoma in homosexual men in New York and California heralded the epidemic now known as the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Ninety-five percent of all AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma (AIDS-KS) has been in homosexual men; however, the incidence of AIDS-KS has diminished from greater than 40% of men with AIDS since 1981 to less than 20% in 1989. The remaining 5% of AIDS-KS has been seen in all other populations at risk for AIDS. The reasons for the remarkable persistent increased prevalence of AIDS-KS among homosexual men remains obscure. Clinically, AIDS-KS is a highly varied neoplastic disease characterized by multifocal mucocutaneous lesions often with lymphatic and visceral involvement. The etiology of Kaposi's sarcoma remains unknown although various hypotheses have been suggested, including endothelial-tumor growth factors, oncogenic expression, genetic predisposition, and environmental cofactors. An as-yet unidentified viruslike agent has been proposed as a possible direct cause of this neoplasm. Different treatment modalities for Kaposi's sarcoma have been employed with varying success, these include localized radiation therapy, cryotherapy, electrocauterization, surgical excision, and a variety of systemic chemotherapeutic regimens, as well as alpha-interferon. Although all available treatments help control the lesions, none lengthens survival.
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PMID:Clinical manifestations of classical, endemic African, and epidemic AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma. 219 52

Paclitaxel is a microtubule stabilizing drug that causes dividing cells to arrest and then undergo apoptosis. It also has antiangiogenic activity because it alters cytoskeletal structure, affecting migration and invasion. Paclitaxel is an effective treatment for AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma (KS). KS is a tumor in which there is marked proliferation of endothelial cells in addition to the tumor cells, which themselves share many markers with activated (proliferating) endothelial cells.We sought to determine the mechanism by which paclitaxel exerts its anti-KS tumor effects. In vitro, KS cells are very sensitive to paclitaxel, with half-maximal growth inhibition observed at 0.8 nM. Inhibition of migration of KS cells was also observed at nanomolar concentrations of the drug. Paclitaxel induced cell cycle arrest with an accumulation of cells in sub-G1.This was accompanied in vitro by various events typical of apoptosis: phosphorylation of two anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-(xL) , release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm, cleavage and activation of caspase-3. In vitro results were borne out by studies of KS tumor xenografts in nude mice. Paclitaxel (10 mg/kg) inhibited tumor growth by 75% over 21 days. Histological examination of the tumors revealed a decrease in proliferative index, a decrease in the number of mitotic figures and an increase in apoptotic cells compared to tumors from untreated mice.
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PMID:Paclitaxel Induces Apoptosis in AIDS-Related Kaposi's Sarcoma Cells. 1852 33