Blog of Signaling Pathways

Roles of PIM serine/threonine kinases in cancers

7282 views | Oct 27 2011

The Pim family of Ser/Thr kinases has been first identified in murine Moloney leukemia virus induced lymphomas, and is composed of three isoforms, Pim-1, Pim-2 and Pim-3. The following studies show that Pims are constitutively activated in many cancers. Of which, Pim-1 and Pim-2 were found to show the elevated levels mostly in hematologic malignancies and prostate cancer, while increased Pim-3 expression was mainly observed in different solid tumors. [Read the Full Post]

The combination of VE-465 and vincristine, the potential therapy for leukemia

7760 views | Oct 25 2011

Leukemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of white blood cells, and studies on the treatment of the disease have been carried out for many years. At present, a variety of small-molecule agents targeting specific leukemogenetic molecules have been used in preclinical or clinical treatment of leukemia. For example, BCR/ABL kinase inhibitors, including imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib have shown the effective treatment against BCR/ABL-positive leukemia. However, novel agents and therapy may be still needed, since monotherapy shows only limited clinical efficacy. [Read the Full Post]

Roles of Hsp90 in wound healing and cancer

5741 views | Oct 24 2011

Wound healing is an intricate process in which the skin (or another organ-tissue) repairs itself after injury. At present, local growth factors are considered to be the driving force for wound healing and only recombinant human platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) has been approved by US FDA for topical treatment of diabetic ulcers. However, the use of PDGF-BB in clinical trials has been limited for its modest efficacy, high cost and risk of causing cancer. Thus, novel treatment for wound healing is needed to be explored. [Read the Full Post]

The regulation of sphingosine-1-phosphate metabolism

4416 views | Oct 20 2011

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a signaling sphingolipid and is also referred to as a bioactive lipid mediator. Functions of S1P are mediated by its binding to a class of G-protein coupled receptors of the S1P and Lysophospholipid (LPA) receptor families, and regulate a variety of cell signaling pathways, including cell growth, differentiation, survival, and apoptosis. Many factors in the metabolism pathway of S1P have been considered as potential targets for therapeutic intervention, including the inhibition of S1P activation of the G-protein coupled receptors. [Read the Full Post]

The roles of Midkine/Alk signaling in sympathetic neurons physiologically and pathologically

4328 views | Oct 18 2011

Neuroblastoma(NB) is the most common extracranial solid cancer that arises in immature nerve cells, and thus often occurs in childhood and infancy, with an incidence of about 650 new cases per year in US. Some evidences suggested that disposition and process of NB may be associated to proliferation of immature sympathetic neurons regulated by some transcription factors. [Read the Full Post]

Sorafenib, a potential therapy for Chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients

2940 views | Oct 13 2011

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a common leukemia which causes a slow increase in white blood cells called B lymphocytes, or B cells. This cancer mostly affects adults, around age 70, and leads to approximately 5000 deaths annually. The frontline therapy for CLL mainly use several chemotherapy drugs alone or in combination, such as Fludarabine, chlorambucil, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab. Besides, bone marrow or stem cell transplantation may be used in younger patients with advanced or high-risk CLL. [Read the Full Post]

HBO2 may produce great benefits to radiation necrosis populations

1817 views | Oct 11 2011

Radiation tissues injury (radiation necrosis) is a "side effect" of radiation therapy for a tumor and can develop months or years after treatment with radiation. Especially in the irradiated area, destruction of nutrient blood vessels can result in local ulceration, destruction of bone and bleeding. This damage inhibits the ability of the irradiated tissue to repair itself, and a radiation necrosis wound can gradually affect and involve surrounding tissue. Affected patients may become socially isolated and are suffered from depression, or nutritional deficiency. [Read the Full Post]

Enzastaurin, as the inhibitor of PKC, may be a novel PNC medical therapy

4904 views | Sep 29 2011

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer death both in the United States. Regarding the pathology, pancreatic cancer mainly includes exocrine pancreas cancers, pancreatic cystic neoplasms and endocrine pancreatic cancers. Pancreatic neuroendocrine cancers (PNC) account for less than 3% of pancreatic tumors and the main treatments are surgery, hormone therapy, chemotherapy and so on at this stage. However, It is still needed to search for effective treatments for PNC, and understand the molecular pathways regulating neuroendocrine tumor cell proliferation. [Read the Full Post]

S6K and PDK1 modulate neuronal size specification

6343 views | Sep 22 2011

Synapse is located in the nervous system and a structure that passes an electrical or chemical signalfrom a neuron to another cell. The presynaptic terminal is a specialized area within the axon of the presynaptic cell that contains neurotransmitters enclosed in small membrane-bound spheres called synaptic vesicles. Active zones is a region that synaptic vesicles are docked at the presynaptic plasma membrane. [Read the Full Post]

Effects of PARP inhibitors in BRCA gene-mutated ovarian cancer

12472 views | Sep 20 2011

Ovarian cancer is a cancerous growth arising from the ovary, and remains the leading cause of death from gynecological cancer, accounting for more than 140,000 deaths per year worldwide. The risk of developing ovarian cancer appears to be affected by several factors, and 10% of ovarian cancer patients have a family history of the disease. Certain genes defects (BRCA1 and BRCA2) are considered to be responsible for a small number of ovarian cancer cases. [Read the Full Post]

FLT3 ligand enhances efficacy of RNA Vaccines in cancer therapy

4533 views | Sep 14 2011

Vaccines work on the principle of promote the immune system to recognize an invader and attack it more quickly, before it can do any harm. Recently, self-replicating RNA vaccines have emerged as an effective and safe approach to induce antitumor immunity. Self-replicating RNA can replicate in a diverse range of cell types, allows the expression of the Ag of interest at high levels, and eventually causes lysis of transfected cells. [Read the Full Post]

Alexander V. Sirotkin “The role of protein kinases in control of ovarian functions”

3109 views | Sep 13 2011

Control of basic physiological processes including reproduction requires multilevel signaling system, which includes hormones, growth factors and related molecules, their receptors and binding proteins, whose alter expression of target genes via protein kinases (PKs) and transcription factors. These signaling substances can control reproductive processes via production, binding and metabolism of regulators of cell cycle, apoptosis, secretory activity, differentiation and oogenesis. [Read the Full Post]

Boosani “Endogenous angiogenesis inhibitors affecting cell survival pathways”

2727 views | Sep 13 2011

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases (PI3 kinases) are a group of enzymes categorized into three different classes, among them class I isoforms are well characterized (Stein, 2001). These kinases are the key enzymes that are vital for cell survival with essential role in several cellular functions such as growth, proliferation, differentiation, motility, and intracellular signaling. PI3 Kinases are activated by tyrosine kinases with Akt being the downstream effector molecule (Hennessy et al., 2005). [Read the Full Post]

Novel CDK2 Inhibitors as Anti-Tumor Agents

2771 views | Sep 09 2011

Conventional anti-cancer drugs have mainly focused on targeting DNA synthesis and cell division.n order to avoid these adverse effects, investigators begin to develop a new class of anti-cancer agents, and signal transduction or secondary message inhibitors is one of the successful research findings. [Read the Full Post]

HDACs, play important roles in kidney development

6264 views | Sep 08 2011

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate fundamental biological processes such as cellular proliferation, differentiation, and survival via genomic and non-genomic effects. Some data suggest that HDACs may play a important role in kidney development. [Read the Full Post]

p38 MAPK inhibitor, FR167653, a potent therapy against PTHrP-induced osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption-related diseases

3446 views | Sep 07 2011

Study on mechanism indecates that PTHrP stimulates osteoclastogenesis by increasing receptor activator of NF-kB ligand (RANKL) expression. p38 MAPK is required for osteoclast differentiation. This implies the existence of relationship between p38 MAPK and PTHrP in osteoclastogenesis. [Read the Full Post]

FGFs and the downstream signaling involve in tissue regeneration

4735 views | Sep 06 2011

FGFs have the biological activity of inducing cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, and angiogenesis. As one of the critical components in tissue regeneration, fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) shown the potential effects on the repair and regeneration of tissues. [Read the Full Post]

PI3K/Akt inhibition modulates multidrug resistance

4972 views | Sep 05 2011

Multidrug resistance (MDR), characterized by cancer cell resistance to multiple chemotherapeutic drugs, is a major clinical obstacle in the treatment of hematological malignancies. And many investigators have comfirmed that the PI3K/Akt pathway is associated with chemoresistance in cancer cells. [Read the Full Post]

Li, C., S. Chi, et al. (2011). "Hedgehog signaling in skin cancers." Cell Signal 23(8): 1235-1243.

3375 views | Aug 20 2011

This article introduces the relationship between hedgehog signal transduction and cancer including Skin cancers linked to aberrant hedgehog pathway activity, models of Hh pathway activity in cancer and implications for therapy, and inhibitors and modulators of Hh pathway and their application in skin cancers. [Read the Full Post]

Shaw, A. T. and B. Solomon (2011). "Targeting anaplastic lymphoma kinase in lung cancer." Clin Cancer Res 17(8): 2081-2086.

4151 views | Aug 19 2011

This article reviews the ALK pathway and the Clinical–Translational Advances of different ALK inhibitors. [Read the Full Post]