Despite advances in surgery and radiotherapy of uveal melanoma (UM), many patients develop distant metastases that poorly respond to therapy. Improved therapies for the metastatic disease are therefore urgently needed. Expression of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a target of kinase inhibitors and humanized antibodies in use for several cancers, had been reported. 48 human UMs were analyzed by expression profiling. Evidence for signaling in tumors was obtained through the application of a UM-specific EGF signature. The EGFR specific kinase inhibitor, Gefitinib, and the humanized monoclonal antibody, Cetuximab, were tested for their effect on EGFR signaling. Natural killer cell mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and TNF-alpha release was analyzed for Cetuximab. EGFR appears suited as a novel molecular drug target for therapy of uveal melanoma.
Evidence of epidermal growth factor receptor expression in uveal melanoma: inhibition of epidermal growth factor-mediated signalling by Gefitinib and Cetuximab triggered antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity.
Sex, Specimen part, Disease, Disease stage
View SamplesThis SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Progression from low- to high-grade in a glioblastoma model reveals the pivotal role of immunoediting.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe different phases of tumor immunoediting in vivo were dissected thanks to a murine model of glioma induced by PDGF-B overexpression. We show that low-grade gliomas are highly immunostimulatory and that the adaptive immune system prevents the development of secondary tumor in syngeneic mice. During tumor progression, glioma cells downregulate immunostimulatory genes and the immune infiltrate becomes pro-tumorigenic. We showed that glioma cells are able to progress towards a high-grade phenotype even in immunodeficient mice, albeit more slowly and this progression invariably requires a downregulation of immunostimulatory genes.
Progression from low- to high-grade in a glioblastoma model reveals the pivotal role of immunoediting.
Specimen part
View SamplesThe different phases of tumor immunoediting in vivo were dissected thanks to a murine model of glioma induced by PDGF-B overexpression. We show that low-grade gliomas are highly immunostimulatory and that the adaptive immune system prevents the development of secondary tumor in syngeneic mice. During tumor progression, glioma cells downregulate immunostimulatory genes and the immune infiltrate becomes pro-tumorigenic.
Progression from low- to high-grade in a glioblastoma model reveals the pivotal role of immunoediting.
Specimen part
View SamplesWe analyzed the generation of mouse gliomas following the overexpression of PDGF-B in embryonic neural progenitors. Comparison of our microarray data, with published gene expression data sets for many different murine neural cell types, revealed a closest relationship between our tumor cells and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, confirming definitively that PDGF-B-induced gliomas are pure oligodendrogliomas.
PDGF-B induces a homogeneous class of oligodendrogliomas from embryonic neural progenitors.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesIFNs are highly pleiotropic cytokines also endowed with marked anti-angiogenic activity. In this study, the mRNA expression profiles of endothelial cells (EC) exposed in vitro to IFN-alpha, IFN-beta, or
Identification of genes selectively regulated by IFNs in endothelial cells.
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesStem and progenitor cells are the critical units for tissue maintenance, regeneration, and repair. The activation of regenerative events in response to tissue injury has been correlated with mobilization of tissue-resident progenitor cells, which is functional to the wound healing process. However, until now there has been no evidence for the presence of cells with a healing capacity circulating in healthy conditions. We identified a rare cell population present in the peripheral blood of healthy mice that actively participates in tissue repair. These Circulating cells, with a Homing ability and involved in the Healing process (CH cells), were identified by an innovative flowcytometry strategy as small cells not expressing CD45 and lineage markers. Their transcriptome profile revealed that CH cells are unique and present a high expression of key pluripotency- and epiblast-associated genes. More importantly, CH-labeled cells derived from healthy Red Fluorescent Protein (RFP)-transgenic mice and systemically injected into syngeneic fractured wild-type mice migrated and engrafted in wounded tissues, ultimately differentiating into tissue-specific cells. Accordingly, the number of CH cells in the peripheral blood rapidly decreased following femoral fracture. These findings uncover the existence of constitutively circulating cells that may represent novel, accessible, and versatile effectors of therapeutic tissue regeneration.
Identification of a New Cell Population Constitutively Circulating in Healthy Conditions and Endowed with a Homing Ability Toward Injured Sites.
Sex, Specimen part
View SamplesThe anthracycline, doxorubicin (Dox), is widely used in oncology, but it may it may cause a cardiomyopathy which has dismal prognosis and cannot be effectively prevented. The secretome of multipotent human amniotic fluid-derived stem cells (hAFS) has previously been demonstrated to reduce ischemic cardiac damage. Here, it is shown that the hAFS conditioned medium (hAFS-CM) antagonizes senescence and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes and cardiac progenitor cells, two major features of Dox cardiotoxicity. Mechanistic studies with primary mouse neonatal cardiomyocytes reveal that hAFS-CM inhibition of Dox-elicited senescence and apoptosis is paralleled by decreased DNA damage and is associated with nuclear translocation of NF-kB and upregulation of a set of genes controlled by NF-kB, namely Il6 and Cxcl1, which promote cardiomyocyte survival, and Cyp1b1 and Abcb1, which encode for proteins involved in Dox metabolism and efflux, respectively. The PI3K/Akt signaling cascade, upstream of NF-kB, is potently activated by the hAFS-CM and pre-treatment with a PI3K inhibitor abrogates NF-kB accumulation into the nucleus, modulation of its target genes, and prevention of Dox-initiated senescence and apoptosis in response to the hAFS-CM. This work may lay the ground for the development of a stem cell-based paracrine therapy of chemotherapy-related cardiotoxicity.
The human amniotic fluid stem cell secretome effectively counteracts doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity.
Specimen part
View SamplesGlioblastomas (GBM) are poorly differentiated astrocytic tumors arising in the Central Nervous System (CNS), which despite aggressive treatments are still characterized by a fatal outcome. Several studies have shown the existence of a subpopulation of cells within glioma tumors displaying cancer stem cells properties. As the term tumor initiating cells (TICs) is frequentely used to describe cells as these with cancer stem cells capacity. Because TICs promotes the tumor chemo- and radio-resistance and angiogenesis it is conceivable that finding a mean to kill these cells would lead to a better therapy for GBM.
No associated publication
No sample metadata fields
View SamplesIn March 2006, murine Bone Marrow Stromal Cells (BMSC) were flown in the Soyuz 12S to the International Space Station to investigate the effects of microgravity on their osteogenic potential in a three-dimensional environment. BMSC were grown in porous bioceramic Skelite disks ( 9 mm x T 1.2 mm). The constructs were exposed to microgravity for ca. 8 days, then fixed for RNA extraction. While the flight experiment was performed in fully automated hardware inside the KUBIK incubator, one group of control samples were incubated inside manually operated hardwares (flight control), and the other control group was incubated under routine laboratory conditions (lab control). The altered gene expression profile was analyzed by Mouse Gene 1.0 ST array (Affymetrix) representing whole-transcript coverage. Each one of the 28853 genes is represented on the array by approximately 26 probes spread across the full length of the gene, providing a more complete and more accurate picture of gene expression than the 3 based expression array design.
Activation of nervous system development genes in bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells following spaceflight exposure.
Specimen part, Disease
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