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International team reveals first prognosticator of survival in aggressive cancer
September 04, 2008The tumor suppressor gene pRb2/p130 may provide the first independent prognostic biomarker in cases of soft tissue sarcoma (STS), according to an international collaboration of researchers, including scientists at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, the Department of Human Pathology and Oncology, University of Siena and the Center of Oncological Research of Mercogliano (CROM) in Avellino, Italy.
The research appears in the latest issue of Clinical Cancer Research (www.aacrjournals.org).
The findings show that a reduction in the expression of pRb2/p130 can mean a higher risk of recurrence and death from STSs. The gene pRb2/p130, a member of the retinoblastoma family of genes, regulates a portion of the cell cycle.
Clinicians have long sought a prognostic test for the disease, which can be highly aggressive and unpredictable, making it difficult to determine the most beneficial course of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments following surgery.
A prognostic indicator will help doctors determine which patients have a higher risk of recurrence of the disease and who might benefit from a more aggressive adjuvant therapy.
In the study, researchers examined specimens taken from 41 patients with STS. In a subset of 31 cases of nonmetastatic cancers, they found a direct relationship between pRb2/p130 expression and the clinical outcome of patients.
"We found that pRb2/p130 expression was lost or decreased and significantly correlated with recurrence of disease and poor survival rates in the subset of patients with nonmetastatic tumors," said Valeria Masciullo, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study.
"A prognostic test could define the natural history of STSs, while also helping to identify possible targets for new kinds of therapies," said Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., the Director of the Sbarro Institute, Professor of Molecular Biology at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy and Histology of the University of Siena.
The researchers noted that the reliability of pRb2/p130 as a potential marker in the clinical routine assessment and management of patients with STS deserves to be further evaluated in long-term follow-up studies on a larger number of cases.
Sbarro Health Research Organization
Clinicians have long sought a prognostic test for the disease, which can be highly aggressive and unpredictable, making it difficult to determine the most beneficial course of chemotherapy and/or radiation treatments following surgery.
A prognostic indicator will help doctors determine which patients have a higher risk of recurrence of the disease and who might benefit from a more aggressive adjuvant therapy.
In the study, researchers examined specimens taken from 41 patients with STS. In a subset of 31 cases of nonmetastatic cancers, they found a direct relationship between pRb2/p130 expression and the clinical outcome of patients.
"We found that pRb2/p130 expression was lost or decreased and significantly correlated with recurrence of disease and poor survival rates in the subset of patients with nonmetastatic tumors," said Valeria Masciullo, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study.
"A prognostic test could define the natural history of STSs, while also helping to identify possible targets for new kinds of therapies," said Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., the Director of the Sbarro Institute, Professor of Molecular Biology at the College of Science and Technology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA and Full Professor of Pathological Anatomy and Histology of the University of Siena.
The researchers noted that the reliability of pRb2/p130 as a potential marker in the clinical routine assessment and management of patients with STS deserves to be further evaluated in long-term follow-up studies on a larger number of cases.
Sbarro Health Research Organization
Gene Expression Current Events and Gene Expression News RSSCold Spring Harbor Protocols features tissue culture methods for immune cells and neurons
The complexity of vital organ systems makes them difficult to study in living organisms. Tissue culture methods for specific cell types allow researchers to break these systems down into component parts that can be readily manipulated and observed.
Plants display 'molecular amnesia'
Plant researchers from McGill University and the University of California, Berkeley, have announced a major breakthrough in a developmental process called epigenetics. They have demonstrated for the first time the reversal of what is called epigenetic silencing in plants.
Wistar scientists find key to keeping killer T cells in prime shape for fighting infection, cancer
Like tuning a violin to produce strong, elegant notes, researchers at The Wistar Institute have found multiple receptors on the outside of the body's killer immune system cells which they believe can be selectively targeted to keep the cells in superb infection- and disease-fighting condition.
Scripps Research Scientists Shed Light on How DNA Is Unwound So That Its Code Can Be Read
Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute have figured out how a macromolecular machine is able to unwind the long and twisted tangles of DNA within a cell's nucleus so that genetic information can be "read" and used to direct the synthesis of proteins, which have many specific functions in the body.
Researchers Shed Light on Evolution of Gene Regulation
Scientists at Penn State have shed light on some of the processes that regulate genes -- such as the processes that ensure that proteins are produced at the correct time, place, and amount in an organism -- and they also have shed light on the evolution of the DNA regions that regulate genes.
Mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and cancer give clues to new therapies
Cardiovascular conditions leading to heart attacks and strokes are treated quite separately from common cancers of the prostate, breast or lung, but now turn out to involve some of the same critical mechanisms at the molecular level.
Researchers discover strategy for predicting the immunity of vaccines
In the first study of its kind, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Emory Vaccine Center, Emory University, have developed a multidisciplinary approach involving immunology, genomics and bioinformatics to predict the immunity of a vaccine without exposing individuals to infection.
Scripps research scientists identify blood component that turns bacteria virulent
Scientists from the Scripps Research Institute have discovered the key chemical that signals Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, to become lethal. This finding opens up new avenues of exploration for the development of treatments for bacterial infections.
New gene silencing pathway found in plants
Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have made major headway in explaining a mechanism by which plant cells silence potentially harmful genes.
Biomedical engineers' detective work reveals antibiotic mechanism
A series of genetic clues led a team of Boston University biomedical engineers to uncover exactly how certain antibiotics kill bacteria. The findings could help rejuvenate the efficacy of older antibiotics and reveal new antibiotic targets within bacterial cells.
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