immortality ͉ liver cancer ͉ SIP1 ͉ telomerase ͉ p53

The major problem in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients results from multidrug resistance to administered anticancer agents. Drug resistance proteins, MDR1 and MRP1, which work as drug efflux pumps, can mediate the multidrug resistance of human leukemia cells. In this study, the mechanisms of resistance to doxorubicin-induced cell death in human HL60 AML cells were examined.Continuous exposure of cells to step-wise increasing concentrations of doxorubicin resulted in the selection of HL60/DOX cells, which expressed about 10.7-fold resistance as compared to parental sensitive cells. The expression analyses of MRP1 and MDR1 drug efflux proteins in doxorubicin-sensitive and -resistant HL60 cells revealed that there was an upregulation of MRP1 gene in HL60/DOX cells as compared to parental sensitive cells. On the other hand, while there was no expression of MDR1 gene in parental cells, the expression of MDR1 gene was upregulated in HL60/DOX cells. HL60/DOX cells also showed cross-resistance to cytosine arabinoside (Ara-c). This resistance was reversed by a combination therapy of Ara-c and cyclosporine A. However, the expression levels of CD15 and CD16 surface markers were significantly decreased in HL60/DOX cells.

There is compelling evidence from transgenic mouse studies and analysis of mutations in human carcinomas indicating that the TGF-β signal transduction pathway is tumor suppressive. We have shown that overexpression of TGF-β1 in mammary epithelial cells suppresses the development of carcinomas and that expression of a dominant negative type II TGF-β receptor (DNIIR) in mammary epithelial cells under control of the MMTV promoter/enhancer increases the incidence of mammary carcinomas. Studies of human tumors have demonstrated inactivating mutations in human tumors of genes encoding proteins involved in TGF-β signal transduction, including DPC4/Smad4, Smad2, and the type II TGF-β receptor (TβRII). There is also evidence that TGF-β can enhance the progression of tumors. This hypothesis is being tested in genetically modified mice. To attain complete loss of TβRII, we have generated mice with loxP sites flanking exon 2 of Tgfbr2 and crossed them with mice expressing Cre recombinase under control of the MMTV promoter/enhancer to obtain Tgfbr2 mgKO mice. These mice show lobuloalveolar hyperplasia. Mice are being followed for mammary tumor development. Tgfbr2 mgKO mice that also express polyoma virus middle T antigen under control of the MMTV promoter (MMTV-PyVmT) develop mammary tumors with a significantly shorter latency than MMTV-PyVmT mice and show a marked increase in pulmonary metastases. Our data do not support the hypothesis that TGF-β signaling in mammary carcinoma cells is important for invasion and metastasis, at least in this model system. The importance of stromal-epithelial interactions in mammary gland development and tumorigenesis is well established. These interactions probably involve autocrine and paracrine action of multiple growth factors, including members of the TGF-β family, which are expressed in both stroma and epithelium. Again, to accomplish complete knockout of the type II TGF-β receptor gene in mammary stromal cells, FSP1-Cre and Tgfbr2 flox/flox mice were crossed to attain Tgfbr2 fspKO mice. The loss of TGF-β responsiveness in fibroblasts resulted in intraepithelial neoplasia in prostate and invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the forestomach with high penetrance by 6 weeks of age. Both epithelial lesions were associated with an increased abundance of stromal cells. Activation of paracrine hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) signaling was identified as one possible mechanism for stimulation of epithelial proliferation. TGF-β signaling in fibroblasts thus modulates the growth and oncogenic potential of adjacent epithelia in selected tissues. More recently, we have examined the effects of Tgfbr2 fspKO fibroblasts on normal and transformed mammary epithelium. We analyzed the role of TGF-β signaling by stromal cells in mammary tumor progression. To avoid the possibility of endogenous wild-type fibroblasts masking potential effects of Tgfbr2 fspKO cells on tumor progression, we implanted PyVmT mammary carcinoma cells with Tgfbr2 fspKO or wildtype fibroblasts in the subrenal capsule of nude mice. Mamm...

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