Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most common cancer worldwide,and the second most common cause of cancer-related death.In 2020,the estimated number of deaths due to CRC was approximately 930000,accounting for 10%of ...Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most common cancer worldwide,and the second most common cause of cancer-related death.In 2020,the estimated number of deaths due to CRC was approximately 930000,accounting for 10%of all cancer deaths worldwide.Accordingly,there is a vast amount of ongoing research aiming to find new and improved treatment modalities for CRC that can potentially increase survival and decrease overall morbidity and mortality.Current management strategies for CRC include surgical procedures for resectable cases,and radiotherapy,chemotherapy,and immunotherapy,in addition to their combination,for non-resectable tumors.Despite these options,CRC remains incurable in 50%of cases.Nonetheless,significant improvements in research techniques have allowed for treatment approaches for CRC to be frequently updated,leading to the availability of new drugs and therapeutic strategies.This review summarizes the most recent therapeutic approaches for CRC,with special emphasis on new strategies that are currently being studied and have great potential to improve the prognosis and lifespan of patients with CRC.展开更多
BACKGROUND Embryonic stem cells(ESCs)serve as a crucial ex vivo model,representing epiblast cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos.ESCs exhibit a unique combination of self-renewal potency,...BACKGROUND Embryonic stem cells(ESCs)serve as a crucial ex vivo model,representing epiblast cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos.ESCs exhibit a unique combination of self-renewal potency,unlimited proliferation,and pluripotency.The latter is evident by the ability of the isolated cells to differ-entiate spontaneously into multiple cell lineages,representing the three primary embryonic germ layers.Multiple regulatory networks guide ESCs,directing their self-renewal and lineage-specific differentiation.Apoptosis,or programmed cell death,emerges as a key event involved in sculpting and forming various organs and structures ensuring proper embryonic development.How-ever,the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic interplay between diffe-rentiation and apoptosis remain poorly understood.AIM To investigate the regulatory impact of apoptosis on the early differentiation of ESCs into cardiac cells,using mouse ESC(mESC)models-mESC-B-cell lym-phoma 2(BCL-2),mESC-PIM-2,and mESC-metallothionein-1(MET-1)-which overexpress the anti-apoptotic genes Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1,respectively.METHODS mESC-T2(wild-type),mESC-BCL-2,mESC-PIM-2,and mESC-MET-1 have been used to assess the effect of potentiated apoptotic signals on cardiac differentiation.The hanging drop method was adopted to generate embryoid bodies(EBs)and induce terminal differentiation of mESCs.The size of the generated EBs was measured in each condition compared to the wild type.At the functional level,the percentage of cardiac differentiation was measured by calculating the number of beating cardiomyocytes in the manipulated mESCs compared to the control.At the molecular level,quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the mRNA expression of three cardiac markers:Troponin T,GATA4,and NKX2.5.Additionally,troponin T protein expression was evaluated through immunofluorescence and western blot assays.RESULTS Our findings showed that the upregulation of Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1 genes led to a reduction in the size of the EBs derived from the manipulated mESCs,in comparison with their wild-type counterpart.Additionally,a decrease in the count of beating cardiomyocytes among differentiated cells was observed.Furthermore,the mRNA expression of three cardiac markers-troponin T,GATA4,and NKX2.5-was diminished in mESCs overexpressing the three anti-apoptotic genes compared to the control cell line.Moreover,the overexpression of the anti-apoptotic genes resulted in a reduction in troponin T protein expression.CONCLUSION Our findings revealed that the upregulation of Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1 genes altered cardiac differentiation,providing insight into the intricate interplay between apoptosis and ESC fate determination.展开更多
Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most diagnosed malignancy and a major leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.Despite advances in therapeutic regimens,the number of patients presenting with metastatic CRC(...Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most diagnosed malignancy and a major leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.Despite advances in therapeutic regimens,the number of patients presenting with metastatic CRC(mCRC)is increasing due to resistance to therapy,conferred by a small population of cancer cells,known as cancer stem cells.Targeted therapies have been highly successful in prolonging the overall survival of patients with mCRC.Agents are being developed to target key molecules involved in drug-resistance and metastasis of CRC,and these include vascular endothelial growth factor,epidermal growth factor receptor,human epidermal growth factor receptor-2,mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase,in addition to immune checkpoints.Currently,there are several ongoing clinical trials of newly developed targeted agents,which have shown considerable clinical efficacy and have improved the prognosis of patients who do not benefit from conventional chemotherapy.In this review,we highlight recent developments in the use of existing and novel targeted agents against drug-resistant CRC and mCRC.Furthermore,we discuss limitations and challenges associated with targeted therapy and strategies to combat intrinsic and acquired resistance to these therapies,in addition to the importance of implementing better preclinical models and the application of personalized therapy based on predictive biomarkers for treatment selection.展开更多
Surgical resection,chemotherapy,and radiation are the standard therapeutic modalities for treating cancer.These approaches are intended to target the more mature and rapidly dividing cancer cells.However,they spare th...Surgical resection,chemotherapy,and radiation are the standard therapeutic modalities for treating cancer.These approaches are intended to target the more mature and rapidly dividing cancer cells.However,they spare the relatively quiescent and intrinsically resistant cancer stem cells(CSCs)subpopulation residing within the tumor tissue.Thus,a temporary eradication is achieved and the tumor bulk tends to revert supported by CSCs'resistant features.Based on their unique expression profile,the identification,isolation,and selective targeting of CSCs hold great promise for challenging treatment failure and reducing the risk of cancer recurrence.Yet,targeting CSCs is limited mainly by the irrelevance of the utilized cancer models.A new era of targeted and personalized anti-cancer therapies has been developed with cancer patient-derived organoids(PDOs)as a tool for establishing pre-clinical tumor models.Herein,we discuss the updated and presently available tissue-specific CSC markers in five highly occurring solid tumors.Additionally,we highlight the advantage and relevance of the threedimensional PDOs culture model as a platform for modeling cancer,evaluating the efficacy of CSC-based therapeutics,and predicting drug response in cancer patients.展开更多
BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer(CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality.Cancer stem cells(CSCs) in CRC, which are spared by many chemotherapeutics,have tumorigenic capacity and are believed to be the...BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer(CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality.Cancer stem cells(CSCs) in CRC, which are spared by many chemotherapeutics,have tumorigenic capacity and are believed to be the reason behind cancer relapse. So far, there have been no effective drugs to target colon CSCs. Diiminoquinone(DIQ) has shown promising effects on targeting colon cancer.However, there is limited research on the effects of DIQ on eradicating CSCs in CRC.AIM To investigate the anticancer potential of DIQ on colon CSCs in two-dimensional(2D) and three-dimensional(3D) models using colonospheres and patient-derived organoids.METHODS Various 2D methods have been used to assess the effect and the mechanism of DIQ on HCT116and HT29 cell lines including cell proliferation and viability assays, migration and invasion assays,immunofluorescence staining, and flow cytometry. The potency of DIQ was also assessed in 3D culture using the sphere formation assay and colon cancer patient-derived organoid model.RESULTS Our results showed that DIQ significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCT116 and HT29 cell lines. DIQ treatment induced apoptosis along with an accumulation of HCT116 and HT29 cancer cells in the sub-G1 region and an increase in reactive oxygen species in both CRC cell lines. DIQ reduced sphere-forming and self-renewal ability of colon cancer HCT116and HT29 stem/progenitor cells at sub-toxic doses of 1 μmol/L. Mechanistically, DIQ targets CSCs by downregulating the main components of stem cell-related-catenin, AKT, and ERK oncogenic signaling pathways. Potently, DIQ displayed a highly significant decrease in both the count and the size of the organoids derived from colon cancer patients as compared to control and 5-fluorouracil conditions.CONCLUSION This study is the first documentation of the molecular mechanism of the novel anticancer therapeutic DIQ via targeting CSC, a promising compound that needs further investigation.展开更多
Central nervous system(CNS)tumors are a variety of distinct neoplasms that present multiple challenges in terms of treatment and prognosis.Glioblastoma,the most common primary tumor in adults,is associated with poor s...Central nervous system(CNS)tumors are a variety of distinct neoplasms that present multiple challenges in terms of treatment and prognosis.Glioblastoma,the most common primary tumor in adults,is associated with poor survival and remains one of the least treatable neoplasms.These tumors are highly heterogenous and complex in their nature.Due to this complexity,traditional cell culturing techniques and methods do not provide an ideal recapitulating model for the study of these tumors’behavior in vivo.Two-dimensional models lack the spatial arrangement,the heterogeneity in cell types,and the microenvironment that play a large role in tumor cell behavior and response to treatment.Recently,scientists have turned towards three-dimensional culturing methods,namely spheroids and organoids,as they have been shown to recapitulate tumors in a more faithful manner to their in vivo counterparts.Moreover,tumor-on-a-chip systems have lately been employed in CNS tumor modeling and have shown great potential in both studying the pathophysiology and therapeutic testing.In this review,we will discuss the current available literature on in vitro threedimensional culturing models in CNS tumors,in addition to presenting their advantages and current limitations.We will also elaborate on the future implications of these models and their benefit in the clinical setting.展开更多
Prostate cancer(PCa)is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in men globally.Despite improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of PCa,a significant proportion of patients with high-risk localized...Prostate cancer(PCa)is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in men globally.Despite improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of PCa,a significant proportion of patients with high-risk localized disease and all patients with advanced disease at diagnosis will experience progression to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer(mCRPC).Multiple drugs are now approved as the standard of care treatments for patients with mCRPC that have been shown to prolong survival.Although the majority of patients will respond initially,primary and secondary resistance to these therapies make mCRPC an incurable disease.Several molecular mechanisms underlie the development of mCRPC,with the androgen receptor(AR)axis being the main driver as well as the key drug target.Understanding resistance mechanisms is crucial for discovering novel therapeutic strategies to delay or reverse the progression of the disease.In this review,we address the diverse mechanisms of drug resistance in mCRPC.In addition,we shed light on emerging targeted therapies currently being tested in clinical trials with promising potential to overcome mCRPC-drug resistance.展开更多
文摘Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most common cancer worldwide,and the second most common cause of cancer-related death.In 2020,the estimated number of deaths due to CRC was approximately 930000,accounting for 10%of all cancer deaths worldwide.Accordingly,there is a vast amount of ongoing research aiming to find new and improved treatment modalities for CRC that can potentially increase survival and decrease overall morbidity and mortality.Current management strategies for CRC include surgical procedures for resectable cases,and radiotherapy,chemotherapy,and immunotherapy,in addition to their combination,for non-resectable tumors.Despite these options,CRC remains incurable in 50%of cases.Nonetheless,significant improvements in research techniques have allowed for treatment approaches for CRC to be frequently updated,leading to the availability of new drugs and therapeutic strategies.This review summarizes the most recent therapeutic approaches for CRC,with special emphasis on new strategies that are currently being studied and have great potential to improve the prognosis and lifespan of patients with CRC.
基金Supported by the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon,CNRS-L.
文摘BACKGROUND Embryonic stem cells(ESCs)serve as a crucial ex vivo model,representing epiblast cells derived from the inner cell mass of blastocyst-stage embryos.ESCs exhibit a unique combination of self-renewal potency,unlimited proliferation,and pluripotency.The latter is evident by the ability of the isolated cells to differ-entiate spontaneously into multiple cell lineages,representing the three primary embryonic germ layers.Multiple regulatory networks guide ESCs,directing their self-renewal and lineage-specific differentiation.Apoptosis,or programmed cell death,emerges as a key event involved in sculpting and forming various organs and structures ensuring proper embryonic development.How-ever,the molecular mechanisms underlying the dynamic interplay between diffe-rentiation and apoptosis remain poorly understood.AIM To investigate the regulatory impact of apoptosis on the early differentiation of ESCs into cardiac cells,using mouse ESC(mESC)models-mESC-B-cell lym-phoma 2(BCL-2),mESC-PIM-2,and mESC-metallothionein-1(MET-1)-which overexpress the anti-apoptotic genes Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1,respectively.METHODS mESC-T2(wild-type),mESC-BCL-2,mESC-PIM-2,and mESC-MET-1 have been used to assess the effect of potentiated apoptotic signals on cardiac differentiation.The hanging drop method was adopted to generate embryoid bodies(EBs)and induce terminal differentiation of mESCs.The size of the generated EBs was measured in each condition compared to the wild type.At the functional level,the percentage of cardiac differentiation was measured by calculating the number of beating cardiomyocytes in the manipulated mESCs compared to the control.At the molecular level,quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the mRNA expression of three cardiac markers:Troponin T,GATA4,and NKX2.5.Additionally,troponin T protein expression was evaluated through immunofluorescence and western blot assays.RESULTS Our findings showed that the upregulation of Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1 genes led to a reduction in the size of the EBs derived from the manipulated mESCs,in comparison with their wild-type counterpart.Additionally,a decrease in the count of beating cardiomyocytes among differentiated cells was observed.Furthermore,the mRNA expression of three cardiac markers-troponin T,GATA4,and NKX2.5-was diminished in mESCs overexpressing the three anti-apoptotic genes compared to the control cell line.Moreover,the overexpression of the anti-apoptotic genes resulted in a reduction in troponin T protein expression.CONCLUSION Our findings revealed that the upregulation of Bcl-2,Pim-2,and Met-1 genes altered cardiac differentiation,providing insight into the intricate interplay between apoptosis and ESC fate determination.
文摘Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most diagnosed malignancy and a major leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide.Despite advances in therapeutic regimens,the number of patients presenting with metastatic CRC(mCRC)is increasing due to resistance to therapy,conferred by a small population of cancer cells,known as cancer stem cells.Targeted therapies have been highly successful in prolonging the overall survival of patients with mCRC.Agents are being developed to target key molecules involved in drug-resistance and metastasis of CRC,and these include vascular endothelial growth factor,epidermal growth factor receptor,human epidermal growth factor receptor-2,mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase,in addition to immune checkpoints.Currently,there are several ongoing clinical trials of newly developed targeted agents,which have shown considerable clinical efficacy and have improved the prognosis of patients who do not benefit from conventional chemotherapy.In this review,we highlight recent developments in the use of existing and novel targeted agents against drug-resistant CRC and mCRC.Furthermore,we discuss limitations and challenges associated with targeted therapy and strategies to combat intrinsic and acquired resistance to these therapies,in addition to the importance of implementing better preclinical models and the application of personalized therapy based on predictive biomarkers for treatment selection.
文摘Surgical resection,chemotherapy,and radiation are the standard therapeutic modalities for treating cancer.These approaches are intended to target the more mature and rapidly dividing cancer cells.However,they spare the relatively quiescent and intrinsically resistant cancer stem cells(CSCs)subpopulation residing within the tumor tissue.Thus,a temporary eradication is achieved and the tumor bulk tends to revert supported by CSCs'resistant features.Based on their unique expression profile,the identification,isolation,and selective targeting of CSCs hold great promise for challenging treatment failure and reducing the risk of cancer recurrence.Yet,targeting CSCs is limited mainly by the irrelevance of the utilized cancer models.A new era of targeted and personalized anti-cancer therapies has been developed with cancer patient-derived organoids(PDOs)as a tool for establishing pre-clinical tumor models.Herein,we discuss the updated and presently available tissue-specific CSC markers in five highly occurring solid tumors.Additionally,we highlight the advantage and relevance of the threedimensional PDOs culture model as a platform for modeling cancer,evaluating the efficacy of CSC-based therapeutics,and predicting drug response in cancer patients.
文摘BACKGROUND Colorectal cancer(CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related mortality.Cancer stem cells(CSCs) in CRC, which are spared by many chemotherapeutics,have tumorigenic capacity and are believed to be the reason behind cancer relapse. So far, there have been no effective drugs to target colon CSCs. Diiminoquinone(DIQ) has shown promising effects on targeting colon cancer.However, there is limited research on the effects of DIQ on eradicating CSCs in CRC.AIM To investigate the anticancer potential of DIQ on colon CSCs in two-dimensional(2D) and three-dimensional(3D) models using colonospheres and patient-derived organoids.METHODS Various 2D methods have been used to assess the effect and the mechanism of DIQ on HCT116and HT29 cell lines including cell proliferation and viability assays, migration and invasion assays,immunofluorescence staining, and flow cytometry. The potency of DIQ was also assessed in 3D culture using the sphere formation assay and colon cancer patient-derived organoid model.RESULTS Our results showed that DIQ significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in HCT116 and HT29 cell lines. DIQ treatment induced apoptosis along with an accumulation of HCT116 and HT29 cancer cells in the sub-G1 region and an increase in reactive oxygen species in both CRC cell lines. DIQ reduced sphere-forming and self-renewal ability of colon cancer HCT116and HT29 stem/progenitor cells at sub-toxic doses of 1 μmol/L. Mechanistically, DIQ targets CSCs by downregulating the main components of stem cell-related-catenin, AKT, and ERK oncogenic signaling pathways. Potently, DIQ displayed a highly significant decrease in both the count and the size of the organoids derived from colon cancer patients as compared to control and 5-fluorouracil conditions.CONCLUSION This study is the first documentation of the molecular mechanism of the novel anticancer therapeutic DIQ via targeting CSC, a promising compound that needs further investigation.
文摘Central nervous system(CNS)tumors are a variety of distinct neoplasms that present multiple challenges in terms of treatment and prognosis.Glioblastoma,the most common primary tumor in adults,is associated with poor survival and remains one of the least treatable neoplasms.These tumors are highly heterogenous and complex in their nature.Due to this complexity,traditional cell culturing techniques and methods do not provide an ideal recapitulating model for the study of these tumors’behavior in vivo.Two-dimensional models lack the spatial arrangement,the heterogeneity in cell types,and the microenvironment that play a large role in tumor cell behavior and response to treatment.Recently,scientists have turned towards three-dimensional culturing methods,namely spheroids and organoids,as they have been shown to recapitulate tumors in a more faithful manner to their in vivo counterparts.Moreover,tumor-on-a-chip systems have lately been employed in CNS tumor modeling and have shown great potential in both studying the pathophysiology and therapeutic testing.In this review,we will discuss the current available literature on in vitro threedimensional culturing models in CNS tumors,in addition to presenting their advantages and current limitations.We will also elaborate on the future implications of these models and their benefit in the clinical setting.
文摘Prostate cancer(PCa)is a leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in men globally.Despite improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of PCa,a significant proportion of patients with high-risk localized disease and all patients with advanced disease at diagnosis will experience progression to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer(mCRPC).Multiple drugs are now approved as the standard of care treatments for patients with mCRPC that have been shown to prolong survival.Although the majority of patients will respond initially,primary and secondary resistance to these therapies make mCRPC an incurable disease.Several molecular mechanisms underlie the development of mCRPC,with the androgen receptor(AR)axis being the main driver as well as the key drug target.Understanding resistance mechanisms is crucial for discovering novel therapeutic strategies to delay or reverse the progression of the disease.In this review,we address the diverse mechanisms of drug resistance in mCRPC.In addition,we shed light on emerging targeted therapies currently being tested in clinical trials with promising potential to overcome mCRPC-drug resistance.
