oncologywatch

Price ND, Foltz G, Madan A, et al. Systems biology and cancer stem cells. J Cell Mol Med. 2008 Jan-Feb;12(1):97-110. PMID: 18031300

A comprehensive review of the state of science regarding cancer stem cells (CSCs), a subset of cells found within tumors and hematological malignancies and theorized to be responsible for starting and maintaining cancer. The authors are from the Institute for Systems Biology, the Seattle Neuroscience Institute, and the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering & Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

From the conclusion:

"The identification and prospective isolation of CSCs from leukaemia and a number of solid tumours has spawned a new paradigm in cancer research. From the perspective of systems biology – with the goal of predictive, preventive, personalized, and participatory (P4) medicine – we envision increasingly global assessment of CSCs and their microenvironments (niche) at the level of complete transcriptome, proteome and epigenome, using empowering new high-throughput technologies. The resulting gene expression profile signatures of cancer stem cell would serve as more accurate indicatives for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Emerging proteomic technologies employing MS and protein chip platforms would allow for identification of better cell-surface markers and their interaction with the resident stem cell niche and potential diagnostic markers from both body fluids and tumour tissues. Incorporating these data into biological networks will provide fundament insights into the biology of CSCs and their abilities for renewal and differentiation. These combined efforts will ultimately lead to new therapeutic strategy specifically targeting CSCs for unprecedented personalized cancer therapy."

OncologyWatch: Posts about free-access articles on aspects of oncology theory, practice and policy (about the blogger). This blog is not a source for medical advice.

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oncology cancer systems biology

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Wang XG, Revskaya E, Bryan RA, et al. Treating cancer as an infectious disease–viral antigens as novel targets for treatment and potential prevention of tumors of viral etiology. PLoS ONE. 2007 Oct 31;2(10):e1114. PMID: 17971877

A fascinating paper by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

From the discussion:

"We performed in vitro and in vivo experiments to assess a novel strategy to treat virus associated tumors using radiolabeled mAbs targeted against viral proteins. This strategy is fundamentally different from prior uses of [radioimmunotherapy] in oncology that target tumor-associated human antigens thus resulting in significant uptake of radioactive antibody in normal tissues, leading to toxicity. The results of our study suggest that by targeting instead viral and not self-proteins it may be possible for radiolabeled mAbs to concentrate more specifically within tumor tissue, resulting in greater efficacy and less toxicity. This strategy also raises an exciting additional possibility to prevent virus-associated cancers in chronically infected patients by eliminating cells infected with oncogenic viruses before they transform into cancer."

OncologyWatch: Posts about free-access articles on aspects of oncology theory, practice and policy (about the blogger). This blog is not a source for medical advice.

Technorati tags:
oncology cancer

Comments and Links Welcome!