In vitro antitumoral effects of the combination of Curcuma longa and prednisolone on inhibition of the NF-κB signaling pathway

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer among children. Despite recent treatment advances, about 80 percent of patients indicate resistance to treatment and the relapse remains a significant clinical problem. Apoptotic-resistant leukemia cells exhibit an unusual response to the NF-κB pathway; therefore, inhibiting this pathway can sensitize resistant cells to treatment. IKK-NF-kappaB signaling is an important factor in carciogenesis and a potential target for cancer treatment. Therefore, in this study, the mRNA expression of targets of NF-κB signaling including IKKalpha, IKKbeta and also NF-κB were analyzed, using the real time-PCR in the face of the combined effect of Curcuma longa and prednisolone in the ALL cell line of NALM-6. Results of the study showed significant downregulation of three genes after combination Curcuma longa (5 µg/ml) and prednisolone (1 μM) in comparison with the single agents alone. These findings unveiled the synergistic effect of Curcuma longa and prednisolone on IKKα and IKKβ downregulation and NF-κB inhibition that can be considered as a new approach in the ALL treatment of resistance to chemotherapy

A systematic review of proteomic biomarkers associated with risk stratification in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia

     Risk-based therapy protocols have dramatically improved survival rates in more than 80% of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (chALL). Prognostic biomarkers could be valuable for predicting the relapsed ALL patients and may therefore contribute to improving ALL outcome. Presently, there are little data on the role of prognostic biomarkers in the risk stratification of ALL. The aim of the present systematic review is to survey the identified prognostic biomarkers of chALL. In this study, protein-protein interaction of identified biomarkers was evaluated to reveal the biological pathways related to high risk chALL. To pursue this goal, firstly all relevant studies were collected through the PubMed and Google Scholar databases with no restrictions. Then, the biomarkers of high risk patients were recorded and finally protein-protein interaction of biomarkers was analyzed through using the STRING database. After screening 82 abstracts, three studies were included with 36 high risk and 33 low risk B-ALL participants. Totally, 142 biomarkers were investigated in this study. Protein interaction network analysis of biomarkers revealed two main pathways, namely ribosome and spliceosome. Dysregulation of two key pathways, ribosome and spliceosome can be associated with the high risk phenotype of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

The probability of influence of the abscopal effect on reduction of similar far away 4T1 cell line tumors by irradiation of main tumor

The most important problem with radiotherapy is the limitation of whole body irradiation of a metastatic patient. There are evidence showing that similar effect will occur in non-irradiated tumors similar to the irradiated ones. This effect is called abscopal effect. In the present study, the abscopal effect on local induced mice breast cancers has been investigated. One million of 4T1 mice breast cancer cell line was injected to balb/c mice subcutaneously while being under anesthesia. After the growth of tumors till becoming palpable, one of two induced tumors were exposed to total 28 Gy, with gamma rays emitted from a cobalt -60 tele-therapy machine in 14 fractions with 2 Gy daily doses. Tumor volumes were measured, using the caliper. The data was analyzed by the use of non-parametrical and ANOVA tests. Similar growth in non-irradiated control tumors was seen. After 10 or 11 fractions of one- side irradiation and total dose of 20 to 22 Gy, however, non-irradiated tumors, similar to irradiated ones, showed similar effect, reduction of size and volume different from control groups (P<0.05).The reduction of non-irradiated tumors relative to irradiation of another tumor in the same mouse is the emblem of occurrence of the abscopal effect. The mechanism of the abscopal effect is unknown but it could be related to the release of cytokines from irradiated tumors with their receptors existing on the surface of non-irradiated tumors. By induction of this effect, the remission probability of small metastases after local irradiation could be possible

Gene sets involved in prostate cancer based on differential expression

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men. In spite of on-going researches in this filed, the specific causes of prostate cancer are so far unknown. In this study, we used two methods of Gene Set Analysis to improve the biological interpretation of the observed expression patterns in prostate cancer. The Gene Set Analysis is a computational method to discover gene sets whose expression is associated with a phenotype of interest. In addition, we used these methods to search gene sets defined by KEGG and BioCarta. Although, our results showed that most of the gene sets were associated with prostate cancer in the Category and Hotelling’s T2 methods, the power of the Hotelling’s T2 was more than Category method in either KEGG or BioCarta gene sets. The concordance between the results of Pubmed articles and KEGG gene sets was more than the results of Pubmed articles and BioCarta gene sets

Perspectives of Oncology Unit Nurse Managers on Missed Nursing Care: A Qualitative Study

Objective: The main objective of this study was to explore factors affecting missed nursing care in oncology units from the perspective of nurse managers. Methods: Twenty nurse managers working at oncology units of referral teaching hospitals in Iran participated in this study. Data were collected through individual face-to-face and telephonic interviews using an interview guide. Focus groups were also conducted. Data were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Results: System structure, underlying factors, and barriers to missed-care reports were identified as factors that affect missed nursing care. Conclusions: Nurse managers should reduce the effects of nursing staff shortages and increased workloads in addition to providing materials and equipment. They need to distribute experienced staff according to the type of ward or patients' needs. Nurse managers should create a favorable environment for reporting missed nursing care by having an open relationship with nurses by teaching and emphasizing nursing practice. Moreover, using a nonpunitive managerial approach and minimizing the use of an apathetic management style can be helpful

Anti-Cancer Activity of Methanol Extracts of Cichorium Intybus on Human Breast Cancer SKBR3 Cell Line

Background Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer and the second cause of death among women around the world. In many cancers, including breast cancer, Fatty acid synthase (FASN) gene expression is increased significantly. In breast cancer cell lines, expression of FASN is higher in HER2 positive cell line like SKBR3 than the others. FASN is the key enzyme for fatty acid synthesis de novo pathway and it is producing palmitate which is necessary for cell membrane formation. Cichorium intybus is a medicinal plant that effectively leads to inhibition of fatty acid synthase and thus reduces the percentage of survival of cancer cell lines. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of methanol extract of Chicorium intybus root on percentage of survival in SKBR3 cell line. Methods Human breast cancer SKBR3 cell line was cultured in DMEM medium. Methanol extract of Cichorium intybus root was extracted and different dilutions (200, 300, 400, 500 and 600µg/mL) were added to cell culture. Cell viability was quantitated by MTT assay after 24, 48 and 72 hours. Results Cichorium intybus could decrease cell viability. The effects of extract on cell viability were observed after 24, 48 and 72 hours on SKBR3 cell line and IC50 was 800, 400 and 300 after 24, 48 and 72 hours of treatment, respectively. Conclusions Our study shows that methanol extract of Cichorium intybus has cytotoxic effects on tumor cells. This is a pilot work for further evaluation in the future

Gene-set analysis on acute lymphoblastic leukemia microarray

Introduction: Gene-set analysis of microarray data determines biological pathways or gene setswith differential expression in a phenotype of interest. In contrast to the analysis of individual genes, gene-set analysis utilizes existing biological knowledge of genes in assessing differential expression. This paper compared the biological performance of two gene-set analysis methods.Materials and Methods: To determinegene sets, which are differentially expressed between acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with BCR/ABL and those with no observed cytogenetic abnormalities, the real microarray data come from a clinical trial in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia were used in this study. For this reason, we used two GSA methods; GSEA-category and Global test and then the data were analyzedusing by R software.Results: Globaltest identified 114 out of 200 gene sets introduced in KEGG with differentially expressed on comparing the group with BCR/ABL to those with no observed cytogenetic abnormalities. While Category could identify just 30 gene sets of this set.Conclusion: Both of used methods include number of gene sets affecting ALL. So the more thorough study is needed to identify the more metric method. Evaluation of common gene sets among the two methods could identify the latest findings of biologists only by the used statistical methods