ABSTRACT
Cholesterol is an essential lipid that serves several important functions, including maintaining the homeostasis of cells, acting as a precursor to bile acid and steroid hormones and preserving the stability of membrane lipid rafts. 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC) is a cholesterol derivative that may be formed from cholesterol. 25-HC is a crucial component in various biological activities, including cholesterol metabolism. In recent years, growing evidence has shown that 25-HC performs a critical function in the etiology of cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. This review will summarize the latest findings regarding 25-HC, including its biogenesis, immunomodulatory properties and role in innate/adaptive immunity, inflammation and the development of various types of cancer.
Subject(s)
Hydroxycholesterols , Neoplasms , Humans , Hydroxycholesterols/metabolism , Cholesterol/metabolism , Immunity, Innate , Neoplasms/etiologyABSTRACT
A crosstalk established between tumor microenvironment and tumor cells leads to contribution or inhibition of tumor progression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are critical cells that fundamentally participate in modulation of the tumor microenvironment, and have been reported to be able to regulate and determine the final destination of tumor cell. Conflicting functions have been attributed to the activity of MSCs in the tumor microenvironment; they can confer a tumorigenic or anti-tumor potential to the tumor cells. Nonetheless, MSCs have been associated with a potential to modulate the tumor microenvironment in favouring the suppression of cancer cells, and promising results have been reported from the preclinical as well as clinical studies. Among the favourable behaviours of MSCs, are releasing mediators (like exosomes) and their natural migrative potential to tumor sites, allowing efficient drug delivering and, thereby, efficient targeting of migrating tumor cells. Additionally, angiogenesis of tumor tissue has been characterized as a key feature of tumors for growth and metastasis. Upon introduction of first anti-angiogenic therapy by a monoclonal antibody, attentions have been drawn toward manipulation of angiogenesis as an attractive strategy for cancer therapy. After that, a wide effort has been put on improving the approaches for cancer therapy through interfering with tumor angiogenesis. In this article, we attempted to have an overview on recent findings with respect to promising potential of MSCs in cancer therapy and had emphasis on the implementing MSCs to improve them against the suppression of angiogenesis in tumor tissue, hence, impeding the tumor progression.
ABSTRACT
In patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), the analysis of BRAF V600E mutation has become more and more applied since the introduction of many mutation-targeted medications. In this regard, the advantage of immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a reliable diagnostic test substitute to other molecular studies has not been approved yet. Objective. To examine the dependability of using immunohistochemical method utilizing monoclonal VE1 antibody in the detection of BRAF V600 E mutation in patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma and compare the results there with that of polymerase chain reaction (SSCP-PCR). Materials and Methods. We retrospectively identified 53 patients of whom their histopathological diagnosis was non-small-cell carcinoma of different types. Evaluation of BRAF V600E mutation was assessed using polymerase chain reaction (SSCP-PCR) and IHC using VE1 antibody. This approach was applied to all cases under the study. Results. Among the 53 NSCLC samples, only 5 (9.3%) cases harbored BRAF V600E mutation, 80% were of adenocarcinoma type, and the rest (20%) was of squamous cell carcinoma. IHC analysis for VE1 was positive in 4 out of 5 (80%) BRAF-mutated tumors and negative in all nonmutated BRAF V600 E NSCLC. Conclusion. Our results revealed that VE1 antibody IHC analysis is a promising technique that can be used to detect BRAF V600-mutated NSCLC with relatively high specificity and sensitivity and might become a potential alternative to the current molecular biological methods that are in use for this purpose.