Anti-cancer drugs

AIM: Tumor endothelial markers (TEMs) are a newly discovered family of endothelial markers associated with tumor specific angiogenesis. This study sought to examine the levels of expression (qualitatively and quantitatively) for TEMs in human colon cancer. METHODS: Human colorectal cancer tissues (n = 48) and normal background tissues (n = 31) were obtained after surgery. RNA was extracted from frozen sections for gene amplification. The expression of TEMs (TEM-1 to TEM-8) was assessed using RT-PCR and their transcript levels were determined using real-time-quantitative PCR (Q-RT-PCR). RESULTS: TEM-1 (P = 0.01), TEM-7 (P = 0.04), TEM-7R (P = 0.03), TEM-8 (P = 0.001) significantly raised in colon cancer tissues compared with the levels detected in normal background tissues. The expressions of TEM-2 and TEM-6 were found to be not significantly different between tumor tissues and normal tissues (P>0.05). Patients who had cancer penetrating into and through the muscularis propria of the bowel wall and developed nodal involvement (Dukes C) exhibited significantly higher levels of TEM -8 compared to patients who were node negative (P<0.05). TEM-7 and TEM-7R showed high level of transcripts in Dukes C, but they were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The level of the expression of TEM-1, TEM-7, TEM-7R and TEM-8 (but not TEM-2 and TEM-6) were associated with both nodal involvement and disease progression, and may therefore, have a prognostic value in colorectal cancer.

Lung cancer is an aggressive disease that is the leading cause of death from cancer in both males and females. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for approximately 75% of all cases of lung cancer, and of these about 75% have locally advanced or disseminated disease. Most patients diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer do not survive more than 2 years. Although chemotherapy has been shown to control symptoms and improve quality of life, there remains no standard, optimal chemotherapy regimen for non-small cell lung cancer. Regardless of regimen and chemotherapy agents administered, clinical trials have demonstrated response rates of 20% to 30%, median survival times between 35 and 40 weeks, and 1-year survival rates of 20% to 25%. Because traditional chemotherapy regimens have not shown substantial promise, new strategies are being explored for the treatment of lung cancer, including overcoming drug resistance, the use of antimetastatic and antiangiogenesis drugs, drugs that target novel molecular markers, signal transduction modulators, gene therapy, and vaccines. There are few but exciting new developments that may signal a more promising future for patients with lung cancer.

Oncology (Huntingt) 2002 May;16(5 Suppl 4):37-51
Current application of selective COX-2 inhibitors in cancer prevention and treatment
Stratton MS, Alberts DS
Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson 85719, USA

The multistep process of carcinogenesis, which can take many years, provides many opportunities for intervention to inhibit disease progression. Effective chemoprevention agents may reduce the risk of cancer by inhibiting the initiation stage of carcinoma through induction of apoptosis or DNA repair in cells harboring mutations, or they may act to prevent promotion of tumor growth. Similarly, chemoprevention may entail blocking cancer progression to an invasive phenotype. Over the past decade, in vitro, preclinical, and clinical data have supported the hypothesis that cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 plays a central role in oncogenesis and that treatment with COX-2 inhibitors offers an effective chemoprevention strategy, as exemplified by the activity of celecoxib (Celebrex) in familial adenomatous polyposis. These COX-2 data have contributed to initiation of clinical trials testing COX-2 inhibitors for the chemoprevention of a wide variety of cancers that overexpress COX-2.