Bo Ling, Zuliang Huang, Suoyi Huang, Li Qian, Genliang Li, Qianli Tang

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.6, pp. 561-578, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504020X15907428281601

Abstract There is growing evidence on the clinical significance of tumor microenvironment (TME) cells in predicting prognosis and therapeutic effects. However, cell interactions in tumor microenvironments have not been thoroughly studied or systematically analyzed so far. In this study, 22 immune cell components in the lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) TME were analyzed using gene expression profile from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). The TME-based molecular subtypes of LUAD were defined to evaluate further the relationship between molecular subtypes, prognosis, and clinical characteristics. A TME risk score model was constructed by using the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of… More >

GIUSEPPE STEFANO NETTI^1,*, FEDERICA SPADACCINO¹, VALERIA CATALANO¹, GIUSEPPE CASTELLANO², GIOVANNI STALLONE³, ELENA RANIERI¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.10, pp. 2235-2239, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.020209

Abstract Pentraxin-3 (PTX3), the prototype of long pentraxins, seems to influence complement system (CS) modulation. PTX3 and CS sustain carcinogenesis, enriching tumor microenvironment (TME) with pro-inflammatory molecules promoting angiogenesis in prostate cancer (PC) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Furthermore, cancer cells overexpress complement regulatory proteins, such as CD46, CD55 and CD59, which negatively affect complement pathways for support cancer cells survival. This viewpoint aims to elucidate the ambivalent role of PTX3 and the CS in the context of tumor microenvironment (TME). More >

LU YANG^1,#, YUN LIU^1,#, BOKE ZHANG², MENGSI YU³, FEN HUANG¹, YANG WEN¹, JIANGZHENG ZENG¹, YANDA LU¹, CHANGCHENG YANG¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.5, pp. 1215-1243, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018221

Abstract The aim of this study was to reveal genes associated with breast cancer metastasis, to investigate their intrinsic relationship with immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment, and to screen for prognostic biomarkers. Gene expression data of breast cancer patients and their metastases were downloaded from the GEO, TCGA database. R language package was used to screen for differentially expressed genes, enrichment analysis of genes, PPI network construction, and also to elucidate key genes for diagnostic and prognostic survival. Spearman’s r correlation was used to analyze the correlation between key genes and infiltrating immune cells. We screened 25 hub genes,… More >

ANGELES C. TECALCO-CRUZ^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.5, pp. 1209-1213, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018136

Abstract Cytoskeletal remodeling affects the shape, adhesion, and motility of cells. Cytoskeletal dynamics are modulated by matrix proteins, integrins, and several cytokines in the tumor microenvironment. In this scenario, signaling is activated by integrins and interferons, which can induce ISG15 gene expression. This gene encodes a ubiquitin-like protein that functions as a protein modifier via the ISGylation system. Furthermore, non-conjugated ISG15 acts as a cytokine-like protein. In this viewpoint, the interplay between free ISG15, protein ISGylation, and cytoskeletal dynamics in the tumor microenvironment is discussed. More >

RAGHDA A. SOLIMAN¹, RANA A. YOUNESS^1,2,*, TAMER M. MANIE³, EMAD KHALLAF⁴, MOHAMED EL-SHAZLY¹, MONA ABDELMOHSEN⁵, HEBA HANDOUSSA¹, MOHAMED Z. GAD^6,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 769-783, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016636

Abstract Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) immunotherapy has recently shown promising approach. However, some TNBC patients presented with resistance. One of the reasons was attributed to the excessive release of cytokines at the tumor microenvironment (TME) such as Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10). Fine regulation of these cytokines’ levels via non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) might alleviate the immune quiescent nature of TME at TNBC tumors. However, the extrapolation of ncRNAs as therapeutic tools is highly challenging. Therefore, disentanglement the nature for the isolation of natural compounds that could modulate the ncRNAs and their respective targets is an applicable translational… More >

FRANCESCO MAININI^*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1171-1173, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.017399

Abstract Adoptive cell therapy and Immune Checkpoint Blockade Inhibitors have recently revolutionized the field of oncology. However, these types of immunotherapeutic approaches have limited success in treating solid tumors. In particular, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells efficacy is hampered by immunosuppressive signals in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and by a limited infiltration of re-infused T cells to the tumor site. The field of nanobiotechnology applied to oncology is also rapidly expanding. Nanoparticles-based delivery systems can be employed to modulate the activity of immune cells present in the TME enhancing the efficacy of CAR-T cells. Interestingly, nano-backpacks can be attached to CAR-T… More >

Pierre-Guillaume Poureau^1,2,*, Jean-Philippe Metges²

Oncologie, Vol.23, No.1, pp. 47-59, 2021, DOI:10.32604/Oncologie.2021.15525

Abstract Immunotherapy for digestive cancers is booming and for the first time an immune checkpoint inhibitor has been granted marketing authorization for the treatment of digestive cancer. In order to better understand the mecanism of action of these treatments, their adverse events and the escape mecansim, it is necessary to know the fundamentals of cancer immunology. The innate and adaptive immune system allows the elimination of cancer cells by direct non-specific cytotoxicity (Natural Killer cells), by the development of an adaptive cell-mediated response (dendritic cells becoming antigen presenting cells, allowing the differentiation of lymphocytes naive in CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes)… More >

MENGDAN WU¹, MENGYAO SUN¹, QINHUAI LAI¹, YIN LU¹, YUYIN FU¹, YUJIA PENG¹, WEIRONG LAI¹, LISHI ZENG¹, SHENGYAN ZHAO¹, YUYAN LI¹, ZHIXIONG ZHANG¹, XIAOFENG CHEN¹, FAN QIAO¹, YIWEN ZHANG^1,*, SHIJIE ZHOU^1,2,*, LANTU GOU¹, JINLIANG YANG^1,2

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.3, pp. 589-597, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013882

Abstract The chemokine ligand 13-chemokine receptor 5 (CXCL13-CXCR5) axis has been characterized as a critical tumor-promoting signaling pathway in the tumor microenvironment (TME) in multiple types of solid tumors. In this study, we analyzed the expression profile of CXCL13 in kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) and its correlation with tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs). A monoclonal antibody against CXCL13 with high affinity and purity was generated in our lab for western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Bioinformatic analysis was performed based on bulk-seq data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)-KIRC and single-cell RNA-seq data from scRNASeqDB and PanglaoDB. Results showed that high CXCL13… More >

Jie Wu^∗,†, Yan Cai^‡, Shixiong Xu^§, Quan Long^¶, Zurong Ding^*, Cheng Dong^∗,||

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.9, No.2, pp. 95-126, 2012, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2012.009.095

Abstract The effects of vascular-disrupting treatments on normalization of tumor microvasculature and its microenvironmental flow were investigated, by mathematical modeling and numerical simulation of tumor vascular-disrupting and tumor haemodynamics. Four disrupting approaches were designed according to the abnormal characteristics of tumor microvasculature compared with the normal one. The results predict that the vascular-disrupting therapies could improve tumor microenvironment, eliminate drug barrier and inhibit metastasis of tumor cells to some extent. Disrupting certain types of vessels may get better effects. In this study, the flow condition on the networks with "vascular-disrupting according to flowrate" is the best comparing with the other three… More >

Shile Liang^†, Meghan Hoskins^†, Cheng Dong^‡

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 77-91, 2010, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2010.007.077

Abstract To complete the metastatic journey, cancer cells have to disseminate through the circulation and extravasate to distal organs. However, the extravasation process, by which tumor cells leave a blood vessel and invade the surrounding tissue from the microcirculation, remains poorly understood at the molecular level. In this study, tumor cell adhesion to the endothelium (EC) and subsequent extravasation were investigated under various flow conditions. Results have shown polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) facilitate melanoma cell adhesion to the EC and subsequent extravasation by a shear-rate dependent mechanism. Melanoma cell-PMN interactions are mediated by the binding between intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on melanoma… More >