Arsenic is a human bladder carcinogen. Inorganic arsenic and methylated metabolites are excreted from the human body in urine. This study investigates the effects of arsenite [As(III)] and monomethylarsonous acid [MMA(III)] on human urothelial cells (UROtsa). Cytotoxicity studies found that MMA(III) was 20 times more toxic than As(III). In addition, UROtsa cells have the ability to biotransform As(III) to pentavalent and trivalent mono-methylated metabolites.To understand the mechanism of arsenic carcinogenesis, it is necessary to know which arsenicals are carcinogenic. Therefore, non-tumorigenic UROtsa cells were chronically exposed to 0.05 uM MMA(III) and monitored for signs of transformation. MMA(III)-treated cells (URO-MSC) became hyperproliferative after 12 weeks of exposure. Anchorage-independent growth was detected after 24 weeks of exposure to MMA(III). Gene array analysis conducted in URO-MSC cells after 52 weeks of exposure detected expression changes consistent with malignant transformation. Enhanced tumorigenicity in SCID mouse xenografts was also observed after 52 weeks of treatment.URO-MSC cells form squamous cell carcinoma, a histology associated with inflammation, when injected into SCID mice. Induction of cycolooxygenase-2 (COX-2) promotes proliferation, angiogenesis, and survival in cancer cells. To identify a potential mechanism of MMA(III) carcinogenesis, the effects of chronic and acute MMA(III) treatment on COX-2 expression were investigated. Western blot analysis revealed that COX-2 was induced in a time-dependent manner in URO-MSC cells. Acute MMA(III) exposure also increased COX-2 protein. To identify signal transduction pathways responsible for COX-2 induction, pharmacological inhibitors of various signaling pathways were co-administered with 0.05 uM MMA(III) and identified src and extracellular signal regulated protein kinase (ERK) activation to be responsible for COX-2 induction. Thus, MMA(III) causes ligand-independent activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which activates the signal cascade responsible for COX-2 expression. EGFR is elevated in URO-MSC cells. To determine if EGFR is a key mediator of URO-MSC cell tumorigenicity, inhibitors of downstream signal transduction (src, PI3K, and COX-1/-2) were found to reduce URO-MSC cell viability and growth in soft agar. Results from this work not only identify that MMA(III) can induce malignant transformation in human cells but also provides insight into the mechanism of arsenic-induced bladder cancer.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Bladder cancer (BlCa) is the second most common genitourinary cancer, affecting both men and women. Most (70%) cases present at the superficial stage; 20% of these recur with muscle-invasive disease. Major genetic alterations associated with BlCa include: loss/gain in expression or mutations in Retinoblastoma (RB) gene, human epidermal growth factor receptors (HERs), H-ras, p53 and FGFR3. Only p53 mutations are well correlated with invasive BlCa; other changes show variable correlations with disease status. To understand the progression of BlCa, a model of nine human BlCa cell sublines derived from a single parent but differing in in vivo characteristics, has been developed previously. These cells represent a heterogenous population from a single tumour and a model of different stages of BlCa progression, from non-tumourigenic to invasive. Two sublines were selected for further investigation: C3 (non-tumourigenic) and B8 (invasive). These were transfected with green (C3-GSP-2) and red fluorescent reporters (B8-RSP-gck) respectively to investigate the effects of their co-injection in vivo, specifically, promotion of C3 tumour growth by B8 cells. Surprisingly, B8 tumour growth was inhibited by C3 cells in vivo at different cell numbers and proportions of cells injected. Microarray analysis of C3 and B8 cells revealed differential expression of 1367 genes with dramatic differences in the transforming growth factor-?? and integrin-mediated pathways. Gene expression of BMP2, INHBB, FST, NOG, ID4 and TGF- ??1, in the TGF- ?? pathway was further analysed with qRT-PCR in all nine sublines. Expression of BMP2 was significantly related to tumourigenic potential (p=0.0238, Mann-Whitney) and INHBB to invasive ability (p=0.0476, Mann-Whitney). The BlCa model did not include a metastatic component. To broaden the model, cell lines were established from an invaded lymph-node (B8-RSP-LN) and a bone-metastasis (B8-RSP-BN) after subcutaneous and intra-cardiac injection of B8-RSP-gck cells. No significant differences were observed in the migratory capability and anchorage-independent colony formation of these metastatic cells compared with B8 cells. Evaluation of expression of the panel of TGF-beta genes (BMP2, INHBB, FST, NOG, ID4 and TGF- ??1) and metastasis-related genes (MMP9, MMP2 and KAI1) indicated that expression of BMP2, FST, ID4 and MMP9 was decreased or lost in the metastatic sublines.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Paediatrics, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 231-266.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 67 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982. / Also available in print.

Thesis--Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen. / Summary in English and Danish. Bibliography: p. 219-[225]

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:22:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-02-27. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-12-10T14:29:05Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000854691.pdf: 2953891 bytes, checksum: b9ca6d4c16761fe914f8188162cddefb (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O câncer de bexiga é a malignidade mais comum do trato urinário. O tratamento mais estipulado atualmente para os casos de câncer de bexiga não-músculo invasivo (CBNMI) é uma ressecção transuretral associada à administração de dose intravesical de manutenção de Bacillus de Calmette-Guerín (BCG). Entretanto, a imunoterapia com BCG também causa efeitos indesejáveis, além de aumentar a taxa de recidiva da doença secundária à interrupção do tratamento. Nesse contexto, o óxido de grafeno (GO) e/ou o óxido de grafeno reduzido (rGO) têm atraído significativo interesse no campo da detecção biológica, drug delivery e nas terapias anti-tumorais. Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi caracterizar e comparar os efeitos antitumorais da Doxorrubicina (DOXO) e da Cisplatina (CIS) funcionalizadas na dispersão rGO com polímero Pluronic® F-68 frente ao tratamento do CBNMI. Inicialmente, foi realizada a caracterização do composto de rGO para conhecer suas propriedades químicas. Foram utilizadas 30 ratas da variedade Fischer 344, sendo constituído um grupo controle de cinco animais (Grupo 1), os quais receberam 0,3 mL de solução fisiológica à 0,9% por via intraperitoneal (i.p.). Nos demais animais foram administradas doses de 1,5 mg/kg de N-metil-N-nitrosouréia (MNU) intravesical (i.v.) e, após quatro doses, foram divididos em cinco grupos: Grupo Câncer (Grupo 2), Grupo Câncer+rGO (Grupo 3), Grupo Câncer+rGO+CIS (Grupo 4), Grupo Câncer+rGO+DOXO (Grupo 5) e Grupo Câncer+rGO+CIS+DOXO (Grupo 6), os quais receberam respectivamente: mesmo tratamento do Grupo 1; dose 0,2mL na concentração de 0,2mg/mL de rGO; 0,2mL da dispersão rGO com CIS a 0,05mg; 0,2mg de DOXO em 0,2mL da dispersão e 0,2mL da dispersão com as mesmas concentrações de quimioterápicos que os Grupos 4 e 5. Todos os tratamentos foram por via i.p., com administração semanal durante seis semanas consecutivas. Após 16 semanas de... / Bladder cancer is the most common malignancy of the urinary tract. The recommended first-line treatment for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) following transurethral resection, is an induction course plus maintenance with intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG). However, BCG immunotherapy causes undesirable effects, which contributes to treatment interruption, increasing cancer index recurrence. In this context, graphene oxide (GO) and/or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has attracted increasing interest in the field of biological detection, drug delivery and cancer therapies. Thus, the aim of this study was to characterize and to compare the antitumor effects of Doxorubicin (DOXO) and Cisplatin (CIS) functionalized in rGO on dispersion with Pluronic F-68 polymer to the treatment of NMIBC. Initially, the characterization of the compound guarantee its chemical properties. It was used 30 female Fischer 344 rats, consisting a control group of five animals (Group 1), which received 0.3 ml of saline 0.9% intraperitoneally (i.p.). The remaining animals received 1.5 mg/kg of N-methyl-N-Nitrosourea (MNU) intravesical (i.v.) and after four doses, they were divided into five groups: Cancer Group (Group 2), Cancer + rGO Group (Group 3), Cancer + rGO + CIS Group (Group 4), Cancer + rGO + DOXO Group (Group 5), Cancer rGO + CIS + DOXO Group (Group 6), which received, respectively: the same treatment as group 1; received 0.2 mL dose at a concentration of 0.2mg/ml; received 0.2 mL of rGO dispersion with 0.05mg CIS; received 0.2 mg of DOXO in 0.2 mL of the dispersion; received 0.2 mL of rGO dispersion with the same chemotherapy combinations that groups 4 and 5. All treatments were i.p., with weekly administration during six consecutive weeks. After 16 weeks of treatment, urinary bladders were collected for histopathological, immunohistochemical and biochemical analysis, and still, blood collected for performing biochemical analyzes to obtain ...