During the several years in which this therapy has been developed and evaluated, as standard dermatological preparation has not been available. The objective of the present work was to study the release of 5-FU from various ointment bases and to attempt to determine the type of base which would release the compound most satisfactorily. The methods chosen were designed to determine the release and penetration of 5-FU both by in vitro and in vivo methods. A modified agar plate method was chosen as the in vitro test for measuring release and subsequent diffusion into the agar. The penetration of the compound from various bases was determined by applying the medicated bases to the skin of guinea pigs and subsequently analyzing a biopsy of the inuncted skin, using quantitative spectrophotometry.

Breast cancer is fast becoming the leading cause of mortality in women worldwide. As of this year, there are more than 3.1 million women with a history of breast cancer in the U.S., and about 41,760 women are expected to die from this disease. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) has become a well-established therapy in the treatment of patients with locally advanced or primarily inoperable breast cancer. It consists of 3-9 months of drug treatment to shrink the tumor size before surgical removal of any remaining mass. A pathological complete response (pCR) is defined as complete disappearance of the tumor before surgery and correlates with 5-year overall survival of the treated patient. However, only 15-40% of subjects who undergo NAC will achieve a pCR, while the remaining patients do not benefit from a therapy that has considerable side effects. In this Ph.D. thesis, I explore the potential of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) for breast cancer imaging and NAC monitoring. The overall objective is two-fold. First, I seek to identify breast cancer patients who will not respond to NAC shortly after the initiation of a 5-9 months therapy regimen. Identifying these patients early will allow a switch to a more promising therapy and avoiding months of ineffective therapy with a drug regimen that has considerable side effects. Second, I use the optical data simultaneously obtained from the contralateral, non-tumor bearing breast to better understand the factors that modulate breast density and the source of its contrast in DOT. This work analyzed DOT data from 105 patients with stage II-III breast cancer under NAC regimen. Data processing and image analysis protocols were developed to more effectively evaluate static tissue contrast and dynamic functional imaging of the breast. Notably, we observed that there are differences in the time evolution of DOT features between pCR and non-pCR tumors under NAC, and DOT features can contribute to the successful prediction of pCR status from pretreatment imaging. Lastly, our analysis demonstrated a positive correlation between DOT feature and mammographic density classification, which could lead to research on the potential use of DOT as a predictor of breast cancer as well as an assessment tool to longitudinally evaluate the efficacy of chemoprevention strategies. These findings represent important steps towards the translation of DOT into current clinical workflow to contribute to better-personalized breast cancer therapies and breast cancer risk management.

No description available.

Mounting evidence implicates persister cancer cells as the key element of minimal residual disease (MRD) from which cancer relapse occurs. The observation that persister cells are differentially and specifically sensitive to ferroptosis, a unique form of metabolically-linked cell death, presents a critical weak point through which identification and targeting of persister cells in MRD may become possible. To identify biomarkers for targetable cells, the drivers of ferroptosis sensitivity in persister cells must be identified. Using three chemotherapeutics and cell lines, we derived persister models across diverse tissues of origin and found that: 1) activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), previously demonstrated as central to lung cancer persister state formation, is differentially expressed in prostate and fibrosarcoma persisters vs parentals, 2) proteins key to ferroptosis are underexpressed in persisters, and revert expression upon persister to parental reversion, 3) the lung persister lipidome is significantly rewired to drive ferroptosis and 4) upon persister to parental reversion and re-acquisition of ferroptosis resistance, the lipid signature also reverts back to a parental-like state, and 5) although ATF4 elimination in persisters does not revert ferroptosis sensitivity, mitochondrial elimination in persisters does abrogate ferroptotic sensitivity. Collectively, these findings reveal the mechanism of persister ferroptosis sensitivity across multiple cancer types, opening up the possibility of leveraging ferroptosis for elimination of minimal residual disease.

No description available.

No description available.

Wong, Wai Ki Vicky. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-131). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iv / Acknowledgements --- p.vi / Table of contents --- p.vii / List of tables --- p.xii / List of figures --- p.xiii / List of abbreviations --- p.xiv / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Colorectal cancer / Chapter 2.1 --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Colorectal cancer --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Incident rate of colorectal cancer --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Hereditary colorectal cancer --- p.9 / Chapter 2.1.4 --- Sporadic colorectal cancer and Wnt signaling pathway --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.5 --- Chemotherapy treatment of colorectal cancer --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.5.1 --- 5-Fluorouracil --- p.12 / Chapter 2.1.5.2 --- Oxaliplatin --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.5.3 --- Irinotecan --- p.14 / Chapter 2.1.6 --- Biomarkers for colorectal cancer --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.6.1 --- Thymidylate synthase --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1.6.2 --- Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.6.3 --- Thymidine phosphorylase --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.6.4 --- Microsatellite-instability status --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.6.5 --- Clinical uses of biomarkers for colorectal cancer --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.7 --- Choice of cell line as colorectal cancer model --- p.17 / Chapter 2.1.8 --- Aims of study --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2 --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Verification of SW480 as a nuclear β-catenin positive cell line / Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Maintenance of cell lines --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Antibody --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1.3 --- Agar block preparation for SW480 and CCD-18C0 cells --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.1.4 --- Immunocytochemical staining --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Effect of anti-cancer drugs on cell viability / Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- Maintenance of cell lines --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- MTT cell viability assay --- p.23 / Chapter 2.3 --- Results / Chapter 2.3.1 --- SW480 is a β-catenin positive cell line --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Antiproliferative effects of cytotoxic drugs in SW480 cells / Chapter 2.3.2.1 --- 5-Fluorouracil --- p.26 / Chapter 2.3.2.2 --- Oxaliplatin --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3.2.3 --- Irinotecan --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Discussion / Chapter 2.4.1 --- SW480 as a nuclear β-catenin positive cell line --- p.33 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Antiproliferative effects of 5-fluorouracil in SW480 cells --- p.33 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Summary --- p.34 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Effect of 5-fluorouracil on mRNA expression in SW480 cells / Chapter 3.1 --- Literature Review / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Application of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in cancer research / Chapter 3.1.1.1 --- Principles of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction --- p.36 / Chapter 3.1.1.2 --- Advantages of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction over conventional polymerase chain reaction --- p.39 / Chapter 3.1.1.3 --- Determination of colorectal cancer biomarkers by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction --- p.39 / Chapter 3.2 --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Determination of the effect of 5-fluorouracil on mRNA expression in SW480 cells / Chapter 3.2.1.1 --- Treatment of cells --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.1.2 --- Extraction of total RNA from SW480 cells --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.1.3 --- Removal of genomic DNA --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2.1.4 --- Determination of the efficiency of genomic DNA removal --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2.1.5 --- Determination of the purity and concentration of RNA --- p.42 / Chapter 3.2.1.6 --- Determination of the integrity of RNA --- p.43 / Chapter 3.2.1.7 --- First strand cDNA synthesis --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2.1.8 --- Real-time polymerase chain reaction using human Wnt signaling pathway RT2 ProfileŕёØ PCR array --- p.44 / Chapter 3.2.1.9 --- Calculation of the fold-change in genes expression between the 5-FU treated and control SW480 cells --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results / Chapter 3.3.1 --- The quality and quantity of RNA --- p.46 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Effects of 5-fluorouracil on genes expression in SW480 cells --- p.48 / Chapter 3.4 --- Discussion / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Alterations in mRNA expression in 5-fluorouracil treated SW480 cells --- p.55 / Chapter 3.4.1.1 --- Extracellular signaling molecules --- p.55 / Chapter 3.4.1.2 --- Canonical Wnt signaling pathway --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4.1.3 --- Regulators of cell cycle --- p.57 / Chapter 3.4.1.4 --- Regulators of growth and proliferation --- p.58 / Chapter 3.4.1.5 --- Regulators of transcription --- p.58 / Chapter 3.4.1.6 --- Regulators of Wnt receptor signaling pathway --- p.60 / Chapter 3.4.1.7 --- Other genes involved in Wnt signaling --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Limitations of Q-RT-PCR --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Summary --- p.62 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Effect of 5-fluorouracil on proteins expression in SW480 cells / Chapter 4.1 --- Literature Review / Chapter 4.1.1 --- From mRNA to proteins --- p.63 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- Application of proteomics in cancer research --- p.63 / Chapter 4.1.3 --- Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis --- p.64 / Chapter 4.1.4 --- Principles of MALDI TOF mass spectrometry --- p.64 / Chapter 4.1.5 --- Peptide mass fingerprinting --- p.65 / Chapter 4.1.6 --- Drug response proteins detected by proteomics in colorectal cancer cell lines --- p.65 / Chapter 4.1.7 --- Detection of biomarker in colorectal cancer formation using proteomics --- p.66 / Chapter 4.2 --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Determination of the effect of 5-fluorouracil on proteins expression in SW480 cells / Chapter 4.2.1.1 --- Treatment of cells --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2.1.2 --- Cell lysis --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2.1.3 --- Protein quantitation of cell lysate --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2.1.4 --- Sample preparation for two-dimensional electrophoresis --- p.68 / Chapter 4.2.1.5 --- Two-dimensional electrophoresis --- p.69 / Chapter 4.2.1.6 --- Silver staining --- p.69 / Chapter 4.2.1.7 --- Image analysis --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.1.8 --- In-gel protein digestion --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.1.9 --- Peptide mass fingerprinting using mass spectrometry --- p.71 / Chapter 4.3 --- Results / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Protein expression patterns of 5-fluorouracil treated and untreated SW480 cells by 2-dimensional electrophoresis --- p.72 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Identification of the differentially expressed proteins after 5-fluorouracil treatment in SW480 cells --- p.75 / Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Effects of 5-fluorouracil on protein expression in SW480 cells --- p.82 / Chapter 4.4.1.1 --- Identified upregulated proteins after 5-fluorouracil treatment in SW480 cells / Chapter 4.4.1.1.1 --- Cyclophilin A --- p.83 / Chapter 4.4.1.1.2 --- Cytokeratin 19 --- p.83 / Chapter 4.4.1.1.3 --- Cytokeratin 8 --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.1.1.4 --- RAN --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.1.1.5 --- Heat shock protein 27 --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4.1.1.6 --- Peroxiredoxin 6 --- p.85 / Chapter 4.4.1.2 --- Identified dowiiregulated proteins after 5-fluorouracil treatment in SW480 cells / Chapter 4.4.1.2.1 --- Heat shock protein 60 --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.2 --- Cytokeratin 18 --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.3 --- Cytokeratin 9 --- p.86 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.4 --- Carbamoylphosphate synthetase I --- p.87 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.5 --- a-Enolase --- p.87 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.6 --- Heat shock protein 70 --- p.87 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.7 --- nm23 --- p.88 / Chapter 4.4.1.2.8 --- β-actin --- p.88 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Limitations of proteomics profiling --- p.89 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Summary --- p.90 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- Verification of proteinśة identities by immunocytochemical staining / Chapter 5.1 --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Antibodies --- p.91 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Treatment of cells --- p.91 / Chapter 5.1.3 --- Agar block preparation of SW480 cells --- p.92 / Chapter 5.1.4 --- Immunocytochemical staining and evaluation --- p.92 / Chapter 5.1.5 --- Polymer-based immunohistochemical detection system --- p.93 / Chapter 5.1.6 --- Statistical analyses --- p.93 / Chapter 5.2 --- Results / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Confirmation of proteomic findings using immunocytochemical stainings in paraffin-embedded sections of 5-fluorouracil treated and untreated SW480 cells --- p.94 / Chapter 5.3 --- Discussion / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Immunocytochemical staining to verify proteomics findings of 5-fluorouracil treated and untreated SW480 cells --- p.99 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Limitations of ICC staining --- p.100 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Summary --- p.100 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Conclusions and future perspectives / Chapter 6.1 --- Significance of study --- p.101 / Chapter 6.2 --- Future perspectives --- p.102 / References --- p.105

This work is concerned with the design and synthesis of the cheap, late first row transition metal complexes of Schiff base ligand systems. The prepared complexes readily afford systematic variation in order to probe potency and understand the role of metal, chelating ligands and anionic ligands when carrying out their cytotoxic effect. This study has lead to a better understanding of the action of these classes of complex and will be used to direct the design of new anti-cancer metallopharmaceuticals going forward. This thesis details the synthesis of a library of Schiff base macroacyclic ligands and their novel late first row transition metal complexes with varying anionic counterparts. The creation of a library with several degrees of variability provides a wide array of parameters to afford subtle variation in structure and chemistry e.g. denticity, co-ordination mode, chelate hole size, metal centred redox potentials, hydrolysis rates, co-ordinative saturation, lipophilicity, solubility and more. Complexation of the ligands was carried out by the free ligand and a novel macroacyclic metal template approach using the cheap late first row transition metal salts of Cobalt (II), Nickel (II), Copper (II) and Zinc (II) plus one Ru (III) complex. Structural studies of the 80 generated complexes was carried out by vibrational spectroscopy, elemental analysis, mass spectrometry, magnetic susceptibility and NMR. Single crystal X-ray structures have been determined with 20 reported in this thesis. All ligands act as tridentate ligands in all except one case to form monomeric distorted trigonal-bipyramidal, square-pyramidal or octahedral structures. In the case of zinc nitrate, the ligand L2PhMe acts as a tetradentate ligand to give a distorted octahedral structure. Paramagnetic NMR and solution magnetic susceptibility of paramagnetic complexes was achieved by the Evans NMR method and analysis of the solution NMR showed that L2R and L3R ligands display 2-fold symmetry and are likely either tetradentate in solution or a fast exchange between imine N-donar sites is occurring even down to -65°C. The majority of the resulting complexes of L1R were screened against a panel of three cancer cell lines. Several categories of complex were able to afford structure activity relationships. It was discovered that the ligand is indeed essential for activity of the metal salts against the panel of cell lines and it was largely discovered that the variation in 'tail group' and anionic coordinating ligands played little role in providing a dramatic variation in activity of the metal salt. In general all L1R complexes displayed moderate cytotoxicity showing a trend in activity with respect to the metal in the order RuIII≈CoII>CuII≈ZnII>NiII, over a 6 day exposure to the three cell panel RuIII was shown to be the most potent metal of the L1R series providing IC50 values of 4.6 (0.7) and 7.5 (1.2) μM against the DLD-1 and H460 cell lines respectively, which is Ca. 4.6 and 15 times less potent than cisplatin to the same cell panel respectively. RuIII was also discovered to be the only metal to provide an IC50 value from a 1 hour exposure to the DLD-1 cell panel. The value of 20.4 (3.5) μM is a moderate figure but again Ca. 10 fold less potent than cisplatin for the same test. The L2R and L3R complexes could not be screened by the same comprehension due to their low solubilities. However the lone screen that was possible from the very sparingly soluble complex [CuCl2(L3Bui)] gave the most exciting result and most potent complex of this thesis. After a 6 day exposure, [CuCl2(L3Bui)] gave IC50 values of 4.3 (0.1) and 2.9 (0.1) μM against the DLD-1 and H460 cell lines respectively. These values are merely 4 and 6 fold more than Cisplatin to the same cell lines respectively and demonstrates the potential of this class of complex as cytostatic agents. Further studies utilising a semi-quantitative DNA damaging assay, demonstrated that all first row complexes can damage DNA when in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, with the exception of ZnII complexes. CoII appeared to afford the greatest DNA damage with the most intsense bands for double strand breaks and the CuII complex of the ligand L3Bui also demonstrated a greater DNA damage as opposed to its L1Bui analogue.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. March 2015 / Lung cancer is currently the most deadly form of cancer due to the fact that metastasis occurs in the lymph nodes making it difficult to remove by surgical means. Chemotherapy has been the most successful method of treatment, although it has been harmful to human health as a consequence of non-specific cytotoxicity. There has been, therefore, a growing interest in cancer research to develop alternative cancer treatments, which are less toxic. Currently plant-derived drugs are perceived to be more effective as they display both cytotoxic activity and are less harmful to overall human health. Thus the aim of the study was to determine the cytotoxic effects of the plant Lobostemon fruticosus on A549 cells. The IC50 of the methanol and butanol extracts of L. fruticosus were obtained at 40 μg/ml and 50 μg/ml, respectively. DNA fragmentation was observed after 48 hour exposure to treatments, indicating that the plant extracts induced apoptosis. Cell cycle analysis indicated that the plant extracts inhibited cell cycle progression at the sub-G0 phase, which indicated that the cells had undergone apoptosis. RT-PCR showed that the expression of p53 was down-regulated; however, p21 and Bax were up-regulated in all treatments. LC-MS identified that the compounds from the plant extracts are known apoptotic inducers. The results lead to the conclusion that the extracts of L. fruticosus, induce cell death in A549 cells. The plant extracts induced a p53-independent apoptotic mechanism, which was mediated by Bax and p21. Key words: Lobostemon fruticosus, camptothecin, taxol, Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Introdução: A cardiotoxicidade aguda e subaguda pode ser caracterizada pelo prolongamento do intervalo QT corrigido (QTc) e demais medidas derivadas do intervalo QTc, como: a dispersão do intervalo QTc (QTdc) e a dispersão transmural da repolarização (DTpTe). No entanto, ainda não foi determinado se pacientes com neoplasia de mama submetidas ao esquema quimioterápico com antraciclina, ciclofosfamida e taxano (ACT) podem apresentar prolongamento do intervalo QTc, da QTdc e da DTpTe. Os objetivos deste estudo foram 1. avaliar o efeito da quimioterapia ACT no intervalo QTc, 2. avaliar o efeito da quimioterapia ACT na QTdc e na DTpTe, 3.avaliar os biomarcadores cardioespecíficos como a troponina e o peptídeo natriurético do tipo B (BNP), e 4. avaliar manifestações clínicas de cardiotoxicidade, como a presença de: arritmias cardíacas, insuficiência cardíaca (ICC), angina e morte cardiovascular em pacientes com neoplasia de mama. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo de coorte prospectivo em que 23 pacientes com neoplasia de mama não metastática foram acompanhadas durante o tratamento quimioterápico com o esquema ACT. As medidas do intervalo QTc, da QTdc e da DTpTe foram determinadas pelo eletrocardiograma (ECG) de 12 derivações antes do início da quimioterapia (basal), após a primeira fase com antraciclina e ciclofosfamida (AC), e ao final do tratamento com taxano (T). Biomarcadores como troponina e BNP também foram analisados. Resultados: Quando comparado aos valores basais, houve prolongamento do intervalo QTc após a primeira fase da quimioterapia - AC, 439,7 ms ± 33,2 vs 472,5 ms ± 36,3, (p = 0,001) e ao final do tratamento com taxano, 439,7 ms ± 33,2 vs 467,9 ms ± 42,6, (p < 0,001). A dosagem média de troponina sérica, quando comparada aos valores basais, apresentou elevação após o término da primeira fase da quimioterapia - AC, 6,0 pg/mL [min-max. 6,0 - 22,0] vs 23,0 pg/mL [min-max. 6,0 - 85,0], (p < 0,001) e ao final do tratamento com taxano, 6,0 pg/mL [min-max. 6,0 - 22,0] vs 25,0 pg/mL [min-max. 6,0 - 80,0], (p < 0,001). A QTdc, a DTpTe e os níveis séricos de BNP não mostraram diferenças com significância estatística. Durante o seguimento clínico não houve nenhum óbito e nenhuma constatação de angina, ICC e arritmias cardíacas. Conclusão: Em pacientes com neoplasia de mama não metastática submetidas à quimioterapia com esquema ACT, houve prolongamento do intervalo QTc e elevação dos níveis séricos de troponina / Background: Acute and subacute cardiotoxicity are characterized by prolongation of the corrected QT interval (QTc) and other measures derived from the QTc interval, such as the QTc dispersion (QTdc) and the transmural dispersion of repolarization (DTpTe). Although anthracyclines prolong the QTc interval, it is unknown whether breast cancer patients who undergo a chemotherapy regimen with anthracycline (A; doxorubicin), cyclophosphamide (C) and taxane (T; ACT regimen) may present with QTc, QTdc and DTpTe prolongation. Methods: Twenty-three patients with breast cancer were followed up in a prospective study during ACT chemotherapy. QTc, QTdc and DTpTe measurements were determined by a 12-lead electrocardiogram (EKG) prior to chemotherapy (baseline), after the first phase of anthracycline and cyclophosphamide (AC), and after T treatment. Biomarkers such as troponin and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) were also measured. Results: When compared to baseline values, the QTc interval showed a statistically significant prolongation after the AC phase (439.7 ± 33.2 msec vs 472.5 ± 36.3 msec, p = 0.001) and after T treatment (439.7 ± 33.2 msec vs 467.9 ± 42.6 msec, p < 0.001). Troponin levels were elevated after the AC phase (23.0 pg/mL [min-max: 6.0 - 85.0] vs 6.0 pg/mL [min-max: 6.0 - 22.0], p < 0.001) and again after T treatment (25.0 pg/mL [min-max: 6.0 - 80.0] vs 6.0 pg/mL [min-max: 6.0 - 22.0], p < 0.001) compared to the baseline values. Conclusion: In patients with non-metastatic breast cancer who underwent ACT chemotherapy, a statistically significant QTc prolongation and an elevation in serum troponin levels were observed