scholarly journals EDITORIAL: The critical role of nurse practitioners in the care of cancer patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Weller
2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhawna Sharma ◽  
Kalyan Nannuru ◽  
Sugandha Saxena ◽  
Michelle Varney ◽  
Rakesh Singh

Most breast cancer patients die due to bone metastasis. Although metastasis accounts for 5% of the breast cancer cases, it is responsible for most of the deaths. Sometimes even before the detection of a primary tumor, most of the patients have bone and lymph node metastasis. Moreover, at the time of death, breast cancer patients have the bulk of the tumor burden in their bones. Therapy options are available for the treatment of primary tumors, but there are minimal options for treating breast cancer patients who have bone metastasis. C-X-C motif chemokine receptor type 2 (CXCR2) receptor-mediated signaling has been shown to play a critical role during bone-related inflammations and its ligands C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 6 (CXCL6) and 8 (CXCL8) aid in the resorption of bone during bone metastasis. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that CXCR2 contributes to mammary tumor-induced osteolysis and bone metastasis. In the present study, we examined the role of both tumor cell-derived and host-derived CXCR2 in influencing mammary tumor cell bone metastasis. For understanding the role of tumor cell-derived CXCR2, we utilized Cl66 CXCR2 knockdown (Cl66-shCXCR2) and Cl66-Control cells (Cl66-Control) and observed a significant decrease in tumor growth and tumor-induced osteolysis in Cl66-shCXCR2 cells in comparison with the Cl66-Control cells. Next, for understanding the role of host-derived CXCR2, we utilized mice with genomic knockdown of CXCR2 (Cxcr2−/−) and injected Cl66-Luciferase (Cl66-Luc) or 4T1-Luciferase (4T1-Luc) cells. We observed decreased bone destruction and metastasis in the bone of Cxcr2−/− mice. Our data suggest the importance of both tumor cell- and host-derived CXCR2 signaling in the bone metastasis of breast cancer cells.


Genes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rawat ◽  
Kadian ◽  
Gupta ◽  
Kumar ◽  
Chain ◽  
...  

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive malignancies, accounting for more than 45,750 deaths annually in the U.S. alone. The aggressive nature and late diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, coupled with the limitations of existing chemotherapy, present the pressing need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Recent reports have demonstrated a critical role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. Furthermore, aberrant expressions of miRNAs have often been associated with the cause and consequence of pancreatic cancer, emphasizing the possible use of miRNAs in the effective management of pancreatic cancer patients. In this review, we provide a brief overview of miRNA biogenesis and its role in fundamental cellular process and miRNA studies in pancreatic cancer patients and animal models. Subsequent sections narrate the role of miRNA in, (i) cell cycle and proliferation; (ii) apoptosis; (iii) invasions and metastasis; and (iv) various cellular signaling pathways. We also describe the role of miRNA’s in pancreatic cancer; (i) diagnosis; (ii) prognosis and (iii) therapeutic intervention. Conclusion section describes the gist of review with future directions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingling Shu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Jinyuan Li ◽  
Xiaoping Wu ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
...  

Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is characterized by pneumonia, lymphopenia, and cytokine storms. Patients with underlying conditions, and especially cancer patients with impaired immunity, are particularly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infection and complications. Although angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2) has been identified as a cellular binding receptor for SARS-CoV-2, immunopathological changes in severe cancer patients support the investigation of additional potential receptors such as dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), a key immunoregulator. However, a comprehensive profiling analysis of DPP4 in malignancies remains obscure. In this study, using different datasets, we demonstrated the expression of DPP4 in healthy tissues and pan-cancers, showing the risk of different cancer types towards SARS-CoV-2 infection according to DPP4 expression levels. DPP4 expression was positively correlated with infiltrating levels of various immune cells and showed strong correlations with diverse immune marker sets in pan-cancer patients analyzed by Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER). These findings suggest that increased DPP4 expression in specific cancer patients might account for the high susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the induction of cytokine storms. Due to the critical role of DPP4 in immunometabolism, our results indicate that pharmacological inhibition of DPP4 might provide beneficial therapeutic effects for SARS-CoV-2 treatment together with other strategies in specific tumor patients.


2000 ◽  
Vol 118 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emad M. El–Omar ◽  
Karin Oien ◽  
Lilian S. Murray ◽  
Adil El–Nujumi ◽  
Angela Wirz ◽  
...  

Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 4918-4918
Author(s):  
Rachel Cantrell ◽  
Leah A. Rosenfeldt ◽  
Duaa Mureb ◽  
Balkrishan Sharma ◽  
Alexey Revenko ◽  
...  

A serious and life-threatening cancer-associated sequelae is venous thromboembolism (VTE). Indeed, VTE is the second leading cause of death in cancer patients, second only to the malignancy itself. Cancer patients with VTE or at high risk for VTE are generally treated with anticoagulants, which limit thrombin generation. While it's been widely accepted that thrombin plays a role in cancer progression, the effects thrombin has on other cell types within the tumor microenvironment (TME) have not been thoroughly studied. An understudied role of thrombin may be found in its ability to drive T cell functions. Recently, we have identified thrombin as a potential enhancer of CD8+ T cell effector functions by signaling through the protease activated receptor 1 (PAR-1). Our preliminary data shows that thrombin increases CD8+ T cell survival in a PAR-1 dependent fashion. CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) play a critical role in tumor clearance through their cytolytic and anti-tumor cytokine producing capacity. However, the hostile tumor microenvironment (TME) promotes a gradual reduction in CD8+ TIL capacity to produce cytokines and kill targets. Specific components of the TME, including PDL1 expression, are associated with loss of T cell functionality. A promising strategy to block the interaction of CD8+ TILs and the inhibitory TME components is immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) therapy, as shown by effective blockade of PD1 signaling by anti-PD1 antibodies. However, these ICI therapies leave many patients unresponsive, highlighting the necessity to uncover additional underlying mechanisms involved in modulating CD8+ T cell responses against cancer. Our preliminary findings lead us to hypothesize that thrombin, in conjunction with PD1 blockade, may work in synergy to promote CD8+ T cell killing of tumors. Consistent with our hypothesis, preliminary results suggest that thrombin is necessary for a robust anti-tumor immune response following ICI in vivo. Here, cohorts of C57BL/6 mice with low or normal circulating prothrombin levels bearing B16 tumors were treated with an anti-PD1 antibody or control IgG. Anti-PD1 therapy significantly limited tumor growth in mice with normal prothrombin levels, but had no impact on tumor growth in mice with low prothrombin levels. A major implication of our findings is that limiting thrombin generation with anticoagulants may be detrimental in the context of immune checkpoint inhibition treatment. Better defining the potential risk of reducing ICI efficacy by concurrent treatment with anticoagulants will require a detailed understanding of the role thrombin plays in cancer immunobiology. Disclosures Revenko: Ionis Pharmaceuticals: Employment. Monia:Ionis Pharmaceuticals: Employment. Palumbo:Ionis Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding.


Open Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 358-365
Author(s):  
Li Shi ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Timothy Bonney Oppong ◽  
Xiaoli Fu ◽  
Haiyan Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractSirtuin 6 (SIRT6) plays a critical role in the progression and development of gastrointestinal cancers. However, the association between SIRT6 expression and clinicopathological parameters and prognosis in gastrointestinal cancer patients remains inconclusive. Consequently, we conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the importance of SIRT6 expression in various types of gastrointestinal cancers. PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched to screen the relevant literature. The reported or estimated hazard ratio (HR) and odds ratio (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were pooled to assess the strength of the association. Nine studies involving 867 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Overall analysis showed that high SIRT6 expression was related to better overall survival in gastrointestinal cancers (HR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.47–0.82). High SIRT6 expression was also related to a favorable tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage (OR = 0.44, 95% CI = 0.28–0.70) among gastrointestinal cancer patients. Our meta-analysis revealed that high SIRT6 expression might be a potential biomarker predicting better prognosis in gastrointestinal cancers, which may offer options for gastrointestinal cancer treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (07) ◽  
pp. 1577-1592
Author(s):  
Sumei Wang ◽  
Shunqin Long ◽  
Zhiyin Deng ◽  
Wanyin Wu

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) plays a critical role in treating cancer patients. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is the main component of CAM. TCM, especially Chinese Herbal Medicine (CHM), has been increasingly used in China, some other Asian countries and European countries. It has been proven to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted-therapy, and immunotherapy. It lessens the damage caused by these therapies. CHM functions on cancer by inhibiting tumor progression and improving an organism’s immune system. Increasing evidence has shown that many CHM exert favorable effects on the immune regulation. We will summarize the role of CHM on patient’s immune system when treating cancer patients. Our evidence reveals that single herbs, including their extracts, compound formulations, and preparations, will provide current advances on CHM study, especially from the perspective of immune regulation and novel insights for CHM application in clinic. The main herbs used to treat cancer patients are health-strengthening (Fu-Zheng) herbs and pathogen eliminating (Qu-Xie) herbs. The key mechanism is regulating the immune system of cancer patients. Firstly, health-strengthening herbs are mainly functioned as immune regulatory effectors on cancer. Secondly, some of the compound formulations mainly strengthen the health of patients by regulating the immune system of cancer patients. Lastly, some Chinese medicine preparations are widely used to treat cancer for their properties of spiriting vital energy and anti-cancer effects, mainly by improving immunity. CHM plays a positive role in regulating patients’ immune system, which helps cancer patients to fight against cancer itself and finally improves patients’ life quality.


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