Getting at the root and stem of brain tumors

Brain tumors are among the most aggressive and intractable types of cancer. Recent studies indicate that brain tumor cells resemble neural stem cells in terms of phenotype, signaling, and behavior in vitro. In light of these similarities, it has been suggested that brain tumors arise from stem cells, that they co-opt stem cell strategies for self-renewal, and even that they contain "cancer stem cells" that are critical for tumor maintenance. We will examine these possibilities and discuss their implications for the understanding and treatment of brain tumors.     

Biology of brain metastases and novel targeted therapies: Time to translate the research

Brain metastases (BM) occur in 20% to 40% of patients with cancer and result in significant morbidity and poor survival. The main therapeutic options include surgery, whole brain radiotherapy, stereotactic radiosurgery and chemotherapy. Although significant progress has been made in diagnostic and therapeutic methods, the prognosis in these patients remains poor. Furthermore, the poor penetrability of chemotherapy agents through the blood brain barrier (BBB) continues to pose a challenge in the management of this disease. Preclinical evidence suggests that new targeted treatments can improve local tumor control but our clinical experience with these agents remains limited. In addition, several clinical studies with these novel agents have produced disappointing results. This review will examine the knowledge of targeted therapies in BM. The preclinical and clinical evidence of their use in BM induced by breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and melanoma will be presented. In addition, we will discuss the role of antiangiogenic and radiosensitising agents in the treatment of BM and the current strategies available to increase BBB permeability. A better understanding of the mechanism of action of these agents will help us to identify the best targets for testing in future clinical studies.     

A protein alternative to RNAi

A general method of targeting tagged proteins for rapid degradation in the cell promises to provide a powerful alternative to RNA interference (RNAi) for studying the functions of proteins in living cells.     

RNAi from plants to nematodes

Coincident with the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2006 to Fire and Mello for their discovery of RNAi, plant scientists have succeeded in using RNAi-based techniques to control nematodes, a hitherto unmanageable plant parasite. Recent work has demonstrated that the expression in a host plant of double-stranded RNA targeting housekeeping or parasitism genes in the root-knot nematode resulted in resistance to nematode infection.     

Getting back to basics

Advances in understanding basic developmental and physiological processes often have direct relevance to human disease. They provide insights into pathogenic mechanisms and reveal new pathways that can be exploited in diagnosis and the development of therapeutics.     

针对SARS冠状病毒S蛋白的RNAi设计

为研究SARS冠状病毒的RNA干涉,以S蛋白为目标选取16个RNA干涉的靶序列,并设计用于体内转录形成以U6为启动子的siRNA发夹结构的DNA,拟将设计的DNA瞬时转染靶细胞,用定量RT-PCR法确定目标RNA被干涉的程度,用Western blot在蛋白质水平上进行监测。针对SARS冠状病毒的RNAi设计为进一步研究奠定了理论基础,其工作的开展将在RNAi治疗、SARS冠状病毒基因功能研究、新药开发等方面发挥重要作用。