There is an increasing focus on the tumor microenvironment in carcinogenesis. Integrins are important receptors and adhesion molecules in this environment and have been shown to be involved in cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation and migration. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of stromal integrin β3-deficiency on tumor growth, angiogenesis, interstitial fluid pressure (PI...

Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGFb) and activin A (actA) are members of the TGFb superfamily and display overlapping biological activities, including the ability to promote the conversion of conventional CD4 T cells to regulatory T cells (Tregs). We have recently shown that in situ vaccination by local tumor irradiation is hindered by activation of latent TGFb (Vanpouille-Box et al., Cancer ...

MCP-1/CCL2 plays an important role in the initiation and progression of cancer. Since tumor cells produce MCP-1, they are considered to be the main source of this chemokine. Here, we examined whether MCP-1 produced by non-tumor cells affects the growth and lung metastasis of 4T1 breast cancer cells by transplanting them into the mammary pad of WT or MCP-1(-/-) mice. Primary tumors at the inject...

Cancer vaccination may be our best and most benign option for preventing or treating metastatic cancer. However, breakthroughs are hampered by immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. In this study, we analyzed whether cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP), a ligand for stimulator of interferon genes (STING), could overcome immune suppression and improve vaccination against metastatic breast c...

Background/purpose The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that mechanical ventilation (MV) during cancer surgery induces lung stroma/tissue milieu changes, creating a favorable microenvironment for postoperative lung metastatic tumor establishment. Materials and methods In Protocol A, female BALB/c mice were divided into an MV group and a control (no MV) group, both of which were an...

Herbal formulas based on the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome (ZHENG) have been used as alternative treatments for breast cancer. However, there is a lack of the experimental animal ZHENG model for the evaluation of the herbal formulas. In this study, we have established 4T1 mouse breast cancer with Liver Fire Invading Stomach Syndrome model (4T1 LFISS mice) and investigated the effe...

Tumor progression and the immune response are intricately linked. While it is known that cancers alter macrophage inflammatory responses to promote tumor progression, little is known regarding how cancers affect macrophage-dependent innate host defense. In this study, murine bone-marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) were exposed to murine carcinoma-conditioned media prior to assessment of the macr...

PURPOSE An inherent problem in breast cancer treatment is that current therapeutic approaches fail to specifically target the dissemination of breast cancer cells from the primary tumor. Clinical findings show that the loss of Wnt-5a protein expression in the primary breast tumor predicts a faster tumor spread, and in vitro analyses reveal that it does so by inhibiting tumor cell migration. The...

PURPOSE It is established that bisphosphonates (BPs), specific inhibitors of osteoclasts, have beneficial effects on bone metastases of breast cancer. In addition, recent studies have reported that BPs have anticancer effects and suppress visceral metastases, too. However, the results of clinical studies are still conflicting. In the present study, we examined the effects of the BP zoledronic a...

When monitoring response to cancer therapy, it is important to differentiate changes in glucose tracer uptake caused by altered delivery versus a true metabolic shift. Here, we propose an optical imaging method to quantify glucose uptake and correct for in vivo delivery effects. Glucose uptake was measured using a fluorescent D-glucose derivative 2-(N-(7-Nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)Amino)-2...