We report the development of non-invasive, fiber-based diffuse optical spectroscopy for simultaneously quantifying vascular oxygenation (SO2) and glucose uptake in solid tumors in vivo. Glucose uptake was measured using a fluorescent glucose analog, 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diaxol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxyglucose (2-NBDG). Quantification of label-free SO2 and 2-NBDG-fluorescence-based glucose upta...

Modifying the sense strand of nuclease-resistant siRNA with 3'-cholesterol (Chol-*siRNA) increases mRNA suppression after i.v. administration but with relatively low efficacy. We previously found evidence in vitro that suggests complexation of Chol-siRNA with PLL-PEG(5K), a block copolymer of poly-l-lysine and 5 kDa polyethylene glycol, may increase the efficacy of Chol-siRNA in vivo in a PLL b...

The therapeutic efficacy of combined antiangiogenic and immune therapy was tested against weakly immunogenic and highly metastatic 4T1 breast tumor using SU6668, an angiogenesis inhibitor and recombinant murine (rm) B7.2-IgG fusion protein, an immunostimulator. SU6668 inhibits the tyrosine kinase activity of three angiogenic receptors VEGFR2 (Flk-1/KDR), PDGFRbeta, and FGFR1, which play a cruci...

Interleukin-13 Receptor alpha 2 (IL-13Ra2) is a tumor antigen and a potent target for cancer therapy. Previously, we have reported that histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors upregulated the IL-13Ra2 expression and enhanced anti-cancer effects of IL-13-PE, an immunotoxin composed of interleukin-13 and truncated Pseudomonas exotoxin, in a mouse model of human pancreatic cancer. Herein, we have in...

objective: breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide. conventional treatments use cytotoxic drugs which have high numbers of side effects. currently pharmacologists are searching for novel drugs with fewer side effects and maximum efficiency as breast cancer treatment. the aim of the current study is to clarify the cytotoxicity effect of the recombinant outer membra...

Although licorice is known to exert anticarcinogenic effects, it contains large quantities of glycyrrhizin (GL), which causes severe hypertension. We have previously demonstrated that the hexane/ethanol extract of Glycyrrhiza uralensis (HEGU) contains no detectable GL and suppresses doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in H9c2 rat cardiac myoblasts. The principal objective of this study was to determi...

B7x (B7-H4 or B7S1) is an inhibitory member of the B7 family of T cell costimulation. It is expressed in low levels in healthy peripheral tissues, such as the lung epithelium, but is overexpressed in a variety of human cancers with negative clinical associations, including metastasis. However, the function of B7x in the context of cancer, whether expressed on cancer cells or on surrounding "hos...