HER2, a member of the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor family, not only plays important roles in the progression of breast cancer tumorigenesis and metastasis, but may protect cancer cells from conventional cytotoxic therapies as well. In the current study, we evaluated the effect of targeting HER2 on radiosensitization of human breast cancer cells. Using six breast cancer cell line...

PURPOSE In a recent phase II clinical trial, low-dose (100 mg/m(2)) gemcitabine showed promise as a radiosensitizer in bladder cancer, but underlying mechanisms lack elucidation. Here, we investigated the mechanism of radiosensitization by low-dose gemcitabine in bladder cancer cell lines. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Four bladder cancer cell lines were screened for radiosensitization by low-dose gemc...

Thymocytes were used as a model system to study the effect of microenvironmental pH changes on the radiation-induced apoptosis. We found that the sensitivity of thymocytes toward radiation induced apoptosis is increased by increasing the pH of the incubation medium. The major sensitivity change occurs between pH 7 and 8. In a given cell suspension the results obtained where similar when the apo...

UNLABELLED Large collections of annotated cancer cell lines are powerful tools for precisely matching targeted drugs with genomic alterations that can be tested as biomarkers in the clinic. Whether these screening platforms, which utilize short-term cell survival to assess drug responses, can be applied to precision radiation medicine is not established. To this end, 32 cancer cell lines were s...

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) plays an important role in neoplastic growth control of malignant gliomas. We have demonstrated that radiation activates EGFR Tyr-phosphorylation (EGFR Tyr-P) and the proliferation of surviving human carcinoma cells, a likely mechanism of accelerated cellular repopulation, a major cytoprotective response after radiation. We now investigate the importa...

BACKGROUND Tumor targeting of radiotherapy represents a great challenge. The addition of multimodal nanoparticles, such as 3 nm gadolinium-based nanoparticles (GdBNs), has been proposed as a promising strategy to amplify the effects of radiation in tumors and improve diagnostics using the same agents. This singular property named theranostic is a unique advantage of GdBNs. It has been establish...

Purpose: In a recent phase II clinical trial, low-dose (100 mg/m) gemcitabine showed promise as a radiosensitizer in bladder cancer, but underlying mechanisms lack elucidation. Here, we investigated the mechanism of radiosensitization by low-dose gemcitabine in bladder cancer cell lines. Experimental Design: Four bladder cancer cell lines were screened for radiosensitization by low-dose gemcita...

PURPOSE The PI3K/Akt/mTOR prosurvival pathway is frequently up-regulated in soft tissue sarcoma. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, such as rapamycin, have recently shown clinical benefit in soft tissue sarcoma, and mTOR inhibition has also been associated with radiosensitization of carcinoma and endothelial cells. This study tested the hypothesis that rapamycin radiosensitizes so...

Cisplatin chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy is the primary therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cervical cancer; however, the underlying molecular mechanism for cisplatin radiosensitization remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Ku80, a DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair protein, on cisplatin radiosensitization in cervical cancer. The p...