Currently, survival of breast cancer patients with brain metastasis ranges from 2 to 16 months. In experimental brain metastasis studies, only 10% of lesions with the highest permeability exhibited cytotoxic responses to paclitaxel or doxorubicin. Therefore, radiation is the most frequently used treatment, and sensitizing agents, which synergize with radiation, can improve the efficacy of the t...

Treatment of cancer patients with conventional therapies (chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy and radiation) respond initially well and experience prolonged tumor-free survival. However, in many patients tumor recurrences and relapses occur and such tumors exhibit the resistant phenotype i.e. cross-resistance to various cytotoxic and apoptotic agents. Therefore, new therapeutic strate...

As single agents, chemical inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) are nontoxic and have clinical efficacy against BRCA1- and BRCA2-deficient tumors. PARP inhibitors also enhance the cytotoxicity of ionizing radiation and alkylating agents but will only improve clinical outcomes if tumor sensitization exceeds effects on normal tissues. It is unclear how tumor DNA repair proficiency aff...

Treatment of cancer patients with conventional therapies (chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, immunotherapy and radiation) respond initially well and experience prolonged tumor-free survival. However, in many patients tumor recurrences and relapses occur and such tumors exhibit the resistant phenotype i.e. cross-resistance to various cytotoxic and apoptotic agents. Therefore, new therapeutic strate...

BACKGROUND/AIM The aims of this study were to evaluate the cell survival uncertainty distribution of radiation and to assess the accuracy of predictions of tumor response by using three different in vitro experimental cell cultures with radiosensitizers (including etanidazole). MATERIALS AND METHODS Using EMT6 cells and X-rays, the cell survival fraction was obtained from 15, 34, and 21 diffe...

Introduction H istone deacetylase inhibitors (HDIs), as  radiation sensitizing agents, are considered as a novel class of anti-cancer factors, which are studied in various tumor cell-lines. Valproic acid (VPA) is an HDI, which is effectively used in the treatment of epilepsy, migraines, and some particular types of depression. In this study, we evaluated the effects of VPA and ionizing radiatio...

Since the discovery of the damaging effects of ionizing radiations on cells, attempts have been made to increase the radiation curability of malig nant neoplasms by the simultaneous administra tion of various chemical agents. Three major ave nues of approach will be reviewed : (a) combining radiation with agents which themselves have antitumor properties in an attempt to gain a synergistic acti...