the trophoblast model of cancer

PURPOSE: Gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) is a highly treatable disease, most often affecting young women of childbearing age. This study reviewed patients managed for GTN at the Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCOE) in Rwanda to determine initial program outcomes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective medical record review was performed for 35 patients with GTN assessed or treated between May 1, 2012, and November 30, 2014. Stage, risk score, and low or high GTN risk category were based on International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging and the WHO scoring system and determined by beta human chorionic gonadotropin level, chest x-ray, and ultrasound per protocol guidelines for resource-limited settings...

Human chorionic gonadotropin β (β-hCG) is a well-known and accurate marker for the diagnosis and monitoring of pregnancy, trophoblastic tumors and ovarian germ cell tumors. Recently, β-hCG has been found to be closely related to poor prognosis and metastasis in various other malignant tumors, while its role and mechanism in ovarian cancer is still unclear. In the present study, lentiviral‑mediated transfection and small interfering RNA (siRNA) were used to alter β-hCG expression in the ovarian cancer cell lines ES-2 and SKOV3, respectively...

Sulpiride is a typical antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia, depression and other psychological disorders. It has been proven that a small amount of sulpiride could cross the human placenta using an ex vivo placental perfusion model. However, the placental transfer mechanism has not been elucidated. Considering the structure of sulpiride, we speculated that the transporters expressed in placenta might be involved in sulpiride uptake across the blood-placenta barrier. The aim of our study was to determine which transporters contributed to the placental transfer of sulpiride...

Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia (GTN) is a term used for a group of malignant gynecological tumors including choriocarcinoma. Low-risk neoplasias can be cured using single agents Methotrexate (MTX) and actinomycin-D (ACD), but in certain cases, decreased responsiveness and serious side effects occur. Therefore, researchers have been attempting to find new treatment modalities. One of the most popular way for increasing cancer patient survival rates is supporting treatment with adjuvant molecules or chemosensitizers...

INTRODUCTION: Adequate extravillous trophoblast (EVT) invasion is essential for successful placentation. Although miR-520c-3p plays an important role in CD44-mediated invasion in cancer cells, there is little information on whether miR-520c-3p is involved in the regulatory mechanisms of CD44-mediated EVT invasion. METHODS: We screened first trimester trophoblast cells and trophoblast cell lines for expression of miR-520c-3p using real-time polymerase chain reaction...

Binucleate trophoblast giant cells (BNC) are the characteristic feature of the ruminant placenta. During their development, BNC pass through 2 acytokinetic mitoses and become binucleate with 2 tetraploid nuclei. In this study, we investigate the number and location of centrosomes in bovine BNC. Centrosomes typically consist of 2 centrioles surrounded by electron-dense pericentriolar material. Duplication of centrosomes is tightly linked to the cell cycle, which ensures that the number of centrosomes remains constant in proliferating diploid cells...

BACKGROUND: Galectin-1 (gal-1) belongs to the family of β-galactoside-binding proteins which primarily recognizes the Galβ1-4GlcNAc sequences of oligosaccharides associated with several cell surface glycoconjugates. The lectin recognizes correspondent glycoepitopes on human breast cancer cells. Galectin-1 is expressed both in normal and malignant tissues. Lymphatic organs naturally possessing high rates of apoptotic cells, express high levels of Galectin-1. Furthermore galectin-1 can initiate T cell apoptosis...

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Selaginella doederleinii Hieron has been used as a folk medicine for the treatment of different cancers, especially for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, lung cancer and trophoblastic tumor in China. Previously, the ethyl acetate extract from S. doederleinii (SDEA extract) showed favorable anti-cancer potentials. However, the main chemical composition and anticancer mechanism of the SDEA extract were still not very clear. Until now, there are no reports available about the oral toxicity of the extract...

Human trophoblastic cell surface antigen 2 (Trop2) has been reported to act oncogenically. In this study, one-step quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) test and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis with were employed to evaluate the relationship between Trop2 expression and the clinicopathological features of patients with PC. Then a novel anti-Trop2 Fab antibody was conjugated with Doxorubicin (DOX) to form Trop2Fab-DOX, an antibody-drug conjugate. This Trop2Fab-DOX conjugate was characterized by cell ELISA and immunofluorescence assay...

We investigated the expression of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) and its effects on vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation in ovarian cancer cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions in three-dimensional matrices preconditioned by an endothelial-trophoblast cell co-culture system. The co-culture model was established using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and HTR-8 trophoblast cells in a three-dimensional culture system. The co-cultured cells were removed with NH4OH, and ovarian cancer cells were implanted into the preconditioned matrix...

Human choriocarcinoma has been used as a model to study trophoblast transcellular drug transport in the placenta. Previous models had limitations regarding low molecular weight drug transport through the intracellular gap junction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate placental carrier-mediated transport across a differentiating JEG-3 choriocarcinoma cell (DJEGs) layer model in which the intracellular gap junction was restricted. Cimetidine is the substrate of an efflux transporter, breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP)...

STUDY QUESTION: Can human embryonic stem cell-derived trophoblastic spheroids be used to study the early stages of implantation? SUMMARY ANSWER: We generated a novel human embryonic stem cell-derived trophoblastic spheroid model mimicking human blastocysts in the early stages of implantation. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Both human embryos and choriocarcinoma cell line derived spheroids can attach onto endometrial cells and are used as models to study the early stages of implantation...

Counter-regulation afforded by specialized regulatory cell populations and immunosuppressive cytokines is critical for balancing immune outcome. The inhibitory potential of the established suppressive cytokines, IL-10 and TGFβ, has been well elucidated in diverse inflammatory scenarios in conjunction with their key roles in Treg development and function. Despite the early predictions for an immunomodulatory role for the Ebi3/p35 heterodimer in placental trophoblasts, IL-35 biology remained elusive until 2007 when it was established as a Treg-restricted inhibitory cytokine...

OBJECTIVES: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection of the placenta is associated with significant pathological consequences, including pregnancy loss, intrauterine growth restriction, preeclampsia and preterm labor. It is thought that some of these pathological anomalies are attributed to the inability of extravillous cytotrophoblasts (EVT) to adequately invade the maternal uterine wall during first trimester pregnancy resulting in impaired remodeling of maternal spiral arteries. Our earlier studies show that HCMV inhibits cytotrophoblast invasion, although the mechanism(s) involved are not fully understood...

BACKGROUND: Trop2 was first discovered as a biomarker of invasive trophoblast cells. Since then most research has focused on its role in tumourigenesis because it is highly expressed in the vast majority of human tumours and animal models of cancer. It is also highly expressed in stem cells and in many organs during development. RESULTS: We review the multifaceted role of Trop2 during development and tumourigenesis, including its role in regulating cell proliferation and migration, self-renewal, and maintenance of basement membrane integrity...

STUDY QUESTION: How does the placenta protect the fetus from immune rejection by the mother? SUMMARY ANSWER: The placenta can produce IgG that is glycosylated at one of its Fab arms (asymmetric IgG; aIgG) which can interact with other antibodies and certain leukocytes to affect local immune reactions at the junction between the two genetically distinct entities. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The placenta can protect the semi-allogenic fetus from immune rejection by the immune potent mother...

The use of predictive preclinical models in drug discovery is critical for compound selection, optimization, preclinical to clinical translation, and strategic decision-making. Trophoblast glycoprotein (TPBG), also known as 5T4, is the therapeutic target of several anticancer agents currently in clinical development, largely due to its high expression in tumors and low expression in normal adult tissues. In this study, mice were engineered to express human TPBG under endogenous regulatory sequences by replacement of the murine Tpbg coding sequence...

John Beard, the British embryologist and histologist, first proposed his trophoblast model of cancer in 1902. The model has subsequently been expanded by Kelley, and in current times, Gonzalez and Isaacs. The trophoblast model of cancer can be stated as a specified, scientifically testable model, including its core predictions that 1) adult stem cells are ectopic trophoblasts that have migrated to other tissues early in embryogenesis; 2) pancreatic enzymes are the key signal that converts the trophoblast into the stable placenta; 3) cancer arises from trophoblasts that have escaped regulatory control; and 4) pancreatic enzymes can be used to treat cancer...

Mammalian HtrA (high temperature requirement factor A) proteases, comprising 4 multi-domain members HtrA1-4, play important roles in a number of normal cellular processes as well as pathological conditions such as cancer, arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases and pregnancy disorders. However, how HtrA activities are regulated is not well understood, and to date no inhibitors specific to individual HtrA proteins have been identified. Here we investigated five HtrA3 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that we have previously produced, and demonstrated that two of them regulated HtrA3 activity in an opposing fashion: one inhibited while the other stimulated...

Lipid droplets (LDs) are ubiquitous and physiologically active organelles regulating storage and mobilization of lipids in response to metabolic demands. Among the constituent LD neutral lipids, such as triacylglycerols, cholesterol esters, and free fatty acids, oxidizable polyunsaturated molecular species may be quite abundant, yet the structural and functional roles of their oxidation products have not been studied. Our previous work documented the presence of these peroxidized species in LDs. Assuming that hydrophilic oxygen-containing functionalities may markedly change the hydrophobic/hydrophilic molecular balance, here we utilized computational modeling to test the hypothesis that lipid peroxidation causes redistribution of lipids between the highly hydrophobic core and the polar surface (phospho)lipid monolayer-the area enriched with integrated enzymatic machinery...