Journal of Cancer Immunology

Although NK cells are recognized as effector lymphocytes of the innate immune system, they also regulate the adaptive immune response by releasing inflammatory cytokines and developing immunological memory. Unlike other lymphocytes such as T or B cells, NK cells do not express rearrangeable, antigen-specific receptors. 

The transient receptor potential mucolipin 1 (TRPML1) is an endolysosomal channel belonging to the TRP family. Clinically, mutations of TRPML1 have been responsible for a severe lysosomal storage disorder called mucolipidosis type IV.

In order to implement the knowledge of cancer to monitor its evolution and setting, in the last decade, new minimally invasive and repeatable samples collection have been developed such as liquid biopsy. Cancer biomarkers originating from tumors can represent the molecular status of the tumor or its metastases which release them directly into body fluids or indirectly due to disruption of tumor/metastatic tissue. These biomarkers are detectable in liquid biopsy.

Tumor node metastasis (TNM) staging system is the most useful method in predicting prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), the third most common cause of death worldwide, even if other biological markers are currently under evaluation to assess their role in affecting CRC outcome and planning the best tailored therapeutic approach. Several molecular factors are being demonstrated to be effective in influencing both overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in CRC, acting on different aspects of tumor promoting and progression.

During the last few decades, immunotherapy is considered to be an important approach to help our immune system to fight various kinds of diseases, such as tumor. Sometimes, it works very well for some types of cancers, for example: bladder cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and lymphoma.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are defined by their role in maintaining glucose homeostasis and natural GCs are a class of corticosteroids secreted by the adrenal cortex. Cortisol is the most important natural GC in humans. Cellular cortisol levels are regulated by the tissue-specific metabolic enzymes 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 and 2 (11β-HSD 1 and 2); 11β-HSD 1 converts inactive cortisone to active cortisol, while 11β-HSD 2 has the opposite function.

The gut microbiome or gut flora is a vast community of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi that inhabit the digestive tract of the human and other animals. In the human body, bacterial species colonize into the oral cavity, skin, vagina, and placenta, however, the largest population of microorganisms resides in the intestine. The majority of gut microbiota belong to the phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide, affecting nearly one in eight women. Accurate cancer staging is essential for determining the patient’s prognosis and for choosing the appropriate treatment. The staging system most often used is the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) TNM system, where T refers to the size of the tumor, N refers to spread of the primary cancer to nearby lymph nodes, and M refers to the spread of metastasis to distant sites in the body.

However, the entire coagulation cascade is dysfunctional, in progressed chronic diabetes and cancer patients. Platelets (PLTs) in type 2 diabetic (DT2) involved in Thrombosis and Haemostasis (T&H) of individuals adhere to vascular endothelium and aggregate more voluntarily than those in healthy individuals, as are abnormalities in the microvascular and macrovascular circulations. However it is already known that the circulating PLTs are essential for T&H, inflammation growth factors delivery, regeneration; and knowledge of their function is fundamental to understanding the pathophysiology of vascular disease in diabetes and cancer-related diseases.

Fluoropyrimidines compose the backbone of regimens to treat many common solid tumors, including gastrointestinal (GI), breast and head/neck. As we continue to use these agents routinely, recognition of rare but real toxicities, such as cardiotoxicity, has also improved. The treatment options for patients who have encountered fluoropyrimidine-induced cardiotoxicity are limited as many anti-angiogenic drugs also pose a cardiac risk.

In breast cancer, tyrosine kinase-type cell surface receptor HER2-targeted therapies do not achieve a sustained inhibition of oncogenic signaling. Therapy-resistant tumors compensate for HER2 inhibition through several mechanisms, including increased expression of other cell-surface receptors most notably HER3. HER3 remains currently undruggable despite extensive clinical efforts. Durable efficacy of HER2-based therapy regimens requires, therefore, effective inhibition of HER2 and HER3.

In 2020 we published a series of 18 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) and vaginal radical trachelectomy (VRT) as a fertility sparing alternative in stage 1B2 cervical cancer.

The immune system developed certain checks and balance to control or inhibit the reactivity against normal cells of the body. Uncontrolled immune responses to the non-self entities such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, or mutated self-antigens can cause an inflammatory reaction and autoimmune diseases.

Cancer nanomedicine was originally developed for more efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic agents into tumor, and has been extensively employed as a therapeutic for cancer treatment owing to its unique features in drug delivery, diagnosis and imaging, as well as the therapeutic nature of some nanomaterials themselves.

At present, breast cancer is more frequently diagnosed in women than in men. According to global cancer statistics, each year more than 1,675,000 women are diagnosed and more than 500,000 of them die. Some subtypes of breast cancer have been described.

Cells of the innate and adaptive arm of the immune system including macrophages, natural killer (NK) cells, neutrophils, T cells, and B cells, etc. are crucial for the maintenance of the body’s homeostatic balance and prevention of multiple diseases including cancer.

N6-fufuryladenine (N6FFA), or kinetin, has a long history as a plant cytokine with practical applications in agriculture. This adenosine analog is now commonplace in natural product small molecule chemical screening libraries, and as such has been discovered as active in mammalian disease pathways that include Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease (HD) and Familial Dysautonomia.

Aging is a complicated process not yet fully understood. Driven by a variety of stressors such as infectious agents, radiation, intracellular stress, and stressing metabolic conditions, molecular damage occurs over time [1]. Among many consequences, age-related unchecked molecular damage leads to immunosenescence, a hallmark of aging. Traditionally defined as a declining function of the immune system, immunosenescence is a term that includes the effect of aging on adaptive and innate immunity [2].

Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March 2020, there have been more than 100 million reported cases of COVID-19 worldwide and more than 2.1 million deaths. The purpose of this editorial is to review recent updates regarding COVID-19 disease and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in cancer patients.

Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a tumorous marker for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), it is synthesized mainly by the embryo yolk sac, fetal liver and the gastrointestinal tract. AFP belongs to the family of protein products of albuminoid genes, which are located in tandem arrangement in chromosome 4 (region 4q11-q13).