Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a transport protein that has growth-regulatory properties in many different tissues. It is known to interfere with responses stimulated by estrogen. The purpose of this study was to determine whether human AFP would inhibit the growth of human breast cancer. AFP was isolated from the culture supernatant of human hepatoma cells (HepG2) grown in serum-free medium and wa...

Cancer heterogeneity renders risk stratification and therapy decisions challenging. Thus, genomic and proteomic methodologies have been used in an effort to identify biomarkers that can differentiate tumor subtypes to improve therapeutic outcome. Here, we report a generally applicable strategy to generate tumor type-specific peptide ligand arrays. Peptides that specifically recognize breast tum...

Recent clinical trials indicate that synthetic progestins may stimulate progression of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, a result that is consistent with studies in chemically-induced breast cancer models in rodents. However, progestin-dependent progression of breast cancer tumor xenografts has not been shown. This study shows that xenografts obtained from BT-474 and T47-D human breast can...

Our recent studies show that progestins induce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in breast cancer cells that express mutant p53 protein. Here, we show that natural and synthetic progestins also induce thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) mRNA and protein in T47-D and BT-474 breast cancer cells. Antiprogestin RU-486 inhibits the induction of VEGF and TSP-1 by progestins, suggesting that this effect ...

Neurological disorders affect millions of people worldwide causing behavior-cognitive disabilities. Nowadays there is no effective treatment for them. Human erythropoietin (hEPO) has been used in clinical tests because its neurotrophic and cytoprotective properties. However, the erythropoietic activity (EA) should be considered as a side effect. Some analogs like asialoEPO, carbamylated-EPO or ...

Currently, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop alternative therapeutic measures against this deadly disease. Here, we report the cytotoxicity activity and the mechanism of cell death exhibited by the methanol extract prepared from Pereskia bleo (Kunth) DC. (Cactaceae) plant against human breast carcinoma cell line, T...

Obesity is a risk factor for postmenopausal breast cancer and is associated with poor prognosis. Leptin, a cytokine synthesized in adipose tissue, has been implicated as a link between obesity and breast cancer. In the present study, the effects of leptin on cell proliferation and proteins associated with leptin signaling and/or breast cell growth were investigated in ER-positive, MCF-7, T47-D ...