objective: the greatest challenge in cancer gene therapy is to achieve the high specificity and efficiency in targeting of cancer cells. because the goal of cancer gene therapy is to eradicate cancer cells, many therapeutic genes could be detrimental if unintentionally expressed in normal cells. using promoter of the genes which are expressed specifically in cancer cells or have much more expre...

RASSF1A is a tumor suppressor gene that is epigenetically silenced in a wide variety of sporadic human malignancies. Expression of alternative RASSF1 isoforms cannot substitute for RASSF1A-promoted cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Apoptosis can be driven by either activating Bax or by activation of MST kinases. The Raf1 proto-oncogene binds to MST2, preventing its activation and proapoptotic si...

The mechanisms that control cellular proliferation, as well as those related with programmed cell death or apoptosis, require precise regulation systems to prevent diseases such as cancer. Events related to cellular proliferation as well as those associated with apoptosis involve the regulation of gene expression carried out by three basic genetic expression regulation mechanisms: transcription...

One of the most promising strategies in cancer gene therapy is adenoviral transfer of proapoptotic genes. We therefore evaluated the novel strategy of adenovirally overexpressing the proapoptotic Bak gene. Our results showed marked apoptosis in cancer cells in vivo and in vitro after Bak gene transfer via a binary adenoviral vector system. This effect was not seen in a caspase 3-defective cell ...

Objectives: Acanthopanax senticosus is a tree used in traditional medicine for various diseases. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of water extract senticocus fruit (ASF) on 2 human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231).Methods: The MTT assay was to assess proliferation. expression apoptosis-related genes assessed by quantitative real-time PCR.Results: ASF treatme...