Ciência e terapia do câncer

Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a red or scaly patch of skin. In those with distant spread of the disease, there may be bone pain, swollen lymph nodes, shortness of breath, or yellow skin.

Drug-induced predisposition to acute renal failure (ARF) is a facet of nephrotoxicity hitherto mostly uncharacterized, quite underestimated, and impossible to diagnose, which potentially has a high human and socioeconomic impact. Our study has identified urinary GM2AP as the first of a new class of biomarkers of the enhanced risk of suffering an acute renal failure after a subnephrotoxic treatment with gentamicin. Gentamicin-predisposed animals with no sign of renal cancer develop ARF when exposed to a second potentially nephrotoxic drug, also given at subnephrotoxic doses that are harmless to non-predisposed individuals. Subnephrotoxic gentamicin did not alter renal GM2AP gene expression or protein levels, determined by RT-PCR and Western blot and immunostaining, respectively, nor was its serum level modified. Further experiments indicate that, likely, the origin of the increased level of GM2AP in the urine might be a defective tubular handling of this protein as a consequence of gentamicin action.

Male breast cancer (MBC) is rare, accounting for less than 1% of all breast cancer and less than 1% of all cancer cases, with less than 0.5% of all cancer deaths in men, annually.MBC usually presents as a firm, painless mass along with palpable axillary nodes, nipple retraction, and ulceration of the skin at presentation. MBC is usually located in the subareolar region, but can also be seen in the upper outer quadrant. As is the case with women, the left breast is involved more predominantly than the right breast, and approximately 1% all of cases are bilateral. Approximately 90% of MBC are invasive ductal carcinomas. Lobular histology is rare, accounting for only 1.5% of MBC. MBC has high rates of hormone-receptor expression; approximately 90% express oestrogen receptor (ER), and 81% express progesterone receptor (PR).

Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ
behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass.
These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A
number of types of pancreatic cancer are known.

Resveratrol (trans-3,4’,5-trihydroxystilbene) is a naturally occurring
antifungal found in a variety of foods including the skin of red grapes and
peanuts. Since the seminal report that resveratrol could inhibit multiple
stages of carcinogenesis, it has been the subject of extensive preclinical
investigations for the treatment and prevention of numerous pathologies
including cancer, cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease, insulin resistance,
and diabetes . Attempts to translate these findings to humans have increased
in recent years but there are still fundamental gaps in our understanding of
the pharmacokinetic pharmacodynamic relations and how plasma/target tissue
concentrations correlate with clinical efficacy or beneficial effects on health
maintenance . Such information is needed to inform the choice of optimum
dose and formulation requirements, and to enhance understanding of the key
modes of action for resveratrol in each pathology it is also particularly important
given the notoriously low systemic bioavailability of parent resveratrol due to
its rapid metabolism, which, if not taken into consideration, would affect its
clinical utility.