Journal of the National Cancer Institute
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Apr 2002
Meta AnalysisEndogenous sex hormones and breast cancer in postmenopausal women: reanalysis of nine prospective studies.
Reproductive and hormonal factors are involved in the etiology of breast cancer, but there are only a few prospective studies on endogenous sex hormone levels and breast cancer risk. We reanalyzed the worldwide data from prospective studies to examine the relationship between the levels of endogenous sex hormones and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women. ⋯ Levels of endogenous sex hormones are strongly associated with breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women.
-
J. Natl. Cancer Inst. · Apr 2002
Targeting urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor on human glioblastoma tumors with diphtheria toxin fusion protein DTAT.
The prognosis for patients with brain cancer is poor, and new therapies are urgently needed. Recombinant toxic proteins that specifically target tumor cells appear to be promising. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) receptor (uPAR) is expressed on the surface of glioblastoma and some other tumor cells and endothelial cells. We synthesized a recombinant fusion protein, DTAT, which contains the catalytic portion of diphtheria toxin (DT) for cell killing fused to the noninternalizing amino-terminal (AT) fragment of uPA, and investigated its effectiveness in targeting uPAR-positive tumor cells. ⋯ DTAT may have potential for intracranial glioblastoma therapy because of its ability to target tumor cells and tumor vasculature simultaneously and its apparent lack of systemic effects.