CANCER RESOURCES

Organization Spotlight: The Cancer Project^®

The Cancer Project promotes cancer prevention and survival through a better understanding of cancer causes,particularly the link between nutrition and cancer. As important as cancer prevention is, Cancer Project also works to improve survival after cancer has been diagnosed by providing comprehensive information about the role of dietary factors in keeping people healthy. It does this through nutrition education and research that looks at the correlation between a healthy diet and cancer prevention. The Cancer Project provides classes, books, video programs, fact sheets and brochures on cancer prevention and survival. It also offers hands-on nutrition classes that help cancer patients, survivors and families learn new tastes and easy food preparation skills.

Useful links within the site:

• Diet and Cancer Research |
• Nutrition for Your Kids |
• Recipes |
• Ask the Expert |
• Personal Stories |
• Nutrition Cooking Classes

Publications:

• Koren, III, J., et al.
• Facilitating Akt Clearance via Manipulation of Hsp70 Activity and Levels
• J. Biol. Chem. 285: 2498 (2010)

• To test the hypothesis that Hsp70 family of proteins may be involved in Akt stability, Koran et al. employed an In-Cell Western^™ assay on the Odyssey^® Infrared Imaging System to screen chaperone siRNAs in a standard HeLa cell line, which was selected for its high transfection efficiency, high levels of endogenous Akt, and robust properties of adhesion and viability to withstand a semi-high throughput procedure. They found that siRNAs for Hsp70 or Hsc70 increased or decreased endogenous Akt levels by ˜30%, respectively. Both Hsp90 and CHIP siRNA also caused reductions in Akt levels, although to a lesser extent than Hsc70. Hsp27 siRNA also increased Akt levels. This unexpected result led them to further explore the relationship, and we have found that inducible Hsp70 is a critical mediator of Akt proteostasis. Inhibiting Hsp70 ATPase function produced cytotoxic events only in breast cancer cell lines where Akt dysfunction was previously shown, suggesting therapeutic specificity depending on the Hsp70 client profile. Thus, increasing Hsp70 levels combined with inhibiting its ATPase function may serve to dramatically reduce Akt levels and facilitate cell death in certain types of cancer.

• Sneeringer, C.J., et al.
• Coordinated activities of wild-type plus mutant EZH2 drive tumor-associated hypertrimethylation of lysine 27 on histone H3 (H3K27) in human B-cell lymphomas
• PNAS 107:20980 (2010)

• Somatic mutations of polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) that represses transcription of histone H3 are reported to be associated with follicular lymphoma (FL) and the germinal-center B-cell like (GCB) subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Sneeringer et al used Quantitative Western blotting on the Odyssey Infrared Imaging System using methylation specific antibodies to measure the states of H3 methylation found in mutants of the EZH2 subunit of PRC2. Their results point to a critical dependency on enzymatic coupling between enzymes that perform H3K27 monomethylation and the mutant forms of EZH2 for pathogenesis in FL and the GCB subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

• Hosomi, H., et al.
• Development of a Highly Sensitive Cytotoxicity Assay System for CYP3A4-Mediated Metabolic Activation
• Drug Metab. Dispos. 39: 1388 - 1395 (Aug 2011)

• Wong,C.-Y. A., et al.
• Epigenetic Regulation of Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-Triphosphate-dependent Rac Exchanger 1 Gene Expression in Prostate Cancer Cells
• J. Biol. Chem. 286: 25813 - 25822 (Jul 2011)