Putative tumor-initiating progenitor cells predict poor lung cancer prognosis

Adult lung stem cells, vital to injury repair, associated with poor cancer prognosis, News release, UCLA Newsroom, August 17, 2010. Excerpts:

Adult stem cells that are vital for airway repair in the lung but that persist in areas where pre-cancerous lesions are found are associated with a poor prognosis in patients who develop cancer, even those with early-stage disease, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have found.

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In this study, Gomperts and her team screened around 900 tumors removed from patients with non-small cell lung cancer at UCLA and the University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center, looking to see whether the adult stem cells could be found in the tumor. In her lab, Gomperts is now studying the pre-cancerous lesions where the adult stem cells persist in an attempt to uncover the cascade of molecular events that may transform these cells into lung cancer stem cells.

The news release is based on this publication: Presence of a Putative Tumor-Initiating Progenitor Cell Population Predicts Poor Prognosis in Smokers with Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer by Aik T Ooi and 19 co-authors, including Brigitte N Gomperts, Cancer Res 2010(Aug 15); 70(16): 6639-48. [PubMed citation][Full text]. Abstract:

Smoking is the most important known risk factor for the development of lung cancer. Tobacco exposure results in chronic inflammation, tissue injury, and repair. A recent hypothesis argues for a stem/progenitor cell involved in airway epithelial repair that may be a tumor-initiating cell in lung cancer and which may be associated with recurrence and metastasis. We used immunostaining, quantitative real-time PCR, Western blots, and lung cancer tissue microarrays to identify subpopulations of airway epithelial stem/progenitor cells under steady-state conditions, normal repair, aberrant repair with premalignant lesions and lung cancer, and their correlation with injury and prognosis. We identified a population of keratin 14 (K14)-expressing progenitor epithelial cells that was involved in repair after injury. Dysregulated repair resulted in the persistence of K14+ cells in the airway epithelium in potentially premalignant lesions. The presence of K14+ progenitor airway epithelial cells in NSCLC predicted a poor prognosis, and this predictive value was strongest in smokers, in which it also correlated with metastasis. This suggests that reparative K14+ progenitor cells may be tumor-initiating cells in this subgroup of smokers with NSCLC.

The shirt is back!

My first round of Revlimid (or, technically, my 27th round of Revlimid) was a success! My M-spike dropped from 3.5 to 3.0. Yay!

See? I told you bad medicine is what I needed.

Music Video for Cancer

Watch the band called Wideawake perform the song Maybe Tonight, Maybe Tomorrow at Antone's in Austin, TX.

Download the song at iTunes. 

All proceeds benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Healthy Spirits: New Arrivals

1. Ellezelloise Hercule Stout
2. Drie Fonteinen Gueuze 11.2oz (Dec. 2009 bottle date)

***FYI: Tomorrow afternoon we are expecting a small delivery of Dogfish Head Theobroma!


cheers,

dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610

THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

Today was

THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

and everyone survived. I clearly remember crying for my mother on my first day of kindergarten, but WCK was completely calm and composed. Her school offered a little gathering for parents called "Tea and Tissues". Right after drop off, you could come hang out with the other parents, have a doughnut, and cry if you wanted to. Really, I think it was a way to bribe parents away from hanging out in the kindergarten classroom all morning. If you leave your kid, you get a doughnut. Mmm, yummy doughnut.

WCK wanted to know why it was called "Tea and Tissues."

"You can go have tea with the other moms and dads," I said. "And they have tissues, in case some of the moms and dads cry."

WCK was floored by this. "Why would the moms and dads cry?"

"Because we'll miss you so much," I said. "Maybe I'll cry. I'll miss you. Are you sure you don't want to skip kindergarten and stay home with me?"

WCK did not have time for this nonsense.

"Mama," she said impatiently, "I need to go to kindergarten so I can learn. Maybe it would help you if you had a stuffed animal with you."

Hmm. Maybe it would.

I Have a New Pharmacy

Yesterday I went to pick up a prescription and my long time pharmacist informed me that they would be closing down at the beginning of October. Well guess what? … the closing included not only the pharmacy but the whole grocery store! She offered to transfer our prescriptions and records to their downtown location unless we wanted them elsewhere. Well, we chose another chain much closer to home.

Sometimes I get asked what medications I’m taking. Right now I take Apo-alendronate. I take one pill a week to increase bone density and counteract osteoporosis. The other prescription I have is for Ativan also known as Lorezapan. And I take half a tab maybe once a week to help with sleep. It’s an anti-anxiety pill. 

Other than that, I take the odd aspirin to help with headaches and my trusty Benadryl for allergies.

What Are the Risk Factors for Mesothelioma? - Video

mesothelioma risk factors video