RESUMO
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. The multikinase inhibitor sorafenib only demonstrated marginal improvement in overall survival for advanced disease prompted the search for alternative treatment options. Human mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have the ability to home to tumor cells. However, its functional roles on the tumor microenvironment remain controversial. Herein, we showed that conditioned media derived from human fetal MSC (CM-hfMSCs) expressed high level of the insulin growth factor binding proteins IGFBPs and can sequester free insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) to inhibit HCC cell proliferation. The inhibitory effect of IGFBPs on IGF signaling was further evident from the reduction of activated IGF-1R and PI3K/Akt, leading eventually to the induction of cell cycle arrest. We also demonstrated that CM-hfMSCs could enhance the therapeutic efficacy of sorafenib and sunitinib. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to show that CM-hfMSCs has a tumor-specific, antiproliferative effect that is not observed with normal human hepatocyte cells and patient-derived matched normal tissues. Our results thus suggest that CM-hfMSCs can provide a useful tool to design alternative/adjuvant treatment strategies for HCC, especially in related function to potentiate the effects of chemotherapeutic drugs.
Assuntos
Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Feto/citologia , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Células-Tronco Mesenquimais/metabolismo , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Receptor IGF Tipo 1/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/tratamento farmacológico , Proliferação de Células , Meios de Cultivo Condicionados , Técnicas de Silenciamento de Genes , Humanos , Indóis/uso terapêutico , Neoplasias Hepáticas/tratamento farmacológico , Niacinamida/análogos & derivados , Niacinamida/uso terapêutico , Compostos de Fenilureia/uso terapêutico , Pirróis/uso terapêutico , Receptor IGF Tipo 1/genética , Sorafenibe , SunitinibeRESUMO
Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates causing invasive disease at a large tertiary institute in Singapore from 2000 to 2007 were serotyped, with 84 (43.8 %) and 159 (82.8 %) isolates belonging to serotypes covered by the pneumococcal heptavalent conjugate and polysaccharide vaccines, respectively. All non-meningitis isolates were susceptible to penicillin, and the attributable mortality was 21.4 %. Patients who fulfilled the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices criteria for vaccination with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine comprised 74.0 % of the study cohort and had a significantly higher mortality risk.
