Lung cancer products

The majority of promising drug candidates emerging from marine natural products research to date are potential cancer treatments. Six anti-cancer compounds that are either marine natural products or synthetic analogs of marine natural products have made it to clinical trials. The first of these compounds to enter clinical trials was didemnin B (43), one of a family of cyclic depsipetides isolated from the Caribbean tunicate Trididemnum solidum Didemnin B was advanced to Phase II clinical trials for treatment of small cell lung cancer, myeloma, prostate cancer, and melanoma. Unfortunately, no favorable responses were found so the compound has been withdrawn. Crude extracts of another Caribbean tunicate, Ecteinascidia turbinata, showed extremely... 

In addition, several other organs, like the heart, ovaty, amnion, chorion, decidua, testis, epididymis and prostate, have been reported to synthesize OT, suggesting a paracrine role for this hormone in these tissues. Ectopic AVP production by lung cancer cells or other neoplasms has been described in humans, leading to the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion. 

The involvement of tobacco smoke carcinogens in the aetiology of lung cancer is conclusively established, but the role of specific chemical carcinogens as inducers of colorectal cancer is much less clear. Mutagenic pyrolysis products derived from cooked food have come under suspicion as possible... 

Paraneoplastic syndromes are clinical syndromes owing to nonmetastatic systemic effects of cancer. Tumors make and secrete biologically active products that can stimulate or inhibit hormone production, autoimmunity, immune complex production, or immune suppression. Lung cancer, particularly small cell lung cancer, is associated with a high rate of paraneoplastic... 

Sevc J., Kunz E. and Placek V., 1976, Lung Cancer in Uranium Miners and Long-Term Exposure to Radon Daughter Products, Health Phys.,... 

Hofmann, W., Cellular Lung Dosimetry for Inhaled Radon Decay Products as a Base for Radiation - Induced Lung Cancer Risk Assessment. Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 20 95-112 (1982). 

Radon (Rn-222) daughter exposure at home is a potentially significant contributor to background lung cancer rates. In western countries, an increase in the number of energy-efficient homes threatens to increase the exposure of the occupants to radon and its decay products by reducing ventilation rates. This is also true in Japan, especially in winter. Japan is situated in the temperate zone, which results in a rather long hot and humid summer climate. Consequently,... 

The amount of particles determine the quantity of decay products that stay in the air (equilibrium fraction, F) and the fraction of activity associated with the "unattached or ultrafine mode of the size distribution (fDot) These decay products are certainly harmful at high concentrations but we cannot yet detect the effects at normal levels because the vast majority of lung cancer death are due to smoking. Models predict that potentially 9000 lung cancer deaths per year in the United States are due to indoor radon. Methods are currently available and new methods are being developed and tested for lowering the levels of radon in indoor air. 

Thus, oxygen radical production by leukocytes can be responsible for cancer development. However, the levels of leukocyte oxygen radical generation depend on the type of cancer. For example, PMNs and monocytes from peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer produced a diminished amount of superoxide [169], Timoshenko et al. [170] observed the reduction of superoxide production in bronchial carcinoma patients after the incubation of neutrophils with concanavalin A or human lectin, while neutrophils from breast cancer patients exhibited no change in their activity. Chemotherapy of lung and colorectal carcinoma patients also reduced neutrophil superoxide production. Human ALL and AML cells produced, as a rule, the diminished amounts of superoxide in response to PMA or FMLP [171], On the other hand total SOD activity was enhanced in AML cells but diminished in ALL cells, while MnSOD in AML cells was very low. It has been proposed that decreased superoxide production may be responsible for susceptibility to infections in cancer patients. 

Ectopic ACTH syndrome refers to excessive ACTH production resulting from an endocrine or nonendocrine tumor, usually of the pancreas, thyroid, or lung (e.g., small-cell lung cancer). 

Brichory, F., et al., "Proteomics-Based Identification of Protein Gene Product 9.5 as a Tumor Antigen that Induces a Humoral Immune Response in Lung Cancer," Cancer Res., 61, 7908-7912 (2001). 

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