Cancer

Nucleolin is a ubiquitous, nonhistone nucleolar phosphoprotein of exponentially growing eukaryotic cells and is present in abundance at the dense fibrillar and granular regions of nucleolus. Intact nucleolin is the major species and represents 5% of nucleolar protein in actively dividing cells.

Nanog, a homeodomain (HD) transcription factor, plays a critical role in the maintenance of embryonic stem (ES) cell self-renewal. Transcription regulator involved in inner cell mass and ES cell proliferation and self-renewal.

The Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP1) is a member of the C-C chemokine family, and a potent chemotactic factor for monocytes.

Vimentin, a member of the intermediate filament (IF) family, is a protein responsible for maintaining cellular integrity and reducing damage caused by stress.

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine/threonine protein kinase and has been known to play its role in cell growth and proliferation. mTOR is activated by phosphorylationin response to growth factors, mitogens and hormones. Rapamycin is a macrolide antibiotic from Streptomyces hygroscopicus that specifically inhibit the activity of mTOR.

Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) variously abbreviated as BrdU, BudR, and BrdUrd, is a synthetic thymidine analog that gets incorporated into the DNA of dividing cells during the S-phase of the cell cycle and has a long history of heavy use in molecular and cytokinetic studies (1).

The Wnt/beta Catenin signaling pathway plays a critical role in embryonic development, stem cell self-renewal and regeneration. Alterations in this signaling cascade have been implicated in the pathogenesis of cancer.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 is a major transcription factor composed of two subunits: HIF-1alpha and HIF-1 beta. Under normoxic conditions, HIF-1 alpha is targeted to proteosomal degradation via ubiquitination.

Synaptonemal Complex Protein 1 (SCP1) is a novel tumor antigen that belongs to the growing family of cancer/testis antigens (CTA). SCP-1 is known to be selectively expressed during the meiotic prophase of spermatocytes and is involved in the pairing of homologous chromosomes during meiosis I. Investigation of a broad spectrum of normal and malignant tissues revealed that expression of SCP-1 transcripts and antigen selectively in a variety of neoplastic tissues and tumor cell lines.

ABCG2 is a member of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily. Among ABC transporters ABCG2 is particularly interesting for its potential role in protecting cancer stem cells and its complex oligomeric structure (1).