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Cancer pathways

The identification of genes related to cancer origin and progression has been greatly expanded with the establishment of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) consortia, which include most tumor types, matching DNA sequencing, and RNA transcripts. As a result, we now have a better grasp of the molecular pathways underlying cancer, its biochemistry, and, therefore, new therapeutic targets.  Here, we showcase some recent scientific papers which describe distinct aspects of the molecular mechanisms involved in cancer development and progression, as well as its liaison with new potential therapeutic interventions.

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  2. Choriocarcinoma is a malignant cancer that belongs to gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). Herein, serum metabolomic analysis was performed on 29 GTN patients and 30 healthy individuals to characterize t...

    Authors: Xiao-Mei Liu, Zi-Hao Wang, Qian-Xue Wei, Yang Song and Xiao-Xin Ma
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:78
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. A substantive body of evidence has demonstrated the significant roles of circular RNA (circRNA) in cancer. However, the contribution of dysregulated circRNAs to ovarian cancer (OC) remains elusive. We aim to e...

    Authors: Yu Sun, Xiyi Chen, Yaqian Shi, Fang Teng, Chencheng Dai, Lili Ge, Juan Xu and Xuemei Jia
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:69
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), a lethal subset of prostate cancer (PCa), is characterized by loss of AR signaling and resistance to AR-targeted therapy. While it is well reported that second-generation...

    Authors: Nan Jing, Zhenkeke Tao, Xinxing Du, Zhenzhen Wen, Wei-Qiang Gao, Baijun Dong and Yu-Xiang Fang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. Osteosarcoma is a diverse and aggressive bone tumor. Driver genes regulating osteosarcoma initiation and progression remains incompletely defined. Zinc finger protein 692 (ZNF692), a kind of Krüppel C2H2 zinc ...

    Authors: Di Zheng, Zhun Wei, Chong Zhang, Wenda Liu, Changtian Gong, Fei Wu and Weichun Guo
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:28
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Pancreatic cancer stem cells are crucial for tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis. Presently, long non-coding RNAs were found to be associated with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma stemness characteristics but ...

    Authors: Zhenchong Li, Zuyi Ma, Shujie Wang, Qian Yan, Hongkai Zhuang, Zixuan Zhou, Chunsheng Liu, Yubin Chen, Mingqian Han, Zelong Wu, Shanzhou Huang, Qi Zhou, Baohua Hou and Chuanzhao Zhang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:24
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. CircLRIG1, a newly discovered circRNA, has yet to have its potential function and biological processes reported. This study explored the role of circLRIG1 in the development and progression of bladder carcinoma a...

    Authors: Shiliang Cheng, Chunguang Li, Lu Liu, Xinli Liu, Meng Li, Jinhua Zhuo, Jue Wang, Wen Zheng and Zhongmin Wang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:20
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the main subtype of esophageal cancer. Current therapeutic effect is far from satisfaction. Hence, identifying susceptible genes and potential targets is necessary ...

    Authors: Zhiwei Chang, Yongxu Jia, Ming Gao, Lijie Song, Weijie Zhang, Ruihua Zhao, Dandan Yu, Xiaolei Liu, Jing Li and Yanru Qin
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:19
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. STAM Binding Protein Like 1 (STAMBPL1), functions as a deubiquitinase (DUB) and plays a significant role in various types of cancers. However, its effect as a DUB participating in the HCC tumorigenesis and pro...

    Authors: Zhihuai Wang, Yinjie Zhang, Yuhang Shen, Haiyang Zhou, Yuan Gao, Chunfu Zhu and Xihu Qin
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:18
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Lenvatinib is an oral small molecule inhibitor approved for treating patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) worldwide. Increasing cell sensitivity to lenvatinib would be an effective method ...

    Authors: Yarong Guo, Bao Chai, Hezhao Zhang, Xinhao Chai, Yan Chen, Jun Xu, Liwei Qin and Yuting Chai
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:15
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. Aberrant expression and activation of circular RNAs (circRNAs) are closely associated with various cancers. The role of circ_MAPK9 (hsa_circ_0001566) in cancer progression remains unknown. This study aims to i...

    Authors: Kunyuan Wang, Qianting Lu, Yufeng Luo, Ganxiang Yu, Zhilei Wang, Jiaen Lin, Zhenlin Tan, Yueqiong Lao, Shiming Liu and Hui Yang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:4
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) is a metabolic enzyme that participates in various biological and pathological processes. Dysregulated PGK1 has been observed in numerous malignancies. However, whether and how...

    Authors: Tian Tian, Yahui Leng, Bingbing Tang, Xiaoxia Dong, Qiulei Ren, Jingyin Liang, Tianhui Liu, Yanni Liu, Wenxiao Feng, Song Liu, Yang Zhou, Hongyan Zhao and Li Shen
    Citation: Biology Direct 2024 19:1
    Content type: Research Published on:

  14. Pancreatic cancer is a malignancy with high mortality. Once diagnosed, effective treatment strategies are limited and the five-year survival is extremely poor. Recent studies have shown that zinc finger protei...

    Authors: Qifeng Xiao, Zhongmin Lan, Shuisheng Zhang, Hu Ren, Shunda Wang, Peng Wang, Lin Feng, Dan Li, Chengfeng Wang, Xiaofeng Bai and Jianwei Zhang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:77
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Cancer stemness and osteosarcoma (OS) malignant progression are closely associated. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this association have not been fully demonstrated. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs)...

    Authors: Zhining Yang, Zhaoyong Liu, Weiqing Lu, Huancheng Guo, Jianzhou Chen and Ying Zhang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:74
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. Malignant melanoma is a highly heterogeneous skin cancer with the highest mortality rate among dermatological cancers. Catenins form functional networks in the nucleus to regulate gene expression and determine...

    Authors: Yi-dou Hu, Ke Wu, Yuan-jie Liu, Qian Zhang, Hui Shen, Jin Ji, Dong Fang and Song-yang Xi
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:72
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. Nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) is a transcription factor that participates in several kinds of tumor, but its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains elusive. This study aims to explore the role of...

    Authors: Ran Liu, Chuanzheng Yin, Peng Zhao, Bing Guo, Wenbo Ke, Xichuan Zheng, Dawei Xie, Yaofeng Wang, Gengqiao Wang, Yinzhao Jia, Yang Gao, Wenjun Hu, Gang Logan Liu and Zifang Song
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:67
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. Despite improvements in prognosis due to advances in treatment, including surgery, genetic screening, and molecular targeted therapy, the outcomes of ovarian cancer (OC) remain unsatisfactory. Internal mRNA mo...

    Authors: Lijuan Gan, Shengchao Zhao, Yang Gao, Yuwen Qi, Min Su, Anjin Wang and Hongbing Cai
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:64
    Content type: Research Published on:

  19. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are an important subset of innate immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, and they are pivotal regulators of tumor-promoting inflammation and tumor progression. Evidence...

    Authors: Yandong Zhang, Shu Ma, Tie Li, Yu Tian, Huangao Zhou, Hongsheng Wang and Lan Huang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Biology Direct 2023 18:83

  20. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and challenging cancers in the world. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in the progression of HC...

    Authors: Runkun Liu, Guozhi Yin, Hang Tuo, Yixian Guo, Yifeng Zhu, Lei Zhang, Wei Yang, Qingguang Liu and Yufeng Wang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:53
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. Previously, we identified an oncogenic splicing variant of DOCK5 in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); however, the mechanism for the generation of this specific DOCK5 variant remains unknown. This...

    Authors: Chao Liu, Guo Li, Siyuan Zheng, Li She, Shanhong Lu, Yunyun Wang, Donghai Huang, Xin Zhang, Lunquan Sun, Yong Liu and Yuanzheng Qiu
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:39
    Content type: Research Published on:

  22. LncRNA PSMA3-AS1 functions as an oncogene in several cancers, including ovarian cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. However, its role in gastric cancer (GC) progression remains unclear. In this study, ...

    Authors: Liang Kan, Meiqi Yang and Huijing Zhang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:36
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignant tumors of the digestive system, ranking third for morbidity and mortality worldwide. At present, no effective control method is available for this ca...

    Authors: Tian-yue Liu, Chen-chen Hu, Chen-ying Han, Si-yi Mao, Wen-xin Zhang, Yi-ming Xu, Yuan-jie Sun, Dong-bo Jiang, Xi-yang Zhang, Jia-xing Zhang, Jing Wang, Xu-peng Qiao, Jing-yu Pan, Shu-ya Yang and Kun Yang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:19
    Content type: Research Published on:

  25. Accumulating studies have demonstrated that the Warburg effect plays a central role in the occurrence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), albeit the role of non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in its associ...

    Authors: Chuanjiang Liu, Kequan Xu, Jiayin Liu, Chao He, Pan Liu, Qiang Fu, Hongwei Zhang and Tao Qin
    Citation: Biology Direct 2023 18:15
    Content type: Research Published on:

  27. During oncogenesis, cells become unrestrictedly proliferative thereby altering the tissue homeostasis and resulting in subsequent hyperplasia. This process is paralleled by resumption of cell cycle, aberrant D...

    Authors: Julian M. Rozenberg, Svetlana Zvereva, Aleksandra Dalina, Igor Blatov, Ilya Zubarev, Daniil Luppov, Alexander Bessmertnyi, Alexander Romanishin, Lamak Alsoulaiman, Vadim Kumeiko, Alexander Kagansky, Gerry Melino, Carlo Ganini and Nikolai A. Barlev
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:23
    Content type: Review Published on:

  28. Recently, overwhelming evidence supports that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in the occurrence and progression of tumors. However, the role and mechanism of lncRNA TFAP2A-AS1 in human gastric...

    Authors: Xin Zhao, Linlin Chen, Jingxun Wu, Jun You, Qingqi Hong and Feng Ye
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:21
    Content type: Research Published on:

  29. The interaction between proteins is a fundamental event for cellular life that is generally mediated by specialized protein domains or modules. PDZ domains are the largest class of protein–protein interaction ...

    Authors: Caterina Nardella, Lorenzo Visconti, Francesca Malagrinò, Livia Pagano, Marianna Bufano, Marianna Nalli, Antonio Coluccia, Giuseppe La Regina, Romano Silvestri, Stefano Gianni and Angelo Toto
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:15
    Content type: Review Published on:

  30. The mutation of TP53 gene affects half of all human cancers, resulting in impairment of the regulation of several cellular functions, including cell cycle progression and cell death in response to genotoxic st...

    Authors: Emanuele Panatta, Carlotta Zampieri, Gerry Melino and Ivano Amelio
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:14
    Content type: Opinion Published on:

  31. Growing evidence has demonstrated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can function as modulators in the development of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the function of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA ...

    Authors: Jintao Qian, Xinhan Lei, Yue Sun, Lu Zheng, Jia Li, Shuai Zhang, Lei Zhang, Wanwan Li, Jianing Shi, Wenjun Jia and Tong Tang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:13
    Content type: Research Published on:

  32. Most inactivating mutations in TP53 gene generates neomorphic forms of p53 proteins that experimental evidence and clinical observations suggest to exert gain-of-function effects. While massive effort has been...

    Authors: Eleonora Mammarella, Carlotta Zampieri, Emanuele Panatta, Gerry Melino and Ivano Amelio
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:11
    Content type: Research Published on:

  33. Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase-4 (ACSL4) is involved in fatty acid metabolism, and aberrant ACSL4 expression could be either tumorigenic or tumor-suppressive in different tumor types. However, the function and...

    Authors: Yixiang Zhang, Songyu Li, Fengzhou Li, Changsheng Lv and Qing-kai Yang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:10
    Content type: Research Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Biology Direct 2023 18:68

  34. Cancer is a major health problem which presents a high heterogeneity. In this work we explore omics data from Breast, Kidney and Lung cancers at different levels as signalling pathways, functions and miRNAs, a...

    Authors: Sergio Romera-Giner, Zoraida Andreu Martínez, Francisco García-García and Marta R. Hidalgo
    Citation: Biology Direct 2021 16:9
    Content type: Research Published on:

  35. Aetiogenesis of cancer has not been fully determined. Recent advances have clearly defined a role for microenvironmental factors in cancer progression and initiation; in this context, microbiome has recently e...

    Authors: Ivana Celardo, Gerry Melino and Ivano Amelio
    Citation: Biology Direct 2020 15:25
    Content type: Review Published on:

  36. LINC00426 is a newly identified long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) with unacknowledged biological roles. Here we set out to characterize the expression status of LINC00426 in osteosarcoma and understand its mechanis...

    Authors: Lulin Wang, Yi Luo, Yiquan Zheng, Lifeng Zheng, Wenxiang Lin, Zonglin Chen, Shichun Wu, Jinhong Chen and Yun Xie
    Citation: Biology Direct 2020 15:11
    Content type: Research Published on:

  37. Patients diagnosed as diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with CD5 positive normally have a worse outcome and poorly respond to the regulatory treatment strategy.

    Authors: Qingyuan Qu, Ying Li, Xiaosheng Fang, Lingyan Zhang, Chao Xue, Xueling Ge, Xin Wang and Yujie Jiang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2019 14:23
    Content type: Research Published on:

  38. CB2 (cannabinoid receptor 2) agonists have been shown to exert anti-tumor activities in different tumor types. However, there is no study exploring the role of MDA19 (a novel CB2 agonist) in tumors. In this study...

    Authors: Mei Rao, Dongfeng Chen, Peng Zhan and Jianqing Jiang
    Citation: Biology Direct 2019 14:9
    Content type: Research Published on: