“
“Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is a candidate marker for lung cancer cells with stem cell-like properties. Immunohistochemical staining of a large panel of primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) samples for ALDH1A1, ALDH3A1, and CD133 revealed a significant correlation

between ALDH1A1 (but not ALDH3A1 or CD133) expression and poor prognosis in patients including those with stage I and N0 disease. Flow cytometric analysis of a panel of lung cancer cell lines and patient tumors revealed that most NSCLCs contain a subpopulation of cells with elevated ALDH activity, and that this activity is associated with ALDH1A1 expression. Isolated ALDH(+) lung cancer cells were observed to be highly tumorigenic and clonogenic as well as capable of self-renewal FK228 chemical structure compared with their ALDH(-) counterparts. check details Expression analysis of sorted cells revealed elevated Notch pathway transcript expression in ALDH(+) cells. Suppression of the Notch pathway by treatment with either a gamma-secretase inhibitor or stable expression of shRNA against NOTCH3 resulted in a significant decrease in ALDH(+) lung cancer cells, commensurate with a reduction in tumor cell proliferation and clonogenicity. Taken together, these findings indicate that ALDH selects for a

subpopulation of self-renewing NSCLC stem-like cells with increased tumorigenic potential, that NSCLCs harboring tumor cells with ALDH1A1 expression have inferior prognosis, and that ALDH1A1 and CD133 identify different tumor subpopulations. Therapeutic targeting of the Notch pathway reduces this ALDH(+) component, implicating Notch signaling in lung cancer stem cell maintenance. Cancer Res; 70(23); 9937-48. (C)2010 AACR.”
“The aim of the present study was the evaluation of lipid nanoparticles (solid lipid nanoparticles, SLN, and nanostructured lipid carriers, NLC) as potential carriers for octyl-methoxycinnamate Selleckchem GSK J4 (OMC). The release pattern of OMC from SLN and NLC was evaluated in vitro, determining

its percutaneous absorption through excised human skin. Additional in vitro studies were performed in order to evaluate, after UVA radiation treatment, the spectral stability of OMC-loaded lipid nanoparticles. From the obtained results, ultrasonication method yielded both SLN and NLC in the nanometer range with a high active loading and a particle shape close to spherical. Differential scanning calorimetry data pointed out the key role of the inner oil phase of NLC in stabilizing the particle architecture and in increasing the solubility of OMC as compared with SLN. In vitro results showed that OMC, when incorporated in viscosized NLC dispersions (OMCNLC), exhibited a lower flux with respect to viscosized SLN dispersions (OMCSLN) and two reference formulations: a microemulsion (OMC-ME) and a hydroalcoholic gel (OMC-GEL).