Analysis of common gene expression patterns in four human tumor cell lines exposed to camptothecin using cDNA microarray: identification of topoisomer

Posted by rob on December 23, 2005 under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

Guo XQ, Zhang J, Fu X, Wei Q, Lu Y, Li Y, Yin G, Mao Y, Xie Y, Rui Y, Ying K

Front Biosci. 2006 May 1; 11: 1924-31

Camptothecin (CPT) is a potent inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase I with a wide spectrum of anti-tumor activity. Relatively little information is available regarding the relation of known topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage with other intracellular pathways. To gain an insight into the intracellular molecular mechanisms of Topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin-mediated DNA damage leading to cell death, we used a high-density cDNA microarray to assess sensitive early gene expression profiles in SGC7901 (gastric cancer), Hela (cervical adenocarcinoma), K562 (chronic myelogenous leukemia) and HL60 (promyelocytic leukemia) tumor cells stimulated with camptothecin for 1 h at the concentrations of GI50 (50 % growth inhibition after 24 h of treatment). Analysis of the differentially expressed genes obtained 29 response genes common to all four cell lines. Moreover, these cell lines also shared the direction of regulation. Most of these common response genes were functionally related to cell proliferation or apoptosis, and some of them were involved in ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated) and ATR (ATM-and Rad3 related) checkpoint pathways, JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) pathway, the survival phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3 kinase-Akt-dependent pathway, mitochondrial cell death pathway, endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-related cell death pathway, and to ubiquitin/proteasome dependent protein degradation pathway. The data provides evidence for a linkage between topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage and intracellular signaling events, which may facilitate our understanding of the camptothecin mediated molecular mechanisms of action.

Analysis of common gene expression patterns in four human tumor cell lines exposed to camptothecin using cDNA microarray: identification of topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage response pathways.

Novartis Response On Assistance For Medicare Patients

Posted by rob on under Uncategorized | Be the First to Comment

I have been in contact with Novartis regarding the situation that so many Medicare patients now face with the large co-payments and deductibles that will be required under the new Medicare prescription drug coverage. Novartis has responded and I will give you a summary of what they have said below. For those patients who will face a serious financial hardship because of the new Medicare program some of the programs listed below may be able to offer some help.

Rob

Contact Novartis PAP
1.  If a patient has financial difficulty in being able to pay the co-payments and deductibles to obtain their Gleevec they can call the Novartis PAP number at
800-277-2254  They will try to help patients find ways to make the necessary co-payments so they can continue to receive Gleevec.

Contact PSI
2.  Novartis and other drug companies have provided funding to a group called Patient Services Inc.
http://www.uneedpsi.org/ which can provide financial assistance for co-payments based upon the severity of medical and financial need. PSI specifically has a program for CML patients, they will consider providing assistance on a case by case basis for both Medicare and non-Medciare patients. They can consider the following types of help:

Premium Assistance Program
# Cobra Payments
# High-risk Payments
# Open-enrollment Payments
# Guaranteed Issue Payments
# Full Assistance or Share-of-Cost
 
Copayment Assistance Program
# Full Assistance or Share-of-Cost
# Spend down Assistance

Financial Hardship Waiver Program
# Determine eligibility for Copayment Waiver
# Determine eligibility for Compassionate Product

Contact Partnership For Prescription Assistance
An additional site that might be able to also provide assistance to CML patients is:

Partnership For Prescription Assistance
www.pparx.org

They help patients find financial resources through public or private programs.