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Keates, Andrew

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Keates

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Andrew

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Keates, Andrew
Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.7baeef53-c999-4a36-9a9c-6f38d250ab7c

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    Targeting Cancer Gene Therapy with Magnetic Nanoparticles
    (Impact Journals LLC, 2012) Li, Charles; Keates, Andrew; Li, Linda
    Recent advances in cancer genomics have opened up unlimited potential for treating cancer by directly targeting culprit genes. However, novel delivery methods are needed in order for this potential to be translated into clinically viable treatments for patients. Magnetic nanoparticle technology offers the potential to achieve selective and efficient delivery of therapeutic genes by using external magnetic fields, and also allows simultaneous imaging to monitor the delivery in vivo. Compared to conventional gene delivery strategies, this technique has been shown to significantly increase gene delivery to human xenograft tumors models, as well as various internal organs (e.g. liver, kidney) and the central nervous system. Magnetic nanoparticle technology, therefore, has the potential to turn the challenge of gene therapy in vivo into a new frontier for cancer treatment.
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    Ionizing Radiation Induces Stemness in Cancer Cells
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Ghisolfi, Laura; Keates, Andrew; Hu, Xingwang; Lee, Dong-ki; Li, Chiang
    The cancer stem cell (CSC) model posits the presence of a small number of CSCs in the heterogeneous cancer cell population that are ultimately responsible for tumor initiation, as well as cancer recurrence and metastasis. CSCs have been isolated from a variety of human cancers and are able to generate a hierarchical and heterogeneous cancer cell population. CSCs are also resistant to conventional chemo- and radio-therapies. Here we report that ionizing radiation can induce stem cell-like properties in heterogeneous cancer cells. Exposure of non-stem cancer cells to ionizing radiation enhanced spherogenesis, and this was accompanied by upregulation of the pluripotency genes Sox2 and Oct3/4. Knockdown of Sox2 or Oct3/4 inhibited radiation–induced spherogenesis and increased cellular sensitivity to radiation. These data demonstrate that ionizing radiation can activate stemness pathways in heterogeneous cancer cells, resulting in the enrichment of a CSC subpopulation with higher resistance to radiotherapy.