Extracellular concentration of adenosine increases in the hypoxic tumor microenvironment. Adenosine signaling regulates apoptosis, angiogenesis, metastasis, and immune suppression in cancer cells. Adenosine-induced cell responses depend upon different subtypes of adenosine receptors activation and type of cancer. Suppression of adenosine signaling via inhibition of adenosine receptors or adenosine generating enzymes including CD39 and CD73 on ovarian or cervical cancer cells is a potentially novel therapeutic approach for gynecological cancer patients. This review summarizes the role of adenosine in the pathogenesis of gynecological cancer for a better understanding and hence a better management of this disease.

The concentrations of adenosine may increase under ischemic conditions in the tumor microenvironment, and then it enters the systemic circulation. Adenosine controls cancer progression and responses to therapy by regulating angiogenesis, cell survival, apoptosis, cell proliferation, and metastases in tumors. Hence, adenosine metabolism, adenosine-generating enzymes, and adenosine signaling are potentially novel therapeutic targets in a wide range of pathological conditions, including cerebral and cardiac ischemic diseases, inflammatory disorders, immunomodulatory disorders, and, of special interest in this review, cancer. This review summarizes the role of adenosine in the pathogenesis of head and neck cancer for a better understanding of how this may be applied to treating this type of cancer.

The toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling pathway plays a key role in inducing immune responses and were shown to be expressed in immune cells and tumor cells, and is involved in the progression of several malignancies including breast cancer. These findings provide a proof of the concept of targeting this pathway as a potential therapeutic option in the treatment of breast cancer. Moreover, there is a growing body of data showing the activation of TLRs in the tumor microenvironment and its dual function as anti-tumoral (dendritic T and natural killer cells activation) or pro-tumoral activity (cell proliferation, and drug resistance). Several agents have been developed for targeting of this pathway and one of these inhibitors, called Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (an agonist of TLR2 and TLR4), is recently being approved by FDA for immunotherapy of bladder cancer. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the mechanisms of action of TLR pathways in the development/progression of cancer for a better management of this disease.

Background: Since 2013, the incidence rate of breast cancer has remained as the first rank among female cancers worldwide. Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease that has different environmental and genetic risk factors. In recent years, advances in molecular techniques resulted in the inaccurate characterization of molecular markers and therefore improvement of diagnostic and treatment methods. GWA studies play a key role in determining low-penetrance variants that influence the susceptibility of breast cancer. Studies have shown the strong association of two markers, rs10995190 and rs10822013, on chromosome 10q21.2, with breast cancer among different populations. Considering genetic diversity among various populations and the fact that the association of these markers with the risk of developing breast cancer has not been investigated in our population, our study aimed to investigate if these markers are associated with increased risk of breast cancer in the Khorasan province population. Methods: The current study was conducted on 400 women, including 185 breast cancer patients and 215 healthy controls. Genotyping was performed using ARMS_PCR method. Results: There was a significant difference in rs10822013 genotype allele frequencies between patient and control groups (P<05). However, there were no significant differences in genotype and allele frequencies between patient and control group (P=0.41) for rs10995190. Conclusion: Based on the results, rs10822013 may increase the risk of breast cancer in our population, which is in line with the other results in the Asian population. Citation Format: Alireza Pasdar, Abolfazl Nesay, Amir Tajbaksh, Mahdi Rivandi, Fahime Afzal Javan, Atefe Moezzi, Younes Toroghyan, Amirhossein Ghasemi, Hossein Soltanian, Mahta Salehi, Fatemeh Homaei Shandiz. Association of the main variants of the 8q24- rs13281615 and 2q35-rs13387042 with breast cancer risk in Khorasan population [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Advances in Breast Cancer Research; 2017 Oct 7-10; Hollywood, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2018;16(8_Suppl):Abstract nr A11.