Infections

Symptoms and General Pathology

All Conditions

Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract (Lung and Bronchial) Diseases

Empyema

Fibrosis

Pleural Effusion, Malignant

Pleural Effusion

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, Pleural

Pleurisy

Communicable Diseases

Mycobacterium Infections

Bacterial Infections

Gram-Positive Bacterial Infections

Mycoses

Bacterial Infections and Mycoses

Pleural Diseases

Respiratory Tract Diseases

Pleural Neoplasms

Respiratory Tract Neoplasms

Thoracic Neoplasms

Suppuration

Inflammation

Respiratory Tract Infections

Tuberculosis, Extrapulmonary

Shen Gwan Han, MD

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is known to be a fibrogenic cytokine, it could be expressed in various fibrosis diseases. But, recent research showed that CTGF also be considered to be a tumor suppressive gene. The expression of CTGF protein is higher in normal Type I and II alveolar epithelial cells than metastatic tumor cells. CTGF appears to be a suppressor of lung tumor invasion and in metastasis and the decreased CTGF expression in tumor tissues was associated with advanced tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, early postoperative relapse and shorter patient survival.

CTGF can be expressed in many human organs such as heart, brain, placenta, liver, muscle, kidney, peritoneal mesothelial cells and lung but did not known in the pleura. The CTGF protein is present in the peritoneal cavity and is increased during peritonitis. Considering pleural cavity comes from the same origin of mesenchyma with peritoneum, pericardium and fallopian tube, we aim to evaluate whether the CTGF expression increase in the pleurisy patients including the parapneumonic effusion and the TB pleurisy.

The diagnosis of TB pleurisy depends on the effusion TB culture and pleural biopsy. Unfortunately the sensitivity of TB culture was only 20-30%. So most patients must receive invasive pleural biopsy. Adenosine deaminase(ADA) was developed as a screening test but should not be considered an alternative test to culture and biopsy. The sensitivity of ADA might vary from 32%-100% and the cutoff value also vary from 26 to 70 IU/L. We should develop a method to alternate the culture and biopsy . Therefore, our technologist Jao-Jia chu will develop the CTGF ELISA kit for this specific aim. If CGTF might increase expression in pleuritis but decrease in pleural metastasis, it might be a potential method help to differentiate lymphocytic pleural effusion between TB pleurisy and malignancy.

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, also known as CCN2) is a member of the CCN family. Cysteine-rich 61(Cyr61) is known as CCN1, and nephroblastoma over-expressed (Nov, known as CCN3) as well as Wisp-1/elm1( CCN4),Wisp-2/rCop1(CCN5), and Wisp-3 (CCN6)1. The CTGF is a secretory growth factor that bind with integrins on the cell surface and was first identified as a mitogen isolated from the medium of human umbilical vein endothelial cells2. CTGF can be expressed in many human organs such as heart, brain, placenta, liver, muscle, kidney, and lung and may have many biologic functions3. CTGF stimulate the proliferation of fibroblast and vascular endothelial cells. The level of CTGF protein is increased in patients with various fibrotic human disease including renal failure, hepatic fibrosis in biliary atresia, systemic scleroderma and vascular atherosclerosis4.

Recent research revealed the expression of CTGF protein was high in the normal lung epithelium and moderate to high in stage I lung adenocarcinoma cells5. But the expression of CTGF was reduced in low grade metastatic respiratory epithelial tumor cells. The CTGF expression was associated with the suppression of human lung cancer cell metastasis in a mouse model and the reduced CTGF expression was also associated with clinical metastasis and patient survival5. The expression of CTGF protein was statistically significantly higher in normal lung type I and II epithelial cells than in the majority of metastatic adenocarcinoma specimens revealed that the level of CTGF protein decreases during clinical disease when cells acquire the ability to grow at metastatic site6. CTGF appears to be a suppressor of lung tumor invasion and metastasis and the decreased CTGF expression in tumor tissues was associated with advanced tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, early postoperative relapse, and shorter patient survival. Connective tissue growth factor acts as an independent prognostic marker in colorectal cancer and giomas and inhibits metastasis7,8

Comparison the Level of CTGF Protein and Related Cytokine in Pleural Effusion

Comparison the Level of CTGF Protein and Related Cytokine in Pleural Effusion Among Tuberculous Pleurisy and Malignant Pleural Effusion Patients

Ton General Hospital

Taichung Veterans General Hospital

Digestive System Diseases

Rare Diseases

Stomach Neoplasms

Neoplasm Metastasis

Neoplastic Processes

Gastrointestinal Neoplasms

Digestive System Neoplasms

Gastrointestinal Diseases

Stomach Diseases

Stomach Cancer

All Drugs and Chemicals

Mitogens

Gastric cancer patients who receive curative surgery at National Taiwan University Hospital

Chiung-Nien Chen, MD, PhD

Chia-I Chen, MS

For the past 50 years, gastric cancer has been one of the ten most frequent cancers and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the world. In Taiwan, it is the fifth most common cause of cancer-related deaths, accounting for 6.3% of all cancer deaths. The poor prognosis of gastric cancer is mostly caused by the extensive metastasis to the lymph nodes, liver, and peritoneal dissemination even if curative resection was performed. The main cause of recurrence after curative or noncurative resection of advanced tumors is peritoneal metastasis because of possible direct spillage and dissemination of tumor cells as a result of surgical manipulation, and it is associated with a poor prognosis. As yet, no effective treatment has been developed for this condition. The development of peritoneal metastasis is a multistep process, beginning with attachment to peritoneal mesothelial cells, retraction of the mesothelial cells and exposure of the basement membrane, attachment to the basement membrane, degradation in the extracellular matrix, proliferation by the cancer cells, and angiogenesis, and it is clear that many types of agents are involved at the various stages of this process. Developing a new therapeutic method for this mode of metastasis is very important for improvement of gastric cancer treatment.

CTGF is a secretory protein belonging to the CCN family (one among the three originally discovered members: cysteine-rich61, CTGF, and nephroblastoma-overexpressed gene). It is a multifunctional growth factor involved in wound healing, inflammation, cell adhesion, chemotaxis, apoptosis, tumor growth, and fibrosis. Recent studies showed that overexpression of CTGF in human oral squamous cell carcinoma reduces cell growth and tumorigenecity. Similar tumor growth inhibitory effects were observed in lung cancer cells in which CTGF overexpression was less angiogenic and metastatic due to blocking of the VEGF A signaling pathway. CTGF was also reported to be a key regulator of colorectal cancer invasion and metastasis, and it appears to be a better prognostic factor. These studies suggest that CTGF may involve the processes of peritoneal metastasis which includes cancer cell adhesion in peritoneum, proliferation and angiogenesis. Peritoneal mesothelium is the first surface encountered by disseminated tumor cells and successful adhesion is, therefore, of paramount importance in metastasis formation. Therefore, we hypothesized that CTGF is a potential molecule target, which may be related to cell adhesion to peritoneum, the first step of peritoneal metastasis, and its exact mechanism may includes proliferation and angiogenesis.

In order to answer these important questions, first, we have performed the preliminary studies to prove CTGF did express in different gastric cancer cell lines including AGS, N87, TSGH, and MKN-45 by using RT-PCR and Western blotting, and gastric cancer tissues by using immunohistochemical method. Second, we demonstrated different levels of CTGF expression in different cell lines pose different adhesion ability in in-vitro adhesion assay. Third, we conducted a transient CTGF-overexpressed MKN45 gastric cancer cell line, and CTGF-overexpressed cell line had lower adhesive ability compared to the control.

Next step in this project, we will be studying the roles of CTGF plays in cellular and molecular biology in vitro and in vivo and clinical significance associated with therapeutic potential of peritoneal metastasis from gastric cancer. We will generate stable clones of MKN45 cells harboring CTGF and its control cell line to elucidate the roles of CTGF in cancer cell adhesion, proliferation and angiogenesis in peritoneum.

Cancer tissue and adjacent normal tissue Urine Blood serum and blood plasma

The Functional and Clinicopathological Roles and Therapeutic Implication of Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Peritoneal Metastasis of Gastric Cancer

To determine the level of CTGF expression in gastric cancer patient specimens collected during surgery.

To determine the survival probability of gastric cancer patients after surgery

National Taiwan University Hospital

MD, PhD

Study title	NCT ID	Conditions	Interventions	Eligibility	Organization	Link
Comparison the Level of CTGF Protein and Related Cytokine in Pleural Effusion	NCT00313066	Tuberculosis Tuberculous Ple... Malignant Pleur... Empyema		18 Years -	Taichung Veterans General Hospital
The Functional and Clinicopathological Roles and Therapeutic Implication of Connective Tissue Growth Factor in Peritoneal Metastasis of Gastric Cancer	NCT01627119	Gastric Cancer		25 Years - 90 Years	National Taiwan University Hospital

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for ctgf

Every month we try and update this database with for ctgf cancer trials from around the world to help patients and their families find trials that might be right for them.
We offer this 100% free of charge and do not endorse any of the trials listed here, we hope it helps you or a loved one.

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for ctgf

Every month we try and update this database with for ctgf cancer trials from around the world to help patients and their families find trials that might be right for them. We offer this 100% free of charge and do not endorse any of the trials listed here, we hope it helps you or a loved one.

Every month we try and update this database with for ctgf cancer trials from around the world to help patients and their families find trials that might be right for them.
We offer this 100% free of charge and do not endorse any of the trials listed here, we hope it helps you or a loved one.