By virtue of their ability to bind different growth factors, morphogens and extracellular matrix proteins, heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) play a determinant role in cancer cell differentiation and migration. Despite a strong conceptual basis and promising preclinical results, clinical trials have failed to demonstrate any significant advantage of administering heparin to oncology patients. We exploited our anti-heparan sulfate branched peptide NT4 to test the opposite approach, namely, targeting HSPGs to interfere with their functions, instead of using heparin as a soluble competitor in human cell lines from pancreas adenocarcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and two different breast cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study investigates the prevalence and underlying factors of fatigue in individuals with Marfan syndrome (MFS) and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (hEDS), highlighting the necessity for focused research on this symptom within these patient populations.
Design: Cross-sectional, multicentre study.
Setting: Data were collected from participants diagnosed with MFS or hEDS across multiple healthcare centres.
The high-altitude hypoxia model demonstrates that insufficiently oxygenated placentas activate compensatory mechanisms to ensure fetal survival, hinging on the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether and when similar mechanisms are also activated during intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). A retrospective observational study evaluated a series of umbilical cord blood samples, which provide a realistic representation of the fetal intrauterine status, collected from a cohort of preterm and term neonates, both affected and not affected by IUGR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The advent of disease-modifying treatments (DMT) has changed natural history in 5q Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The aim of this study was to report survival and functional aspects in all the Italian type I children born since 2016.
Methods: The study included all symptomatic children with type I SMA born since January 1st, 2016, when DMTs became available in Italy.