Background: Laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC) accounts for around one-third of head and neck cancers, with smoking and alcohol as major risk factors. Despite advances in organ preservation, survival rates have stagnated globally over recent decades. The impact of socioeconomic deprivation on LSCC outcomes in the West of Scotland remains underexplored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe immunoregulatory cytokine TGF-β is pleiotropic due to the near-ubiquitous expression of the TGF-β receptors TβRI and TβRII on diverse cell types. The helminth parasite Heligmosomoides polygyrus has convergently evolved a family of TGF-β mimics (TGMs) that bind both these receptors through domains 1-3 of a 5-domain protein. One member of this family, TGM4, differs from TGF-β in acting in a cell-specific manner, failing to stimulate fibroblasts, but activating SMAD phosphorylation in macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCellular senescence is not only associated with ageing but also impacts physiological and pathological processes, such as embryonic development and wound healing. Factors secreted by senescent cells affect their microenvironment and can induce spreading of senescence locally. Acute severe liver disease is associated with hepatocyte senescence and frequently progresses to multi-organ failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) can have both tumour-promoting and tumour-suppressing activity in breast cancer. Elucidating the key downstream mediators of pro-tumorigenic TGF-β signalling in this context could potentially give rise to new therapeutic opportunities and/or identify biomarkers for anti-TGF-β directed therapy. Here, we identify (also known as innate immunity activator ) as a novel TGF-β target gene which is induced in a SMAD3-dependent but SMAD2/SMAD4-independent manner in human and murine cell lines.
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