Sphingosine-1-phosphate hinders the osteogenic differentiation of dental pulp stem cells in association with AKT signaling pathways.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is an important lipid mediator that regulates a diverse range of intracellular cell signaling pathways that are relevant to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the precise function of S1P in dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and its osteogenic differentiation remains unclear. We here investigated the function of S1P/S1P receptor (S1PR)-mediated cellular signaling in the osteogenic differentiation of DPSCs and clarified the fundamental signaling pathway.

AWP1 Restrains the Aggressive Behavior of Breast Cancer Cells Induced by TNF-α.

TNF-α plays a crucial role in cancer initiation and progression by enhancing cancer cell proliferation, survival, and migration. Even though the known functional role of AWP1 (zinc finger AN1 type-6, ZFAND6) is as a key mediator of TNF-α signaling, its potential role in the TNF-α-dependent responses of cancer cells remains unclear. In our current study, we found that an AWP1 knockdown using short hairpin RNAs increases the migratory potential of non-aggressive MCF-7 breast cancer cells with no significant alteration of their proliferation in response to TNF-α.

Evogliptin Suppresses Calcific Aortic Valve Disease by Attenuating Inflammation, Fibrosis, and Calcification.

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) accompanies inflammatory cell infiltration, fibrosis, and ultimately calcification of the valve leaflets. We previously demonstrated that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) is responsible for the progression of aortic valvular calcification in CAVD animal models. As evogliptin, one of the DPP-4 inhibitors displays high specific accumulation in cardiac tissue, we here evaluated its therapeutic potency for attenuating valvular calcification in CAVD animal models.