Cancer neuroscience, as an emerging converging discipline, provides us with new perspectives on the interactions between the nervous system and cancer progression. As the sympathetic nervous system, in particular adrenergic signaling, plays an important role in the regulation of tumor activity at every hierarchical level of life, from the tumor cell to the tumor microenvironment, and to the tumor macroenvironment, it is highly desirable to dissect its effects. Considering the far-reaching implications of drug repurposing for antitumor drug development, such a large number of adrenergic receptor antagonists on the market has great potential as one of the means of antitumor therapy, either as primary or adjuvant therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this study is to explore whether sodium valproate (VPA) alleviates epileptic seizures via suppressing lysyl oxidase (Lox)-mediated ferroptosis. Epileptic seizure mouse model was prepared via intrahippocampal injection of kainic acid (250 ng/μl). After treatment with kainic acid, VPA was injected intraperitoneally by the dose of 250 mg/kg twice daily for 4 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceuticals (Basel)
September 2024
Liver cirrhosis is the end-stage of chronic liver disease, characterized by inflammation, necrosis, advanced fibrosis, and regenerative nodule formation. Long-term inflammation can cause continuous damage to liver tissues and hepatocytes, along with increased vascular tone and portal hypertension. Among them, fibrosis is the necessary stage and essential feature of liver cirrhosis, and effective antifibrosis strategies are commonly considered the key to treating liver cirrhosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer
September 2024
Cancer is a profoundly dynamic, heterogeneous and aggressive systemic ailment, with a coordinated evolution of various types of tumor niches. Hypoxia plays an indispensable role in the tumor micro-ecosystem, drastically enhancing the plasticity of cancer cells, fibroblasts and immune cells and orchestrating intercellular communication. Hypoxia-induced signals, particularly hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), drive the reprogramming of genetic, transcriptional, and proteomic profiles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer, a complex and multifactorial disease, presents a significant challenge to global health. Despite significant advances in surgical, radiotherapeutic and immunological approaches, which have improved cancer treatment outcomes, drug therapy continues to serve as a key therapeutic strategy. However, the clinical efficacy of drug therapy is often constrained by drug resistance and severe toxic side effects, and thus there remains a critical need to develop novel cancer therapeutics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCholesterol is crucial for cell survival and growth, and dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis has been linked to the development of cancer. The tumor microenvironment (TME) facilitates tumor cell survival and growth, and crosstalk between cholesterol metabolism and the TME contributes to tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Targeting cholesterol metabolism has demonstrated significant antitumor effects in preclinical and clinical studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The evolutionarily conserved protein FBXO9 acts as a substrate receptor for the SKP1-cullin-1-RBX1 ubiquitin ligase and is implicated in cancer, exhibiting either tumor-suppressive or oncogenic effects depending on the specific tumor type. However, their role in lung cancer metastasis remains unclear.
Methods: Lentiviral vectors carrying miRNA-based shRNA sequences for gene-specific knockdown were generated, and Lenti-CRISPR-Cas9 vectors containing gene-specific sgRNA sequences were designed.
Scope: Gut microbiota (GM) dysbiosis and dysregulated bile acids (BAs) metabolism have been linked to ulcerative colitis (UC) pathogenesis. The possibility of utilizing live probiotics with a defined BAs-metabolizing capability to modify the composition BAs for UC treatment remains unexplored.
Methods And Results: In this study, Strain GR-4 is sourced from traditional Chinese fermented food, "Jiangshui," and demonstrated the ability to deconjugate two common conjugated BAs by over 69% and 98.
Medicina (Kaunas)
January 2024
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world. Various drugs have been developed to eliminate it but to no avail because a tumor can go into dormancy to avoid therapy. In the past few decades, tumor dormancy has become a popular topic in cancer therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProbiotics hold promise as a potential therapy for colorectal cancer (CRC), but encounter obstacles related to tumor specificity, drug penetration, and dosage adjustability. In this study, genetic circuits based on the E. coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) chassis were developed to sense indicators of tumor microenvironment and control the expression of therapeutic payloads.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOverexpression of immediate-early genes (IEGs) has been linked to was associated with cancer progression and prognosis. In a recent study, Gu et al. reported the midnolin-proteasome pathway, a novel ubiquitin-independent proteasomal degradation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKRAS mutations are frequently detected in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Although covalent KRAS inhibitors have been developed to treat KRAS-mutant cancers, effective treatments are still lacking for other KRAS-mutant NSCLCs. Thus, identifying a KRAS effector that confers poor prognosis would provide an alternative strategy for the treatment of KRAS-driven cancers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChin Med J (Engl)
January 2024
Cancer cachexia is a multi-organ syndrome and closely related to changes in signal communication between organs, which is mediated by cancer cachexia factors. Cancer cachexia factors, being the general name of inflammatory factors, circulating proteins, metabolites, and microRNA secreted by tumor or host cells, play a role in secretory or other organs and mediate complex signal communication between organs during cancer cachexia. Cancer cachexia factors are also a potential target for the diagnosis and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we investigated the effects of hinokitiol, a small-molecule natural compound, against neuronal ferroptosis after traumatic brain injury (TBI). A controlled cortical impact (CCI) mouse model and excess glutamate-treated HT-22 cells were used to study the effects of hinokitiol on TBI. Hinokitiol mitigated TBI brain tissue lesions and significantly improved neurological function.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gut microbiota and its homeostasis play a crucial role in human health. However, for some diseases related to the gut microbiota, current traditional medicines can only relieve symptoms, and it is difficult to solve the root causes or even cause side effects like disturbances in the gut microbiota. Increasing clinical studies and evidences have demonstrated that probiotics, prebiotics, and postbiotics can prevent and treat various diseases, but currently they can only be used as dietary supplements rather than medicines, which restricts the application of probiotics in the field of medicine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTrends Mol Med
November 2023
Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are commonly observed and while no therapy is universally applicable, cell-based therapies are promising. Stem cell transplantation has been investigated, but endogenous neural stem cells (eNSCs), despite their potential, especially with the development of bioelectronic medicine and biomaterials, remain understudied. Here, we compare stem cell transplantation therapy with eNSC-based therapy and summarize the combined use of eNSCs and developing technologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor microenvironment (TME) is crucial in cancer progression, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) is an important TME component. Collagen is a major ECM component that contributes to tumor cell infiltration, expansion, and distant metastasis during cancer progression. Recent studies reported that collagen is deposited in the TME to form a collagen wall along which tumor cells can infiltrate and prevent drugs from working on the tumor cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Aberrant expression of circRNAs is involved in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed at screening the pro-tumorigenic circular RNAs (circRNAs) in HCC and the mechanisms of circCPSF6 expression influencing HCC characteristics.
Method: circCPSF6 was identified in HCC tissues using high-throughput sequencing data, and its expression was verified in both HCC tissues and cell lines using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR).
Gluten accumulation damages the proximal small intestine and causes celiac disease (CeD) which has not been effectively treated except by using a gluten-free diet. In this study, strain Bacillus subtilis LZU-GM was isolated from Pakistani traditional fermented sourdough and could degrade 73.7% of gluten in 24 h in vitro.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBy the year 2035 more than 4 billion people might be affected by obesity and being overweight. Adipocyte-derived Extracellular Vesicles (ADEVs/ADEV-singular) are essential for communication between the tumor microenvironment (TME) and obesity, emerging as a prominent mechanism of tumor progression. Adipose tissue (AT) becomes hypertrophic and hyperplastic in an obese state resulting in insulin resistance in the body.
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