Injectable, in-situ forming, tunable, biocompatible gelatin hydrogels for biomedical applications.

Gelatin hydrogels have drawn attention for their diverse biomedical applications due to their flexible physiochemical properties. However, such gelatin hydrogels are made of toxic crosslinkers and photoinitiators, restricting their non-invasive deep tissue application. The in-situ forming chemical crosslinked without such toxic crosslinker and UV light has not been explored under physiological conditions.

Steroid hormone receptor based gene delivery systems as potential oral cancer therapeutics.

Glucocorticoid and Mineralocorticoid receptors are principally ligand-dependent intracellular transcription factors that are known to influence the development and growth of many human cancers. Our study investigates the potential of these receptors to act as a target for oral cancer treatment since findings in this regard are sparse till date. Leveraging the aberrant behavior of steroid hormone receptors (SHRs) in cancer, we have targeted oral cancer cells in 2D-culture using liposomes containing both synthetic as well as crude, natural SHR ligands isolated from an aqueous Indian medicinal plant.

Delivery of chemotherapeutic drug targeting folate receptor to oral cancer cells using functionalized carbon nanospheres.

Folate receptor (FR) () has long been the subject of active interest as regards its potential to serve as a target for cancer therapy. FR has been found to be overexpressed in several cancers, including clinical samples of different stages from OSCC (oral squamous cell carcinoma) patients. However, no clear correlation or conclusive finding has been obtained so far which might indicate the efficacy of FR as a credible target for the treatment of OSCC.

Decoding the 'Fifth' Nucleotide: Impact of RNA Pseudouridylation on Gene Expression and Human Disease.

Cellular RNAs, both coding and noncoding are adorned by > 100 chemical modifications, which impact various facets of RNA metabolism and gene expression. Very often derailments in these modifications are associated with a plethora of human diseases. One of the most oldest of such modification is pseudouridylation of RNA, wherein uridine is converted to a pseudouridine (Ψ) via an isomerization reaction.

Dicationic amphiphiles bearing an amino acid head group with a long-chain hydrophobic tail for gene delivery applications.

Amino acid-based cationic lipids, which have proven their efficacy as plasmid DNA nanocarriers, were employed as dicationic forms to transfect genes into cancer and non-cancer cells in this study. Proline, methionine, and serine amino acids are involved as hydrophilic moieties and the hydrocarbon long-chain serves as a hydrophobic tail. In a multicultural investigation, cationic lipids were employed as nano-vectors in conjunction with the helper lipid DOPE.

Cimetidine-Based Cationic Amphiphiles for In Vitro Gene Delivery Targetable to Colon Cancer.

Cimetidine, a histamine-2 (H2) receptor antagonist, has been found to have anticancer properties against a number of cancer-type cells. In this report, we have demonstrated that cimetidine can acts as a hydrophilic domain in cationic lipids and targetable to the gastric system by carrying reporter genes and therapeutic genes through in vitro transfection. Two lipids, namely, Toc-Cim and Chol-Cim consisting cimetidine as the main head group and hydrophobic moieties as alpha-tocopherol or cholesterol, respectively, were designed and synthesized.

Targeting steroid hormone receptors for anti-cancer therapy-A review on small molecules and nanotherapeutic approaches.

The steroid hormone receptors (SHRs) among nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are steroid ligand-dependent transcription factors that play important roles in the regulation of transcription of genes promoted via hormone responsive elements in our genome. Aberrant expression patterns and context-specific regulation of these receptors in cancer, have been routinely reported by multiple research groups. These gave an window of opportunity to target those receptors in the context of developing novel, targeted anticancer therapeutics.

Functional Analysis of SNPs ( and ) Associated with Schizophrenia.

A recent study showed the association of minor alleles of (T allele) and (T allele) of with schizophrenia (SZ) and suggested their effects on splicing of the transcripts. We performed a replication study using 310 controls and 304 SZ patients and confirmed the association of the homozygous minor allele genotypes with SZ ( = 0.04 for and  = 0.

The prospects of nanotherapeutic approaches for targeting tumor-associated macrophages in oral cancer.

OSCC (oral squamous cell carcinoma) is currently one of the most formidable cancers plagued by challenges like low overall survivability, lymph node associated metastasis, drug resistance, and poor diagnostics. The tumor microenvironment (TME) and its constituent stromal elements are crucial modulators of tumor growth and treatment response, more specifically so with regards to resident tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) and their liaison with the different stromal elements in the tumor niche (Figure 1). Interestingly, there isn't much information on TAM-targeted nanotherapy in OSCC where the first line of therapeutics for oral cancer is surgery with other therapeutics such as chemo- and radiotherapy acting only as adjuvant therapy for oral cancer.

Dual targeting of folate receptor-expressing glioma tumor-associated macrophages and epithelial cells in the brain using a carbon nanosphere-cationic folate nanoconjugate.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the highly invasive form of glioma, exhibits the highest mortality in patients with brain malignancies. Increasing glioma patients' survivability is challenging, as targeting only tumor-associated malignant cells would not reduce the overall aggressiveness of the tumor mass. This is due to the inadequacy in countering pro-proliferative, invasive and metastatic factors released by tumor-mass associated macrophages (TAMs).

Data for stable formulation of steroid hormone receptor-targeted liposomes for cancer therapeutics.

A detailed description of steroid hormone ligand containing liposomes and their stability has been given. Liposomes were complexed with β-gal DNA and used to transfect cancer and non-cancer cells. The stability of the liposomes and lipoplexes were analysed using dynamic light scattering and DNA-binding gel images.

Mineralocorticoid receptor mediated liposomal delivery system for targeted induction of apoptosis in cancer cells.

Mineralocorticoid receptors (MRs) are nuclear hormone receptors that are ubiquitously present in all cell types and are known to mediate distinct physiological functions like regulating Na(+) and K(+) balance and water excretion. MRs are linked to cell proliferation and can be exploited for the targeted control of cell mass in cancer. The present study is aimed towards extending the concept of using MR ligand spironolactone for selective delivery of genes in cancer cells.