Vitamin A inhibits the action of LPS on the intestinal epithelial barrier function and tight junction proteins.

Inflammation caused by either intrinsic or extrinsic toxins results in intestinal barrier dysfunction, contributing to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other diseases. Vitamin A is a widely used food supplement although its mechanistic effect on intestinal structures is largely unknown. The goal of this study was to explore the mechanism by investigating the influence of vitamin A on the intestinal barrier function, represented by tight junctions.

Phenformin alone or combined with gefitinib inhibits bladder cancer via AMPK and EGFR pathways.

Background: In previous studies, we have shown that the combination of metformin and gefitinib inhibits the growth of bladder cancer cells. Here we examined whether the metformin analogue phenformin, either used alone or in combination with gefitinib, could inhibit growth of bladder cancer cells.

Methods: The growth-inhibitory effects of phenformin and gefitinib were tested in one murine and two human bladder cancer cell lines using MTT and clonogenic assays.

Down-regulation of PKM2 enhances anticancer efficiency of THP on bladder cancer.

Pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) regulates the final step of glycolysis levels that are correlated with the sensitivity of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs. THP is one of the major drugs used in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer instillation chemotherapy. However, low response ratio of THP (19.

A novel synthetic derivative of quercetin, 8-trifluoromethyl-3,5,7,3',4'--pentamethyl-quercetin, inhibits bladder cancer growth by targeting the AMPK/mTOR signaling pathway.

Quercetin is a naturally existing compound and shows attractive anticancer properties for a variety of solid tumors including glioma, bladder cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, breast cancer, hematological malignancies and prostate carcinoma. However, these anticancer properties have not been clinically approved due to unclear mechanistic information and its low bioactivity. In our previous study, we elucidated that quercetin activates AMPK pathway which is the major mechanism for its unique anticancer effect in bladder cancer.

Human interstitial cellular model in therapeutics of heart valve calcification.

Calcific aortic valve disease is a common, severe heart condition that is currently with no proven, effective drug treatment and requires a surgical valve replacement or an entire heart explanation. Thus, developing novel, targeted therapeutic approaches becomes a major goal for cardiovascular disease research. To achieve this goal, isolated heart valve interstitial cells could be an advanced model to explore molecular mechanisms and measure drug efficacy.

Resistant Starch Regulates Gut Microbiota: Structure, Biochemistry and Cell Signalling.

Starch is one of the most popular nutritional sources for both human and animals. Due to the variation of its nutritional traits and biochemical specificities, starch has been classified into rapidly digestible, slowly digestible and resistant starch. Resistant starch has its own unique chemical structure, and various forms of resistant starch are commercially available.

Combination of metformin with chemotherapeutic drugs via different molecular mechanisms.

Metformin, a widely prescribed drug for treating type II diabetes, is one of the most extensively recognized metabolic modulators which has shown an important anti-cancer property. However, fairly amount of clinical trials on its single administration have not demonstrated a convincing efficiency yet. Thus, recent studies tend to combine metformin with clinical commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs to decrease their toxicity and attenuate their tumor resistance.

Metformin and gefitinib cooperate to inhibit bladder cancer growth via both AMPK and EGFR pathways joining at Akt and Erk.

EGFR is a potential therapeutic target for treating bladder cancer, but has not been approved for clinical use yet. Metformin is a widely used antidiabetic drug and has demonstrated interesting anticancer effects on various cancer models, alone or in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs. The efficacy of gefitinib, a well-known EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, combined with metformin was assessed on bladder cancer and underlying mechanisms were explored.

Quercetin induces bladder cancer cells apoptosis by activation of AMPK signaling pathway.

Quercetin, a natural existing polyphenol compound, has shown anticancer capacity for liver, breast, nasopharyngeal and prostate carcinoma but has not been clinically approved yet. This might be due to lack of clear mechanistic picture. Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers of the urinary tract in the world.