Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev
January 2025
Background: Current evidence suggests higher physical activity (PA) levels are associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the mediating role of the circulating metabolome in this relationship remains unclear.
Methods: Targeted metabolomics data from 6,055 participants in the EPIC cohort were used to identify metabolites associated with PA and derive a metabolomic signature of PA levels.
Biomarkers for the diagnosis and clinical management of psychiatric disorders are currently lacking. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), lipid membrane-encapsulated vesicles released by cells, hold promise as a source of biomarkers due to their ability to carry molecules that reflect the status of their donor cells and their ubiquitous presence in biofluids. This review examines the literature on EVs in biofluids from psychiatric disorder patients, and discuss how the published studies contribute to our understanding of the pathophysiology of these conditions and to the discovery of potential biomarkers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCancer is caused by complex interactions between genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, making prevention strategies, including exercise, a promising avenue for intervention. Physical activity is associated with reduced cancer incidence and progression and systemic anti-cancer effects, including improved tumor suppression and prolonged survival in preclinical models. Exercise impacts the body's nutrient balance and stimulates the release of several exercise-induced factors into circulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn p53-deficient cancers, targeting cholesterol metabolism has emerged as a promising therapeutic approach, given that p53 loss dysregulates sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP-2) pathways, thereby enhancing cholesterol biosynthesis. While cholesterol synthesis inhibitors such as statins have shown initial success, their efficacy is often compromised by the development of acquired resistance. Consequently, new strategies are being explored to disrupt cholesterol homeostasis more comprehensively by inhibiting its synthesis and intracellular transport.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: Alzheimer's dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects memory abilities due to genetic and environmental factors. A well-known gene that influences the risk of Alzheimer's disease is the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. The APOE gene is involved in the production of a protein that helps transport cholesterol and other types of fat in the bloodstream.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Women with breast cancer (BC) experience multiple symptoms related to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) treatment that impair their functioning and quality of life (QoL). This study aimed to explore the effect of high-intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT) on quality of life and NAC side effects in women with BC.
Methods: 56 patients (48.
Introduction: Lymphocele is a common complication post-kidney transplantation, influenced by various factors including surgical technique, graft vessel count, operator experience, body mass index, ischemia time, and immunotherapy regimens.
Project Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate lymphocele risk factors, particularly focusing on the role of end-stage kidney disease.
Design: A retrospective study was conducted on renal transplant recipients from a single center (March 2020 to December 2022).
The benefits of regular physical exercise on cancer prevention, as well as reducing fatigue, treatment side effects and recurrence, and improving quality of life and overall survival of cancer patients, are increasingly recognised. Initial studies showed that the concentration of extracellular vesicles (EVs) increases during physical activity and that EVs carry biologically active cargo. These EVs are released by blood cells, skeletal muscle and other organs involved in exercise, thus suggesting that EVs may mediate tissue crosstalk during exercise.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphoinositides are essential signaling molecules. The PI5P4K family of phosphoinositide kinases and their substrates and products, PI5P and PI4,5P, respectively, are emerging as intracellular metabolic and stress sensors. We performed an unbiased screen to investigate the signals that these kinases relay and the specific upstream regulators controlling this signaling node.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The core objectives of this study centre on enhancing the quality of life and well-being of individuals diagnosed with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Our aim is to facilitate the monitoring of patient information, benefiting both caregivers and healthcare professionals.
Methods: As part of the PROCare4Life platform sensorial ecosystem, a web application with six engaging cognitive games focusing on developing cognitive training and stimulating brain activity are developed.
The synthesis and pharmacological activity of a new series of thieno[2,3-]pyrimidin-4(3)-one derivatives as sigma-1 receptor (σR) ligands are reported. A hit from a high-throughput screening program was evolved into a highly potent and selective σR agonist () that contains a free NH group as positive ionizable moiety, not fulfilling the usual pharmacophoric features of the σR. The compound shows good physicochemical and ADMET characteristics, displays an agonist profile in the binding immunoglobulin protein/σR association assay, induces neuron viability in an in vitro model of β-amyloid peptide intoxication, and presents positive results against recognition memory impairment induced by hippocampal injection of Aβ peptide in rats after oral treatment, altogether making (WLB-87848) an interesting candidate for neuroprotection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPregnant women might have an increased risk of SARS-COV-2 infection. Although evidence towards the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 is growing still there is room for improvement on the knowledge towards pregnancy adverse events, such as miscarriage. We explored the association of COVID-19 vaccine with the risk of miscarriages using the Real-World.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe fibrotic tumor microenvironment is a pivotal therapeutic target. Nintedanib, a clinically approved multikinase antifibrotic inhibitor, is effective against lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) but not squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Previous studies have implicated the secretome of tumor-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) in the selective effects of nintedanib in ADC, but the driving factor(s) remained unidentified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough pregnant women were considered a risk population for COVID-19, little is known of their drug use during the pandemic. We aimed to investigate COVID-19 distribution, drug use patterns and COVID-19 medication. We conducted a retrospective cohort of validated pregnancies aged 15-49 years, from January 2020 to December 2022, using the BIFAP database.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhosphoinositides serve as essential players in numerous biological activities and are critical for overall cellular function. Due to their complex chemical structures, localization, and low abundance, current challenges in the phosphoinositide field include the accurate measurement and identification of specific variants, particularly those with acyl chains. Researchers are intensively developing innovative techniques and approaches to address these challenges and advance our understanding of the impact of phosphoinositide signaling on cellular biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMAF amplification increases the risk of breast cancer (BCa) metastasis through mechanisms that are still poorly understood yet have important clinical implications. Oestrogen-receptor-positive (ER) BCa requires oestrogen for both growth and metastasis, albeit by ill-known mechanisms. Here we integrate proteomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, chromatin accessibility and functional assays from human and syngeneic mouse BCa models to show that MAF directly interacts with oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα), thereby promoting a unique chromatin landscape that favours metastatic spread.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCytotherapy
January 2024
Background Aims: There are currently no effective anti-viral treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-hospitalized patients with hypoxemia. Lymphopenia is a biomarker of disease severity usually present in patients who are hospitalized. Approaches to increasing lymphocytes exerting an anti-viral effect must be considered to treat these patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLipids in cell membranes and subcellular compartments play essential roles in numerous cellular processes, such as energy production, cell signaling and inflammation. A specific organelle lipidome is characterized by lipid synthesis and metabolism, intracellular trafficking, and lipid homeostasis in the organelle. Over the years, considerable effort has been directed to the identification of the lipid fingerprints of cellular organelles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCells release extracellular vesicles (EVs) of different sizes. Small EVs (< 200 nm) can originate from the fusion of multivesicular bodies with the plasma membrane, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCold Spring Harb Perspect Biol
August 2023
Extracellular vesicles, such as exosomes, can be used as interesting models to study the structure and function of biological membranes as these vesicles contain only one membrane (i.e., one lipid bilayer).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAltered cellular metabolism is a well-established hallmark of cancer. Although most studies have focused on the metabolism of glucose and glutamine, the upregulation of lipid metabolism is also frequent in cells undergoing oncogenic transformation. In fact, cancer cells need to meet the enhanced demand of plasma membrane synthesis and energy production to support their proliferation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExtracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a very attractive source of cancer- derived RNA biomarkers for the early detection, prognosis and monitoring of various cancers, including prostate cancer (PC). However, biofluids contain a mixture of EVs released from a variety of tissues and the fraction of total EVs that are derived from PC tissue is not known. Moreover, the optimal biofluid-plasma or urine-that is more suitable for the detection of EV- enclosed RNA biomarkers is not yet clear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The TGF-β1 transcription factor SMAD3 is epigenetically repressed in tumour-associated fibroblasts (TAFs) from lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) but not adenocarcinoma (ADC) patients, which elicits a compensatory increase in SMAD2 that renders SCC-TAFs less fibrotic. Here we examined the effects of altered SMAD2/3 in fibroblast migration and its impact on the desmoplastic stroma formation in lung cancer.
Methods: We used a microfluidic device to examine descriptors of early protrusions and subsequent migration in 3D collagen gels upon knocking down SMAD2 or SMAD3 by shRNA in control fibroblasts and TAFs.