Publications by authors named "Mark Wass"
Article Synopsis
- EPs 7630 is a clinically proven plant extract that effectively treats various acute respiratory infections while reducing antibiotic use, which is crucial amid increasing antibiotic resistance.
- It works through multiple mechanisms, including antibacterial, antiviral, and immunomodulatory effects, allowing it to address respiratory infections at different stages of the disease.
- The findings suggest that plant extracts like EPs 7630 have significant potential as evidence-based treatments, warranting further research and testing like conventional medications.
Article Synopsis
- - The poster illustrates how drug-resistant cancer cell lines are created for research purposes.
- - It highlights the significance of these cell lines in studying cancer treatment challenges.
- - The development of these cell lines aids in advancing our understanding of cancer biology and potential therapies.
Article Synopsis
- Cytochrome bd complexes are essential respiratory oxidases in bacteria that play a role in infections, and this study explores potential drug interactions with these complexes.
- The research used in silico docking to identify approved drugs binding to the quinol site in E. coli cytochrome bd-I and assessed their effects on bacterial respiration and growth.
- Quinestrol was found to effectively inhibit cytochrome bd activity and bacterial growth in both E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus, demonstrating strong bactericidal effects only in S. aureus.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers developed a strategy targeting bacterial nucleotide excision repair (NER) and screened ~120,000 compounds to identify potential antimicrobial sensitizers, leading to the discovery of Bemcentinib (R428) as a promising candidate.
- * Bemcentinib inhibits the NER protein UvrA's ATPase activity and DNA binding, effectively reducing its DNA repair capabilities, and shows significant growth inhibition of E. coli when combined with DNA-damaging agents like cisplatin, suggesting its potential as an adjuvant in cancer therapy.
Article Synopsis
- The life sciences are facing a 'reproducibility crisis', but it’s unclear if this is due to actual research flaws or unrealistic expectations about scientific reproducibility.
- Large-scale replication studies are costly and time-consuming, making them difficult to execute on a large scale.
- The authors propose using meta-research with sociological and philosophical methods to explore how researchers determine data trustworthiness, which could help uncover the true scope of the reproducibility issue and potential solutions.
Recent findings in permanent cell lines suggested that SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 induces a stronger interferon response than Delta. Here, we show that BA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe antiviral drugs tecovirimat, brincidofovir, and cidofovir are considered for mpox (monkeypox) treatment despite a lack of clinical evidence. Moreover, their use is affected by toxic side-effects (brincidofovir, cidofovir), limited availability (tecovirimat), and potentially by resistance formation. Hence, additional, readily available drugs are needed.
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- - Cancer drug development faces challenges due to high clinical attrition rates, largely attributed to unreliable preclinical models and variability in experimental results.
- - An analysis of the extensive NCI60 cancer cell line data revealed significant variability in growth inhibition (GI50) outcomes, even when standard protocols were followed, suggesting that this inconsistency is a fundamental issue in anti-cancer testing.
- - Recognizing this variability is crucial for interpreting data realistically and highlights the need for further research into diverse model systems to potentially enhance data reliability in cancer drug development.
Article Synopsis
- Researchers have developed a reliable phenotypic screening method using caspase 3/7 activity to identify potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 compounds, which works across various SARS-CoV-2 variants and other coronaviruses.* -
- The Caco-2-F03 cell line proved to be the most effective model, as it consistently showed susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 without yielding misleading results due to drug-related effects.* -
- A screening of 1,796 kinase inhibitors revealed both known and novel antiviral candidates, with the PHGDH inhibitor NCT-503 showing enhanced activity when combined with clinical candidate 2-deoxy-D-glucose.*
Article Synopsis
- HPV-associated cervical cancer is a major cause of cancer deaths in women, and this study analyzed 643 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinomas (CSCC) from the USA, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
- The researchers identified two distinct CSCC subtypes, C1 and C2, which have different prognoses, but the differences are not solely related to the HPV types (16 and 18) commonly found in these tumors.
- C2 tumors, accounting for about 20% of CSCCs, exhibit unique genomic changes and immune characteristics, leading to shorter survival rates, highlighting their significance for future treatment approaches.
Article Synopsis
- 3DLigandSite is a web tool designed to predict where ligands will bind in proteins, recently updated since its original launch in 2010.
- The tool now utilizes advanced structural modeling with AlphaFold or Phyre2 and incorporates sequence-based searches using HHSearch to enhance the accuracy of binding site predictions.
- The latest version includes machine learning for final predictions, achieving 92% recall at 75% precision for non-metal binding sites, and offers results through interactive visualization.
A Potential Role of the CD47/SIRPalpha Axis in COVID-19 Pathogenesis.
Curr Issues Mol Biol
September 2021
Article Synopsis
- The SARS-CoV-2 virus causes COVID-19, which usually results in mild symptoms, but some individuals experience severe disease due to an uncontrolled immune response leading to hyperinflammation.
- Research shows that CD47 levels are increased in cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, and higher CD47 levels are associated with known risk factors for severe COVID-19, like older age and diabetes.
- The study suggests that targeting the CD47/SIRPalpha pathway could be a potential therapeutic approach for severe COVID-19 cases, necessitating further investigation into their roles in COVID-19 pathology.
Article Synopsis
- * The study examined the effects of a cytosine analogue called CNDAC, thought to inhibit SAMHD1, across various leukaemia cell lines and patient samples, using techniques like CRISPR and RNA interference to manipulate SAMHD1 levels.
- * Contrary to expectations, CNDAC actually faced resistance from SAMHD1, and its depletion led to higher levels of CNDAC's active form, which increased its effectiveness; resistance was further linked to a loss of a key kinase, DCK, that is essential for
Article Synopsis
- The study explores how muscle contraction speed is affected by body size in mammals, finding that larger species have slower muscle contractions due to specific changes in myosin isoforms.
- Researchers analyzed 798 myosin II isoform sequences and found a correlation between body mass and variations in the motor domain of key myosin isoforms in adults.
- A specific modification of β-myosin was tested by altering human β-myosin to resemble rat β-myosin, resulting in significantly faster contraction and ADP release, suggesting that myosin adaptations help larger mammals achieve slower contraction rates and heart rates.
Article Synopsis
- * CIP2A was identified as a key player in drug resistance, as it leads to continuous activation of the Akt signaling pathway in a resistant NSCLC cell line.
- * The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib reduces CIP2A levels and activates protein phosphatase 2A, showing potential as a strategy to enhance the effectiveness of erlotinib in resistant NSCLC cases.
Article Synopsis
- SARS-CoV-2 is a new coronavirus impacting the world, and researchers compared it to the earlier SARS-CoV to understand their differences.
- The study found that variations in amino acid sequences between these viruses contributed to differences in how they transmit between humans and how severely they affect health.
- Findings showed that the spike protein (essential for viral entry into cells) in SARS-CoV-2 interacts differently with the ACE2 receptor compared to SARS-CoV, leading to unique biological behaviors and clinical outcomes.
Although short tandem repeat (STR) analysis is available as a reliable method for the determination of the genetic origin of cell lines, the occurrence of misauthenticated cell lines remains an important issue. Reasons include the cost, effort and time associated with STR analysis. Moreover, there are currently no methods for the discrimination between isogenic cell lines (cell lines of the same genetic origin, e.
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- SARS-CoV-2 is the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, and protease inhibitors are being explored as a way to stop the virus from entering and replicating inside host cells.
- The study found that aprotinin effectively inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication at therapeutically relevant concentrations, unlike another inhibitor, SERPINA1/alpha-1 antitrypsin.
- Aprotinin shows promise as a treatment by potentially compensating for the downregulation of host protease inhibitors during the virus's replication cycles and could be useful in aerosol form for controlling early infection and preventing severe disease.
Article Synopsis
- - SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19, which can lead to severe complications like blood clotting issues (coagulopathy) that are not fully understood; risk for severe cases is higher in males and increases with age.
- - Researchers found that certain genes related to blood coagulation show differing expressions in males and females, potentially influencing thrombosis risk, but these genes were not affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection.
- - The study highlights transferrin, a procoagulant that increases with age and is upregulated during SARS-CoV-2 infection in males, suggesting it should be investigated further in understanding COVID-19-related blood clotting.
Article Synopsis
- The nucleoside analogue nelarabine is effective against T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) but not against B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), and the reason for this difference has been unclear.
- Research shows that lower levels of the enzyme SAMHD1, which inactivates the active form of nelarabine, are present in T-ALL cells compared to B-ALL cells due to increased SAMHD1 promoter methylation in T-ALL.
- Depleting SAMHD1 makes B-ALL cells more sensitive to nelarabine, while introducing SAMHD1 into T-ALL cells makes them resistant, highlighting the importance of SAMHD1 levels in determining response to the