Publications by authors named "Neus Ontiveros"

Background: Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND) is a severe neurological disorder caused by the genetic deficiency of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGprt), an enzyme involved in the salvage synthesis of purines. To compensate this deficiency, there is an acceleration of the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. Most studies have failed to find any consistent abnormalities of purine nucleotides in cultured cells obtained from the patients.

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Most cancer cells have an increased synthesis of purine nucleotides to fulfil their enhanced division rate. The de novo synthesis of purines requires folic acid in the form of N-formyltetrahydrofolate (10-formyl-THF). However, regular cell culture media contain very high, non-physiological concentrations of folic acid, which may have an impact on cell metabolism.

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Wnt ligands signal through canonical or non-canonical signaling pathways. Although both routes share common elements, such as the Fz2 receptor, they differ in the co-receptor and in many of the final responses; for instance, whereas canonical Wnts increase β-catenin stability, non-canonical ligands downregulate it. However, both types of ligands stimulate tumor cell invasion.

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