Understanding the role of Cripto-1 in cancer progression and therapeutic strategies.

During the initial stages of gastrulation during embryonic differentiation and wound healing, Cripto-1 is a critical protein for human growth. The epithelial adhesion molecules' downregulation, the mesenchymal overexpression, and mobile proteins are important mechanisms by which Cripto-1 initiates epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). As a result, the function of Cripto-1 for inducing EMT to increase cell migration is advantageous during embryogenesis; however, it is deleterious during the formation, growth, and malignant tumor metastasis.

Tryptanthrin exerts anti-breast cancer effects both in vitro and in vivo through modulating the inflammatory tumor microenvironment.

Tryptanthrin is an indole quinazoline alkaloid from the indigo-bearing plants, such as Isatis indigotica Fort. Typically, this natural compound shows a variety of pharmacological activities such as antitumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study was conducted to assess the antitumor activity of tryptanthrin in breast cancer models both in vitro and in vivo, and to explore the important role of the inflammatory tumor microenvironment (TME) in the antitumor effects of tryptanthrin.

A high-throughput genetically directed protein crosslinking analysis reveals the physiological relevance of the ATP synthase 'inserted' state.

ATP synthase, a highly conserved protein complex that has a subunit composition of α β γδεab c for the bacterial enzyme, is a key player in supplying energy to living organisms. This protein complex consists of a peripheral F sector (α β γδε) and a membrane-integrated F sector (ab c ). Structural analyses of the isolated protein components revealed that, remarkably, the C-terminal domain of its ε-subunit seems to adopt two dramatically different structures, but the physiological relevance of this conformational change remains largely unknown.

Comparative analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis gene expression profiles.

Gene expression data of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was compared with that of cirrhosis (C) to identify critical genes in HCC. A total of five gene expression data sets were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus. HCC and healthy samples were combined as dataset HCC, whereas cirrhosis samples were included in dataset C.