Unveiling contact-mediated cellular crosstalk.

Cell-cell interactions orchestrate complex functions in multicellular organisms, forming a regulatory network for diverse biological processes. Their disruption leads to disease states. Recent advancements - including single-cell sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, coupled with powerful bioengineering and molecular tools - have revolutionized our understanding of how cells respond to each other.

Noninvasive therapy of brain cancer using a unique systemic delivery methodology with a cancer terminator virus.

Primary, glioblastoma, and secondary brain tumors, from metastases outside the brain, are among the most aggressive and therapeutically resistant cancers. A physiological barrier protecting the brain, the blood-brain barrier (BBB), functions as a deterrent to effective therapies. To enhance cancer therapy, we developed a cancer terminator virus (CTV), a unique tropism-modified adenovirus consisting of serotype 3 fiber knob on an otherwise Ad5 capsid that replicates in a cancer-selective manner and simultaneously produces a potent therapeutic cytokine, melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (MDA-7/IL-24).

Cytoplasmic-delivery of polyinosine-polycytidylic acid inhibits pancreatic cancer progression increasing survival by activating Stat1-CCL2-mediated immunity.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer without effective therapies and with poor prognosis, causing 7% of all cancer-related fatalities in the USA. Considering the lack of effective therapies for this aggressive cancer, there is an urgent need to define newer and more effective therapeutic strategies. Polyinosine-polycytidylic acid (pIC) is a synthetic double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) which directly activates dendritic cells and natural killer cells inhibiting tumor growth.

MDA-9/Syntenin in the tumor and microenvironment defines prostate cancer bone metastasis.

Bone metastasis is a frequent and incurable consequence of advanced prostate cancer (PC). An interplay between disseminated tumor cells and heterogeneous bone resident cells in the metastatic niche initiates this process. () is a prometastatic gene expressed in multiple organs, including bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BM-MSCs), under both physiological and pathological conditions.