DNA copy number profiles and systems biology connect chromatin remodeling and DNA repair in high-risk neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a solid tumor that accounts for 15% of all pediatric oncological deaths, and much is due to the low response to therapy in relapsed tumors. High-risk NB may present deletions in chromosome 11q, which may be associated with other chromosomal alterations and a poor response to therapy, but this association is still poorly understood. Using a systems biology network approach, we studied three patients with high-risk NB with deleted 11q stage 4 to highlight the connections between treatment resistance and copy number alterations in distinct cases.

Vitamin D and Breast Cancer Risk: Evaluating the Association and Effective Risk Reduction.

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women globally. Vitamin D has been considered a protective factor; however, its relationship with any aspect of the disease remains controversial.

Methods: A cross-sectional, single-center clinical study was conducted between 2015 and 2018, including 141 women diagnosed with BC and 239 women in the control group, with mean ages of 43.

Evaluation of the antitumoral effects of the mesoionic compound MI-D: Implications for endothelial cells viability and angiogenesis inhibition.

Angiogenesis is considered one of the hallmarks of cancer, assisting tumor progression and metastasis. The mesoionic compound, MI-D, can induce cell death and provoke cytoskeletal and metabolic changes in cancer cells. Using in vitro and in vivo models, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of MI-D on the viability of human endothelial cells (EC) and its ability to inhibit tumor-induced angiogenesis induced by tumoral cells.

A remote, fully oriented personalized program of physical exercise for women in follow-up after breast cancer treatment improves body composition and physical fitness.

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of an individualized remote exercise program on the improvement of body composition and physical fitness of a heterogeneous group of patients who completed breast cancer treatment. This prospective study included 107 women aged 18 to 60, shortly after curative treatment for localized breast cancer, at the Erasto Gaertner Cancer Hospital (HEG) in Curitiba, PR, Brazil. Body composition, maximal oxygen consumption, and muscle resistance were evaluated after nine months of intervention while considering adherence to the program, level of physical activity, presence of binge eating disorder, tumor classification, and treatment type.

A three-sequence dynamic contrast enhanced abbreviated MRI protocol to evaluate response to breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Purpose: To develop an ABP-MRI to evaluate response to NAC for invasive breast carcinoma.

Study Type: A single-center, cross-sectional study.

Subjects: A consecutive series of 210 women with invasive breast carcinoma who underwent breast MRI after NAC between 2016 and 2020.

Systems biology network reveals the correlation between COX-2 expression and Ch 7q copy number alterations in Ch 11q-deleted pediatric neuroblastoma tumors.

Tumor-associated inflammation and chromosomal aberrations can play crucial roles in cancer development and progression. In neuroblastoma (NB), the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is associated with copy number alterations on the long arm of chromosome 11 (Ch 11q), defining an aggressive disease subset. This retrospective study included formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples collected from nine patients during diagnosis at the pediatric Pequeno Principe Hospital, Curitiba, PR, Brazil, and post-chemotherapy (CT).

Crystallinity of TiO nanotubes and its effects on fibroblast viability, adhesion, and proliferation.

Titanium and titanium alloys are widely used as a biomaterial due to their mechanical strength, corrosion resistance, low elastic modulus, and excellent biocompatibility. TiO nanotubes have excellent bioactivity, stimulating the adhesion, proliferation of fibroblasts and adipose-derived stem cells, production of alkaline phosphatase by osteoblasts, platelets activation, growth of neural cells and adhesion, spreading, growth, and differentiation of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells. In this study, we investigated the functionality of fibroblast on titania nanotube layers annealed at different temperatures.

A comprehensive analysis of AHRR gene as a candidate for cleft lip with or without cleft palate.

Unlabelled: Cleft lip and palate (CL/P) is among the most common congenital malformations and affects 1 in 700 newborns. CL/P is caused by genetic and environmental factors (maternal smoking, alcohol or drug use and others). Many genes and loci were associated with cleft lip/palate but the amount of heterogeneity justifies identifying new causal genes and variants.

An overview of neuroblastoma cell lineage phenotypes and models.

This review was conducted to present the main neuroblastoma (NB) clinical characteristics and the most common genetic alterations present in these pediatric tumors, highlighting their impact in tumor cell aggressiveness behavior, including metastatic development and treatment resistance, and patients' prognosis. The distinct three NB cell lineage phenotypes, S-type, N-type, and I-type, which are characterized by unique cell surface markers and gene expression patterns, are also reviewed. Finally, an overview of the most used NB cell lines currently available for studies and their unique cellular and molecular characteristics, which should be taken into account for the selection of the most appropriate model for NB pre-clinical studies, is presented.

Marine Actinomycetes-Derived Secondary Metabolites Overcome TRAIL-Resistance via the Intrinsic Pathway through Downregulation of Survivin and XIAP.

Resistance of cancer cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis represents the major hurdle to the clinical use of TRAIL or its derivatives. The discovery and development of lead compounds able to sensitize tumor cells to TRAIL-induced cell death is thus likely to overcome this limitation. We recently reported that marine actinomycetes' crude extracts could restore TRAIL sensitivity of the MDA-MB-231 resistant triple negative breast cancer cell line.

Neutrophils activated by BJcuL, a C-type lectin isolated from venom, decrease the invasion potential of neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells .

Background: Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor with a mortality rate of 40% in the most aggressive cases. Tumor microenvironment components as immune cells contribute to the tumor progression; thereby, the modulation of immune cells to a pro-inflammatory and antitumoral profile could potentialize the immunotherapy, a suggested approach for high-risk patients. Preview studies showed the antitumoral potential of BJcuL, a C- type lectin isolated from venom.

Effect of crystalline phases of titania nanotube arrays on adipose derived stem cell adhesion and proliferation.

The aim of this work was to evaluate the cellular response to titanium nanotube arrays with variable crystalline structure. Cytotoxicity, viability and the ability of the titania nanotube arrays to stimulate adhesion and proliferation of adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs) was evaluated. Titania nanotube arrays were fabricated by electrochemical anodization of titanium in diethyleneglycol/hydrofluoric acid electrolyte at 60 V for 6 h, then annealed at 300, 530 and 630 °C for 5 h.

Antitumoral effects of Amblyomma sculptum Berlese saliva in neuroblastoma cell lines involve cytoskeletal deconstruction and cell cycle arrest.

The antitumor properties of ticks salivary gland extracts or recombinant proteins have been reported recently, but little is known about the antitumor properties of the secreted components of saliva. The goal of this study was to investigate the in vitro effect of the saliva of the hard tick Amblyomma sculptum on neuroblastoma cell lines. SK-N-SK, SH-SY5Y, Be(2)-M17, IMR-32, and CHLA-20 cells were susceptible to saliva, with 80% reduction in their viability compared to untreated controls, as demonstrated by the methylene blue assay.

Antiproliferative and antiangiogenic effect of Amblyomma sculptum (Acari: Ixodidae) crude saliva in endothelial cells in vitro.

Neovascularization, a process that includes vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, may be a physiological or pathologic event, but in any cases the phenomenon is related to the formation of vascular net and sprouting of endothelial cells from preexisting blood vessel. The tumor environment, which counts on the tumor cell proliferation, is plenty of proangiogenic factors, such as angiogenin, TGF (α and β), FGF, VEGF, all of them playing a crucial role in angiogenesis, an important hallmark of cancer frequently related to a poor prognosis. Therefore, therapies focusing the inhibition of cancer neovasculogenesis have become an interesting strategy for the development of antitumor therapies.

Cancer stem cell markers ALDH1 and CD44+/CD24- phenotype and their prognosis impact in invasive ductal carcinoma.

Breast cancer is a very heterogeneous disease. The intrinsic molecular subtypes can explain the intertumoral heterogeneity and the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis can explain the intratumoral heterogeneity of this kind of tumor. CD44+/CD24- phenotype and ALDH1 expression are the major CSC markers described in invasive breast cancer.

Patterns of copy number alterations in primary breast tumors of South African patients and their impact on functional cellular pathways.

Breast cancer is the most common and the leading cause of female mortality among South African (SA) women. Several non‑biological and biological risk factors may be attributed to their observed high mortality rate; however, the molecular profiles associated with their breast tumors are poorly characterized. The present study examined the patterns of genome-wide copy number alterations (CNAs) and their potential impact on functional cellular pathways targeted by cancer driver genes in patients with breast cancer from the Western Cape region of SA.

Effects of calcium and phosphorus incorporation on the properties and bioactivity of TiO nanotubes.

In this study, we investigate the formation of calcium and phosphorus-doped TiO nanotubes, produced by potentiostatic anodization of Ti in viscous electrolyte-containing HF and Ca/P ions. Characterization of the produced oxide layer was conducted using scanning electron microscopy, glancing-angle X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle, and protein adsorption measurements. Adipose-derived stem cells were used to study material cytotoxicity, cell viability and proliferation, and cell morphology and growth.

p-Cresyl sulfate affects the oxidative burst, phagocytosis process, and antigen presentation of monocyte-derived macrophages.

Immune system dysfunction is a common condition in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The present study investigated the effect of p-Cresyl sulfate (pCS) on human cell line U937 monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) activity. MDM (1×10 cells/mL) were incubated with pCS (10, 25, or 50μg/mL), with or without lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 25ng/mL) and then evaluated NO production, phagocytosis and antigen-presenting molecules expression (HLA-ABC, HLA-DR, CD80 and CD86).

Death Receptor-Induced Apoptosis Signalling Regulation by Ezrin Is Cell Type Dependent and Occurs in a DISC-Independent Manner in Colon Cancer Cells.

Ezrin belongs to the ERM (ezrin-radixin-moesin) protein family and has been demonstrated to regulate early steps of Fas receptor signalling in lymphoid cells, but its contribution to TRAIL-induced cell death regulation in adherent cancer cells remains unknown. In this study we report that regulation of FasL and TRAIL-induced cell death by ezrin is cell type dependant. Ezrin is a positive regulator of apoptosis in T-lymphoma cell line Jurkat, but a negative regulator in colon cancer cells.

The lectin BJcuL induces apoptosis through TRAIL expression, caspase cascade activation and mitochondrial membrane permeability in a human colon adenocarcinoma cell line.

It has been demonstrated that the cytotoxic effect of BJcuL, the lectin isolated from Bothrops jararacussu venom, on human gastric carcinoma is accompanied by the inhibition of extracellular matrix adhesion, cytoskeleton disassembly and apoptosis induction. The present study aimed to evaluate the apoptosis mechanisms triggered by the BJcuL interaction with specific glycans on the surface of HT29 human colon adenocarcinoma cells. The results demonstrated that BJcuL interacts with glycoligands targets on the cell, which were inhibited in the presence of d-galactose.

BJcuL, a lectin purified from Bothrops jararacussu venom, induces apoptosis in human gastric carcinoma cells accompanied by inhibition of cell adhesion and actin cytoskeleton disassembly.

We show that BJcuL, a lectin purified from Bothrops jararacussu venom, exerts cytotoxic effects to gastric carcinoma cells MKN45 and AGS. This effect was due to the direct interaction with specific glycans on the cells surface and was observed by cell viability decrease, disorganization of actin filaments and apoptosis. In addition, BJcuL was able to reduce tumor cell adhesion to matrigel, what was inhibited by specific carbohydrate or partially inhibited when cells were pre-incubated with matrigel.

Human neutrophil migration and activation by BJcuL, a galactose binding lectin purified from Bothrops jararacussu venom.

Background: Neutrophil migration to an inflamed site constitutes the first line of the innate immune response against invading microorganisms. Given the crucial role of endogenous lectins in neutrophil mobilization and activation, lectins from exogenous sources have often been considered as putative modulators of leukocyte function. Lectins purified from snake venom have been described as galactoside ligands that induce erythrocyte agglutination and platelet aggregation.

Proposal of a low-cost protocol for colorimetric semi-quantification of secretory phospholipase by Candida albicans grown in planktonic and biofilm phases.

Biofilms are aggregates of microorganisms living in multilayered structures inside polymeric matrices onto surfaces. These biofilms may subvert the physiological properties of adjacent tissues causing morphofunctional failure. Many studies have shown that the expression of virulence attributes is maximized when microbes form such communities.