: A platform for anticancer drug discovery and personalized therapies.

Cancer is a complex disease whereby multiple genetic aberrations, epigenetic modifications, metabolic reprogramming, and the microenvironment contribute to the development of a tumor. In the traditional anticancer drug discovery pipeline, drug candidates are usually screened using two-dimensional or three-dimensional cell culture. However, these methods fail to accurately mimic the human disease state.

Transcriptome and proteome of the corm, leaf and flower of Hypoxis hemerocallidea (African potato).

The corm of Hypoxis hemerocallidea, commonly known as the African potato, is used in traditional medicine to treat several medical conditions such as urinary infections, benign prostate hyperplasia, inflammatory conditions and testicular tumours. The metabolites contributing to the medicinal properties of H. hemerocallidea have been identified in several studies and, more recently, the active terpenoids of the plant were profiled.

The Tumor Microenvironment Factors That Promote Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade Therapy.

Through genetic and epigenetic alterations, cancer cells present the immune system with a diversity of antigens or neoantigens, which the organism must distinguish from self. The immune system responds to neoantigens by activating naïve T cells, which mount an anticancer cytotoxic response. T cell activation begins when the T cell receptor (TCR) interacts with the antigen, which is displayed by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on antigen-presenting cells (APCs).

Functional characterisation of the transcriptome from leaf tissue of the fluoroacetate-producing plant, Dichapetalum cymosum, in response to mechanical wounding.

Dichapetalum cymosum produces the toxic fluorinated metabolite, fluoroacetate, presumably as a defence mechanism. Given the rarity of fluorinated metabolites in nature, the biosynthetic origin and function of fluoroacetate have been of particular interest. However, the mechanism for fluorination in D.

Identification and characterisation of a fluorinase from Actinopolyspora mzabensis.

The incorporation of fluorine has been shown to improve the biophysical and bioactive properties of several organic compounds. However, sustainable strategies of fluorination are needed. Fluorinases have the unique ability to catalyse a C-F bond, hence, have vast potential to be applied as biocatalysts in the preparation of fine chemicals.