The expression of oncogene zinc-finger protein 217 (ZNF217) has been reported to play a central role in cancer development, resistance, and recurrence. Therefore, targeting ZNF217 has been proposed as a possible strategy to fight cancer, and there has been much research on compounds that can target ZNF217. The present work investigates the chemo-preventive properties of cucurbitacin D, a compound with a broad range of anticancer effects, in hematological cancer cells, specifically with regard to its ability to modulate ZNF217 expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aim: Given the role of Receptor for Activated C Kinase 1 (RACK1) in both immune cell activation and in the maintenance of the intestinal epithelial barrier integrity, we investigated whether it was involved in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Methods: RACK1 expression was analyzed in intestinal mucosal samples of healthy and IBD patients, in mice with chemically-induced colitis and in diseased in vitro 2D and 3D co-culture models by luciferase assay, RT-qPCR, Western blotting, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry. Based on our finding that glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ or tsc22d3) positively correlates with RACK1 expression in IBD patients, GILZ knock-out mice and cell silencing experiments were performed.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) have a complex, poorly understood pathogenesis and lack long-lasting effective treatments. Recent research suggests that intestinal fungal dysbiosis may play a role in IBD development. This study investigates the effects of the glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper protein (GILZp)", known for its protective role in gut mucosa, and a yeast extract (Py) with prebiotic properties, either alone or combined, in DSS-induced colitis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA structural weakness of the mucus barrier (MB) is thought to be a cause of ulcerative colitis (UC). This study aims to investigate the mucin (MUC) composition of MB in normal mucosa and UC. Ileocolonic biopsies were taken at disease onset and after treatment in 40 patients, including 20 with relapsing and 20 with remitting UC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly used to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, but their clinical effects and long-term use can lead to serious side effects. New drugs that can replace GCs are needed. Glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) is induced by GCs and mediates many of their anti-inflammatory effects, such as inhibiting the pro-inflammatory molecule NF-κB.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFB-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is one of the most common pediatric cancers, wherein regulatory T cells (Treg) and exhausted CD8 T cells may be important in its development and maintenance. In this bioinformatics study, we evaluated the expression of 20 Treg/CD8 exhaustion markers and their possible roles in patients with B-ALL. The mRNA expression values of peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples from 25 patients with B-ALL and 93 healthy subjects (HSs) were downloaded from publicly available datasets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUlcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's Disease (CD) are chronic relapsing inflammatory diseases that are caused by genetic, environmental, and immune factors. Treatment strategies are currently based on symptomatic control by immunosuppression. The glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ), a mediator of several effects of glucocorticoids, was recently found to be secreted by goblet cells and play a role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoid-induced leucin zipper (GILZ) mediates the effects of glucocorticoids in immune cells, but little is known about its role in both the gastro-intestinal (GI) mucosa and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) in humans. To investigate the GILZ protein expression profile in the GI tract, mucosal biopsies from 80 patients were retrospectively enrolled in this study and subdivided into three groups: 1) patients without clinical-endoscopic and histological evidence of IBD; 2) IBD patients; 3) patients with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) and Barrett esophagus (BE), both characterized by intestinal metaplasia (IM). GILZ expression was assessed by immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence methods.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the human body's initial responses to stress is the adrenal response, involving the release of mediators that include adrenaline and glucocorticoids (GC). GC are involved in controlling the inflammatory and immune response mechanisms. Of these, the molecular mechanisms that contribute to anti-inflammatory effects warrant more investigation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a commensal fungus of the vaginal mucosa and the principal etiological agent of vaginal candidiasis. Vaginal dysbiosis has been reported during vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), with a progressive decrease in population and an increase in population. To date, the role of in VVC pathogenesis remains scarcely explored.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic inflammatory disorders characterized by relapsing intestinal inflammation, but many details of pathogenesis remain to be fully unraveled. Glucocorticoid (GC)-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) is a mediator of the anti-inflammatory effects of GCs, the most powerful drugs for IBD treatment, but they cause several unwanted side effects. The fusion protein TAT-GILZ has been successfully used in some pre-clinical models of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoids are the most powerful anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive pharmacological drugs available, despite their adverse effects. Glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) is a glucocorticoid-induced gene that shares several anti-inflammatory properties with glucocorticoids. Although immunosuppressive effects of glucocorticoids on neutrophils remain poorly understood, we previously demonstrated that GILZ suppresses neutrophil activation under glucocorticoid treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince their discovery, glucocorticoids (GCs) have been used to treat almost all autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as allergies and some forms of malignancies, because of their immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects. Although GCs provide only symptomatic relief and do not eliminate the cause of the pathology, in the majority of treatments, GCs frequently cannot be replaced by other classes of drugs. Consequently, long-term treatments cause adverse effects that may, in turn, lead to new pathologies that sometimes require the withdrawal of GC therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily (TNFSF) includes about thirty structurally related receptors (TNFSFRs) and about twenty protein ligands that bind to one or more of these receptors. Receptors of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily (TNFSFRs) are pharmacological targets for treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Currently, drugs targeting TNFSFR signaling are biological drugs (monoclonal antibodies, decoy receptors) aimed at binding and sequestering TNFSFR ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProto-oncogene mutations and abnormal activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling are recurrently found in thyroid cancers. Some thyroid neoplasms respond to drugs that inhibit MAPK pathway activation. Previously, we showed that pharmacological inhibition of MAPK in thyroid cancer cells inhibits cell proliferation and upregulates L-GILZ (long glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper), a protein with anti-oncogenic and antiproliferative activity, and that L-GILZ is partially responsible for the antiproliferative activity of MAPK inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic inflammatory disorders with a complex pathogenesis, affecting people of all ages. They are characterized by alternating phases of clinical relapse and remission, depending on the fine balance between immune cells and the gut microbiota. The cross talk between cells of the immune system and the gut microbiota can result in either tolerance or inflammation, according to multifactorial triggers, ranging from environmental factors to genetic susceptibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech
February 2020
DNA methylation and histone acetylation, the most studied epigenetic changes, drive and maintain cancer phenotypes. DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) dysregulation promoted localized hypermethylation in CpG rich regions while upregulated histone deacetylases (HDAC) deacetylated histone tails. Both changes led to close chromatin conformation, suppressing transcription and silencing tumor suppressor genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant of the glial tumors. The world-wide estimates of new cases and deaths annually are remarkable, making GBM a crucial public health issue. Despite the combination of radical surgery, radio and chemotherapy prognosis is extremely poor (median survival is approximately 1 year).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoids are hormones that regulate several functions in living organisms and synthetic glucocorticoids are the most powerful anti-inflammatory pharmacological tool that is currently available. Although glucocorticoids have an immunosuppressive effect on immune cells, they exert multiple and sometimes contradictory effects on neutrophils. From being extremely sensitive to the anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids to resisting glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis, neutrophils are proving to be more complex than they were earlier thought to be.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCannabinoids are known to possess anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. CB2 is the cannabinoid receptor that is expressed primarily on hematopoietic cells and mediates the immunoregulatory functions of cannabinoids. In order to study the effect of JTE907, a selective/inverse agonist of CB2 with anti-inflammatory properties, on the differentiation of T cell subtypes, we used an in vitro system of Th lineage-specific differentiation of naïve CD4 T lymphocytes isolated from the mouse spleen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) exerts anti-inflammatory effects on the immune cells. However, less is known about GILZ function in neutrophils. We aimed to define the specific role of GILZ in basal neutrophil activity during an inflammatory response.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExpert Opin Ther Targets
September 2018
Triggering of the glucocorticoid-induced TNFR-related gene (GITR) increases the activation of T lymphocytes and other immune system cells; furthermore, its ligand, GITRL, delivers signals in the cells where it is expressed. Areas covered: This review describes the effects of GITR/GITRL triggering/inhibition in conventional T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), monocytes/macrophages, endothelial cells and other cells of the immune system. GITR triggering appears to be an approach for promoting tumor rejection, treating infection and boosting vaccinations in several murine models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGlucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper (GILZ) is transcriptionally upregulated by glucocorticoids (GCs) and mediates many of the anti-inflammatory effects of GCs. Since B cell activity has been linked to cytokine production and modulation of inflammatory responses, we herein investigated the role of GILZ in B cells during colitis development. B cell-specific knock-out (gilz B cKO) mice exhibited increased production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IFN-γ in B cells, and consequently CD4 T cell activation.
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