Mechanisms of doxorubicin-induced drug resistance and drug resistant tumour growth in a murine breast tumour model.

Background: Doxorubicin is currently the most effective chemotherapeutic drug used to treat breast cancer. It has, however, been shown that doxorubicin can induce drug resistance resulting in poor patient prognosis and survival. Studies reported that the interaction between signalling pathways can promote drug resistance through the induction of proliferation, cell cycle progression and prevention of apoptosis.

Enhanced Therapeutic Efficacy in Cancer Patients by Short-term Fasting: The Autophagy Connection.

Preclinical studies suggest that fasting prior to chemotherapy may be an effective strategy to protect patients against the adverse effects of chemo-toxicity. Fasting may also sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapy. It is further suggested that fasting may similarly augment the efficacy of oncolytic viral therapy.

Cancer stem cells: A product of clonal evolution?

The cancer stem cell (CSC) model has emerged as a prominent paradigm for explaining tumour heterogeneity. CSCs in tumour recurrence and drug resistance have also been implicated in a number of studies. In fact, CSCs are often identified by their expression of drug-efflux proteins which are also highly expressed in normal stem cells.

A proteomic analysis of the ventral hippocampus of rats subjected to maternal separation and escitalopram treatment.

Early life stress is known to predispose humans to the development of depression. Developmental stress has been shown to cause various changes in neurotransmitter systems, neurotrophin expression and the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal-axis in the rat brain. The aim of this study was to identify which cytosolic proteins are altered by maternal separation, as a model for depression, as well as by chronic antidepressant treatment.

Behavioral and quantitative mitochondrial proteome analyses of the effects of simvastatin: implications for models of neural degeneration.

The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitor, simvastatin, is used for lowering elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. This translates into reduced cardiovascular disease-related morbidity and mortality, while the drugs' anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties have earmarked it as a potential treatment strategy against various neurological conditions. Statins have been shown to protect neurons from degeneration in a number of animal models.

Hypoxia-induced regulation of nitric oxide synthase in cardiac endothelial cells and myocytes and the role of the PI3-K/PKB pathway.

Unlabelled: The roles of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and its putative association with protein kinase B (PKB), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) are not well characterized in hypoxic cardiac cells and there is a lack of studies that measure nitric oxide (NO) directly.

Objective: To measure NO production in cardiomyocytes and cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMECs) under baseline and hypoxic conditions and to evaluate the expression, regulation and activation of eNOS, iNOS and PKB. The effect of PI3-K/PKB inhibition on NO production and eNOS expression/activation was also investigated.

Large scale hippocampal cellular distress may explain the behavioral consequences of repetitive traumatic experiences--a proteomic approach.

Early life traumatic experiences are associated with psychopathology in adulthood. This may be due in part to the effects of trauma on hippocampal development and protein expression. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of early life trauma and adult re-stress on ventral hippocampal protein expression.

Nitric oxide production is higher in rat cardiac microvessel endothelial cells than ventricular cardiomyocytes in baseline and hypoxic conditions: a comparative study.

Unlabelled: The relative importance of endothelium- and cardiomyocyte-derived nitric oxide (NO) is unknown, with a lack of direct studies on cardiac microvessel endothelial cells (CMEC) and cardiomyocytes regarding relative cellular NO production.

Aims: To assess and compare baseline and hypoxia-induced NO and ONOO- production in cardiomyocytes and CMEC.

Methods: Rat cardiomyocytes were isolated, and cultured rat CMEC were purchased commercially.