Suppression of Ah Receptor (AhR) increases the aggressiveness of TNBC cells and 11-Cl-BBQ-activated AhR inhibits their growth.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents around 15% of the 2.26 million breast cancers diagnosed worldwide annually and has the worst outcome. Despite recent therapeutic advances, there remains a lack of targeted therapies for this breast cancer subtype.

The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27 interacts with the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and negatively regulates its transcriptional activity.

p27 functions to coordinate cell cycle progression through the inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes. p27 also exerts distinct activities beyond CDK-inhibition, including functioning as a transcriptional regulator. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor with diverse biological roles.

An Evaluation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Test for Cardiac Developmental Toxicity.

To prevent congenital defects arising from maternal exposure, safety regulations require pre-market developmental toxicity screens for industrial chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Traditional embryotoxicity approaches depend heavily on the use of low-throughput animal models which may not adequately predict human risk. The validated embryonic stem cell test (EST) developed in murine embryonic stem cells addressed the former problem over 15 years ago.

Cardiac differentiation potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells in a 3D self-assembling peptide scaffold.

In the past decade, various strategies for cardiac reparative medicine involving stem cells from multiple sources have been investigated. However, the intra-cardiac implantation of cells with contractile ability may seriously disrupt the cardiac syncytium and de-synchronize cardiac rhythm. For this reason, bioactive cardiac implants, consisting of stem cells embedded in biomaterials that act like band aids, have been exploited to repair the cardiac wall after myocardial infarction.

Online monitoring of myocardial bioprosthesis for cardiac repair.

Background/objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a myocardial bioprosthesis for cardiac repair with an integrated online monitoring system. Myocardial infarction (MI) causes irreversible myocyte loss and scar formation. Tissue engineering to reduce myocardial scar size has been tested with variable success, yet scar formation and modulation by an engineered graft is incompletely characterized.

Self-assembling peptide scaffolds as innovative platforms for drug and cell delivery systems in cardiac regeneration.

Today, the use of biomaterials in many biomedical platforms is becoming increasingly popular due to their high diversity, infinite mimicking capacity, and emerging functions. Applications currently cover diverse areas in biomedicine including systems for cell isolation, expansion and maintenance, platforms for drug and cell delivery, scaffolds for tissue engineering, tissue regeneration and repair, cancer therapy, etc. Biomaterials in general can be: (1) natural in origin such as many proteins from the extracellular matrix, natural polysaccharides or scaffolds presented in a blood clot or (2) synthetic, including polymers, ceramics, or peptides.