A Discovery with Potential to Revitalize Hammerhead Ribozyme Therapeutics for Treatment of Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

Hammerhead ribozymes (hhRzs), RNA enzymes capable of site-specific cleavage of arbitrary target mRNAs, have faced significant hurdles in development and optimization as gene therapeutics for clinical translation. Chemical and biological barriers must be overcome to realize an effective therapeutic. A new Facilitated ribozyme has been identified with greatly enhanced kinetic properties that lead new insight on the capacity of ribozymes to target mutant genes to treat inherited retinal degenerations.

Systematic Screening, Rational Development, and Initial Optimization of Efficacious RNA Silencing Agents for Human Rod Opsin Therapeutics.

Purpose: To systematically evaluate human rod opsin () mRNA for potential target sites sensitive to posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) by hammerhead ribozyme (hhRz) or RNA interference (RNAi) in human cells. To develop a comprehensive strategy to identify and optimize lead candidate agents for PTGS gene therapeutics.

Methods: In multidisciplinary RNA drug discovery, computational mRNA accessibility and in vitro experimental methods using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to map accessibility in full-length transcripts.

Data report on inflammatory C-C chemokines among insulin-using women with diabetes mellitus and breast cancer.

Injectable insulin use may interfere with pro-inflammatory cytokines' production and, thus, play a role in the activation of tumor-associated macrophages - a process mainly influenced by inflammatory C-C chemokines. The data presented shows the relationship between pre-existing use of injectable insulin in women diagnosed with breast cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus, the inflammatory C-C chemokine profiles at the time of breast cancer diagnosis, and subsequent cancer outcomes. A Pearson correlation analysis stratified by insulin use and controls is also provided.

Insulin secretagogue use and circulating inflammatory C-C chemokine levels in breast cancer patients.

Monocytes' infiltration into the tumor tissue and their activation to tumor-associated macrophages is an essential step in tumor development, also playing a critical role in an eventual metastasis. Stimulation of endogenous insulin production by oral insulin secretagogue treatment has the potential to interfere with the production and release of C-C chemokines, a group of potent inflammatory cytokines acting as monocyte chemo-attractants and influencing their behavior in the tumor microenvironment. Studied plasma samples were collected under a previously reported study design involving a population of women diagnosed with breast cancer presenting with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus at the time of breast cancer diagnosis (Wintrob et al.

Circulating adipokines data associated with insulin secretagogue use in breast cancer patients.

Oral drugs stimulating endogenous insulin production (insulin secretagogues) may have detrimental effects on breast cancer outcomes. The data presented shows the relationship between pre-existing insulin secretagogues use, adipokine profiles at the time of breast cancer (BC) diagnosis and subsequent cancer outcomes in women diagnosed with BC and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The Pearson correlation analysis evaluating the relationship between adipokines stratified by T2DM pharmacotherapy and controls is also provided.

Insulin use, adipokine profiles and breast cancer prognosis.

Background: Type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and breast cancer (BC) share common cytokine signaling changes resultant from adipose tissue dysfunction. This modified adipokine signaling was shown to be directly associated with changes in the body mass index (BMI) and diet and it is expected to also be influenced by T2DM pharmacotherapy. We evaluated the relationship between pre-existing diabetes treatment, circulating adipokine levels at cancer diagnosis, and long-term outcomes.