The effects of two gold-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes in ovarian cancer cells: a redox proteomic study.

Purpose: Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Standard treatment consists of tumor debulking surgery followed by platinum and paclitaxel chemotherapy; yet, despite the initial response, about 70-75% of patients develop resistance to chemotherapy. Gold compounds represent a family of very promising anticancer drugs.

Cell-Mediated Release of Nanoparticles as a Preferential Option for Future Treatment of Melanoma.

Targeted and immune therapies have unquestionably improved the prognosis of melanoma patients. However the treatment of this neoplasm still requires approaches with a higher therapeutic index, in order to reduce shortcomings related to toxic effects and aspecific targeting. This means developing therapeutic tools derived with high affinity molecules for tumor components differentially expressed in melanoma cells with respect to their normal counterpart.

Relaxin, insulin and diabetes: an intriguing connection.

Until recently, relaxin and insulin were grouped into the same hormone superfamily because of substantial biochemical homologies. This notion has then changed with the understanding that insulin and relaxin are ligands for different receptors and signal transduction systems, namely, tyrosine kinase and G-protein-coupled receptors respectively. As a matter of fact, relaxin does not mimic the metabolic effects of insulin.

Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment of chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The Philadelphia chromosome-negative chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) have recently been the focus of tremendous advances in basic knowledge of disease pathophysiology following the recognition of mutations in JAK2 and MPL. These discoveries also led to refinement of the criteria employed for diagnosis. The prognostic roles of the JAK2 V617F mutation and of leukocytosis as independent risk factors for thrombosis, which represents the leading cause of death in patients with polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia, are supported by retrospective studies.

Irresponsiveness of two retinoblastoma cases to conservative therapy correlates with up- regulation of hERG1 channels and of the VEGF-A pathway.

Background: Treatment strategies for Retinoblastoma (RB), the most common primary intraocular tumor in children, have evolved over the past few decades and chemoreduction is currently the most popular treatment strategy. Despite success, systemic chemotherapeutic treatment has relevant toxicity, especially in the pediatric population. Antiangiogenic therapy has thus been proposed as a valuable alternative for pediatric malignancies, in particolar RB.

Ceramide: a key signaling molecule in a Guinea pig model of allergic asthmatic response and airway inflammation.

Although mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of asthma remain unclear, roles for oxidative/nitrosative stress, epithelial cell apoptosis, and airway inflammation have been documented. Ceramide is a sphingolipid with potent proinflammatory and proapoptotic properties. This study aimed at determining whether increased formation of ceramide contributes to the development of airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness, using a well characterized in vivo model of allergic asthmatic response and airway inflammation in ovalbumin-sensitized guinea pigs.