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Topic Review
Antiparasitic Mebendazole for the Treatment of Brain Cancers
Cancer ranks as a leading cause of death and a significant barrier to increasing life expectancy in every country. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019, cancer is the first or second leading cause of death before age 70 in 112 of 183 countries and ranks third or fourth in 23 countries. Tumor treatments usually consist of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and endocrine therapy that can be used individually or in combination, depending on the stage and type of tumor and diagnosis. Several factors reduce the practical improvement of a cancer patient’s prognosis. Drug-untreatable targets, chemoresistance, tumor heterogeneity, and metastases formation are significant barriers to the effective cure of cancer patients. Despite intense preclinical and clinical research efforts, the survival rate of patients suffering from the most aggressive cancer types has not yet improved, mainly due to therapeutic failure. Moreover, nearly all anticancer medications on the market have serious adverse effects; therefore, new, safer anticancer drugs are desirable.
  • 2.7K
  • 19 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Light-Activated Compounds in Cancer Therapy
Lack of selectivity and toxic side effects of cancer chemotherapy is a major drawback for designing clinical treatment regimes. To allow more potent and selective therapeutic interventions, the use of light for selective on-site activation of anticancer compounds is actively studied. Besides already established photodynamic therapy (PDT), two light-activated anticancer approaches are pursued, both however still in the experimental phase: the use of irreversibly activatable photoremovable protecting groups (“photocages”) and reversibly activatable photoswitches. Despite its immense potential, light activation brings many novel challenges to the already complex drug development process, however the first in vivo results confirm the feasibility of the approach.
  • 2.7K
  • 19 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Bladder Cancer Biomarkers
The high occurrence of bladder cancer and its tendency to recur combined with lifelong surveillance make the treatment of superficial bladder cancer one of the most expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, carcinoma in situ often leads to muscle invasion with an unfavourable prognosis. Currently, invasive methods including cystoscopy and cytology remain a gold standard. The aim is to find biomarkers with the best specificity and sensitivity, allowing the treatment plan to optimise and have potential applications in clinical practice. Such non-invasive methods can be measure in human body fluids, for example, urine or serum: Cytokeratin fragments (CYFRA 21.1), Excision Repair Cross-Complementation 1 (ERCC1), Tumour Protein p53 (Tp53), Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor 3 (FGFR3), Tumor-Associated Trypsin Inhibitor (TATI).
  • 2.6K
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Apple Bioactive Compounds
Population studies have associated a diet high in fruits to lower incidence of cancer. Specifically, research shows that secondary plant metabolites known as phytochemicals, which are commonly found in fruits, have onco-preventive and chemo-protective effects. Apple is a commonly consumed fruit worldwide that is available all year round and is a rich source of phytochemicals. The health benefits of apples are thought to be mainly due to their phytochemical composition. Additionally, apple consumption is associated with lower incidence of some cancers based on animal and cell culture studies.
  • 2.6K
  • 30 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Zinc Complexes as Anticancer Agents
The search for anticancer metal-based drugs alternative to platinum derivatives could not exclude zinc derivatives due to the importance of this metal for the correct functioning of the human body. Zinc, the second most abundant trace element in the human body, is one of the most important micro-elements essential for human physiology. Its ubiquity in thousands of proteins and enzymes is related to its chemical features, in particular, its lack of redox activity and its ability to support different coordination geometries and to promote fast ligands exchange. Analogously to other trace elements, the impairment of its homeostasis can lead to various diseases and in some cases can be also related to cancer development. However, zinc complexes generally exert lower toxicity in comparison to other metal-based drugs and many zinc derivatives have been proposed as antitumor agents. Among them zinc complexes  comprising  N-donor ligands have been surveyed and analyzed. 
  • 2.5K
  • 22 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Exploiting Proteotoxic Stress in Cancer
Cancer cells typically have elevated proteotoxic stress as a result of genomic instability. The disruption of protein homeostasis causes endoplasmic reticulum stress. If not promptly managed, it could lead to a global decline in cellular function and eventual cell death[1]. This summary of review explores different protein quality control pathways and the translation of drugs targeting proteotoxic stress in haematologic cancers (using multiple myeloma as an example) versus solid cancers (using Triple Negative Breast Cancer as an example).
  • 2.5K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Secondary Marine Metabolites
Secondary marine metabolites are defined as molecules with a molecular weight ranging between 100 to 1000 Da and, unlike primary marine metabolites, are often found to be unique to an organism or a specific taxonomic group of the marine source. Other than marine macroorganisms such as algae, sponges, or corals, specifically marine fungi and bacteria have shown to produce novel secondary metabolites with unique as well as diverse chemical structures that may hold the key for developing novel drugs or drug leads. Secondary marine metabolites have been found in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms, with unicellular bacteria (e.g., Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp.), eukaryotic fungi (e.g., Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp.), filamentous actinomyces (e.g., Streptomyces sp.), and terrestrial plants being the most frequently studied and versatile producers. A potential clarification why organisms produce a high assortment of bioactive secondary marine metabolites is that these molecules furnish producers with a specific advantage against competing organisms and, furthermore, act as an adaptation to ecological conditions.
  • 2.5K
  • 30 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Antibody Conjugated Polymeric Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles (NPs) are promising drug delivery systems (DDS) for identifying and treating cancer. Active targeting NPs can be generated by conjugation with ligands that bind overexpressed or mutant cell surface receptors on target cells that are poorly or not even expressed on normal cells. Receptor-mediated endocytosis of the NPs occurs and the drug is released inside the cell or in the surrounding tissue due to the bystander effect. Antibodies are the most frequently used ligands to actively target tumor cells. In this context, antibody-based therapies have been extensively used in HER2+ breast cancer.
  • 2.4K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Salvage Surgery
The representative surgical intervention for unresectable stage III/IV NSCLC is salvage surgery, which refers to surgical treatment for local residual/recurrent lesions after definitive non-surgical treatment. Surgical intervention is also used for an oligometastatic stage IV NSCLC. 
  • 2.3K
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Notch Signaling Function in Angiogenesis
The Notch signaling pathway is a major regulator of vascular morphogenesis, managing endothelial response to vascular growth factors, endothelial specialization, establishment and maintenance of vascular identity as venous or arterial and vascular maturation.
  • 2.3K
  • 03 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Natural products as Ras inhibitors
RAS genes encode signaling proteins, which, in mammalian cells, act as molecular switches regulating critical cellular processes as proliferation, growth, differentiation, survival, motility, and metabolism in response to specific stimuli. Deregulation of Ras functions has a high impact on human health: gain-of-function point mutations in RAS genes are found in some developmental disorders and thirty percent of all human cancers, including the deadliest. For this reason, the pathogenic Ras variants represent important clinical targets against which to develop novel, effective, and possibly selective pharmacological inhibitors.  Few druggable sites have been identified for wild type and some oncogenic Ras mutants, and few natural compounds able to attenuate Ras signaling have been identified so far. Natural products represent a virtually unlimited resource of structurally different compounds from which one could draw on for this purpose, given the improvements in the isolation and screening of active molecules from complex sources, which can now be exploited for the selection of potential Ras inhibitors from natural sources. 
  • 2.3K
  • 09 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Tumor Spheroids and Organoids
Understanding and investigating tumors is carried out by researchers using a number of different methods. One exciting and promising area is 3D tumor models including spheriod and organoid models. They act in similar ways to tumors which means we can use them to gather important information. This ranges from the way tumors react through to how different treatments may work on tumors. Ultimately they may help guide us towards the types of drugs and therapies that could be used to treat tumors. This work gives an overview of these technologies, the types of 3D models available and how they can be used to improve treatments and their applications in personalized medicine. 
  • 2.3K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Various Protein Kinase Inhibitors as Anticancer Agents
Protein kinases (PTKs) are enzymes that regulate the biological activity of proteins by phosphorylation of certain amino acid residues. This reaction causes a conformational change from an inactive to an active form of the protein, which is one of the most important regulatory mechanisms of the cell cycle and transduction of external signals. Dysregulation of protein kinases activity is implicated in the processes of carcinogenesis and the progression of various solid cancers. Therefore, protein kinases are prime targets for the development of selective anticancer drugs.
  • 2.2K
  • 22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Therapeutic Implications of Tumour Microenvironment
The tumour microenvironment (TME) comprises a complex ecosystem of different cell types, including immune cells, cells of the vasculature and lymphatic system, cancer-associated fibroblasts, pericytes, and adipocytes. Cancer proliferation, invasion, metastasis, drug resistance and immune escape are all influenced by the dynamic interaction between cancer cells and TME. Microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea and protists, found within tumour tissues, constitute the intratumour microbiota, which is tumour type-specific and distinct among patients with different clinical outcomes. Growing evidence reveals a significant relevance of local microbiota in the colon, liver, breast, lung, oral cavity and pancreas carcinogenesis. Moreover, there is a growing interest in the tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) pointed out in several cross-sectional studies on the correlation between microbiota and TME. It is now known that microorganisms have the capacity to change the density and function of anticancer and suppressive immune cells, enabling the promotion of an inflammatory environment. As immunotherapy (such as immune checkpoint inhibitors) is becoming a promising therapy using TIME as a therapeutic target, the analysis and comprehension of local microbiota and its modulating strategies can help improve cancer treatments. 
  • 2.2K
  • 22 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Pseudomyxoma Peritonei
Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP) is a unique clinical condition characterized by massive intraperitoneal growth of mucinous ascites that may be accompanied by peritoneal implants of mucinous tumors. 
  • 2.2K
  • 28 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Hypopigmented mycosis fungoides
Hypopigmented mycosis fungoides (HMF) is a variant of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), a heterogeneous group of extranodal non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. HMF and classic (erythematous patch/plaque) Mycosis Fungoides (MF) display contrasting clinical characteristics: (i) HMF presents with light colored to achromic patches, as opposed to classic MF, which presents with erythematous scaly patches, plaques, tumors or erythroderma, (ii) HMF primarily affects individuals with darker skin types (Fitzpatrick phototypes IV-VI), while classic MF affects mostly Caucasians, (iii) HMF is commonly seen in pediatric/adolescents and young adults, whereas classic MF is more prevalent in elderly individuals, and (iv) the predominant malignant cells in HMF are CD8+T-cells, as opposed to CD4+T-cells in classic MF. Our recent review paper highlights that active antitumor immune response, specifically a Th1/cytotoxic antitumor immune response seen robustly in HMF, is likely responsible for the differential behavior between these two MF variants. Furthermore, we propose that the hypopigmentation (clinical sign) may serve as a surrogate marker for the presence of antitumor immune response and may portend better prognosis. 
  • 2.2K
  • 21 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Exosomes
Exosomes are lipid bilayer particles released from cells into their surrounding environment. These vesicles are mediators of near and long-distance intercellular communication and affect various aspects of cell biology. In addition to their biological function, they play an increasingly important role both in diagnosis and as therapeutic agents.
  • 2.1K
  • 20 Jan 2021
Topic Review
DNA Methylation in Leukemia, Myelodysplastic Syndrome, and Lymphoma
DNA methylation represents a crucial mechanism of epigenetic regulation in hematologic malignancies. The methylation process is controlled by specific DNA methyl transferases and other regulators, which are often affected by genetic alterations. Global hypomethylation and hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes are associated with hematologic cancer development and progression. Several epi-drugs have been successfully implicated in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, including the hypomethylating agents (HMAs) decitabine and azacytidine. However, combinations with other treatment modalities and the discovery of new molecules are still the subject of research to increase sensitivity to anti-cancer therapies and improve patient outcomes. 
  • 2.0K
  • 09 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Application of Zeolite in Cancer Therapy
Zeolites and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) are widely studied as drug carrying nanoplatforms to enhance the specificity and efficacy of traditional anticancer drugs. 
  • 2.0K
  • 29 Dec 2021
Topic Review
H3K27M-Mutant Diffuse Midline Glioma
H3K27M-mutant diffuse midline glioma is a rare childhood cancer originating in midline brain structures. The H3K27M mutation substitutes an amino acid on histone H3 that promotes gene expression and tumor growth. This cancer has a dismal prognosis and requires new and better treatment approaches. Thus, innovative treatment approaches are greatly needed to improve clinical outcomes for these patients. 
  • 2.0K
  • 01 Sep 2022
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