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Topic Review
Beta2-Microglobulin
Beta2-microglobulin (B2M) is a key component of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules, which aid cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) immune response. B2M also plays an important role in innate defense and does not only function as an adjuvant for CTL response. 
  • 1.8K
  • 26 Jul 2021
Topic Review
HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
Up to one-third of all breast cancers are classified as the aggressive HER2-positive subtype, which is associated with a higher risk of recurrence compared to HER2-negative breast cancers. The HER2 hyperactivity associated with this subtype drives tumor growth by up-regulation of mTOR pathways and metabolic adaptation. Combination therapies that simultaneously target HER2 and mTOR improve clinical outcomes compared with HER2 inhibition alone. Drugs that mimic glucose deprivation in HER2-positive breast cancer patients have not been evaluated; however, preclinical studies have shown that the growth of HER2-positive breast tumors is reduced in response to combining the glycolytic inhibitor 2-DG with mTOR inhibitors.
  • 1.8K
  • 02 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Vascular Endothelial Glycocalyx
Vascular endothelial cells are a monolayer of cells that comprise the innermost layer of cells in the vascular system, including arteries, veins, and capillaries, and serve a barrier function for the blood vessels surrounding all organs and in direct contact with the blood flowing through the vascular lumen.
  • 1.8K
  • 30 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids
Alkaloids are an important group of specialized nitrogen metabolites with a wide range of biochemical and pharmacological effects. Since the first publication on lycorine in 1877, more than 650 alkaloids have been extracted from Amaryllidaceae bulbous plants and clustered together as the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AAs) family. 
  • 1.8K
  • 31 May 2021
Topic Review
Cu Homeostasis in Bacteria
Copper is an essential transition metal which is also toxic to cell.. Organisms have developed sophisticated pathways to import, traffic, store and deliver copper to cuproproteins. They also export its excess outsite of the cell to protect themselves from oxidative stress. The pathways contains specific importers, chaperons, storage proteins and exporters. Expression of the corresponding structural genes is conrolled by copper availability via sensors and response regulation transcription factors described below.
  • 1.8K
  • 08 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor(AhR)
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a member of the family of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors and well-known for its role in xenobiotic metabolism and detoxification.
  • 1.8K
  • 01 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Vitamin C and Kidney Injury
Vitamin C is an important micronutrient and antioxidant for the human body.  In animal experiments, it can protect the kidneys from injury caused by nephrotoxic drugs.  A major feature of COVID-19 and similar viral infection is the cytokine storm, which causes a rise of multiple cytokines in the blood. Those cytokines result in the oxidative stress in cells, which leads to damage to organs and tissues, including the kidneys.  Here, we reviewed the current literature on kidney damage in COVID-19 patients and analyzed the possible etiology and mechanisms.  In addition, we summarized the potential use of vitamin C in preventing kidney damage in experimental animal models and the underlying mechanisms.  Vitamin C appears to protect and facilitate recovery of kidneys from injuries derived from excessive of oxidative stress, a feature of cytokines storm in people with COVID-19.  Finally, we would like to argue that vitamin C may be protective of the renal functions in COVID-19 patients with pre-existing kidney diseases. 
  • 1.8K
  • 26 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Fyn
Fyn is a non-receptor or cytoplasmatic tyrosine kinase (TK) belonging to the Src family kinases (SFKs) involved in multiple transduction pathways in the central nervous system (CNS) including synaptic transmission, myelination, axon guidance, and oligodendrocyte formation. Almost one hundred years after the original description of Fyn, this protein continues to attract extreme interest because of its multiplicity of actions in the molecular signaling pathways underlying neurodevelopmental as well as neuropathologic events. Fyn is a common factor in healthy and diseased brains that targets different proteins and shapes different transduction signals according to the neurological conditions. In particular, Fyn mediates signaling pathways involved in neuronal differentiation and plasticity that have been subjected to considerable attention lately, opening the fascinating scenario to target Fyn TK for the development of potential therapeutic interventions for the treatment of CNS injuries and certain neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease.
  • 1.8K
  • 05 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Casein Kinase 1α
Wnt signaling regulates numerous cellular processes during embryonic development and adult tissue homeostasis. Underscoring this physiological importance, deregulation of the Wnt signaling pathway is associated with many disease states, including cancer. Here, we review pivotal regulatory events in the Wnt signaling pathway that drive cancer growth. We then discuss the roles of the established negative Wnt regulator, casein kinase 1α (CK1α), in Wnt signaling. Although the study of CK1α has been ongoing for several decades, the bulk of such research has focused on how it phosphorylates and regulates its various substrates. We focus here on what is known about the mechanisms controlling CK1α, including its putative regulatory proteins and alternative splicing variants. Finally, we describe the discovery and validation of a family of pharmacological CK1α activators capable of inhibiting Wnt pathway activity. One of the important advantages of CK1α activators, relative to other classes of Wnt inhibitors, is their reduced on-target toxicity, overcoming one of the major impediments to developing a clinically relevant Wnt inhibitor. Therefore, we also discuss mechanisms that regulate CK1α steady-state homeostasis, which may contribute to the deregulation of Wnt pathway activity in cancer and underlie the enhanced therapeutic index of CK1α activators. 
  • 1.8K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Alignment-Free Approaches
Alignment-free (AF) methodologies have increased in popularity in the last decades as alternative tools to alignment-based (AB) algorithms for performing comparative sequence analyses. They have been especially useful to detect remote homologs within the twilight zone of highly diverse gene/protein families and superfamilies. The most popular alignment-free methodologies, as well as their applications to classification problems, have been described in previous reviews. Despite a new set of graph theory-derived sequence/structural descriptors that have been gaining relevance in the detection of remote homology, they have been omitted as AF predictors when the topic is addressed. Here, we first go over the most popular AF approaches used for detecting homology signals within the twilight zone and then bring out the state-of-the-art tools encoding graph theory-derived sequence/structure descriptors and their success for identifying remote homologs.
  • 1.8K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Endoglin
Endoglin is a class I, single-membrane spanning receptor with an apparent molecular weight of 95 kDa containing a short cytoplasmic and a modular extracellular domain. This domain contains attachment sites for N- and O-dependent glycosylation and ligand binding residues.
  • 1.8K
  • 16 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Ryanodine Receptor
The ryanodine receptor (RyR) is a Ca2+ release channel in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of skeletal and cardiac muscles and plays a key role in excitation–contraction coupling. The activity of the RyR is regulated by the changes in the level of many intracellular factors, such as divalent cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+), nucleotides, associated proteins, and reactive oxygen species. Since these intracellular factors change depending on the condition of the muscle, e.g., exercise, fatigue, or disease states, the RyR channel activity will be altered accordingly.
  • 1.8K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Monosodium Glutamate-Induced Male Reproductive Dysfunction
Reproductive dysfunction is often characterized by malfunction of the reproductive tissues, which may lead to disruption of the synergistic rhythm that should bring about a progression of sexual events and the conception of new life. This may therefore result in the sexual dysfunction and infertility that can be seen in couples having prolonged biological difficulty in reproducing their offspring after having unrestricted sexual intercourse for at least twelve months. Several factors have been implicated in the cause and progression of reproductive dysfunction, including poor nutrition, drug side effects, disease states, and toxicant ingestion. A well-known food additive that has been found to be potent at initiating reproductive anomalies in males is monosodium glutamate (MSG). 
  • 1.8K
  • 23 May 2022
Topic Review
ATF5 Function in Regulating Cell Stress and Survival
Activating transcription factor 5 (ATF5) belongs to the activating transcription factor/cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element-binding protein family of basic region leucine zipper transcription factors. ATF5 plays an important role in cell stress regulation and is involved in cell differentiation and survival, as well as centrosome maintenance and development. 
  • 1.8K
  • 27 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a most common type of arthritis occur in the aged population. It affects any joint in the body and degenerates the articular cartilage and subchondral bone. Despite the pathophysiology of OA is different, still cartilage resorption is a symbol of osteoarthritis. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are important proteolytic enzymes that degrade extra-cellular matrix proteins (ECM) in the body. MMPs contribute to the turnover of cartilage and its break down; their levels have increased in the joint tissues of OA patients. Application of chondroprotective drugs neutralize the activities of MMPs. Natural products derived from herbs and plants developed as traditional medicine have paid much attention due to their potential biological effects. Therapeutic value of natural products in OA has increased reputation by presenting clinical impact with insignificant side effects. Several MMPs inhibitor have been used as therapeutic drugs for long time. Recently, different types of compounds have been reviewed for their biological activities. In this review, we summarize numerous natural products for the development as MMPs inhibitors in arthritic diseases and describe the major signaling targets that involved for the treatments of these destructive joint diseases.
  • 1.8K
  • 05 Nov 2020
Topic Review
O-GlcNAcylation
O-GlcNAcylation is a posttranslational modification that occurs at serine and threonine residues of protein substrates by the addition of O-linked β-d-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) moiety. Two enzymes are involved in this modification: O-GlcNac transferase (OGT), which attaches the GlcNAc residue to the protein substrate, and O-GlcNAcase (OGA), which removes it. This biological balance is important for many biological processes, such as protein expression, cell apoptosis, and regulation of enzyme activity.
  • 1.8K
  • 04 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Clostridium botulinum
Clostridium botulinum is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, obligate anaerobic bacterium widely distributed in soils, sediments, and aquatic environments. It is best known as the causative agent of botulism, a severe neuroparalytic disease caused by the production of botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs), among the most potent biological toxins known.
  • 1.8K
  • 23 Sep 2025
Topic Review
DNA Methylation and AP-1 Signaling
Epigenetic regulation and modification govern the transcriptional mechanisms that promote disease initiation and progression, but can also control the oncogenic processes, cell signaling networks, immunogenicity, and immune cells involved in anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor responses. 
  • 1.8K
  • 27 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase
Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK5) is an essential regulator of cancer progression, tumor relapse, and poor patient survival. Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex oncogenic process, which drives cell invasion, stemness, and metastases. Activators of ERK5, including mitogen-activated protein kinase 5 (MEK5), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β), are known to induce EMT and metastases in breast, lung, colorectal, and other cancers. Several downstream targets of the ERK5 pathway, such as myocyte-specific enhancer factor 2c (MEF2C), activator protein-1 (AP-1), focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and c-Myc, play a critical role in the regulation of EMT transcription factors SNAIL, SLUG, and β-catenin. Moreover, ERK5 activation increases the release of extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), facilitating breakdown of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and local tumor invasion. Targeting the ERK5 signaling pathway using small molecule inhibitors, microRNAs, and knockdown approaches decreases EMT, cell invasion, and metastases via several mechanisms.
  • 1.8K
  • 20 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Quadruplex Structures: Cancer Therapeutic Targets
Non-canonical, four-stranded nucleic acids secondary structures are present within regulatory regions in the human genome and transcriptome. To date, these quadruplex structures include both DNA and RNA G-quadruplexes, formed in guanine-rich sequences, and i-Motifs, found in cytosine-rich sequences, as their counterparts. Quadruplexes have been extensively associated with cancer, playing an important role in telomere maintenance and control of genetic expression of several oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Therefore, quadruplex structures are considered attractive molecular targets for cancer therapeutics with novel mechanisms of action.
  • 1.8K
  • 11 Dec 2020
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