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Topic Review
Ovarian Cancer Stem Cell Niche
Ovarian cancer is an aggressive gynaecological cancer with extremely poor prognosis, due to late diagnosis as well as the development of chemoresistance after first-line therapy.
  • 969
  • 05 May 2021
Topic Review
Immunotherapy for Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma
Malignant melanoma (mM) is the leading cause of death among cutaneous malignancies. While its incidence is increasing, the most recent cancer statistics show a small but clear decrease in mortality rate. This trend reflects the introduction of novel and more effective therapeutic regimens, including the two cornerstones of melanoma therapy: immunotherapies and targeted therapies. Unlike chemotherapies or radiation, in which the therapy directly induces cancer cell death, immunotherapies stimulate the patient’s immune system to control and eliminate the tumor. Advantages of immunotherapies over traditional cancer treatments include increased durability for long-term control or even cure and more precisely targeted anti-tumor activity that spares healthy tissues, many times with comparable or even reduced overall toxicity. The high immunogenicity and somatic mutation burden of melanoma likely contribute to the success of immunotherapy. Treatments combining immunotherapies with targeted therapies, which disable the carcinogenic products of mutated cancer cells, have further increased treatment efficacy and durability. Toxicity and resistance, however, remain critical challenges to the field. There are three types of immunotherapies currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of advanced melanoma: (1) T-cell stimulating cytokines (i.e. interferon (IFN)-α2b and interleukin-2 (IL-2)); (2) T-cell exhaustion-mitigating immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI); and (3) a dendritic cell (DC)-activating oncolytic virus (T-VEC). Still others, such as adoptive cell transfer (ACT), hold strong promise for the future.
  • 969
  • 20 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Bioactivity of Steroidal Arylidene Derivatives
Steroids constitute a unique class of chemical compounds, playing an important role in physiopathological processes, and have high pharmacological interest. Due to their straightforward preparation and intrinsic chemical reactivity, steroidal arylidene derivatives are important synthetic intermediates for the preparation of other compounds, particularly bearing heterocyclic systems, in addition to their relevant bioactivity with potential pharmacological interest. 
  • 968
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Polymersomes in Drug Delivery Systems
Polymersomes are artificial nanoparticles formed by the self-assembly process of amphiphilic block copolymers composed of hydrophobic and hydrophilic blocks. They can encapsulate hydrophilic molecules in the aqueous core and hydrophobic molecules within the membrane. The composition of block copolymers can be tuned, enabling control of characteristics and properties of formed polymersomes and, thus, their application in areas such as drug delivery, diagnostics, or bioimaging. The preparation methods of polymersomes can also impact their characteristics and the preservation of the encapsulated drugs. Due to the shortcomings related to the stability, efficacy, and safety of some therapeutics in the human body, polymersomes as drug delivery systems have been good candidates to improve the quality of therapies against a wide range of diseases, including cancer. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy can be improved by using polymersomes to deliver the drugs, protecting and directing them to the exact site of action.
  • 968
  • 25 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Antiepileptic Drugs
For drugs, such as antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), whose therapeutic or toxic effects are more closely related to blood levels than to a specific dose, monitoring of plasma levels plays a crucial role. Many drugs used in epilepsy therapy often cause acute poisonings (carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine, valproic acid, lamotrigine). AEDs do not have an ideal pharmacokinetic profile, which at the same time qualifies them to monitor both in the therapeutic and toxic aspects. Currently, a great benefit for patients using various AEDs is adjusting the dosage to their individual needs and monitoring sufficient blood concentrations. There is still a need to develop new, rapid methods that meet the validation criteria. This trend has been observed in the last few years in the bioanalysis of different type of biological samples, not only blood, serum or plasma, but also saliva and blood/serum/plasma dried spots technique.
  • 965
  • 01 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Lycorine Ameliorates Thioacetamide-Induced Hepatic Fibrosis in Rats
Liver fibrosis is a foremost medical concern worldwide. Lycorine—a natural alkaloid—has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activates. Lycorine hinders TAA-induced liver fibrosis in rats, due to—at least partly—its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, along with its ability to inhibit Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription factor (STAT3) signaling.
  • 965
  • 21 Mar 2022
Topic Review
COVID-19, Respiratory Diseases & Drug-Drug Interactions
The absence of COVID-19-targeted treatments has led scientist to exploit available scientific evidence for potential efficient drugs that may block biological pathways of SARS-CoV-2 and several molecules have been emerged as promising pharmacological agents. Then again, due to the criticality of the disease, it is important for healthcare providers in COVID-19 clinics to recognize potential drug-drug interactions (DDIs) that may lead to adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and additional burdens in patients' health status from the administration of these agents.
  • 964
  • 17 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Oral subunit vaccine design
Many pathogens invade the host at the intestinal surface. To protect against these enteropatho-gens, the induction of intestinal secretory IgA (SIgA) responses is paramount. While systemic vaccination provides strong systemic immune responses, oral vaccination is the most efficient way to trigger protective SIgA responses. However, the development of oral vaccines, especially oral subunit vaccines, is challenging due to mechanisms inherent to the gut. Oral vaccines need to survive the harsh environment in the gastrointestinal tract, characterized by low pH and intestinal proteases and need to reach the gut-associated lymphoid tissues, which are protected by chemical and physical barriers that prevent efficient uptake. Furthermore, they need to surmount default tolerogenic responses present in the gut, resulting in suppression of immunity or tolerance. Several strategies have been developed to tackle these hurdles, such as delivery systems that protect vaccine antigens from degradation, strong mucosal adjuvants that induce robust immune responses and targeting approaches that aim to selectively deliver vaccine antigens towards specific immune cell populations.
  • 961
  • 12 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Melatonin Safety and Therapeutic Efficacy
Viral infections constitute a tectonic convulsion in the normophysiology of the hosts. The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is not an exception, and therefore the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, like any other invading microbe, enacts a generalized immune response once the virus contacts the body. Melatonin is a systemic dealer that does not overlook any homeostasis disturbance, which consequently brings into play its cooperative triad, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-stimulant backbone, to stop the infective cycle of SARS-CoV-2 or any other endogenous or exogenous threat. In COVID-19, the corporal propagation of SARS-CoV-2 involves an exacerbated oxidative activity and terefore the overproduction of great amounts of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). The endorsement of melatonin as a possible protective agent against the current pandemic is indirectly supported by its widely demonstrated beneficial role in preclinical and clinical studies of other respiratory diseases. 
  • 961
  • 03 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Multimodal and Parenteral Analgesia
The combination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with non-opioid analgesics is common in clinical practice for the treatment of acute painful conditions like post-operative and post-traumatic pain. Despite the satisfactory results achieved by oral analgesics, parenteral analgesia remains a key tool in the treatment of painful conditions when the enteral routes of administration are inconvenient. Parenteral ready-to-use fixed-dose combinations of non-opioid analgesics combinations, including NSAIDs and paracetamol or metamizole, could play a central role in the treatment of painful conditions by combining the advantages of multimodal and parenteral analgesia in a single formulation. 
  • 958
  • 14 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Ulcerative Colitis
The worldwide epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), still shows an increasing trend in Asia and Iran. Despite an improvement in the treatment landscape focused on symptomatic control, long-term colectomies have not decreased over the last 10-year period. Thus, novel therapies are urgently needed in clinics to supplement the existing treatments. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent adult stem cells with immunosuppressive effects, targeting IBD as a new treatment strategy. They have recently received global attention for their use in cell transplantation due to their easy expansion and wide range of activities to be engrafted, and because they are home to the mucosa of the intestine. Moreover, MSCs are able to differentiate into epithelial and other cells that can directly promote repair in the mucosal damages in UC. It seems that there is a need to deepen our understanding to target MSCs as a promising treatment option for UC patients who are refractory to conventional therapies. Here, we overviewed the therapeutic effects of MSCs in UC and discussed the achievements and challenges in the cell transplantation of UC.
  • 956
  • 14 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Circadian Clock to Skin /Cancer
Over the years, the circadian regulation of drug metabolism and processing has been employed in the treatment of a range of disease states, including diabetes, hypertension, peptic ulcers, and allergic rhinitis . There is also interest in using chronotherapeutic approaches for skin disease, including psoriasis and atopic dermatitis . Although time-dictated drug administration had been demonstrated many decades ago, its application in cancer treatment was limited due to insufficient mechanistic data supporting experimental results and inconsistency among clinical trials.
  • 956
  • 21 Jun 2021
Topic Review
New Therapeutical Approaches for COVID-19
The pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) stimulated an unprecedented international collaborative effort for rapid diagnosis, epidemiologic surveillance, clinical management, prevention, and treatment. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, treatment of the SARS-CoV-2 infection was a real challenge. An overview of the viral structure and life cycle of SARS-CoV-2 is given and future therapeutical options are discussed.
  • 956
  • 08 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Promising Lead Compounds for Drug-Resistant-Tuberculosis
The development of drug-resistant strains of mycobacterium tuberculosis illustrates the importance and demand for an early identification of drug-resistant strains, exploring new targets for drug sensitivity, customized treatment plans, and more effective medical interventions. Literature shows several studies, incorporating bioinformatics and proteomics approaches that clearly indicate the potential drug targets and an early diagnostic against drug-resistant strains. To tackle the alarming condition of antimicrobial resistance, pathogen-centric approach covering novel chemotherapeutics and novel diagnostic pathways, along with host targeted therapeutics (i.e., host immune system modulators to treat pathogenesis), must be appraised. The efficacy of novel chemotherapeutic agents (i.e., delamanid and bedaquiline), which currently have approval from USFDA, are now compromised by the successional pathogen tolerance strategies. Novel antitubercular repurposed drugs as combinational treatment solutions (new anti-TB drug schedules) and host-directed therapeutics may be measured to tackle the antibiotic resistance, which is a major problem to tuberculosis management. To combat the antibiotic resistance, the key problem in tuberculosis management, we have to identify the most promising lead compounds among new emerging antitubercular agents and conclude these compounds to clinical trials as potential antitubercular drug candidates, along with considering the host-targeted therapeutics.
  • 955
  • 10 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Magnesium and Morphine in Chronic Neuropathic Pain
The effectiveness of opioids in the treatment of neuropathic pain is limited. It was demonstrated that magnesium ions (Mg2+), physiological antagonists of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), increase opioid analgesia in chronic pain. Early data indicate the cross-regulation of mu-opioid receptor (MOR) and NMDAR in pain control. Morphine acting on MOR stimulates protein kinase C (PKC), while induction of NMDAR (for example in a state of neuropathic pain) recruits protein kinase A (PKA) leading to disruption of the MOR-NMDAR complex and promoting functional changes in receptors. The level of phosphorylated NMDAR NR1 subunit (pNR1) and phosphorylated MOR (pMOR) in the periaqueductal gray matter was determined with the Western blot method. The activity of PKA and PKC was examined by standard enzyme immunoassays. Mg2+ administered alone significantly decreased the level of pNR1 and pMOR, and activity of both tested kinases. The results suggest that blocking NMDAR signaling by Mg2+ restores the MOR-NMDAR complex and thus enables morphine analgesia in neuropathic rats.
  • 954
  • 03 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Structural Characteristics of Selaginella Biflavonoid
Despite the many strategies employed to slow the spread of cancer, the development of new anti-tumor drugs and the minimization of side effects have been major research hotspots in the anti-tumor field. Natural drugs are a huge treasure trove of drug development, and they have been widely used in the clinic as anti-tumor drugs. Selaginella species in the family Selaginellaceae are widely distributed worldwide, and they have been well-documented in clinical practice for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Biflavonoids are the main active ingredients in Selaginella, and they have good biological and anti-tumor activities, which warrant extensive research. The promise of biflavonoids from Selaginella (SFB) in the field of cancer therapy is being realized thanks to new research that offers insights into the multi-targeting therapeutic mechanisms and key signaling pathways.
  • 953
  • 08 May 2023
Topic Review
Multifaceted Potential of Sulforaphane
Sulforaphane (SFN) is a naturally occurring compound found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cauliflower. It has been widely studied for its potential as a neuroprotective and anticancer agent. SFN has been shown to exert neuroprotective effects through the activation of the Nrf2 pathway, the modulation of neuroinflammation, and epigenetic mechanisms. In cancer treatment, SFN has demonstrated the ability to selectively induce cell death in cancer cells, inhibit histone deacetylase, and sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapy. SFN has also shown chemoprotective properties through inhibiting phase I metabolizing enzymes, modulating phase II xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes, and targeting cancer stem cells. 
  • 953
  • 18 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Marine Drugs in Parkinson’s Disease
Terpenes, shikimates, polyketides, acetogenins, peptides, alkaloids, and many uncharacterized structures, extracted and purified from marine resources, showed various pharmacological activities as antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and anticoagulant.
  • 952
  • 23 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Chalepin and Chalepensin
Dihydrofuranocoumarin, chalepin (1) and furanocoumarin, chalepensin (2) are 3-prenylated bioactive coumarins, first isolated from the well-known medicinal plant Ruta chalepensis L. (Fam: Rutaceae) but also distributed in various species of the genera Boenminghausenia, Clausena and Ruta.
  • 952
  • 14 May 2021
Topic Review
NLR in Allergic Diseases
Our understanding on the immunological roles of pathogen recognition in innate immunity has vastly increased over the past 20 years. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLR) are cytosolic pattern recognition receptors (PRR) that are responsible for sensing microbial motifs and endogenous damage signals in mammalian cytosol for immune surveillance and host defense.
  • 951
  • 26 Feb 2021
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