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Topic Review
Diabetes Mellitus and Mitochondria Dysfunction
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that is characterized by an absolute or relative deficiency of insulin, the hormone that stimulates the transport of glucose across cell membranes, which leads to an increase in blood glucose—hyperglycemia. Two main types of diabetes are distinguished. Type I diabetes mellitus (about 10% of cases of diabetes) is an autoimmune disorder that results from the progressive destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas by T cells and activated macrophages and eventually leads to insulin deficiency in the organism. It is well known that type I diabetes most frequently develops in childhood and causes severe long-term complications, including retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy [4,5,6]. Type II diabetes or adult-onset diabetes (about 90% of cases) is characterized by an impairment of homeostasis of glucose and insulin, in particular, the development of insulin resistance of target tissues associated with compensatory hyperinsulinemia, followed by beta-cell dysfunction. Type II diabetes mellitus is accompanied by glucose toxicity, lipotoxicity, and chronic oxidative stress, which finally can result in damage to vital organs and development of life-threatening secondary complications [4,7]. Mitochondria are one of the main targets of diabetes at the intracellular level. Recent data indicate that disturbances in mitochondrial calcium transport systems and a pathophysiological phenomenon called the permeability transition pore are involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. 
  • 1.3K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Enzymatic Biocatalysis for Degradation of Plastic PET
Most Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) degrading enzymes belong to the 3.40.50.1820 superfamily, according to the CATH database, since they share a conserved catalytic domain and assume the typical alpha/beta hydrolase fold. Breaking of PET bonds is typically accomplished by a catalytic triad involving a serine, a histidine and a negatively charged residue, usually an aspartate or a glutamate.
  • 1.3K
  • 29 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Anti-Lipopolysaccharide Factor
Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of an infectious process that results from the excessive and uncontrolled activation of the host’s pro-inflammatory immune response to a pathogen. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), also known as endotoxin, which is a major component of Gram-negative bacteria’s outer membrane, plays a key role in the development of Gram-negative sepsis and septic shock in humans. To date, no specific and effective drug against sepsis has been developed.
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Nov 2023
Topic Review
LGMD2D myotubes
LGMD2D (LGMD-R3 according to the new nomenclature) is a rare autosomal recessive disease affecting striated muscle. It belongs to the group of limb girdle muscular dystrophies because of the involvement of the proximal musculature of the shoulders and pelvic girdle. LGMD2D is caused by mutations in the SGCA gene coding for α-sarcoglycan (SG).  
  • 1.3K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Dictyostelium discoideum
Dictyostelium discoideum has provided a useful, simple model to aid in unraveling the complex pathological characteristics of neurological disorders including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses and lissencephaly. 
  • 1.3K
  • 06 May 2022
Topic Review
Insights into the Pharmacological Effects of Flavonoids
Flavonoids are widely occurring secondary metabolites of plants. Currently, there is a trend of article numbers increasing, which focuses on the computer modeling of flavonoid interactions with biological targets. Such studies help to accumulatethe data on lead compounds that can find medicinal implementation, including COVID-19. Flavanonol taxifolin demonstrated wound-healing activity. Luteolin, apigenin, and wogonin, which can be classified as flavones, show induced neutrophil apoptosis and have potential as neutrophil apoptosis-inducing anti-inflammatory, proresolution agents.
  • 1.3K
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Nasal Air Conditioning and SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as with the influenza virus, has been shown to spread more rapidly during winter. Severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which can follow SARS-CoV-2 infection, disproportionately affects older persons and males as well as people living in temperate zone countries with a tropical ancestry. The available data are consistent with optimal warming and humidifying of inspired air by the nose (nasal air conditioning) being essential for minimising SARS-CoV-2 infectivity of the upper respiratory tract (URT)  and, as a consequence, severe COVID-19. 
  • 1.3K
  • 04 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Human Neuroblastoma Cell
Neuroblastoma is one of the most common childhood solid tumors and develops from neural stem cells that normally comprise the embryonic structure termed the neural crest. Human neuroblastoma cell lines have special properties as they exhibit cell growth and are induced to become mature neurons by drugs such as retinoid.
  • 1.3K
  • 21 Oct 2021
Topic Review
M1 Family of Metalloaminopeptidases
Proteolytic enzymes, also known as peptidases, are one of the most abundant groups of enzymes in living organisms. They control the activation, synthesis and turnover of proteins, and regulate most biochemical and physiological processes, such as digestion, fertilization, growth, differentiation, cell signaling/migration, immunological defense, wound healing, and apoptosis. They are consequently major regulators of homeostasis, ageing, and different human diseases like cancer, hypertension, diabetes, inflammation, neurodegeneration, Alzheimer among others. Proteases are also essential for propagation of infectious agents, being major contributors of pathogenesis in several infectious diseases, including the current coronavirus emergent pandemic SARS COVID 19. Among peptidases, aminopeptidases catalyze the cleavage of the N-terminal amino acids of proteins or peptide substrates. They are distributed in many phyla and play critical roles in physiology and pathophysiology. Many of them are metallopeptidases belonging to the M1 and M17 families, among others. Some, such as M1 aminopeptidases N and A, thyrotropin-releasing hormone-degrading ectoenzyme, and M17 leucyl aminopeptidase, are targets for the development of therapeutic agents for human diseases, including cancer, hypertension, central nervous system disorders, inflammation, immune system disorders, skin pathologies, and infectious diseases, such as malaria. 
  • 1.3K
  • 23 May 2023
Topic Review
Berbamine
Berbamine is a natural, potent, pharmacologically active biomolecule isolated from Berberis amurensis. Berbamine has been shown to modulate different oncogenic cell-signaling pathways in different cancers.
  • 1.3K
  • 15 Apr 2022
Topic Review
PPAR Alpha
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α is a potent regulator of systemic and cellular metabolism and energy homeostasis, but it also suppresses various inflammatory reactions.
  • 1.3K
  • 19 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Ribonucleoside Hydrolase Structure
Ribonucleoside hydrolases are enzymes that catalyze the cleavage of ribonucleosides to nitrogenous bases and ribose. These enzymes are found in many organisms: bacteria, archaea, protozoa, metazoans, yeasts, fungi and plants.
  • 1.3K
  • 20 Sep 2023
Topic Review
KRAS and the Inflammatory Tumor Microenvironment Modulation
The TME is a dynamic network composed, not only by tumor cells, but also by several non-tumor cell types, including stromal cells as immune cells (macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic and natural killer cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), B and T cells), fibroblasts, adipocytes, endothelial cells, neurons, osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and the extracellular matrix (ECM). This non-cellular component, together with the tumor and the non-tumor cells, establish a dynamic, challenging microenvironment that can be modulated, but especially modulates cancer cell activities, dictating the success of tumor progression. Inflammation has been gradually recognized as a key initiator and contributor for tumorigenesis by orchestrating the immune surveillance and the immune escape, but also by affecting treatment response. Interestingly, the concept of tumor-promoting inflammation has been tightly associated with KRAS mutations. In fact, in colorectal cancers, the majority of the cases with a high prevalence of KRAS mutations correlate with chronic inflammatory diseases. KRAS and its downstream interactors are described as capable of shaping the immune microenvironment through the induction of the nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF)-kB signaling, which in turn promotes the transcription of several cytokines and chemokines, including interleukin (IL)-1α/β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), Cys-X-Cys Chemokine (CXCL)-1, 2, 5, and 8, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1 or CCL2), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecule 1 (ELAM1). Independently of NF-kB, KRAS-downstream partners, such as RAF/MAPK and PI3K, may also induce IL-10, transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) expression. Several studies already reported that KRAS mutations could drive the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-10 and TGF-β, with the ability to sustain an immunosuppressive TME, whereas other studies verified that KRAS mutations could interfere with the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as ICAM-1, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18. Thus, KRAS seems to act as a modulator of both an anti-inflammatory and a pro-inflammatory TME.
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Aptamers as Theragnostic Tools in Prostate Cancer
Aptamers are DNA and RNA oligonucleotides that can adopt tridimensional structures that enable them to join specifically to any desired target. Aptamers are capable of binding to specific molecules including drugs, proteins, carbohydrates, cells, and viruses. Aptamers were first described in 1990, and since then several groups have used their binding properties to isolate a diversity of specific aptamers. Aptamers have been studied for treatment and detection of many diseases including cancer. In Prostate Cancer, numerous works have reported their use in the development of new approaches in diagnostics and treatment strategies. Aptamers have been joined with drugs or other specific molecules such as silencing RNAs (aptamer–siRNA chimeras) to specifically reduce the expression of oncogenes in prostate cancer (PCa) cells. These studies have shown good results in the early stages, more research is still needed to demonstrate the clinical value of aptamers in PCa. 
  • 1.3K
  • 19 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Application of Sygen® in Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathies
Diabetic peripheral neuropathies (DPNs) are conditions that impair the peripheral nervous system (PNS) component. These disorders may have numerous causes and are often presented in various forms. The monosialotetrahexosylganglioside (GM1) ganglioside, popularly known as Sygen, provides beneficial effects such as enhanced neuritic sprouting, neurotrophism, neuroprotection, anti-apoptosis, and anti-excitotoxic activity, being particularly useful in the treatment of neurological complications that arise from diabetes.
  • 1.3K
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Immune Checkpoints Inhibitors in the Treatment of Melanoma
Metastatic melanoma is a highly immunogenic tumor with very poor survival rates due to immune system escape-mechanisms. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA4) and the programmed death-1 (PD1) receptors, are being used to impede immune evasion. 
  • 1.3K
  • 04 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Molecular Mechanisms of Eosinophilic Esophagitis
Eosinophilic esophagitis is a recently recognized allergic-mediated disease with eosinophil-predominant esophagus inflammation. Its pathogenesis is a complicated network of interactions and signaling between epithelial, mesenchymal, and immune cells on molecular and intercellular levels.
  • 1.3K
  • 15 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Synthetic Oleanolic Acid Derivatives
Oleanolic acid (3β-hydroxyolean-12-en-28-oic acid) is a pentacyclic triterpenoid, widely occurring in the plant kingdom, which includes edible and medicinal plants. The richest source of oleanolic acid (OA) are the leaves of the olive plant. Common culinary spices such as garden thyme and clove plants, as well as fruits, are also sources of OA.
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Adipokines, Myokines, and Hepatokines
Adipose, skeletal, and hepatic muscle tissues are the main endocrine organs that produce adipokines, myokines, and hepatokines. These biomarkers can be harmful or beneficial to an organism and still perform crosstalk, acting through the endocrine, paracrine, and autocrine pathways. Far beyond understanding the actions of each biomarker alone, it is important to underline that these cytokines act together in the body, resulting in a complex network of actions in different tissues, which may have beneficial or non-beneficial effects on the genesis of various physiological disorders and their respective outcomes, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), obesity, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Overweight individuals secrete more pro-inflammatory adipokines than those of a healthy weight, leading to an impaired immune response and greater susceptibility to inflammatory and infectious diseases. Myostatin is elevated in pro-inflammatory environments, sharing space with pro-inflammatory organokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1), resistin, and chemerin. Fibroblast growth factor FGF21 acts as a beta-oxidation regulator and decreases lipogenesis in the liver. The crosstalk mentioned above can interfere with homeostatic disorders and can play a role as a potential therapeutic target that can assist in the methods of diagnosing metabolic syndrome and CVD.
  • 1.3K
  • 25 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Vitamin C Anticancer Action
Vitamin C is an indispensable micronutrient in the human diet due to the multiple functions it carries out in the body. Reports of clinical studies have indicated that, when administered at high dosage by the intravenous route, vitamin C may exert beneficial antitumor effects in patients with advanced stage cancers, including those refractory to previous treatment with chemotherapy. 
  • 1.3K
  • 19 May 2021
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