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Topic Review
Redox Homeostasis in Pancreatic β-Cells
Redox status is a key determinant in the fate of every cell, β-cell in particular.  β-cells are not primarily detoxifying like e.g. hepatocytes or kidney cells and thus do not possess extensive antioxidant defense machinery. However, they show a wide range of redox regulating proteins, such as peroxiredoxins, thioredoxins or thioredoxin reductases, etc., being functionally compartmentalized. These proteins keep fragile redox homeostasis and serve as messengers and amplifiers of redox signaling which is inevitable for proper β-cell function (particularly insulin secretion) and maintenance. Dysbalance in redox homeostasis establishes oxidative stress which accompanies the development of type 2 diabetes.
  • 799
  • 06 May 2021
Topic Review
Astrocytes as Glutamate Producers and Targets in ALS
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons (MNs) in the motor cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord. ALS involves different cell types, such as neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. Since all these cells express the same mutated genes in patients, ALS can arise from a combination of damaged MNs and their glial partners rather than only from the neuronal lineage. Many studies highlighted the solid non-neuronal signature in ALS and suggested astrocytes and microglia as critical players in disease progression rather than disease onset. Conversely, data support an alteration of oligodendrocyte function at the disease pre-symptomatic and early symptomatic stages.
  • 799
  • 01 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Plant-RNA in Extracellular Vesicles
The release of extracellular vesicles (EVs) is a common language, used by living organisms from different kingdoms as a means of communication between them. Extracellular vesicles are lipoproteic particles that contain many biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. The primary role of EVs is to convey information to the recipient cells, affecting their function. Plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) can be isolated from several plant species, and the study of their biological properties is becoming an essential starting point to study cross-kingdom communication, especially between plants and mammalians. 
  • 799
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Calebin A, a Compound of Turmeric
Calebin A (CA) is one of the active constituents of turmeric and has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Excessive inflammation and cell apoptosis are the main causes of tendinitis and tendinopathies. However, the role of CA in tendinitis is still unclear and needs to be studied in detail.
  • 797
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Lipid-Based Antioxidant Systems in Photoreceptors and RPE Cells
The retina, a multi-layered nervous structure in the back of the eye, detects light stimuli via specialised primary sensory neurons, named after their morphologies as retinal rods and cones. Rods and cones in vitro may retain their ability to respond to light for several hours by generating an electrical response. However, their viability and long-term operation require the functional interaction with retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and a vascular system with peculiar features, the choroidal capillaries (ChC), whose specific form and shape support its function.
  • 797
  • 20 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Post-Ischemic Tau Protein
Recent data suggest that post-ischemic brain neurodegeneration in humans and animals is associated with the modified tau protein in a manner typical of Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology. Pathological changes in the tau protein, at the gene and protein level due to cerebral ischemia, can lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease-type neuropathology and dementia. Some studies have shown increased tau protein staining and gene expression in neurons following ischemia-reperfusion brain injury. Recent studies have found the tau protein to be associated with oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier permeability, mitochondrial dysfunction, and impaired neuronal function. In this review, we discuss the interrelationship of these phenomena with post-ischemic changes in the tau protein in the brain. The tau protein may be at the intersection of many pathological mechanisms due to severe neuropathological changes in the brain following ischemia. The data indicate that an episode of cerebral ischemia activates the damage and death of neurons in the hippocampus in a tau protein-dependent manner, thus determining a novel and important mechanism for the survival and/or death of neuronal cells following ischemia. In this review, we update our understanding of proteomic and genomic changes in the tau protein in post-ischemic brain injury and present the relationship between the modified tau protein and post-ischemic neuropathology and present a positive correlation between the modified tau protein and a post-ischemic neuropathology that has characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease-type neurodegeneration. 
  • 796
  • 29 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Lysosomes in Regulating Metabolism of Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have the capacity to renew blood cells at all stages of life and are largely quiescent at a steady state. It is essential to understand the processes that govern quiescence in HSCs to enhance bone marrow transplantation. It is hypothesized that in their quiescent state, HSCs primarily use glycolysis for energy production rather than mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). In addition, the HSC switch from quiescence to activation occurs along a continuous developmental path that is driven by metabolism. Specifying the metabolic regulation pathway of HSC quiescence will provide insights into HSC homeostasis for therapeutic application. Therefore, understanding the metabolic demands of HSCs at a steady state is key to developing innovative hematological therapeutics. Lysosomes are the major degradative organelle in eukaryotic cells. Catabolic, anabolic, and lysosomal function abnormalities are connected to an expanding list of diseases.
  • 796
  • 27 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Human iPSC-Derived Astrocytes in Neurological Disorders
Astrocytes, the most-abundant non-neuronal cell population in the central nervous system, play a vital role in these processes. They are involved in various functions in the brain, such as the regulation of synapse formation, neuroinflammation, and lactate and glutamate levels. The development of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) reformed the research in neurodegenerative disorders allowing for the generation of disease-relevant neuronal and non-neuronal cell types that can help in disease modeling, drug screening, and, possibly, cell transplantation strategies.
  • 795
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Plant Meiosis
Meiosis is an essential cell-division process for ensuring genetic diversity across generations. Meiotic recombination ensures the accuracy of genetic interchange between homolous chromosomes and segregation of parental alleles. Programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), catalyzed by the evolutionarily conserved topoisomerase VIA (a subunit of the archaeal type II DNA topoisomerase)-like enzyme Spo11 and several other factors, is a distinctive feature of meiotic recombination initiation.
  • 795
  • 22 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Endospore Appendages
The endospores (spores) of many Bacillus cereus sensu lato species are decorated with multiple hair/pilus-like appendages. Although they have been observed for more than 50 years, all efforts to characterize these fibers in detail have failed until now, largely due to their extraordinary resilience to proteolytic digestion and chemical solubilization. A recent structural analysis of B. cereus endospore appendages (Enas) using cryo-electron microscopy has revealed the structure of two distinct fiber morphologies: the longer and more abundant “Staggered-type” (S-Ena) and the shorter “Ladder-like” type (L-Ena), which further enabled the identification of the genes encoding the S-Ena. Ena homologs are widely and uniquely distributed among B. cereus sensu lato species, suggesting that appendages play important functional roles in these species. The discovery of ena genes is expected to facilitate functional studies involving Ena-depleted mutant spores to explore the role of Enas in the interaction between spores and their environment. 
  • 794
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Tachykinin and Calcitonin/Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide Families in Cancer
The structure and dynamics of the neurokinin (NK)-2, NK-3, and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptors are studied together with the intracellular signaling pathways in which they are involved. These peptides play an important role in many cancers, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, glioma, lung cancer, neuroblastoma, oral squamous cell carcinoma, phaeochromocytoma, leukemia, bladder cancer, endometrial cancer, Ewing sarcoma, gastric cancer, liver cancer, melanoma, osteosarcoma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, renal carcinoma, and thyroid cancer. These peptides are involved in tumor cell proliferation, migration, metastasis, angiogenesis, and lymphangiogenesis.
  • 794
  • 17 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Anti-Inflammatory Fibronectin-AgNP
The engineering of vascular regeneration still involves barriers that need to be conquered. In the current study, a novel nanocomposite comprising of fibronectin (denoted as FN) and a small amount of silver nanoparticles (AgNP, ~15.1, ~30.2 or ~75.5 ppm) was developed and its biological function and biocompatibility in Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and rat models was investigated. The surface morphology as well as chemical composition for pure FN and the FN-AgNP nanocomposites incorporating various amounts of AgNP were firstly characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Among the nanocomposites, FN-AgNP with 30.2 ppm silver nanoparticles demonstrated the best biocompatibility as assessed through intracellular ROS production, proliferation of MSCs, and monocytes activation. The expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, were also examined. FN-AgNP 30.2 ppm significantly inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokine expression compared to other materials, indicating superior performance of anti-immune response. Mechanistically, FN-AgNP 30.2 ppm significantly induced greater expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stromal-cell derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1α) and promoted the migration of MSCs through matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) signaling pathway. Besides, in vitro and in vivo studies indicated that FN-AgNP 30.2 ppm stimulated greater protein expressions of CD31 and von Willebrand Factor (vWF) as well as facilitated better endothelialization capacity than other materials. Furthermore, the histological tissue examination revealed the lowest capsule formation and collagen deposition in rat subcutaneous implantation of FN-AgNP 30.2 ppm. In conclusion, FN-AgNP nanocomposites may facilitate the migration and proliferation of MSCs, induce endothelial cell differentiation, and attenuate immune response. These finding also suggests that FN-AgNP may be a potential anti-inflammatory surface modification strategy for vascular biomaterials. 
  • 793
  • 08 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Impaired Mitophagy in Neurons and Glial Cells
Aging is associated with a decline in cognitive function, which can partly be explained by the accumulation of damage to the brain cells over time. Neurons and glia undergo morphological and ultrastructure changes during aging. Over the past several years, it has become evident that at the cellular level, various hallmarks of an aging brain are closely related to mitophagy. The importance of mitochondria quality and quantity control through mitophagy is highlighted by the contribution that defects in mitochondria–autophagy crosstalk make to aging and age-related diseases.
  • 792
  • 11 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Regulation of PIN-FORMED Protein Degradation
Auxin action largely depends on the establishment of auxin concentration gradient within plant organs, where PIN-formed (PIN) auxin transporter-mediated directional auxin movement plays an important role. It has revealed the need of polar plasma membrane (PM) localization of PIN proteins as well as regulation of PIN polarity in response to developmental cues and environmental stimuli, amongst which a typical example is regulation of PIN phosphorylation by AGCVIII protein kinases and type A regulatory subunits of PP2A phosphatases.
  • 791
  • 27 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a protein degradation mechanism through lysosomes. By targeting the KFERQ motif of the substrate, CMA is responsible for the degradation of about 30% of cytosolic proteins, including a series of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). The fact that decreased activity of CMA is observed in NDs, and ND-associated mutant proteins, including alpha-synuclein and Tau, directly impair CMA activity reveals a possible vicious cycle of CMA impairment and pathogenic protein accumulation in ND development. Given the intrinsic connection between CMA dysfunction and ND, enhancement of CMA has been regarded as a strategy to counteract ND. Indeed, genetic and pharmacological approaches to modulate CMA have been shown to promote the degradation of ND-associated proteins and alleviate ND phenotypes in multiple ND models.
  • 790
  • 01 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Mitochondrial Dynamics in Pulmonary Hypertension
Mitochondria are essential organelles for energy production, calcium homeostasis, redox signaling, and other cellular responses involved in pulmonary vascular biology and disease processes. Mitochondrial homeostasis depends on a balance in mitochondrial fusion and fission (dynamics). Mitochondrial dynamics are regulated by a viable circadian clock.
  • 790
  • 12 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Vimentin in Oral Cancers
Oral carcinogenesis is a multistep process. As much as 5% to 85% of oral tumors can develop from potentially malignant disorders (PMD). Although the oral cavity is accessible for visual examination, the ability of current clinical or histological methods to predict the lesions that can progress to malignancy is limited.
  • 789
  • 08 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Toll-like Receptors Mediated Inflammation in Pancreatic Cancer Pathophysiology
Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most lethal forms of cancer, characterized by its aggressiveness and metastatic potential. Despite significant improvements in PC treatment and management, the complexity of the molecular pathways underlying its development has severely limited the available therapeutic opportunities. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a pivotal role in inflammation and immune response, as they are involved in pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Activation of TLRs initiates a signaling cascade, which in turn, leads to the transcription of several genes involved in inflammation and anti-microbial defense. TLRs are also deregulated in several cancers and can be used as prognostic markers and potential targets for cancer-targeted therapy.
  • 789
  • 07 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Lysine-Specific Demethylase 2 in Cancers
Epigenetic mechanisms are known to play a key role in cancer progression. Specifically, histone methylation involves reversible post-translational modification of histones that govern chromatin structure remodelling, genomic imprinting, gene expression, DNA damage repair, and meiotic crossover recombination, among other chromatin-based activities. Demethylases are enzymes that catalyse the demethylation of their substrate using a flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent amine oxidation process. Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1) and its homolog, lysine-specific demethylase 2 (LSD2), are overexpressed in a variety of human cancer types and, thus, regulate tumour progression. 
  • 788
  • 06 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Cellular Components of Tumor Microenvironment  in cHL
Classic Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is a lymphoid neoplasm composed of rare neoplastic Hodgkin and Reed–Sternberg (HRS) cells surrounded by a reactive tumor microenvironment (TME) with suppressive properties against anti-tumor immunity. TME is mainly composed of T cells (CD4 helper, CD8 cytotoxic and regulatory) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), but the impact of these cells on the natural course of the disease is not absolutely understood. 
  • 788
  • 28 Jun 2023
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