Encyclopedia
Scholarly Community
Encyclopedia
Entry
Video
Image
Journal
Book
News
About
Log in/Sign up
Submit
Entry
Video
Image
Subject:
All Disciplines
Arts & Humanities
Biology & Life Sciences
Business & Economics
Chemistry & Materials Science
Computer Science & Mathematics
Engineering
Environmental & Earth Sciences
Medicine & Pharmacology
Physical Sciences
Public Health & Healthcare
Social Sciences
Sort:
Hottest
Latest
Alphabetical (A-Z)
Alphabetical (Z-A)
Type:
All
Topic Review
Biography
Topic Review
Insulin-Like Growth Factor System
Aberrant bioactivity of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system results in the development and progression of several pathologic conditions including cancer. Preclinical studies have shown promising anti-cancer therapeutic potentials for anti-IGF targeted therapies. However, a clear but limited clinical benefit was observed only in a minority of patients with sarcomas. The molecular complexity of the IGF system, which comprises multiple regulators and interactions with other cancer-related pathways, poses a major limitation in the use of anti-IGF agents and supports the need of combinatorial therapeutic strategies to better tackle this axis.
423
02 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Myostatin/Activin-A Signaling and Functions
Myostatin and activin-A are two of thirty-three members of the TGF-β family.
515
31 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Redox Chemistry and Ubiquitylation
The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is a highly regulated mechanism for protein degradation that regulates many biological processes to maintain cellular homeostasis. A protein is targeted for degradation upon ubiquitylation, where the small 8.6 kDa protein, ubiquitin, is covalently attached to the target protein through an isopeptide bond. Ubiquitylation involves the sequential transfer of ubiquitin through a three-enzyme cascade—an ubiquitin-activating enzyme (E1), an ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2), and an ubiquitin ligase (E3).
415
30 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Amyloidosis
Amyloidosis is a term referring to a group of various protein-misfolding diseases wherein normally soluble proteins form aggregates as insoluble amyloid fibrils. How, or whether, amyloid fibrils contribute to tissue damage in amyloidosis has been the topic of debate. In vitro studies have demonstrated the appearance of small globular oligomeric species during the incubation of amyloid beta peptide (Aβ).
703
30 Aug 2021
Topic Review
GSK3
Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) is a serine/threonine kinase. It was initially identified as a regulator (inhibitor) of glycogen synthesis. It has since been recognized as a multifunctional kinase with a variety of roles both in invertebrates and in vertebrate cells.
656
27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Oxysterols
Oxysterols are cholesterol oxidation products, which can be absorbed from the diet, or generated by auto-oxidation or by enzymatic mechanisms. Oxysterols result from oxidation of cholesterol on the sterol rings, the side chain, or both. This generates a diverse range of oxysterol congeners that have distinct biophysical properties.
366
27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Perinuclear Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies (P-ANCA)
Perinuclear anti-neutrophilic cytoplasmic antibodies (P-ANCA) recognize heterogeneous antigens, including myeloperoxidase (MPO), lactoferrin, elastase, cathepsin-G and bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein. Although P-ANCA have diagnostic utility in vasculitides, they may also be found in patients with various other systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs). Nevertheless, the clinical significance and the targets recognized by P-ANCA in such patients remain unclear. For this purpose, herein we investigated the occurrence of ANCA-related antigenic specificities in 82 P-ANCA-positive sera by multiplex ELISA, as well as their association with other autoantibodies. The P-ANCA-positive sera corresponded to patients with vasculitides (n = 24), systemic lupus erythematosus (n = 28), antiphospholipid syndrome (n = 5), Sjögren’s syndrome (n = 7), rheumatoid arthritis (n = 3), systemic scleroderma (n = 1), sarcoidosis (n = 1) and Hashimoto′s thyroiditis (n = 13). In most P-ANCA-positive patients studied (51/82, 62.3%), these autoantibodies occurred in high titers (>1:160). The analysis of P-ANCA-positive sera revealed reactivity to MPO in only 50% of patients with vasculitides, whereas it was infrequent in the other disease groups studied. Reactivity to other P-ANCA-related autoantigens was also rarely detected. Our findings support that high P-ANCA titers occur in SARD. The P-ANCA-positive staining pattern is associated with MPO specificity in vasculitides, while in other autoimmune diseases, it mostly involves unknown autoantigens.
4.4K
27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Mitochondrial Dysfunction in FECD
Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) is a genetically complex, heterogenous, age-related degenerative disease of corneal endothelial cells (CEnCs), occurring in the fifth decade of life with a higher incidence in females. It is characterized by extracellular matrix (ECM) protein deposition called corneal guttae, causing light glare and visual complaints in patients. In FECD, CEnCs exhibit stress-induced senescence, oxidative stress, DNA damage, heightened reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, mitochondrial damage, and dysfunction as well as sustained endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Among all of these, mitochondrial dysfunction involving altered mitochondrial bioenergetics and dynamics plays a critical role in FECD pathogenesis.
381
27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Muscle Stem Cells
Muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are essential for muscle growth, maintenance and repair. Skeletal musculature is one of the largest organs of the human body, comprising more than 600 muscles that enable body motion. Deciphering the molecular and cellular features of the MuSC would provide novel insights into their regenerative potential and to improve therapeutic strategies. Drosophila has proven to be a suitable model to study MuSC and offers a combination of genetics, live imaging and genomics approaches to uncover general principles governing MuSC biology in vivo.
514
27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Male Fertility and Sperm Lipid
Sperm plasma membrane lipids are essential for the function and integrity of mammalian spermatozoa. Various lipid types are involved in each key step within the fertilization process in their own yet coordinated way. For instance, loss of asymmetric transbilayer distribution and the substantial loss of cholesterol and phospholipid occur during capacitation and acrosome reaction (AR). The balance between lipid metabolism is tightly regulated to ensure physiological cellular processes, especially referring to crucial steps such as sperm motility, capacitation, acrosome reaction or fusion. At the same time, it has been shown that male reproductive function depends on the homeostasis of sperm lipids.
616
27 Aug 2021
Page
of
161
Featured Entry Collections
>>
Featured Books
>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Chief Editor:
Michael McAleer
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Chief Editor:
Stephen Bustin
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Chief Editor:
Luis V. Lopez-Llorca
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Chief Editor:
Sandro Serpa
Entry
Video
Image
Journal
Book
News
About
Log in/Sign up
New Entry
New Video
New Images
About
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Advisory Board
Contact
Partner
ScholarVision Creations
Feedback
Top
Feedback
×
Help Center
Browse our user manual, common Q&A, author guidelines, etc.
Rate your experience
Let us know your experience and what we could improve.
Report an error
Is something wrong? Please let us know!
Other feedback
Other feedback you would like to report.
×
Did you find what you were looking for?
Love
Like
Neutral
Dislike
Hate
0
/500
Email
Do you agree to share your valuable feedback publicly on
Encyclopedia
’s homepage?
Yes, I agree. Encyclopedia can post it.
No, I do not agree. I would not like to post my testimonial.
Webpage
Upload a screenshot
(Max file size 2MB)
Submit
Back
Close
×