Encyclopedia
Scholarly Community
Encyclopedia
Entry
Video
Image
Journal
Book
News
About
Entry
Entry
Video
Image
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
Profiling Cancer Cells by Cell-SELEX
The identification of tumor cell-specific surface markers is a key step towards personalized cancer medicine, allowing early assessment and accurate diagnosis, and development of efficacious targeted therapies. What mainly limits the number of ideal clinical biomarkers is the high complexity and heterogeneity of several human cancers and still-limited methods for molecular profiling of specific cancer types. The cell-SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) technology for the differential selection of oligonucleotide aptamers against a specific cancer-cell type has become the selection technique for the discovery of cell-surface markers. Indeed, it allows selection, at the same time, of a set of aptamers acting as highly efficacious recognition elements for functional surface signatures of target cells. Importantly, these aptamers may be used to identify cell-surface molecules whose role is still unexplored. This fulfills the great challenge of simultaneously targeting multiple proteins whose alterations, in concert, define the pathological state of the cell and are thus more informative for biomarker discovery than the alteration of a single protein.
308
29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
FAK Inhibition and Corneal Fibroblast Differentiation in vitro
Fibrosis is often known as a response of a tissue to injury, and since the three transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) isoforms (TGF-β1, -β2, and -β3) are the main regulators of cell migration, differentiation, proliferation, and gene expression, they were implicated in both reparative and fibrotic responses. All three TGF-β isoforms are homologues, sharing an extensive similarity in their amino acid sequences (80%), which may result in overlapping functions (i.e., SMAD-dependent signaling, modulating inflammatory responses); however, subtle differences in the sequences exist, thus potentially eliciting opposing effects. For example, several studies showed that TGF-β1 and -β2 are factors that drive the formation of fibrosis in corneal scarring models [8,9,10], whereas TGF-β3 was reported to downregulate fibrosis and promote scarless wound healing (healing without fibrosis).
480
29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
SUMOylation
SUMOylation is a dynamic and essential Post-Translation Modification (PTM) consisting on the conjugation of Small Ubiquitin-like Modifiers (SUMOs) to an acceptor lysine of a substrate protein. SUMOylation predominantly regulates nuclear processes and its dysregulation is associated to diseases including cancer. SUMOs share a similar three-dimensional structure with other Ubiquitin-Like Modifiers (UBLs). However, SUMOs differ due to their flexible N-terminus, which also contains the site for SUMO chain formation. All eukaryotes express at least one SUMO paralogue. Five SUMO family members have been identified in humans (SUMO1, SUMO2, SUMO3, SUMO4, and SUMO5. However, SUMO1, SUMO2, and SUMO3 are the main family members where they are commonly classified as SUMO1 and SUMO2/3 because of the high similarity between mature SUMO2 and SUMO3. All SUMO paralogues are similar in structure but differ in expression levels. SUMO2 is the most abundant family member in mammalian cells. Studies in mice show that the knockout of SUMO2 is embryonic lethal, while SUMO1 and SUMO3 knockout mice were associated to mild phenotypes, possibly because SUMO2 might compensate the loss of either SUMO1 or SUMO3. Similarly to ubiquitination, SUMO is conjugated in a in a 3-step enzymatic cascade that involves a dimeric E1 activating enzyme (SAE1 and SAE2), an E2 conjugating enzyme (Ubc9), and several SUMO E3 enzymes.
585
28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Exosomes and Diabetes
Diabetes is part of a group of metabolic disorders characterized by long-term high blood glucose levels due to either inadequate production of insulin (type 1) or poor response of the recipient cell to insulin (type 2). Organ dysfunctions are the main causes of morbidity and mortality due to high glucose levels. Exosomes are part of a newly emerged research area and have attracted a great deal of attention for their capacity to regulate communications between cells. In conditions of diabetes, exosomes play important roles in the pathological processes in both T1DM and T2DM, such as connecting the immune cell response to pancreatic tissue injury, as well as adipocyte stimulation to insulin resistance of skeletal muscle or liver. Furthermore, in recent years, nucleic acids containing exosomes—especially microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs)—have been shown to mainly regulate communications between organs in pathological processes of diabetes, including influencing metabolic signals and insulin signals in target tissues, affecting cell viability, and modulating inflammatory pancreatic cells. Moreover, exosome miRNAs show promise in their use as biomarkers or in treatments for diabetes and diabetic complications.
989
25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Vav1 Promotes B-Cell Lymphoma Development
Vav1 is normally and exclusively expressed in the hematopoietic system where it functions as a specific GDP/GTP nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), firmly regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation. Mutations and overexpression of Vav1 in hematopoietic malignancies, and in human cancers of various histologic origins, are well documented. The research results suggest that overexpressing Vav1 in epithelial tissues induced chronic inflammatory reactions eventually leading to B-cell lymphomas development. The development of the lymphomas was accompanied by an increase in ERK phosphorylation, elevation of CSF- in the epithelial tissue, and an increase in CSF1-R expression in the lymphomas. These findings provide a novel mechanism by which Vav1 contributes to tumor propagation.
618
25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Deciphering Tumour Heterogeneity
Decoding tumour heterogeneity is a major clinical challenge, considering that it immensely contributes to cancer progression, treatment failure and emergence of drug resistance. Emerging technical and sampling strategies have been developed in order to deeply characterise tumour complexity and clonal architecture, including single-cell profiling, multi-region sampling, representative sampling and longitudinal analysis of liquid biopsy samples.
668
25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
STxB in Mucosal Vaccination
One mucosal vaccine candidate is the B-subunit of Shiga toxin, STxB. STxB is a non-toxic protein that binds to a glycosylated lipid, termed globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), which is preferentially expressed by dendritic cells.
525
25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Primary Cilia in Acquired Heart Disease
Primary cilia are non-motile plasma membrane extrusions that display a variety of receptors and mechanosensors. Loss of function results in ciliopathies, which have been strongly linked with congenital heart disease, as well as abnormal development and function of most organ systems.
713
24 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Cell Signaling Pathways and Radioresistance of Cancer Cells
Radiation eradicates cancer cells mainly by causing DNA damage. However, radiation also concomitantly activates multiple prosurvival signaling pathways, which include those mediated by ATM, ATR, AKT, ERK, and NF-κB that promote DNA damage checkpoint activation/DNA repair, autophagy induction, and/or inhibition of apoptosis. Furthermore, emerging data support the role of YAP signaling in promoting the intrinsic radioresistance of cancer cells, which occurs through its activation of the transcription of many essential genes that support cell survival, DNA repair, proliferation, and the stemness of cancer stem cells. Together, these signaling pathways protect cancer cells by reducing the magnitude of radiation-induced cytotoxicity and promoting radioresistance.
664
24 Mar 2022
Topic Review
CircRNA Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Growth and Development
Circular RNA (circRNA) is a novel class of non-coding RNA generated by pre-mRNA back splicing, which is characterized by a closed-loop structure. The skeletal muscle is the largest organ in animals, which constitutes 30~–50% of the body mass. Skeletal muscle plays an important role in locomotion and metabolism. Therefore, proper muscle growth and homeostasis are the critical determinants of human motor performance. Recent studies showed that circRNAs are abundant in skeletal muscle tissue, and their expression levels are regulated during muscle development and aging.
446
23 Mar 2022
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
×