Topic Review
PDE2A for Mouse Liver Development
cAMP and cGMP are intracellular signaling molecules produced in response to a plethora of extracellular signals in order to coordinate cellular metabolism, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are the enzymes that hydrolyze cAMP and cGMP in order to end or to limit the responses to these signals. To date 11 PDE families (named PDE1 to PDE11) have been identified across each cell type expressed in a peculiar pattern. They enclose 21 genes that codify approximately 100 enzymes that form a redundant network ensuring the compensation of activity in case of alteration of activity or lack of expression of one of the members. PDE2A, a cAMP-hydrolyzing enzyme, represents the exception to this picture, as PDE2A knockout is embryonic lethal. Knockout embryos show that the lack of the enzyme has the greatest impact on the development of the heart and of the liver, which is no longer able to assume its hematopoietic role. The increase of the intracellular cAMP level and the downregulation of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl2 might explain the loss of integrity in the PDE2A knockout liver niche that compromises the hematopoietic function and maturation.
  • 726
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Glutathione in the Brain
Glutathione (GSH) is the most abundant non-protein thiol, and plays crucial roles in the antioxidant defense system and the maintenance of redox homeostasis in neurons.
  • 726
  • 13 May 2021
Topic Review
Liposomal systems in Cancer immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy has shown remarkable progress in recent years. Nanocarriers, such as liposomes, have favorable advantages with the potential to further improve cancer immunotherapy and even stronger immune responses by improving cell type-specific delivery and enhancing drug efficacy. Liposomes can offer solutions to common problems faced by several cancer immunotherapies, including the following: (1) Vaccination: Liposomes can improve the delivery of antigens and other stimulatory molecules to antigen-presenting cells or T cells; (2) Tumor normalization: Liposomes can deliver drugs selectively to the tumor microenvironment to overcome the immune-suppressive state; (3) Rewiring of tumor signaling: Liposomes can be used for the delivery of specific drugs to specific cell types to correct or modulate pathways to facilitate better anti-tumor immune responses; (4) Combinational therapy: Liposomes are ideal vehicles for the simultaneous delivery of drugs to be combined with other therapies, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and phototherapy.
  • 725
  • 24 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Anti-inflammatory Effect of Rosmarinus Officinalis in Vivo Models
Rosemary was more commonly used in its entirety than in compounds, and the prevalent methods of extraction were maceration and hydrodistillation. Rosmarinus officinalis L. showed anti-inflammatory activity before and after induction of treatments.
  • 724
  • 24 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Protamine-Based Strategies for RNA Transfection
Protamine is a natural cationic peptide mixture mostly known as a drug for the neutralization of heparin and as a compound in formulations of slow-release insulin. Protamine is also used for cellular delivery of nucleic acids due to opposite charge-driven coupling. This year marks 60 years since the first use of Protamine as a transfection enhancement agent. Since then, Protamine has been broadly used as a stabilization agent for RNA delivery. It has also been involved in several compositions for RNA-based vaccinations in clinical development. Protamine stabilization of RNA shows double functionality: it not only protects RNA from degradation within biological systems, but also enhances penetration into cells. A Protamine-based RNA delivery system is a flexible and versatile platform that can be adjusted according to therapeutic goals: fused with targeting antibodies for precise delivery, digested into a cell penetrating peptide for better transfection efficiency or not-covalently mixed with functional polymers.
  • 720
  • 07 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Royleanones
Plants have been used for centuries to treat several illnesses. The Plectranthus genus has a vast variety of species that has allowed the isolation of cytotoxic compounds with notable activities.The abietane diterpenes 6,7-dehydroroyleanone (DeRoy), 7alfa-acetoxy-6 -hydroxyroyleanone (Roy), and Parvifloron D (ParvD) were obtained from Plectranthus spp. and showed promising biological activities, such as cytotoxicity on several cancer cell lines, including cancer stem cell inducing sphere cells. In silico studies comparied the possible binding modes of active compounds and derivatives against different PKC isoforms alpha/beta/delta/iota/lambda/theta/zeta.
  • 718
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Cutaneous Reactions to Antidiabetic Agents
Diabetes is a common and complex disease affecting multiple organ systems throughout the body. With a consensus in care guidelines emphasizing the importance of glycemic control in determining the disease progression, people with diabetes worldwide have been placed on medication regimens targeting glucose stability from a variety of pathophysiologic pathways. Each of these medications also possesses its own potential for adverse events. 
  • 715
  • 04 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Self-Assembling Nucleobase-Containing Peptides
The self-assembly of bio-inspired nanomaterials and biological nanostructures confers new properties and functions to conjugated biomaterials, such as the ability to respond to external stimuli. Nucleobase-containing peptides can be considered as aromatic peptides and, similar to these self-assembling structures, they can lead to interesting functional nanostructures as hereafter explained. Self-assembling nucleopeptides can form hydrogels based on supramolecular structures held by non-covalent molecular interactions occurring between the peptide segments, as well as π–π stacking and Watson–Crick interactions via complementary DNA bases.
  • 714
  • 16 Jun 2021
Topic Review
JAMM Deubiquitinating Enzymes in Disease
Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are a group of proteases that are important for maintaining cell homeostasis by regulating the balance between ubiquitination and deubiquitination. As the only known metalloproteinase family of DUBs, JAB1/MPN/Mov34 metalloenzymes (JAMMs) are specifically associated with tumorigenesis and immunological and inflammatory diseases at multiple levels. The far smaller numbers and distinct catalytic mechanism of JAMMs render them attractive drug targets. Several JAMM inhibitors have been successfully developed and have shown promising therapeutic efficacy. 
  • 712
  • 22 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Solution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a promising tool in drug discovery. Especially, fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) has benefited a lot from the NMR development. Multiple candidate compounds and FDA-approved drugs derived from FBDD have been developed with the assistance of NMR techniques. NMR has broad applications in different stages of the FBDD process, which includes fragment library construction, hit generation and validation, hit-to-lead optimization and working mechanism elucidation, etc.
  • 708
  • 09 Feb 2021
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