Search results for "Bioinformatics"

Direct antiviral agents and risk of HCC: Waiting for Godot.

2018

Molecular diagnosis and therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): an emerging field for advanced technologies.

2011

Despite great progress in diagnosis and management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the exact biology of the tumor remains poorly understood overall limiting the patients' outcome. Detailed analysis and characterization of the molecular mechanisms and subsequently individual prediction of corresponding prognostic traits would revolutionize both diagnosis and treatment of HCC and is the key goal of modern personalized medicine. Over the recent years systematic approaches for the analysis of whole tumor genomes and transcriptomes as well as epigenomes became affordable tools in translational research. This includes simultaneous analyses of thousands of molecular targets using microarray-bas…

Neuroinflammatory mechanisms in ischemic stroke: Focus on cardioembolic stroke, background, and therapeutic approaches

2020

One of the most important causes of neurological morbidity and mortality in the world is ischemic stroke. It can be a result of multiple events such as embolism with a cardiac origin, occlusion of small vessels in the brain, and atherosclerosis affecting the cerebral circulation. Increasing evidence shows the intricate function played by the immune system in the pathophysiological variations that take place after cerebral ischemic injury. Following the ischemic cerebral harm, we can observe consequent neuroinflammation that causes additional damage provoking the death of the cells; on the other hand, it also plays a beneficial role in stimulating remedial action. Immune mediators are the or…

Improving the preclinical models for the study of chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity: a Position Paper of the Italian Working Group on Drug Cardioto…

2015

Although treatment for heart failure induced by cancer therapy has improved in recent years, the prevalence of cardiomyopathy due to antineoplastic therapy remains significant worldwide. In addition to traditional mediators of myocardial damage, such as reactive oxygen species, new pathways and target cells should be considered responsible for the impairment of cardiac function during anticancer treatment. Accordingly, there is a need to develop novel therapeutic strategies to protect the heart from pharmacologic injury, and improve clinical outcomes in cancer patients. The development of novel protective therapies requires testing putative therapeutic strategies in appropriate animal model…

Chemotherapy cardiotoxicity: cardioprotective drugs and early identification of cardiac dysfunction.

2016

Background: Chemotherapy cardiotoxicity is an emerging problem and it is very important to prevent cardiac dysfunction caused by anticancer drugs. The aim of this study was to assess the alterations of the cardiac function induced by chemotherapy in a follow-up of 2 years and to evaluate the cardioprotective role of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) in the prevention of cardiac dysfunction. Methods: A prospective study was carried out using patients with breast cancer (85 women; median age 57W12years) and other inclusion and exclusion criteria. On the basis of treatment, patients were divided into six groups: fluorouracil-epirubicincyclophosphamide, FEC (group A); FEC and tra…

Cardioprotective effects of phytopigments via multiple signaling pathways.

2021

Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are among the deadliest non-communicable diseases, and millions of dollars are spent every year to combat CVDs. Unfortunately, the multifactorial etiology of CVDs complicates the development of efficient therapeutics. Interestingly, phytopigments show significant pleiotropic cardioprotective effects both in vitro and in vivo. Purpose This review gives an overview of the cardioprotective effects of phytopigments based on in vitro and in vivo studies as well as clinical trials. Methods A literature-based survey was performed to collect the available data on cardioprotective activities of phytopigments via electronic search engines such as Pub…

Identification and characterisation of the dopamine receptor II from the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis (CfDopRII)

2006

International audience; G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) represent a protein family with a wide range of functions. Approximately 30% of human drug targets are GPCRs, illustrating their pharmaceutical relevance. In contrast, the knowledge about invertebrate GPCRs is limited and is mainly restricted to model organisms like Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Especially in ectoparasites like ticks and fleas, only few GPCRs are characterised. From the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis, a relevant parasite of cats and dogs, no GPCRs are known so far. Thus, we performed a bioinformatic analysis of available insect GPCR sequences from the honeybee Apis mellifera, the mosquito Anop…

Cytotoxicity, anti-angiogenic, apoptotic effects and transcript profiling of a naturally occurring naphthyl butenone, guieranone A

2012

Abstract Background Malignant diseases are responsible of approximately 13% of all deaths each year in the world. Natural products represent a valuable source for the development of novel anticancer drugs. The present study was aimed at evaluating the cytotoxicity of a naphtyl butanone isolated from the leaves of Guiera senegalensis, guieranone A (GA). Results The results indicated that GA was active on 91.67% of the 12 tested cancer cell lines, the IC50 values below 4 μg/ml being recorded on 83.33% of them. In addition, the IC50 values obtained on human lymphoblastic leukemia CCRF-CEM (0.73 μg/ml) and its resistant subline CEM/ADR5000 (1.01 μg/ml) and on lung adenocarcinoma A549 (0.72 μg/m…

Risk Factors and Molecular Features Associated with Bladder Cancer Development

2017

Bladder cancer remains a global epidemiologic problem, with a strong male predominance and association with tobacco smoking. However, several other risk factors have also been associated with development of this disease, which is characterized by alterations in multiple molecular pathways. Development of the more prevalent, less aggressive, recurrent, noninvasive tumors is characterized by constitutive activation of the Ras–MAPK pathway. The less common but more aggressive invasive tumors, which have a higher mortality rate, are characterized by alterations in the p53 and retinoblastoma pathways. Alterations in pathways involved in cell-cycle regulation, apoptosis, cell signaling, angiogene…

Molecular evolution of the metazoan extracellular matrix: cloning and expression of structural proteins from the demosponges Suberites domuncula and …

2000

One crucial event during evolution to multicellularity was the development of either direct cell–cell contact or indirect interaction via extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules. The identification of those polypeptides provides conclusive data on the phylogenetic relationship of metazoan phyla and helps us to understand the position of the Metazoa among the other kingdoms. Recently it became evident that the ECM of sponges is amazingly complex; it is composed of fibrous molecules, e.g., collagen, and their corresponding receptors, which are highly similar to those existing in other metazoan phyla. While these data already support the view of monophyly of Metazoa, additional studies are requir…