Search results for "Loo"
showing 10 items of 7086 documents
Hypoxia‐induced non‐coding rnas controlling cell viability in cancer
2021
Hypoxia, a characteristic of the tumour microenvironment, plays a crucial role in cancer progression and therapeutic response. The hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF-1α, HIF-2α, and HIF-3α), are the master regulators in response to low oxygen partial pressure, modulating hypoxic gene expression and signalling transduction pathways. HIFs’ activation is sufficient to change the cell phenotype at multiple levels, by modulating several biological activities from metabolism to the cell cycle and providing the cell with new characteristics that make it more aggressive. In the past few decades, growing numbers of studies have revealed the importance of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) as molecular mediators i…
The actin remodeling protein cofilin is crucial for thymic αβ but not γδ T-cell development
2018
Cofilin is an essential actin remodeling protein promoting depolymerization and severing of actin filaments. To address the relevance of cofilin for the development and function of T cells in vivo, we generated knock-in mice in which T-cell–specific nonfunctional (nf) cofilin was expressed instead of wild-type (WT) cofilin. Nf cofilin mice lacked peripheral αβ T cells and showed a severe thymus atrophy. This was caused by an early developmental arrest of thymocytes at the double negative (DN) stage. Importantly, even though DN thymocytes expressed the TCRβ chain intracellularly, they completely lacked TCRβ surface expression. In contrast, nf cofilin mice possessed normal numbers of γδ T cel…
Molecular chaperones in the brain endothelial barrier: neurotoxicity or neuroprotection?
2019
Brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) interact with astrocytes and pericytes to form the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Their compromised function alters the BBB integrity, which is associated with early events in the pathogenesis of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and epilepsy. Interestingly, these conditions also induce the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs). Here we review the contribution of major HSP families to BMEC and BBB function. Although investigators mainly report protective effects of HSPs in brain, contrasted results were obtained in BMEC, which depend both on the HSP and on its location, intra- or extracellular. The therapeutic potential of HSPs must be scrupulo…
Extracellular matrix composition defines an ultra-high-risk group of neuroblastoma within the high-risk patient cohort
2016
Background: Although survival for neuroblastoma patients has dramatically improved in recent years, a substantial number of children in the high-risk subgroup still die. Methods: We aimed to define a subgroup of ultra-high-risk patients from within the high-risk cohort. We used advanced morphometric approaches to quantify and characterise blood vessels, reticulin fibre networks, collagen type I bundles, elastic fibres and glycosaminoglycans in 102 high-risk neuroblastomas specimens. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to correlate the analysed elements with survival. Results: The organisation of blood vessels and reticulin fibres in neuroblastic tumours defined an ultra-high-risk patient subgr…
The interactions between host glycobiology, bacterial microbiota, and viruses in the gut
2018
Rotavirus (RV) and norovirus (NoV) are the major etiological agents of viral acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Host genetic factors, the histo-blood group antigens (HBGA), are associated with RV and NoV susceptibility and recent findings additionally point to HBGA as a factor modulating the intestinal microbial composition. In vitro and in vivo experiments in animal models established that the microbiota enhances RV and NoV infection, uncovering a triangular interplay between RV and NoV, host glycobiology, and the intestinal microbiota that ultimately influences viral infectivity. Studies on the microbiota composition in individuals displaying different RV and NoV susceptibilities allowed th…
Deciphering function of the pulmonary arterial sphincters in loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta)
2018
To provide new insight to the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying gas emboli (GE) in bycaught loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), the present study investigated the vasoactive characteristics of the pulmonary and systemic arteries, and the lung parenchyma (LP). Tissues were opportunistically excised from recently dead animals for in vitro studies of vasoactive responses to four different neurotransmitters: acetylcholine (ACh, parasympathetic), serotonin (5HT), epinephrine (Epi, sympathetic) and histamine. The significant amount of smooth muscle in the LP contracted in response to ACh, Epi and histamine. The intrapulmonary and systemic arteries contracted under both parasympatheti…
The marine activities performed within the TOMO-ETNA experiment
2016
<p>The TOMO-ETNA experiment was planned in order to obtain a detailed geological and structural model of the continental and oceanic crust beneath Mt. Etna volcano and northeastern Sicily up to the Aeolian Islands (southern Italy), by integrating data from active and passive refraction and reflection seismic methodologies, magnetic and gravity surveys. This paper focuses on the marine activities performed within the experiment, which have been carried out in the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas, during three multidisciplinary oceanographic cruises, involving three research vessels (“Sarmiento de Gamboa”, “Galatea” and “Aegaeo”) belonging to different countries and institutions. During the o…
p53 and p53-related mediators PAI-1 and IGFBP-3 are downregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of HIV-patients exposed to non-nucleoside rev…
2019
The improved effectiveness and safety of the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) has largely diminished mortality and AIDS-defining morbidity of HIV-patients. Nevertheless, chronic age-related diseases in these individuals are more common and their underlying pathogenic mechanisms of these actions seem to involve accelerated aging and enhanced inflammation. The present study explores markers of these processes in a heterogenous Spanish HIV cohort using peripheral blood samples of HIV-patients and matched uninfected controls. We isolated periheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and i) compared the expression of a panel of 14 genes related to inflammation and senescence in PBMCs of HIV-pa…
Diagnostic and Prognostic Relevance of Red Blood Cell Distribution Width for Vascular Aging and Cardiovascular Diseases.
2019
Evidence suggests association of red blood cell distribution width (RDW) with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). On the contrary, we underline that the sole RDW values cannot represent a valid CVD biomarker. High RDW values are expression of biological effects of a lot of both endogenous and exogenous factors (i.e., age, sex, genetic background, inflammation, hormones, drugs, diet, exercise, hematological analyzers, and ranges of values), modulating the biology and physiology of erythrocytes. Thus, the singular monitoring of RDW cannot be used to predict cardiovascular disorders. Accordingly, we have reviewed the evidence for potential relationship of RDW values with alterations in the cardiov…
Telomere Length Determines TERRA and R-Loop Regulation through the Cell Cycle
2017
Maintenance of a minimal telomere length is essential to prevent cellular senescence. When critically short telomeres arise in the absence of telomerase, they can be repaired by homology-directed repair (HDR) to prevent premature senescence onset. It is unclear why specifically the shortest telomeres are targeted for HDR. We demonstrate that the non-coding RNA TERRA accumulates as HDR-promoting RNA-DNA hybrids (R-loops) preferentially at very short telomeres. The increased level of TERRA and R-loops, exclusively at short telomeres, is due to a local defect in RNA degradation by the Rat1 and RNase H2 nucleases, respectively. Consequently, the coordination of TERRA degradation with telomere r…