Search results for "Perspective Article"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Molecular mechanisms of MYCN-dependent apoptosis and the MDM2-p53 pathway: an Achille’s heel to be exploited for the therapy of MYCN amplified neurob…
2012
The p53 oncosuppressor is very seldom mutated in neuroblastoma, but several mecha- nisms cooperate to its functional inactivation in this tumor. Increased MDM2 levels, due to genetic amplification or constitutive inhibition of p14ARF, significantly contribute to this event highlighting p53 reactivation as an attractive perspective for neuroblastoma treat- ment. In addition to its role in tumorigenesis, MYCN sensitizes untransformed and cancer cells to apoptosis. This is associated to a fine modulation of the MDM2-p53 pathway Indeed MYCN induces p53 and MDM2 transcription, and, by evoking a DNA damage response (DDR), it stabilizes p53 and its proapoptotic kinase Homeodomain Interacting Prote…
Modeling of Zymomonas mobilis central metabolism for novel metabolic engineering strategies
2014
Mathematical modeling of metabolism is essential for rational metabolic engineering. The present work focuses on several types of modeling approach to quantitative understanding of central metabolic network and energetics in the bioethanol-producing bacterium Zymomonas mobilis. Combined use of Flux Balance, Elementary Flux Mode, and thermodynamic analysis of its central metabolism, together with dynamic modeling of the core catabolic pathways, can help to design novel substrate and product pathways by systematically analyzing the solution space for metabolic engineering, and yields insights into the function of metabolic network, hardly achievable without applying modeling tools.
Extracellular Vesicles as Shuttles of Tumor Biomarkers and Anti-Tumor Drugs
2014
Extracellular vesicles (EV) include vesicles released by either normal or tumor cells. EV may exceed the nanometric scale (microvesicles), or to be within the nanoscale, also called exosomes. Thus, it appears that only exosomes and larger vesicles may have the size for potential applications in nanomedicine, in either disease diagnosis or therapy. This is of particular interest for research in cancer, also because the vast majority of existing data on EV are coming from pre-clinical and clinical oncology. We know that the microenvironmental features of cancer may favor cell-to-cell paracrine communication through EV, but EV have been purified, characterized, and quantified from plasma of tu…
What Symbionts Teach us about Modularity
2013
The main goal of Synthetic Biology is to apply engineering principles to biotechnology in order to make life easier to engineer. These engineering principles include modularity: decoupling of complex systems into smaller, orthogonal subsystems that can be used in a range of different applications. The successful use of modules in engineering is expected to be reproduced in synthetic biological systems. But the difficulties experienced up to date with synthetic biology approaches question the short-term feasibility of designing life. Considering the “engineerable” nature of life, here we discuss the existence of modularity in natural living systems, particularly in symbiotic interactions, an…