Search results for "epigenetic"

A new epigenetic cross-talk links effete and iswi in determining chromatin structure

2011

The Epigenetics of the Endocannabinoid System

2020

The endocannabinoid system (ES) is a cell-signalling system widely distributed in biological tissues that includes endogenous ligands, receptors, and biosynthetic and hydrolysing machineries. The impairment of the ES has been associated to several pathological conditions like behavioural, neurological, or metabolic disorders and infertility, suggesting that the modulation of this system may be critical for the maintenance of health status and disease treatment. Lifestyle and environmental factors can exert long-term effects on gene expression without any change in the nucleotide sequence of DNA, affecting health maintenance and influencing both disease load and resistance. This potentially …

Resveratrol post-transcriptionally regulates pro-inflammatory gene expression via regulation of KSRP RNA binding activity

2014

Resveratrol shows beneficial effects in inflammation-based diseases like cancer, cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory diseases. Therefore, the molecular mechanisms of the anti-inflammatory resveratrol effects deserve more attention. In human epithelial DLD-1 and monocytic Mono Mac 6 cells resveratrol decreased the expression of iNOS, IL-8 and TNF-α by reducing mRNA stability without inhibition of the promoter activity. Shown by pharmacological and siRNA-mediated inhibition, the observed effects are SIRT1-independent. Target-fishing and drug responsive target stability experiments showed selective binding of resveratrol to the RNA-binding protein KSRP, a central post-transcriptional regul…

Developmental Abnormalities of the Thyroid

2016

Developmental anomalies of the thyroid gland (thyroid dysgenesis) underlie the majority of cases of congenital hypothyroidism. Only a small number of monogenic defects have been shown to result in athyreosis or orthotopic thyroid hyperplasia, whereas the commonest developmental anomaly, thyroid ectopy, remains unexplained. Ectopy may result from multiple genetic or epigenetic hits in the germline and/or at the somatic level. This chapter gives a brief overview of the monogenic defects in candidate genes that have been identified so far and of the syndromes that are known to be associated with thyroid dysgenesis. In addition, we discuss gain-of-function mutations of the thyroid hormone stimu…

Characterization of a profile of epigenetic alterations involved in the aetiopathogenesis of endometriosis. Validation of molecular biomarkers for di…

2018

Introduction: Endometriosis is an oestrogen-dependent inflammatory disorder defined by the presence of endometrial-like tissue in ectopic locations, which limits the quality of life of affected women. This pathology affects 10% of reproductive-age women from all ethnic and social groups, although the prevalence in those patients experiencing pain, infertility or both is as high as 35%-50%, being the estimated prevalence of this condition around 176 million worldwide. Endometriosis is associated with an average diagnostic delay of 7 years, what could be partially explained by the lack of non-invasive biomarkers for diagnose, since the gold standard method is laparoscopy followed by histologi…

Does Arsenic Contamination Affect DNA Methylation Patterns in a Wild Bird Population? : An Experimental Approach

2021

Pollutants, such as toxic metals, negatively influence organismal health and performance, even leading to population collapses. Studies in model organisms have shown that epigenetic marks, such as DNA methylation, can be modulated by various environmental factors, including pollutants, influencing gene expression, and various organismal traits. Yet experimental data on the effects of pollution on DNA methylation from wild animal populations are largely lacking. We here experimentally investigated for the first time the effects of early-life exposure to environmentally relevant levels of a key pollutant, arsenic (As), on genome-wide DNA methylation in a wild bird population. We experimentall…

The interplay between metabolome, epigenome and metabolic syndrome in severe obesity: the influence of sex and age

2022

Antecedentes: la obesidad en adultos se define como una acumulación anormal o excesiva de grasa que representa un importante factor de riesgo para la salud, contribuyendo a aumentar la morbilidad y la mortalidad. Aunque las condiciones de salud subyacentes y la genética podrían ser en algunos casos las principales causas de la obesidad, en la mayoría de los casos es el resultado de estilos de vida poco saludables a largo plazo. En su forma más severa clínicamente (obesidad de Clase III), el tejido adiposo se convierte en el órgano endocrino metabólico más grande que interactúa fuertemente con el sistema endocrino y contribuye al desarrollo del síndrome metabólico (MetS). El MetS es consider…

Characterization of the epigenetic modifications in human uterine leiomyomas and evaluation of their potential as therapeutic targets in vitro

2023

Los miomas o fibromas uterinos (UL) son los tumores benignos más frecuentes en las mujeres en edad reproductiva. A pesar de su elevada prevalencia y de las diferentes opciones de tratamiento, no existe terapia eficaz para la reducción del tamaño de los UL que sea mínimamente invasiva y sin efectos secundarios a largo plazo. Su patología tumoral permanece desconocida, lo que dificulta el desarrollo de tratamientos seguros y eficaces. Por lo tanto, la identificación de los mecanismos moleculares implicados en la generación de UL podría permitir el desarrollo de tratamientos más eficaces. Las modificaciones epigenéticas están implicadas en el desarrollo de los tumores y pueden revertirse media…

I vari modi del DNA di “parlare” ai viventi fra ciò che già è noto e nuove scoperte

2018

A sessant’anni da quando Francis Crick enunciò il “dogma centrale della biologia molecolare” molte scoperte e nuove frontiere si sono avvicendate sulla questione “funzionale” di un genoma, cioè di come un DNA “parla” ai viventi. Oggi è abbastanza noto come un genoma “è”, ed occuparsi solo di questa questione strutturale ormai è sicuramente molto riduttivo, almeno sicuramente per quello umano. È invece il goal standard di questi anni scoprire come e quando un genoma si esprime, come funzio-nalmente traduce il suo messaggio rendendo questo visibile nei fe-notipi dei viventi, a prescindere dalla sua sequenza primaria di basi azotate. Ne consegue che il codice genetico, ancora valido e quasi un…

NUTRIGENOMICS EFFECTS OF PHYTOCHEMICAL INDICAXANTHIN IN in vitro CELL SYSTEMS

2014

Nutrition plays a key role in many aspects of health, indeed epidemiological studies provide evidence that diet can play essential roles in reducing the risk of chronic diseases. Accumulating evidence indicates that dietary compounds (phytochemicals) from fruit and vegetables can modulate multiple cancer-inflammation pathways which are relevant for chemoprevention and are commonly deregulated by epigenetic mechanisms in cancer cells, including drug detoxification, cell cycle regulation, apoptosis induction. Epigenetic refers to heritable alterations in gene expression that do not involve modification of the underlying genetic DNA sequence. Although epigenetic changes are heritable in somati…