Search results for "molecular medicine"

EGFL7 enhances surface expression of integrin α5β1 to promote angiogenesis in malignant brain tumors

2018

Abstract Glioblastoma (GBM) is a typically lethal type of brain tumor with a median survival of 15 months postdiagnosis. This negative prognosis prompted the exploration of alternative treatment options. In particular, the reliance of GBM on angiogenesis triggered the development of anti‐VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) blocking antibodies such as bevacizumab. Although its application in human GBM only increased progression‐free periods but did not improve overall survival, physicians and researchers still utilize this treatment option due to the lack of adequate alternatives. In an attempt to improve the efficacy of anti‐VEGF treatment, we explored the role of the egfl7 gene in ma…

Diversity of Sterol Composition in Tunisian Pistacia lentiscus Seed Oil

2016

International audience; Pistacia lentiscus L. seed oil is used in some Mediterranean forest area for culinary and medicinal purposes. In this study, we aim to examine, for the first time, the effect of growing area on sterol content of Pistacia lentiscus seed oil. Fruits were harvested from 13 different sites located in northern and central Tunisia. Gas chromatography-flame-ionization detection (GC-FID) was used to quantify sterols and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to identify them. The major sterol identified was b-sitosterol with a value ranging from 854.12 to 1224.09 mg/kg of oil, thus making up more than 54% of the total sterols. The other two main sterols were c…

Proton-coupled folate transporter as a biomarker of outcome to treatment for pleural mesothelioma.

2018

Whole Exome Sequencing Is the Preferred Strategy to Identify the Genetic Defect in Patients With a Probable or Possible Mitochondrial Cause

2018

Mitochondrial disorders, characterized by clinical symptoms and/or OXPHOS deficiencies, are caused by pathogenic variants in mitochondrial genes. However, pathogenic variants in some of these genes can lead to clinical manifestations which overlap with other neuromuscular diseases, which can be caused by pathogenic variants in non-mitochondrial genes as well. Mitochondrial pathogenic variants can be found in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or in any of the 1,500 nuclear genes with a mitochondrial function. We have performed a two-step next-generation sequencing approach in a cohort of 117 patients, mostly children, in whom a mitochondrial disease-cause could likely or possibly explain the phe…

The role of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species, NO and H2S in ischaemia/reperfusion injury and cardioprotection

2020

Redox signalling in mitochondria plays an important role in myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and in cardioprotection. Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) modify cellular structures and functions by means of covalent changes in proteins including among others S‐nitros(yl)ation by nitric oxide (NO) and its derivatives, and S‐sulphydration by hydrogen sulphide (H2S). Many enzymes are involved in the mitochondrial formation and handling of ROS, NO and H2S under physiological and pathological conditions. In particular, the balance between formation and removal of reactive species is impaired during I/R favouring their accumulation. Therefore, various interventions aimed a…

Incorporation of mRNA in Lamellar Lipid Matrices for Parenteral Administration

2018

Molecular pharmaceutics 15(2), 642 - 651 (2018). doi:10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.7b01022

Immunmodulatory and Antiproliferative Properties of Rhodiola Species.

2016

The traditional medicines of Asia and Europe have long used various Rhodiola species, which are endemic to the subarctic areas of the northern hemisphere, as tonic, adaptogen, antidepressant, and anti-inflammatory drugs. In order to establish the therapeutic uses of these plants in modern medicine, the pharmacological effects of Rhodiola sp. have been widely studied. Indeed, the most amply researched species, Rhodiola rosea, has been shown to possess antioxidant, adaptogenic, antistress, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, angiomodulatory, and antitumoral effects. Salidroside (p-hydroxyphenethyl-β-D-glucoside), a major compound in Rhodiola, seems to be responsible for many of the effects obser…

Specific role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in elastin-derived VGVAPG peptide-dependent calcium homeostasis in mouse cortical astrocytes in…

2019

AbstractUnder physiological and pathological conditions, elastin is degraded to produce elastin-derived peptides (EDPs). EDPs are detected in the healthy human brain, and its concentration significantly increases after ischemic stroke. Both elastin and EDPs contains replications of the soluble VGVAPG hexapeptide, which has a broad range of biological activities. Effects of VGVAPG action are mainly mediated by elastin-binding protein (EBP), which is alternatively spliced, enzymatically inactive form of the GLB1 gene. This study was conducted to elucidate the activation and role of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) in elastin-derived VGVAPG peptide-dependent calcium homeostasis in mou…

Identification of the Privileged Position in the Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine Ring of Phosphonocarboxylates for Development of Rab Geranylgeranyl Transfera…

2017

Members of the Rab GTPase family are master regulators of vesicle trafficking. When disregulated, they are associated with a number of pathological states. The inhibition of RGGT, an enzyme responsible for post-translational geranylgeranylation of Rab GTPases represents one way to control the activity of these proteins. Because the number of molecules modulating RGGT is limited, we combined molecular modeling with biological assays to ascertain how modifications of phosphonocarboxylates, the first reported RGGT inhibitors, rationally improve understanding of their structure-activity relationship. We have identified the privileged position in the core scaffold of the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine r…

Assessing Human Genetic Variations in Glucose Transporter SLC2A10 and Their Role in Altering Structural and Functional Properties

2018

Purpose: Demand is increasing for clinical genomic sequencing to provide diagnoses for patients presenting phenotypes indicative of genetic diseases, but for whom routine genetic testing failed to yield a diagnosis. DNA-based testing using high-throughput technologies often identifies variants with insufficient evidence to determine whether they are disease-causal or benign, leading to categorization as variants of uncertain significance (VUS). Methods: We used molecular modeling and simulation to generate specific hypotheses for the molecular effects of variants in the human glucose transporter, GLUT10 (SLC2A10). Similar to many disease-relevant membrane proteins, no experimentally derived…