scholarly journals Female Oncofertility: Current Understandings, Therapeutic Approaches, Controversies, and Future Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 5690
Author(s):  
Kim Cat Tuyen Vo ◽  
Kazuhiro Kawamura

Recent advances in early detection and oncological therapies have ameliorated the survival rate of young cancer patients. Yet, ovarian impairment induced by chemotherapy and radiotherapy is still a challenging issue. This review, based on clinical and lab-based studies, summarizes the evidence of gonadotoxicity of chemoradiotherapy, the recent approaches, ongoing controversies, and future perspectives of fertility preservation (FP) in female patients who have experienced chemo- or radio-therapy. Existing data indicate that chemotherapeutic agents induce DNA alterations and massive follicle activation via the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. Meanwhile, the radiation causes ionizing damage, leading to germ cell loss. In addition to the well-established methods, numerous therapeutic approaches have been suggested, including minimizing the follicle loss in cryopreserved ovarian grafts after transplantation, in vitro activation or in vitro growing of follicles, artificial ovarian development, or fertoprotective adjuvant to prevent ovarian damage from chemotherapy. Some reports have revealed positive outcomes from these therapies, whereas others have demonstrated conflictions. Future perspectives are improving the live birth rate of FP, especially in patients with adverse ovarian reserve, eliminating the risk of malignancy reintroducing, and increasing society’s awareness of FP importance.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Vivekanandhan ◽  
Poornima Shanmugam ◽  
Hamed Barabadi ◽  
Vigneshwaran Arumugam ◽  
Dharun Daniel Raj Daniel Paul Raj ◽  
...  

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has emerged as a fast-paced epidemic in late 2019 which is disrupting life-saving immunization services. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly transmissible virus and an infectious disease that has caused fear among people across the world. The worldwide emergence and rapid expansion of SARS-CoV-2 emphasizes the need for exploring innovative therapeutic approaches to combat SARS-CoV-2. The efficacy of some antiviral drugs such as remdesivir, favipiravir, umifenovir, etc., are still tested against SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, there is a large global effort to develop vaccines for the protection against COVID-19. Because vaccines seem the best solution to control the pandemic but time is required for its development, pre-clinical/clinical trials, approval from FDA and scale-up. The nano-based approach is another promising approach to combat COVID-19 owing to unique physicochemical properties of nanomaterials. Peptide based vaccines emerged as promising vaccine candidates for SARS-CoV-2. The study emphasizes the current therapeutic approaches against SARS-CoV-2 and some of the potential candidates for SARS-CoV-2 treatment which are still under clinical studies for their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2. Overall, it is of high importance to mention that clinical trials are necessary for confirming promising drug candidates and effective vaccines and the safety profile of the new components must be evaluated before translation of in vitro studies for implementation in clinical use.


2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (22) ◽  
pp. 4239-4247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hank H. Yang ◽  
Mark H. Ma ◽  
Robert A. Vescio ◽  
James R. Berenson

Drug resistance remains a major clinical challenge for cancer treatment. Early studies suggested that overexpression of P-glycoprotein was a major contributor to the chemotherapy resistance of myeloma cells and other tumor cells. Attempts in several clinical studies to reverse multidrug resistance protein (MDR) by using MDR modulators have not yet generated promising results. Recently, the emerging knowledge about the importance of overcoming antiapoptosis and drug resistance in treating a variety of malignancies, including multiple myeloma (MM), raises new hope of improving the treatment outcome for patients with cancer. The therapeutic value of targeting therapies that aim to reverse the antiapoptotic process in MM cells has been explored in a number of experimental systems, and the results have been promising. The proteasome inhibitor PS-341 is a new specifically targeted proapoptotic therapy that has been tested in clinical studies. The results indicate that PS-341 alone is an effective therapy for patients with MM who experience disease relapse. Recent in vitro data also demonstrate that PS-341 can markedly sensitize chemotherapy-resistant MM cells to various chemotherapeutic agents. On the basis of these encouraging results, clinical studies are underway to test the efficacy of PS-341 and chemotherapeutic agents as combination therapy in treating patients with refractory and relapsed MM.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 914-926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maiara Bernardes Marques ◽  
Michael González-Durruthy ◽  
Bruna Félix da Silva Nornberg ◽  
Bruno Rodrigues Oliveira ◽  
Daniela Volcan Almeida ◽  
...  

Background:PIM-1 is a kinase which has been related to the oncogenic processes like cell survival, proliferation, and multidrug resistance (MDR). This kinase is known for its ability to phosphorylate the main extrusion pump (ABCB1) related to the MDR phenotype.Objective:In the present work, we tested a new mechanistic insight on the AZD1208 (PIM-1 specific inhibitor) under interaction with chemotherapy agents such as Daunorubicin (DNR) and Vincristine (VCR).Materials and Methods:In order to verify a potential cytotoxic effect based on pharmacological synergism, two MDR cell lines were used: Lucena (resistant to VCR) and FEPS (resistant to DNR), both derived from the K562 non-MDR cell line, by MTT analyses. The activity of Pgp was ascertained by measuring accumulation and the directional flux of Rh123. Furthermore, we performed a molecular docking simulation to delve into the molecular mechanism of PIM-1 alone, and combined with chemotherapeutic agents (VCR and DNR).Results:Our in vitro results have shown that AZD1208 alone decreases cell viability of MDR cells. However, co-exposure of AZD1208 and DNR or VCR reverses this effect. When we analyzed the ABCB1 activity AZD1208 alone was not able to affect the pump extrusion. Differently, co-exposure of AZD1208 and DNR or VCR impaired ABCB1 activity, which could be explained by compensatory expression of abcb1 or other extrusion pumps not analyzed here. Docking analysis showed that AZD1208 is capable of performing hydrophobic interactions with PIM-1 ATP- binding-site residues with stronger interaction-based negative free energy (FEB, kcal/mol) than the ATP itself, mimicking an ATP-competitive inhibitory pattern of interaction. On the same way, VCR and DNR may theoretically interact at the same biophysical environment of AZD1208 and also compete with ATP by the PIM-1 active site. These evidences suggest that AZD1208 may induce pharmacodynamic interaction with VCR and DNR, weakening its cytotoxic potential in the ATP-binding site from PIM-1 observed in the in vitro experiments.Conclusion:Finally, the current results could have a pre-clinical relevance potential in the rational polypharmacology strategies to prevent multiple-drugs resistance in human leukemia cancer therapy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-207
Author(s):  
Ashaparna Mondal ◽  
Priyankar Paira

Background: Currently ruthenium complexes are immerging as effective anticancer agents due to their less toxicity, better antiproliferative and antimetastatic activity, better stability in cellular environment and most importantly variable oxidation and co-ordination states of ruthenium allows binding this molecule with a variety of ligands. So in past few years researchers have shifted their interest towards organoruthenium complexes having good fluorescent profile that may be applicable for cancer theranostics. Nowadays, photodynamic therapy has become more acceptable because of its easy and effective approach towards killing cancer cells. Objective: Objective of this review article is to shed light on synthesis, characterization, stability and fluorescence studies of various ruthenium [Ru(II) and Ru(III)] complexes and different bioactivity studies conducted with the synthesized compounds to test their candidacy as potent chemotherapeutic agents. Methods: Various heterocyclic ligands containing N,O and S as heteroatom mainly were prepared and subjected to complexation with ruthenium-p-cymene moiety. In most cases [Ru(η6-p-cymene)(µ-Cl)Cl]2 was used as ruthenium precursor and the reactions were conducted in various alcohol medium such as methanol, ethanol or propanol. The synthesized complexes were characterized by 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy, GC-MS, ESI-MS, elemental analysis and single crystal X-ray crystallography methods. Fluorescence study and stability study were conducted accordingly using water, PBS buffer or DMSO. Stable compounds were considered for cell viability studies. To study the efficacy of the compounds in ROS generation as photosensitizers, in few cases, singlet oxygen quantum yields in presence of light were calculated. Suitable compounds were selected for in vitro & in vivo antiproliferative, anti-invasive activity studies. Result: Many newly synthesized compounds were found to have less IC50 compared to a standard drug cysplatin. Those compounds were also stable preferably in physiological conditions. Good fluorescence profile and ROS generation ability were observed for few compounds. Conclusion: Numerous ruthenium complexes were developed which can be used as cancer theranostic agents. Few molecules were synthesized as photosensitizers which were supposed to generate reactive singlet oxygen species in targeted cellular environment in presence of a particular type of light and thereby ceasing cancer cell growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Zahid Kasiram ◽  
Hermizi Hapidin ◽  
Hasmah Abdullah ◽  
Azlina Ahmad ◽  
Sarina Sulong

Background: Osteosarcoma is the most common type of primary bone tumor in children and adolescents, which is associated with rapid progression and poor prognosis. Multimodal therapy is the most common approach utilized for osteosarcoma management, such as the application of chemotherapy in combination with surgery or radiation therapy. Cisplatin is one of the predominantly used chemotherapeutic agents for osteosarcoma. Optimally, it is employed in combination with other chemotherapeutic drugs along with surgery or radiation therapy. Despite the availability of numerous treatment approaches, patient survival rate has not definitively improved over the past three decades. Methods: We summarized all findings regarding the combination of cisplatin with other chemotherapeutic agents as well as with phytochemical compounds. Results: A combination of cisplatin with phytochemical compound synergistically enhances the killing effect of cisplatin on osteosarcoma cells with fewer side effects compared to combination with other chemotherapeutic agents. Conclusion: Conclusively, a combination of cisplatin with selected chemotherapeutic drugs, has been shown to be effective. However, the unchanged survival rate urges for the search of a new combination regimen. As a collaborative effort to substantiate the therapeutic efficacy, the combination with phytochemical compounds shows a promising response both in vitro as well as in the preclinical study.


Author(s):  
Pragya Nayak ◽  
Monica Kachroo

: A series of new heteroaryl thiazolidine-4-one derivatives were designed and subjected to in-silico prioritization using various virtual screening strategies. Two series of thiazolidinone derivatives were synthesized and screened for their in-vitro antitubercular, anticancer, antileishmanial and antibacterial (Staphylococcus aureus; Streptococcus pneumonia; Escherichia coli; Pseudomonas aeruginosa) activities. The compounds with electronegative substitutions exhibited positive antitubercular activity, the derivatives possessing a methyl substitution exhibited good inhibitory response against breast cancer cell line MCF-7 while the compounds possessing a hydrogen bond acceptor site like hydroxyl and methoxy substitution in their structures exhibited good in-vitro antileishmanial activity. Some compounds exhibited potent activity against gram positive bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa as compared to the standards. Altogether, the designed compounds exhibited good in-vitro anti-infective potential which was in good agreement with the in-silico predictions and they can be developed as important lead molecules for anti-infective and chemotherapeutic drug research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 719-738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinit Raj ◽  
Amit Rai ◽  
Ashok K. Singh ◽  
Amit K. Keshari ◽  
Prakruti Trivedi ◽  
...  

Background: Colon cancer is one of the most widespread disease, the mortality rate is high due to cancer metastasis and the development of drug resistance. In this regards, new chemotherapeutic agents with specific mechanisms of action and significant effect on patient’s survival are the new era for the colon cancer drug development. Objective: The main objective of present study was to design, synthesize of a novel series of 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives (VR1 to VR35) and screen them against HT-29 human colon cancer cell line. Method: Newly 1,3,4-thiadiazole scaffold were designed, synthesized and further, characterized by FTIR, NMR (1H and 13C), MS and elemental analyses. Before the synthesis, molecular dynamic simulation and ADME studies were performed to find out the most potent lead compounds. Later, SRB assay using HT-29 cells and ELISA assays were performed to explore activity and molecular targets of VR24 and VR27 and find out whether in silico data had a similar pattern in the molecular level. Results: The results of docking study revealed that both VR24 and VR27 had interaction energy >-5 kcal/mol with various assigned molecular targets and the ligand-protein complexes were found to be stable with IL-6. The computational analysis of molecules showed good ADMET profiling. Later, the in vitro anticancer study was conducted where VR24 and VR27 were found to be active against HT-29 cells (GI50<10 µM). Finally, ELISA assays revealed that both the compounds had higher inhibition properties to various biomarker of colon cancer like IL-6 and COX-2. Conclusion: Collectively, these result suggested that VR24 and VR27 inhibited the assigned molecular targets, imparting their ameliorative effects against colon cancer. Due to these encouraging results, we concluded that both VR24 and VR27 may be effective against colon cancer therapy in future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ved ◽  
F. Sharouf ◽  
B. Harari ◽  
M. Muzaffar ◽  
S. Manivannan ◽  
...  

AbstractTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with poor clinical outcomes; autopsy studies of TBI victims demonstrate significant oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) death post TBI; an observation, which may explain the lack of meaningful repair of injured axons. Whilst high-mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) and its key receptors TLR2/4 are identified as key initiators of neuroinflammation post-TBI, they have been identified as attractive targets for development of novel therapeutic approaches to improve post-TBI clinical outcomes. In this report we establish unequivocal evidence that HMGB1 released in vitro impairs OPC response to mechanical injury; an effect that is pharmacologically reversible. We show that needle scratch injury hyper-acutely induced microglial HMGB1 nucleus-to-cytoplasm translocation and subsequent release into culture medium. Application of injury-conditioned media resulted in significant decreases in OPC number through anti-proliferative effects. This effect was reversed by co-treatment with the TLR2/4 receptor antagonist BoxA. Furthermore, whilst injury conditioned medium drove OPCs towards an activated reactive morphology, this was also abolished after BoxA co-treatment. We conclude that HMGB1, through TLR2/4 dependant mechanisms, may be detrimental to OPC proliferation following injury in vitro, negatively affecting the potential for restoring a mature oligodendrocyte population, and subsequent axonal remyelination. Further study is required to assess how HMGB1-TLR signalling influences OPC maturation and myelination capacity.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Mariangela Marrelli ◽  
Maria Rosaria Perri ◽  
Valentina Amodeo ◽  
Francesca Giordano ◽  
Giancarlo A. Statti ◽  
...  

Photochemotherapy is one of the most interesting current therapeutic approaches for the treatment of melanoma. Different classes of naturally occurring phytochemicals demonstrated interesting photoactive properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate the photocytotoxic potential of two Cachrys species from Southern Italy: C. sicula and C. libanotis (Apiaceae). The enriched-coumarin extracts were obtained from aerial parts through both traditional maceration and pressurized cyclic solid-liquid (PCSL) extraction using Naviglio extractor®. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of furanocoumarins were performed with GC-MS. The photocytotoxic effects were verified on C32 melanoma cells irradiated at a dose of 1.08 J/cm2. The apoptotic responses were also assessed. Moreover, phenolic content and the in vitro antioxidant potential were estimated. Xanthotoxin, bergapten, and isopimpinellin were identified. All the samples induced concentration-dependent photocytotoxic effects (IC50 ranging from 3.16 to 18.18 μg/mL). The C. libanotis sample obtained with Naviglio extractor® was the most effective one (IC50 = 3.16 ± 0.21 μg/mL), followed by C. sicula sample obtained with the same technique (IC50 = 8.83 ± 0.20 μg/mL). Both Cachrys samples obtained through PCSL induced up-regulation of apoptotic signals such as BAX (Bcl2-associated X protein) and PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase) cleavage. Moreover, these samples proved to be more photoactive, giving a greater upregulation of p21 protein in the presence of UVA radiation. Obtained results suggest that investigated species could be promising candidates for further investigations aimed to find new potential drugs for the photochemotherapy of skin cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 263349412110098
Author(s):  
Rhea Chattopadhyay ◽  
Elliott Richards ◽  
Valerie Libby ◽  
Rebecca Flyckt

Uterus transplantation is an emerging treatment for uterine factor infertility. In vitro fertilization with cryopreservation of embryos prior is required before a patient can be listed for transplant. Whether or not to perform universal preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy should be addressed by centers considering a uterus transplant program. The advantages and disadvantages of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy in this unique population are presented. The available literature is reviewed to determine the utility of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy in uterus transplantation protocols. Theoretical benefits of preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy include decreased time to pregnancy in a population that benefits from minimization of exposure to immunosuppressive agents and decreased chance of spontaneous abortion requiring a dilation and curettage. Drawbacks include increased cost per in vitro fertilization cycle, increased number of required in vitro fertilization cycles to achieve a suitable number of embryos prior to listing for transplant, and a questionable benefit to live birth rate in younger patients. Thoughtful consideration of whether or not to use preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy is necessary in uterus transplant trials. Age is likely a primary factor that can be useful in determining which uterus transplant recipients benefit from preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy.


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