scholarly journals Endogenous retroelemens of fish and molluscs

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
L. P. Buchatskyi

Aim. Analysis of scientific literature sources devoted to the study of retroelements of fish and mollusks. Results. It is shown that endogenous retroelements are widespread both among fish and mollusks. Endogenous retroviruses of fish, like exogenous ones, are also widespread, but their total number in the genomes of fish is much less than in other vertebrates. The Steamer retroelement, the presence of which is associated with the development of tumors in molluscs, can be transmitted horizontally between these invertebrates. In addition, it is able to pass into organisms of other types of aquatic animals, including vertebrates, sea urchins and corals. Conclusions. The study of the retroelements of fish and molluscs, as the most ancient organisms, makes it possible to more fully trace the stages of evolution of aquatic animals. It was shown that retroelements of fish and molluscs play an important role in the development of antiviral defense in vertebrates. The low cost of mollusks and well-developed methods of their cultivation put these invertebrates at the forefront as model systems for studying the molecular mechanisms of tumor processes in vertebrates and humans.Keywords: retroelements, fish, molluscs, tumors.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 1278-1285
Author(s):  
Mohamed Yafout ◽  
Amine Ousaid ◽  
Ibrahim Sbai El Otmani ◽  
Youssef Khayati ◽  
Amal Ait Haj Said

The new SARS-CoV-2 belonging to the coronaviruses family has caused a pandemic affecting millions of people around the world. This pandemic has been declared by the World Health Organization as an international public health emergency. Although several clinical trials involving a large number of drugs are currently underway, no treatment protocol for COVID-19 has been officially approved so far. Here we demonstrate through a search in the scientific literature that the traditional Moroccan pharmacopoeia, which includes more than 500 medicinal plants, is a fascinating and promising source for the research of natural molecules active against SARS-CoV-2. Multiple in-silico and in-vitro studies showed that some of the medicinal plants used by Moroccans for centuries possess inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-2. These inhibitory activities are achieved through the different molecular mechanisms of virus penetration and replication, or indirectly through stimulation of immunity. Thus, the potential of plants, plant extracts and molecules derived from plants that are traditionally used in Morocco and have activity against SARS-CoV-2, could be explored in the search for a preventive or curative treatment against COVID-19. Furthermore, safe plants or plant extracts that are proven to stimulate immunity could be officially recommended by governments as nutritional supplements.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajni Sawanny ◽  
Sheersha Pramanik ◽  
Unnati Agarwal

: Breast cancer is the most common type of malignancy among ladies (around 30% of newly diagnosed patients every year). To date, various modern treatment modalities for breast cancer, such as radiotherapy, surgical method, hormonal therapy, and chemotherapeutic drug utilisation, are available. However, adverse drug reactions, therapeutic resistance, metastasis, or cancer reoccurrence chances remain the primary causes of mortality for breast cancer patients. To overcome all the potential drawbacks, we need to investigate novel techniques and strategies previously not considered and treat breast cancer effectively with safety and efficacy. For centuries, we utilise phytochemicals to treat various diseases because of their safety, low-cost & least or no side effects. Recently, naturally produced phytochemicals gain immense attention as potential breast cancer therapeutics because of their ideal characteristics; for instance, they operate via modulating molecular pathways associated with cancer growth and progression. The primary mechanism involves inhibition of cell proliferation, angiogenesis, migration, invasion, increasing anti-oxidant status, initiation of the arrest of the cell cycle, and apoptosis. Remedial viability gets effectively enhanced when phytochemicals work as adjuvants with chemotherapeutic drugs. This comprehensive review revolves around the latest chemopreventive, chemotherapeutic, and chemoprotective treatments with their molecular mechanisms to treat breast cancer by utilising phytochemicals such as vinca alkaloids, resveratrol, curcumin, paclitaxel, silibinin, quercetin, genistein and epigallocatechin gallate. The authors wish to extend the field of phytochemical study for its scientific validity and its druggability.


Author(s):  
Sridhar Muthusami ◽  
Ilangovan Ramachandran ◽  
Sneha Krishnamoorthy ◽  
Yuvaraj Sambandam ◽  
Satish Ramalingam ◽  
...  

: The development of colorectal cancer (CRC) is a multi-stage process. The inflammation of the colon as in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn’s disease (CD) is often regarded as the initial trigger for the development of CRC. Many cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and several interleukins (ILs) are known to exert proinflammatory actions, and inflammation initiates or promotes tumorigenesis of various cancers, including CRC through differential regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs). miRNAs can be oncogenic miRNAs (oncomiRs) or anti-oncomiRs/tumor suppressor miRNAs, and they play key roles during colorectal carcinogenesis. However, the functions and molecular mechanisms of regulation of miRNAs involved in inflammation-associated CRC are still anecdotal and largely unknown. Consolidating the published results and offering perspective solutions to circumvent CRC, the current review is focused on the role of miRNAs and their regulation in the development of CRC. We have also discussed the model systems adapted by researchers to delineate the role of miRNAs in inflammation-associated CRC.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Susana M. Chuva de Sousa Lopes ◽  
Marta S. Alexdottir ◽  
Gudrun Valdimarsdottir

Emerging data suggest that a trophoblast stem cell (TSC) population exists in the early human placenta. However, in vitro stem cell culture models are still in development and it remains under debate how well they reflect primary trophoblast (TB) cells. The absence of robust protocols to generate TSCs from humans has resulted in limited knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that regulate human placental development and TB lineage specification when compared to other human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). As placentation in mouse and human differ considerably, it is only with the development of human-based disease models using TSCs that we will be able to understand the various diseases caused by abnormal placentation in humans, such as preeclampsia. In this review, we summarize the knowledge on normal human placental development, the placental disease preeclampsia, and current stem cell model systems used to mimic TB differentiation. A special focus is given to the transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ) family as it has been shown that the TGFβ family has an important role in human placental development and disease.


Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 785
Author(s):  
Mila Glavaški ◽  
Lazar Velicki

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited cardiovascular disease with a prevalence of 1 in 500 people and varying clinical presentations. Although there is much research on HCM, underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood, and research on the molecular mechanisms of its specific clinical presentations is scarce. Our aim was to explore the molecular mechanisms shared by HCM and its clinical presentations through the automated extraction of molecular mechanisms. Molecular mechanisms were congregated by a query of the INDRA database, which aggregates knowledge from pathway databases and combines it with molecular mechanisms extracted from abstracts and open-access full articles by multiple machine-reading systems. The molecular mechanisms were extracted from 230,072 articles on HCM and 19 HCM clinical presentations, and their intersections were found. Shared molecular mechanisms of HCM and its clinical presentations were represented as networks; the most important elements in the intersections’ networks were found, centrality scores for each element of each network calculated, networks with reduced level of noise generated, and cooperatively working elements detected in each intersection network. The identified shared molecular mechanisms represent possible mechanisms underlying different HCM clinical presentations. Applied methodology produced results consistent with the information in the scientific literature.


Author(s):  
Cesar A. López ◽  
Animesh Agarwal ◽  
Que N. Van ◽  
Andrew G. Stephen ◽  
S. Gnanakaran

AbstractSmall GTPase proteins are ubiquitous and responsible for regulating several processes related to cell growth and differentiation. Mutations that stabilize their active state can lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation and cancer. Although these proteins are well characterized at the cellular scale, the molecular mechanisms governing their functions are still poorly understood. In addition, there is limited information about the regulatory function of the cell membrane which supports their activity. Thus, we have studied the dynamics and conformations of the farnesylated KRAS4b in various membrane model systems, ranging from binary fluid mixtures to heterogeneous raft mimics. Our approach combines long time-scale coarse-grained (CG) simulations and Markov state models to dissect the membrane-supported dynamics of KRAS4b. Our simulations reveal that protein dynamics is mainly modulated by the presence of anionic lipids and to some extent by the nucleotide state (activation) of the protein. In addition, our results suggest that both the farnesyl and the polybasic hypervariable region (HVR) are responsible for its preferential partitioning within the liquid-disordered (Ld) domains in membranes, potentially enhancing the formation of membrane-driven signaling platforms. Graphic Abstract


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingyu Yang ◽  
Dehai Xian ◽  
Xia Xiong ◽  
Rui Lai ◽  
Jing Song ◽  
...  

Proanthocyanidins (PCs) are naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds abundant in many vegetables, plant skins (rind/bark), seeds, flowers, fruits, and nuts. Numerousin vitroandin vivostudies have demonstrated myriad effects potentially beneficial to human health, such as antioxidation, anti-inflammation, immunomodulation, DNA repair, and antitumor activity. Accumulation of prooxidants such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) exceeding cellular antioxidant capacity results in oxidative stress (OS), which can damage macromolecules (DNA, lipids, and proteins), organelles (membranes and mitochondria), and whole tissues. OS is implicated in the pathogenesis and exacerbation of many cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, dermatological, and metabolic diseases, both through direct molecular damage and secondary activation of stress-associated signaling pathways. PCs are promising natural agents to safely prevent acute damage and control chronic diseases at relatively low cost. In this review, we summarize the molecules and signaling pathways involved in OS and the corresponding therapeutic mechanisms of PCs.


2009 ◽  
Vol 94 (6) ◽  
pp. 625-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernhard Statzner ◽  
Océane Dolédec ◽  
Pierre Sagnes

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi215-vi216
Author(s):  
Melanie Schoof ◽  
Carolin Göbel ◽  
Dörthe Holdhof ◽  
Sina Al-Kershi ◽  
Ulrich Schüller

Abstract DNA methylation based classification of brain tumors has revealed a high heterogeneity between tumors and led to the description of multiple distinct subclasses. The increasing subdivision of tumors can help to understand molecular mechanisms of tumor development and to improve therapy if appropriate model systems for preclinical research are available. Multiple recent publications have described a subgroup of pediatric glioblastoma which is clearly separable from other pediatric and adult glioblastoma in its DNA methylation profile (GBM MYCN). Many cases in this group are driven by MYCN amplifications and harbor TP53 mutations. These tumors almost exclusively occur in children and were further described as highly aggressive with a median overall survival of only 14 months. In order to further investigate the biology and treatment options of these tumors, we generated hGFAP-cre::TP53 Fl/Fl ::lsl-MYCN mice. These mice carry a loss of TP53 and show aberrant MYCN expression in neural precursors of the central nervous system. The animals develop large forebrain tumors within the first 80 days of life with 100 % penetrance. These tumors resemble human GBM MYCN tumors histologically and are sensitive to AURKA and ATR inhibitors in vitro. We believe that further characterization of the model and in vivo treatment studies will pave the way to improve treatment of patients with these highly aggressive tumors.


2013 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 496-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidal Haddad Junior

Contact between humans and coastal areas has increased in recent decades, which has led to an increase in injuries from aquatic animals. The majority of these present dermatological manifestations, and some of them show typical lesions. The highest percentages of injuries that occur in marine environments are associated with invertebrates such as sea urchins, jellyfish and Portuguese men-of-war (echinoderms and cnidarians). In this review, we discuss the clinical, therapeutic and preventive aspects of injuries caused by marine and freshwater invertebrates, focusing on first aid measures and diagnosis for dermatologists and professionals in coastal areas.


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