The NLRP3 inflammasome is a critical component of the innate immune system that mediates caspase-1 activation and the secretion of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β/IL-18 in response to microbial infection and cellular damage. However, the aberran...
Recent advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology radically changed the way we diagnose, treat, and prevent various diseases in all aspects of human life. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most vital and fascinating nanomaterials among seve...
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), one of the most common metabolic disorders, is caused by a combination of two primary factors: defective insulin secretion by pancreatic β-cells and the inability of insulin-sensitive tissues to respond appropria...
Living species are continuously subjected to all extrinsic forms of reactive oxidants and others that are produced endogenously. There is extensive literature on the generation and effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in biological processes, bot...
Lignocelluloses are often a major or sometimes the sole components of different waste streams from various industries, forestry, agriculture and municipalities. Hydrolysis of these materials is the first step for either digestion to biogas (methane)...
Molecular docking is an established in silico structure-based method widely used in drug discovery. Docking enables the identification of novel compounds of therapeutic interest, predicting ligand-target interactions at a molecular level, or delineat...
High temperature (HT) stress is a major environmental stress that limits plant growth, metabolism, and productivity worldwide. Plant growth and development involve numerous biochemical reactions that are sensitive to temperature. Plant responses to H...
The study of antioxidants and their implications in various fields, from food engineering to medicine and pharmacy, is of major interest to the scientific community. The present paper is a critical presentation of the most important tests used to det...
UV radiation (UV) is classified as a “complete carcinogen” because it is both a mutagen and a non-specific damaging agent and has properties of both a tumor initiator and a tumor promoter. In environmental abundance, UV is the most important modifiab...
This review aims to briefly discuss a short list of a broad variety of inflammatory cytokines. Numerous studies have implicated that inflammatory cytokines exert important effects with regard to various inflammatory diseases, yet the reports on their...
Research on psoriasis pathogenesis has largely increased knowledge on skin biology in general. In the past 15 years, breakthroughs in the understanding of the pathogenesis of psoriasis have been translated into targeted and highly effective therapies...
Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) is a transcription factor that regulates the cellular defense against toxic and oxidative insults through the expression of genes involved in oxidative stress response and drug detoxification. NRF2 a...
The design of green and sustainable extraction methods of natural products is currently a hot research topic in the multidisciplinary area of applied chemistry, biology and technology. Herein we aimed to introduce the six principles of green-extracti...
Accumulating evidence indicates that obesity is closely associated with an increased risk of metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Obesity results from an imbalance between...
Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been imposed as an excellent antimicrobial agent being able to combat bacteria in vitro and in vivo causing infections. The antibacterial capacity of AgNPs covers Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, including m...
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc-dependent extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling endopeptidases that have the capacity to degrade almost every component of the ECM. The degradation of the ECM is of great importance, since it is r...
Cancer is one of the main causes of death worldwide. Despite the significant development of methods of cancer healing during the past decades, chemotherapy still remains the main method for cancer treatment. Depending on the mechanism of action, comm...
Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was initially recognized as a factor that causes the necrosis of tumors, but it has been recently identified to have additional important functions as a pathological component of autoimmune diseases. TNF-α binds to...
A complex antioxidant system has been developed in mammals to relieve oxidative stress. However, excessive reactive species derived from oxygen and nitrogen may still lead to oxidative damage to tissue and organs. Oxidative stress has been considered...
Agricultural production continues to be constrained by a number of biotic and abiotic factors that can reduce crop yield quantity and quality. Potassium (K) is an essential nutrient that affects most of the biochemical and physiological processes tha...
Plastic is a broad name given to different polymers with high molecular weight, which can be degraded by various processes. However, considering their abundance in the environment and their specificity in attacking plastics, biodegradation of plastic...
Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a serious pregnancy complication, in which women without previously diagnosed diabetes develop chronic hyperglycemia during gestation. In most cases, this hyperglycemia is the result of impaired glucose toleranc...
Poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA) has attracted considerable interest as a base material for biomedical applications due to its: (i) biocompatibility; (ii) tailored biodegradation rate (depending on the molecular weight and copolymer ratio); (iii...
The M1/M2 macrophage paradigm plays a key role in tumor progression. M1 macrophages are historically regarded as anti-tumor, while M2-polarized macrophages, commonly deemed tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs), are contributors to many pro-tumorigenic...
Tyrosinase is a multifunctional, glycosylated, and copper-containing oxidase, which catalyzes the first two steps in mammalian melanogenesis and is responsible for enzymatic browning reactions in damaged fruits during post-harvest handling and proces...
Apoptosis, the cell’s natural mechanism for death, is a promising target for anticancer therapy. Both the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways use caspases to carry out apoptosis through the cleavage of hundreds of proteins. In cancer, the apoptotic path...
Molecular recognition, which is the process of biological macromolecules interacting with each other or various small molecules with a high specificity and affinity to form a specific complex, constitutes the basis of all processes in living organism...
Obesity is a critical risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes (T2D), and its prevalence is rising worldwide. White adipose tissue (WAT) has a crucial role in regulating systemic energy homeostasis. Adipose tissue expands by a combination o...
Over the past few decades, metal nanoparticles less than 100 nm in diameter have made a substantial impact across diverse biomedical applications, such as diagnostic and medical devices, for personalized healthcare practice. In particular, silver nan...
Obesity is a chronic disease of multifactorial origin and can be defined as an increase in the accumulation of body fat. Adipose tissue is not only a triglyceride storage organ, but studies have shown the role of white adipose tissue as a producer of...
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death. Most cases of CRC are detected in Western countries, with its incidence increasing year by year. The probability of suffering from color...
Lignin is one of the main components of plant cell wall and it is a natural phenolic polymer with high molecular weight, complex composition and structure. Lignin biosynthesis extensively contributes to plant growth, tissue/organ development, lodging...
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). It has long been recognized as a microvascular disease. The diagnosis of DR relies on the detection of microvascular lesions. The treatment of DR remains challenging...
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) forms a cluster of metabolic dysregulations including insulin resistance, atherogenic dyslipidemia, central obesity, and hypertension. The pathogenesis of MetS encompasses multiple genetic and acquired entities that fall und...
The MTT assay for cellular metabolic activity is almost ubiquitous to studies of cell toxicity; however, it is commonly applied and interpreted erroneously. We investigated the applicability and limitations of the MTT assay in representing treatment...
Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide and it is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death. GC is a multifactorial disease, where both environmental and genetic factors can have an impact on its occurrence and dev...
Earlier research primarily attributed the effects of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies to their capacity for local engrafting and differentiating into multiple tissue types. However, recent studies have revealed that implanted cells do not surviv...
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Its pathophysiology comprises acute and chronic phases and incorporates a cascade of destructive events such as...
Experimental models have often been at the origin of immunological paradigms such as the M1/M2 dichotomy following macrophage polarization. However, this clear dichotomy in animal models is not as obvious in humans, and the separating line between M1...
The biological effects of cannabinoids, the major constituents of the ancient medicinal plant Cannabis sativa (marijuana) are mediated by two members of the G-protein coupled receptor family, cannabinoid receptors 1 (CB1R) and 2. The CB1R is the prom...
MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) signaling pathways regulate a variety of biological processes through multiple cellular mechanisms. In most of these processes, such as apoptosis, MAPKs have a dual role since they can act as activators or inhi...
The therapeutic properties of plants have been recognised since time immemorial. Many pathological conditions have been treated using plant-derived medicines. These medicines are used as concoctions or concentrated plant extracts without isolation of...
Several plant bioactive compounds have exhibited functional activities that suggest they could play a remarkable role in preventing a wide range of chronic diseases. The largest group of naturally-occurring polyphenols are the flavonoids, including a...
Due to finite size effects, such as the high surface-to-volume ratio and different crystal structures, magnetic nanoparticles are found to exhibit interesting and considerably different magnetic properties than those found in their corresponding bulk...
Natural antioxidants are widely distributed in food and medicinal plants. These natural antioxidants, especially polyphenols and carotenoids, exhibit a wide range of biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, anti-atherosclerosis an...
Heavy metals, which have widespread environmental distribution and originate from natural and anthropogenic sources, are common environmental pollutants. In recent decades, their contamination has increased dramatically because of continuous discharg...
Molecular Imprinting Technology (MIT) is a technique to design artificial receptors with a predetermined selectivity and specificity for a given analyte, which can be used as ideal materials in various application fields. Molecularly Imprinted Polyme...
Nanoparticles (NPs) possess unique physical and chemical properties that make them appropriate for various applications. The structural alteration of metallic NPs leads to different biological functions, specifically resulting in different potentials...
Cancer development is highly associated to the physiological state of the tumor microenvironment (TME). Despite the existing heterogeneity of tumors from the same or from different anatomical locations, common features can be found in the TME maturat...
Carcinogenesis cannot be explained only by genetic alterations, but also involves epigenetic processes. Modification of histones by acetylation plays a key role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression and is controlled by the balance between hist...
