International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Volume 20, Issue 6

Protein Kinase C (PKC) is a family composed of phospholipid-dependent serine/threonine kinases that are master regulators of inflammatory signaling. The activity of different PKCs is context-sensitive and these kinases can be positive or negative reg...

MicroRNA-29 (miR-29) has been found to reduce liver inflammation and fibrosis following a liver injury. Meanwhile, DNA methyltransferase has been reported to participate in the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The aim of this stud...

Despite the relevant research efforts, the causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are still unknown and no effective cure is available. Many authors suggest that ALS is a multi-system disease caused by a network failure instead of a cell-auton...

Metabolic inhibition is a common condition observed during ischemic heart disease and heart failure. It is usually accompanied by a reduction in L-type Ca²⁺ channel (LTCC) activity. In this study, however, we show that metabolic inhibition results in...

An environmentally friendly technique was used to produce levan-capped silver nanoparticles of about 30 nm (with a loading of 30%) that showed bactericide effect, for E. coli and B. subtilis. That effect was mathematically studied with a dose-respons...

Na-amino acid co-transporters (NaAAcT) are uniquely affected in rabbit intestinal villus cell brush border membrane (BBM) during chronic intestinal inflammation. Specifically, Na-alanine co-transport (ASCT1) is inhibited secondary to a reduction in t...

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma deriving from metabolic dysfunctions has increased in the last years. Sirtuin- (SIRT-3), phospho-mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR) and hypoxia-inducible factor- (HIF-1α) are involved in metabolism...

Secretion from adipose tissue of adipokines or adipocytokines, comprising of bioactive peptides or proteins, immune molecules and inflammatory mediators, exert critical roles in inflammatory arthritis and obesity. This review considers the evidence g...

An inverse association exists between physical activity and breast cancer incidence and outcomes. An objective indicator of an individual’s recent physical activity exposure is aerobic capacity. We took advantage of the fact that there is an in...

There is an urgent need to develop novel drugs for osteoporosis which occurs due to estrogen deficiency. Phytoestrogens derived from medicinal plants would be the best alternative to chemical drugs with harmful side effects. The main purpose of the p...

Tomentosin is a natural sesquiterpene lactone extracted from various plants and is widely used as a medicine because it exhibits essential therapeutic properties. In this study, we investigated the anti-carcinogenic effects of tomentosin in human ost...

Telomerase has cellular functions beyond telomere stabilization, including a role in mitochondria. The function of the catalytic component—TERT—in mitochondria is still unknown, but it seems to play a role in the response to oxidative str...

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a serious pathological complication associated with compromised fetal development during pregnancy. The aim of the study was to broaden knowledge about the transcriptomic complexity of the human placenta by i...

The innate immune system drives the initiation of inflammation and progression to chronic inflammation in two important chronic inflammatory lung diseases involving the small airways, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiolitis obl...

Although Western medicine and Eastern medicine are worlds apart, there is a striking overlap in the basic principle of these types of medicine when we look at them from the perspective of energy. In both worlds, opposing forces provide the energy tha...

The excellent publication by Häusler and Weber [...]

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease (HD), and prion diseases have a certain degree of clinical, pathological, and molecular ove...

ErbB2 is an oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase linked to breast cancer. It is a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) minifamily. ErbB2 is currently viewed as an orphan receptor since, by itself, it does not bind EGF-like ligands and c...

β-N-Acetyl-d-hexosaminidase from Ostrinia furnacalis (OfHex1) is a new target for the design of insecticides. Although some of its inhibitors have been found, there is still no commercial drug available at present. The residence time of the liga...

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with pancreatic β-cell dysfunction which can be induced by oxidative stress. Deuterohemin-βAla-His-Thr-Val-Glu-Lys (DhHP-6) is a microperoxidase mimetic that can scavenge reactive oxygen species...

X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP) is a type of severe retinal dystrophy, and female carriers of XLRP demonstrate markedly variable clinical severity. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the clinical findings of male patients with and female carri...

Cadmium is a common environmental pollutant that causes bone damage. However, the effects of cadmium on the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) and its mechanism of action in this process are unclear. Here, we de...

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) defines a group of solid tumors originating from the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract, pharynx, larynx, mouth, and nasal cavity. It has a metastatic evolution and poor prognosis and is the sixth mo...

A complex bidirectional communication system exists between the gastrointestinal tract and the brain. Initially termed the “gut-brain axis” it is now renamed the “microbiota-gut-brain axis” considering the pivotal role of gut...

The discovery of the role of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway in melanomagenesis and its progression have opened a new era in the treatment of this tumor. Vemurafenib was the first specific kinase inhibitor approved for therapy of advanced melanomas harbo...

The protozoan Trypanosoma brucei, responsible for animal and human trypanosomiasis, has a family of major surface proteases (MSPs) and phospholipase-C (PLC), both involved in some mechanisms of virulence during mammalian infections. During parasitism...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are the most promising seed cells for cell therapy. Comparing the biological and transcriptome gene characteristics of MSCs from different sources provides an important basis for the screening of clinically used cells. T...

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are evolutionary well-conserved nano-sized membranous vesicles that are secreted by both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Recently, they have gained great attention for their proposed roles in cell-to-cell communication,...

Autophagy serves as a cell survival mechanism which becomes dysregulated under pathological conditions and aging. Aortic valve thickening and calcification causing left ventricular outflow obstruction is known as calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS)...

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is linked to the risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and thus has been suggested to be an important therapeutic target. In our drug screening effort, we identified Ondansetron (OS), an FDA-approved 5-HT3 antagonist, as an...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder affecting 5.4 million people in the United States. Currently approved pharmacologic interventions for AD are limited to symptomatic improvement, not affecting the underlying...

Horse oil products have been used in skin care for a long time in traditional medicine, but the biological effects of horse oil on the skin remain unclear. This study was conducted to evaluate the protective effect of horse oil on ultraviolet B (UVB)...

Harmine is a natural β-carboline compound showing several biological activities, including antiproliferative properties, but this soluble natural molecule lacks selectivity. Harmine derivatives were reported to overcome this problem, but they ar...

Despite the availability of several therapies for the management of blood glucose in diabetic patients, most of the treatments do not show benefits on diabetic cardiomyopathy, while others even favor the progression of the disease. New pharmacologica...

Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) represent a group of enzymes that catalyse important reactions of carbon dioxide hydration and dehydration, a reaction crucial to many biological processes and environmental biotechnology. In this study we successfully const...

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a valuable crop which can produce multiple human beneficial secondary metabolites, for example, the anthocyanins in sprouts and flowers. However, as the predominant group of visible polyphenols in pigmentation, lit...

In this study, we combined enzymatic hydrolysis and lactic acid fermentation to generate an antihypertensive product. Soybean protein isolates were first hydrolyzed by Prozyme and subsequently fermented with Lactobacillus rhamnosus EBD1. After fermen...

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

One of the fundamental steps during development of the nervous system is the formation of proper connections between neurons and their target cells—a process called neural wiring, failure of which causes neurological disorders ranging from auti...

Turmeric obtained from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa has been used in the prevention and treatment of many diseases since the ancient times. Curcumin is the principal polyphenol isolated from turmeric, which exhibits anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, a...

Peripheral nerve injury is a common posttraumatic complication. The precise surgical repair of nerve lesion does not always guarantee satisfactory motor and sensory function recovery. Therefore, enhancement of the regeneration process is a subject of...

High concentrations of heavy metals in the soil should be removed for environmental safety. Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that pollutes the soil when its concentration exceeds 3.4 mg/kg. Although the potential use of cotton to remediate heavy Cd-poll...

An exaggerated exercise pressor reflex (EPR) is associated with excessive sympatho-excitation and exercise intolerance in the chronic heart failure (CHF) state. We hypothesized that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) causes the exaggerated EPR...

In this study we attempted to verify the hypothesis that the mevalonate pathway affects amyloid beta precursor protein (AβPP) processing and regulates clusterin protein levels. AβPP expression was monitored by green fluorescence (FL) and We...

Cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRP) is a stress-responsive protein involved in several signal transduction pathways required for cellular function, which are associated with apoptosis and proliferation. The present study aimed to investigate th...

Apolipoprotein E (apoE) is mainly secreted by hepatocytes and incorporated into most plasma lipoproteins. Macrophages, which accumulate cholesterol and are critical for the development of the atherosclerotic plaque, are also an important, albeit smal...

In Europe, the toxicological safety of genetically modified (GM) crops is routinely evaluated using rodent feeding trials, originally designed for testing oral toxicity of chemical compounds. We aimed to develop and optimize methods for advancing the...

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy has diverse anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects and has been employed successfully in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The role of IVIg therapy in the modulation of intestinal inflammation and...

Cadmium (Cd) has the potential to be chronically toxic to humans through contaminated crop products. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can move systemically in plants. To investigate the roles of long-distance moving xylem miRNAs in regulating maize response to Cd...

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...