International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Volume 21, Issue 17

The crucial function of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region in ribosome biogenesis depends on its secondary and tertiary structures. Despite rapidly evolving, ITS2 is under evolutionary constraints to maintain the specific secondary struc...

Night shift work increases risk of metabolic disorders, particularly obesity and insulin resistance. While the underlying mechanisms are unknown, evidence points to misalignment of peripheral oscillators causing metabolic disturbances. A pathway conv...

The involvement of calcium-dependent cytosolic phospholipase A2α (cPLA2α) in aortic valve calcification is not exhaustively elucidated. Here, cPLA2α expression in aortic valve interstitial cell (AVIC) pro-calcific cultures simulatin...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a severe autoimmune disorder characterized by vasculopathy and multi-organ fibrosis; its etiology and pathogenesis are still largely unknown. Herpesvirus infections, particularly by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and human h...

Rocuronium is an aminosteroid nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocker that is widely used for anesthesia and intensive care. In this study, we investigated the effect of rocuronium on human platelet functions in vitro. The effects of rocuronium on plat...

The introduction of CDK4/6 inhibitors in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) represents the most relevant advance in the management of hormone receptor (HR) positive, HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer over the last few years. This meta-analy...

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a subset of seronegative rheumatic-related autoimmune diseases that consist of ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic spondylitis (PsA), reactive spondylitis (re-SpA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated spondylitis...

Constant remodeling of tight junctions to regulate trans-epithelial permeability is essential in maintaining intestinal barrier functions and thus preventing diffusion of small molecules and bacteria to host systemic circulation. Gut microbiota dysbi...

Environmental factors contribute to autoimmune disease manifestation, and as regarded today, AhR has become an important factor in studies of immunomodulation. Besides immunological aspects, AhR also plays a role in pharmacological, toxicological and...

The K⁺ channel interacting proteins (KChIPs) are a family of cytosolic proteins that interact with Kv4 channels, leading to higher current density, modulation of channel inactivation and faster recovery from inactivation. Using immunohistochemical te...

Neurodegenerative proteinopathies are complex diseases that share some pathogenetic processes. One of these is the failure of the proteostasis network (PN), which includes all components involved in the synthesis, folding, and degradation of proteins...

The adsorption of biomolecules on biomaterial surfaces can promote their integration with surrounding tissue without changing their bulk properties. For biomaterials in bone reconstruction, the promotion of osteogenic differentiation and reduction of...

Background: SRY-related HMG-box 10 (SOX-10) is commonly expressed in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, data on the biological significance of SOX-10 expression is limited. Therefore, we investigated immunhistological SOX-10 expression in...

Clopidogrel is increasingly being used for the secondary prevention of ischemic stroke according to the updated guidelines on acute stroke management. Failure to achieve a drug response is referred to as clopidogrel resistance. Similarly, a higher ac...

Exposure to mild early-life stresses can slow down aging, and protein phosphorylation might be an essential regulator in this process. However, the mechanisms of phosphorylation-based signaling networks during mild early-life stress remain elusive. H...

Several signaling pathways are aberrantly activated in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), including the Hedgehog-Gli (HH-GLI), WNT, EGFR, and NOTCH pathways. The HH-GLI pathway has mostly been investigated in the context of canonical sign...

In this review, applications of various molecular modelling methods in the study of estrogens and xenoestrogens are summarized. Selected biomolecules that are the most commonly chosen as molecular modelling objects in this field are presented. In mos...

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is a global pandemic with increasing incidence and mortality rates. Recent evidence based on the cytokine profiles of severe COVID-19...

Alcohol addiction is a leading risk factor for personal death and disability. In 2016, alcohol use caused 2.2% of female deaths and 6.8% of male deaths, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were 2.3% in female and 8.9% in male. Individuals with...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease, predicted to increase in incidence year by year due to an ageing population. Due to the biological complexity of the disease, OA remains highly heterogeneous. Although much work has b...

Receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) induces generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which act as second messengers in RANKL-mediated osteoclastogenesis. Dual oxidase maturation factor 1 (Duoxa1) has been associated wit...

Seminal plasma (SP) is the natural environment for spermatozoa and contains a number of components, especially proteins important for successful sperm maturation and fertilization. Nevertheless, in standard frozen stallion insemination doses producti...

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, whose progression and stability are modulated, among other factors, by an innate and adaptive immune response. Prodiginines are bacterial secondary metabolites with antiproliferative and immunomodula...

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients develop a severe form of the disease when the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene is affected by nonsense mutations. Nonsense mutations are responsible for the presence of a premature terminat...

We have previously reported the fabrication of a polycaprolactone and hydroxyapatite composite scaffold incorporating growth factors to be used for bone regeneration. Two growth factors were incorporated employing a multilayered coating based on poly...

A review of the data on the modulatory action of adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP), the main co-transmitter with acetylcholine, and adenosine, the final ATP metabolite in the synaptic cleft, on neuromuscular transmission is presented. The effects...

The transitioning of cells during the systemic demise of an organism is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence that organismal death is accompanied by a common and sequential molecular flood of stress-induced events that propagate the senescenc...

High altitude (hypobaric hypoxia) triggers several mechanisms to compensate for the decrease in oxygen bioavailability. One of them is pulmonary artery vasoconstriction and its subsequent pulmonary arterial remodeling. These changes can lead to pulmo...

Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 (rhBMP-2) is one of the most potent osteogenic factors used to treat bone loss. However, at higher doses, rhBMP-2 does not necessarily increase bone formation but rather increases the incidence of advers...

The pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for male subfertility/infertility caused by or complicated by genital heat stress remains unclear in many respects. Because seminal plasma creates the environment for the proper functioning of spermatozoa...

The fabrication of 3D microstructures is under continuous development for engineering bone substitutes. Collagen/chitosan (Col/CT) blends emerge as biomaterials that meet the mechanical and biological requirements associated with bone tissue. In this...

Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris) is an economically important leaf vegetable crop worldwide. Mounting studies have shown that cysteine-cysteine-cysteine-histidine (CCCH) zinc-finger protein genes are involved in various plant growth and developm...

Animal and human mechanistic studies have consistently shown an association between obesity and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD, a degenerative brain disease, is the most common cause of dementia and is characterized by the presence of extracellul...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a painful and debilitating disease characterized by the chronic and progressive degradation of articular cartilage. Post-traumatic OA (PTOA) is a secondary form of OA that develops in ~50% of cases of severe articular injury. I...

Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease caused predominantly by Bordetella pertussis, but it also comprises of a pertussis-like illness caused by B. holmesii. The virulence factors of B. holmesii and their role in the pathogenesis remain unknow...

Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (AC) is an inherited cardiac disease characterized by a progressive fibro-fatty replacement of the working myocardium and by life-threatening arrhythmias and risk of sudden cardiac death. Pathogenic variants are identifi...

Respiratory and pulmonary diseases are among the leading causes of death globally. Despite tremendous advancements, there are no effective pharmacological therapies capable of curing diseases such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), ARDS...

Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is a premalignant condition caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), where physiological squamous epithelium is replaced by columnar epithelium. Several in vivo and in vitro BE models were developed with questi...

Wharton’s jelly-derived mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) are a valuable tool in stem cell research due to their high proliferation rate, multi-lineage differentiation potential, and immunotolerance properties. However, fibroblast impurity durin...

We previously demonstrated that clinical administration of mobilized CD133⁺ bone marrow stem cells (BMSC) accelerates hepatic regeneration. Here, we investigated the potential of platelets to modulate CD133⁺BMSC homing to hepatic endothelial cells an...

Plants adjust their architecture to a constantly changing environment, requiring adaptation of differential growth. Despite their importance, molecular switches, which define growth transitions, are largely unknown. Apical hook development in dark gr...

Graphene oxide (GO) derivatives are reported as a valid alternative to conventional carriers of therapeutic agents, because they have a large surface area, an excellent electrical and thermal conductivity and a great capacity for selective binding of...

Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) affect 1 in 3000 people worldwide. There are more than 150 different types of NMDs, where the common feature is the loss of muscle strength. These disorders are classified according to their neuroanatomical location, as...

High-throughput and large-scale measurements of chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) are of great interest to investigate the photosynthetic performance of plants in the field. Here, we tested the capability to rapidly, precisely, and simultaneously est...

Scaffolds are important to tissue regeneration and engineering because they can sustain the continuous release of various cell types and provide a location where new bone-forming cells can attach and propagate. Scaffolds produced from diverse process...

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) are the spectrum of severe epilepsies characterized by early-onset, refractory seizures occurring in the context of developmental regression or plateauing. Early infantile epileptic encephalopathy (...

The sensitizing effect of chromone-derived compounds on UVC-induced proliferation inhibition has not been comprehensively investigated so far. The subject of this study was to examine the proliferation change of oral cancer cells while using the comb...

Steady hematopoiesis is essential for lifelong production of all mature blood cells. Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) found in the bone marrow ensure hematopoietic homeostasis in an organism. Failure of this complex process, which invo...

We analyzed five miRNA molecules (miR-221; miR-222; miR-146b; miR-21; miR-181b) in the plasma of patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), nodular goiter (NG) and healthy controls (HC) and evaluated their diagnostic value for differentiation of P...

B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas (B-NHLs) are often characterized by the development of resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs and/or relapse. During drug-induced apoptosis, Yin Yang 1 (YY1) transcription factor might modulate the expression of apoptotic r...