Biomolecules, Volume 10, Issue 11

The bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) is a multi-subunit protein complex (α2ββ’ω σ) containing the smallest subunit, ω. Although identified early in RNAP research, its function remained ambiguous and shrouded wit...

Homeobox A9 (HOXA9) expression is associated with the aggressive growth of cancer cells and poor prognosis in lung cancer. Previously, we showed that HOXA9 can serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lun...

Heart Failure (HF) is a syndrome, which implies the existence of different phenotypes. The new categorization includes patients with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), mid-range EF (HFmrEF), and reduced EF (HFrEF) but the molecular mechanisms invol...

Studies in recent years have shown increased interest in developing new methods of evaluation, but also in limiting post infarction ventricular remodeling, hoping to improve ventricular function and the further evolution of the patient. This is the p...

Current understanding of fibrosis remains incomplete despite the increasing burden of related diseases. Preclinical models are used to dissect the pathogenesis and dynamics of fibrosis, and to evaluate anti-fibrotic therapies. These studies require o...

Protein phosphorylation is a post-translational modification essential for the control of the activity of most enzymes in the cell. This protein modification results from a fine-tuned balance between kinases and phosphatases. PP2A is one of the major...

Increasing evidence shows that cadmium (Cd) toxicity causes severe perturbations on growth performance, physio-biochemical and molecular processes in crop plants. Molybdenum (Mo), an essential trace element, plays key roles in oxidative stress tolera...

Changes in retinal microcirculation are associated with the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, it is unclear whether such changes also develop in capillary beds of other non-retinal tissues. Here, we investigated microcirculatory chan...

Transition metals interact with a large proportion of the proteome in all forms of life, and they play mandatory and irreplaceable roles. The dynamics of ligand binding to ions of transition metals falls within the realm of Coordination Chemistry, an...

For many research aspects on small non-coding RNAs, especially microRNAs, computational tools and databases are developed. This includes quantification of miRNAs, piRNAs, tRNAs and tRNA fragments, circRNAs and others. Furthermore, the prediction of n...

In epilepsy research, emphasis is put on exploring non-neuronal targets such as astrocytic proteins, since many patients remain pharmacoresistant to current treatments, which almost all target neuronal mechanisms. This paper reviews available data on...

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been increasingly used in medicine with applications in many different fields ranging from orthopaedics and tumours to cardiovascular disease. Realistic 3D models can be printed with different materials to replicat...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss among working-age adults. Extensive evidences have documented that oxidative stress mediates a critical role in the pathogenesis of DR. Acrolein, a product of polyamines oxidation and lipi...

Neonatal sepsis is a life-threatening condition and Staphylococcus aureus is one of its major causes. However, to date, no rapid and sensitive diagnostic tool has been developed for its direct detection. Bioinformatics analyses identified a surface-e...

The Blm10/PA200 family of proteasome activators modulates the peptidase activity of the core particle (20S CP). They participate in opening the 20S CP gate, thus facilitating the degradation of unstructured proteins such as tau and Dnm1 in a ubiquiti...

Background and purpose: Identifying the macromolecular targets of drug molecules is a fundamental aspect of drug discovery and pharmacology. Several drugs remain without known targets (orphan) despite large-scale in silico and in vitro target predict...

Microalgae are rich in nutrients and biologically active substances such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, pigments, phycobiliproteins, among others. The lipid composition of the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, Arthrospira platensis, and D...

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is limited by glucose-mediated peritoneal membrane (PM) fibrosis, angiogenesis, and ultrafiltration failure. Influencing PM integrity by pharmacologically targeting sodium-dependent glucose transporter (SGLT)-mediated glucose...

Peptide oligomerization dynamics affects peptide structure, activity, and pharmacodynamic properties. The thrombin C-terminal peptide, TCP-25 (GKYGFYTHVFRLKKWIQKVIDQFGE), is currently in preclinical development for improved wound healing and infectio...

Extracts from the defatted evening primrose (Oenothera paradoxa Hudziok) seeds are the source of a range of stable polyphenolic compounds, including ellagic acid, gallic acid, and catechin. Our studies evaluate, for the first time, the influence of e...

The potential therapeutic use of some Cannabis sativa plant compounds has been attracting great interest, especially for managing neuropsychiatric disorders due to the relative lack of efficacy of the current treatments. Numerous studies have been ca...

Background: The pathological features of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) tissues include an eosinophilic infiltration pattern (eosinophilic CRS (ECRS)) or a less eosinophilic pattern (non-ECRS). Recently, it has been suggested...

The number of people with dementia is increasing rapidly due to the increase in the aging population. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a type of neurodegenerative dementia caused by the accumulation of abnormal proteins. Genetic mutations, smoking,...

Ranunculus muricatus L. is a spiny fruit buttercup that is used in various traditional medicinal systems. In the current investigation of R. muricatus, the new chalcone 4-benzyloxylonchocarpin (1), the new anthraquinone muracatanes A (2), the new-to-...

The increasing detection of infections of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of Chagas disease, in non-endemic regions beyond Latin America has risen to be a major public health issue. With an impact in the millions of people, current treatment...

In the context of modern drug discovery, there is an obvious advantage to designing phenotypic bioassays based on human disease-relevant cells that express disease-relevant markers. The specific aim of the study was to develop a convenient and reliab...

Patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The underlying mechanism of AKI-induced heart injury is not well-understood. Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), at physiological concentrations, has been implicated in car...

Natural products have a significant role in drug discovery. Natural products have distinctive chemical structures that have contributed to identifying and developing drugs for different therapeutic areas. Moreover, natural products are significant so...

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are short peptides that are able to efficiently penetrate cellular lipid bilayers. Although CPPs have been used as carriers in conjugation with certain cargos to target specific genes and pathways, how rationally desi...

Mitochondria are important sites for a variety of cellular processes, including amino acid and fatty acid metabolism, the citric acid cycle, nitrogen metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation to produce ATP [...]

Mitochondria are constantly subjected to stressful conditions due to their unique physiology and organization. The resulting damage leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, which underlies many pathophysiological conditions. Hence, constant surveillance i...

Sensitive factor attachment protein receptors (SNARE) proteins are important mediators of protein trafficking that regulate the membrane fusion of specific vesicle populations and their target organelles. The SNARE protein Ykt6 lacks a transmembrane...

Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex process through which epithelial (E) cells lose their adherens junctions, transform into mesenchymal (M) cells and attain motility, leading to metastasis at distant organs. Nowadays, the concept of...

Juvenile delinquency is related to several biological factors, yet very few vulnerability biomarkers have been identified. Previous data suggest that the enzyme monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) influences several personality traits linked to the propensit...

Chronic dietary ingestion of suitable phytochemicals may assist with limiting or negating neurodegenerative decline. Current therapeutics used to treat Alzheimer disease elicit broad adverse drug reactions, and alternative sources of cholinesterase i...

Maintenance of genome stability is a crucial priority for any organism. To meet this priority, robust signalling networks exist to facilitate error-free DNA replication and repair. These signalling cascades are subject to various regulatory post-tran...

The changing accessibility of nutrient resources induces the reprogramming of cellular metabolism in order to adapt the cell to the altered growth conditions. The nutrient-depending signaling depends on the kinases mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamyc...

The Gram-negative bacterium Yersinia pestis causes plague, a fatal flea-borne anthropozoonosis, which can progress to aerosol-transmitted pneumonia. Y. pestis overcomes the innate immunity of its host thanks to many pathogenicity factors, including p...

The bright ultimately short lifetime enhanced emitter (BrUSLEE) green fluorescent protein, which differs from the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in three mutations, exhibits an extremely short fluorescence lifetime at a relatively high bri...

Deregulated epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is a key feature in different stages of oncogenesis. One important mechanism whereby cancer cells achieve increased and uncontrolled EGFR signaling is escaping down-modulation of the recep...

In this paper, the production and the characterization of poly (lactic) acid (PLA)-based composites containing different amounts (from 10 wt.% to 25 wt.%) of ultra-short cellulose fibers (Arbocel 600 BE/PU) have been investigated. On the basis of a p...

Root development is regulated by the tripeptide glutathione (GSH), a strong non-enzymatic antioxidant found in plants but with a poorly understood function in roots. Here, Arabidopsis mutants deficient in GSH biosynthesis (cad2, rax1, and rml1) and p...

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of regulated cell death, arising from the accumulation of lipid-based reactive oxygen species when glutathione-dependent repair systems are compromised. Lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial impairment and iron dysho...

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a disabling common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). Thrombin, a coagulation factor, is increased in DM and affects nerve function via its G-protein coupled protease activated receptor 1 (PAR1). Methods:...

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of global mortality, which has caused a huge burden on the quality of human life. Therefore, experimental animal models of CVD have become essential tools for analyzing the pathogenesis, developing dr...

Chronic exposure of β-cells to nutrient-rich metabolic stress impairs mitochondrial metabolism and its coupling to insulin secretion. We exposed isolated human islets to different metabolic stresses for 3 days: 0.4 mM oleate or 0.4 mM palmitate at ph...

Signal transduction utilizing membrane-spanning receptors and cytoplasmic regulator proteins is a fundamental process for all living organisms, but quantitative studies of the behavior of signaling proteins, such as their diffusion within a cell, are...

Steroid hormone levels are associated with estrous behavior, which affects timely mating and reproductive efficiency in pigs. 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 14 (HSD17B14) modulates steroid synthesis and metabolism. To identify the functio...

The advantage of natural compounds is their lower number of side-effects when compared to most synthetic substances. Therefore, over the past several decades, the interest in naturally occurring compounds is increasing in the search for new potent dr...

Hydroxycinnamic acids represent a versatile group of dietary plant antioxidants. Oxidation of methyl-p-coumarate (pcm) and methyl caffeate (cm) was previously found to yield potent antitumor metabolites. Here, we report the formation of potentially b...