Biology and Life Sciences Forum, Volume 21, 2023

Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) cells have the proliferative potential and ability to differentiate into numerous cell types [...]

Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an aggressive cancer, with over half of patients presenting with metastatic PDAC at diagnosis. Most patients receive conventional chemotherapy which invariably faces resistance, and a key facilitator in this...

Lactobacillaceae are Gram-positive and lactic acid-positive (LAB) bacteria that frequently serve as probiotics. LAB strains vary in their responses to different carbohydrates as free-living and biofilm communities. We previously found that fermentabl...

The neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM is known to mediate cell–to–cell and cell–to–extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion via homophilic and heterophilic interactions. During brain development, NCAM and the associated glycan, po...

Endocytic recycling controls the return of internalised cargos to the plasma membrane to coordinate their positioning, availability and downstream signalling. The Rab4 and Rab11 small GTPase families regulate distinct recycling routes, broadly classi...

The effect of the homocysteine toxicity on both mother and embryo is known to induce disruption of placental blood flow and disturbances of the brain formation in offspring. The mechanisms of these effects are poorly understood and should be studied....

Current advances in molecular profiling methodologies and the accessibility of multi-omics datasets are paving the way toward a better understanding of heterogeneous diseases, including breast cancer (BC). In this regard, we sought to uncover the tra...

The biological activity of retinoic acid or all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is mediated by retinoic receptors, which are ligand-dependent transcription factors that activate genes crucial for cell differentiation. Dysregulations of retinoic receptor s...

Mutations in genes encoding nuclear envelope (NE) proteins, despite being rare, represent a major threat to cell homeostasis by compromising nuclear integrity and function as well as nucleocytoplasmic communication. In the last decade, several diseas...

Mitochondrial pathologies are clinically composite and show highly variable phenotypes amongst all inherited disorders, mainly due to their heteroplasmic nature. Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and the nuclear genome (gDNA), or both, have been...

The pathology of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD) is still poorly understood, but it is multifactorial and closely related to changes with aging. We developed a cellular platform for collecting skin fibroblasts or blood cells from LOAD pat...

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the female population. The prolonged action of estrogen may affect tumor proliferation. Additionally, a fat-rich diet may have various effects on cancer proliferation, depending on the type of fat. Vitami...

Metabolic disorders, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D) and metabolic syndrome, have been implicated in breast cancer (BC) progression. In this regard, insulin has been shown to promote mitogenic and metastatic responses in BC through diverse sig...

Intra-tumor heterogeneity (ITH) poses a major obstacle in cancer therapy. In colorectal cancer (CRC), mutations in the transforming growth factor-β/bone morphogenetic protein (TGF-β/BMP) pathway, especially in the SMAD4 gene, have been corr...

Despite advances in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying prostate cancer progression, the development of effective therapeutic approaches remains a major challenge. In this context, the protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) and its complexes have...

The aim of this work is to discuss the necessity to strongly modify the powerful well-acknowledged cell theory by taking into account the recently discovered universal cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). In a great breakthrough, EVs are now kn...

Stimulation of the skin and muscles in the field of acupuncture and moxibustion has been shown to increase local blood flow and metabolism or maintain the body in a sustained healthy state. However, little is known about cellular structural changes i...

In diabetic retinopathy (DR), Müller cell gliosis contributes to retinal degeneration and inflammation. In this context, we highlight annexin A1 (AnxA1), an anti-inflammatory protein able to regulate neurodegeneration and angiogenesis; however,...

Liver disease is an escalating global health issue. While liver transplantation is an effective mode of therapy, patient mortality has increased due to the shortage of donor organs. Therefore, developing renewable sources of human liver tissue is att...

Emerging techniques in organelle structural biology have revolutionized our understanding of disease mechanisms and opened new possibilities for developing targeted therapies. In particular, dysfunctions of the Golgi apparatus (GA) have been implicat...

Following translocation into the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER), secretory proteins undergo a series of folding, maturation, compartmentalization and trafficking events. These are finely tuned to avoid misfolded protein accumulation and the consequ...

Aging is accompanied by a progressive decrease in skeletal muscle mass and function. This process is characterized by the decrease of sex steroid hormone levels due to andropause and menopause. The axis androgens/androgen receptor (AR) sustains muscl...

The modified phenanthridine PJ34 blocks the post-translational modifications of specific proteins highly expressed in human malignant cells. This exclusively arrests mitosis in human malignant cells by inserting flaws in their mitotic spindle structu...

Oxidative stress is a common mechanism in the cytotoxicity of cisplatin, a widely used antineoplastic agent related to hepatotoxicity. In this context, we highlight galectin-3 (Gal-3), a β-galactoside-binding protein that regulates the inflammat...

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as diclofenac (DCF), are detected in water bodies all over the world. Their presence in water environments pose a serious threat to non-target plant organisms, including unicellular green algae. To...

P16INK4A is a tumor suppressor and cell cycle regulator that has been linked to aging and senescence. In development, a potential role of p21 and of p19ARF has been postulated, but little is known about p16. Our previous results revealed a highly dyn...

The past few decades have seen an increasing number of both space travels and studies aimed at investigating the effects induced by space flights and the environment on humans. One of the main features of these conditions is the presence of altered g...

One of the hallmarks of microgravity-induced alterations in several cell models is an alteration in oxidative balance. Notably, male germ cells, sensitive to oxidative stress, have also been shown susceptibility to changes in gravitational force. To...

More than 30% of all human malignancies are brought about by mutations in RAS proto-oncogenes (HRAS, KRAS, and NRAS) that are greatly conserved in yeast RAS1 and RAS2. This makes yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) an efficient single-celled eukaryotic...

The nerve-growth factor (NGF) was initially identified as a promoter of neuronal survival and differentiation. As such, it has captured the interest of neurobiologists for a long time. Nowadays, NGF is considered a multifaceted molecule with pleiotro...

Metabolic dysregulation harms brain health. Early-life (pre- and perinatal) dysmetabolic stimuli have been demonstrated to affect central nervous system (CNS), multigenerationally impairing brain plasticity and cognitive functions in adult offsprings...

One of the most important hazards of the space environment is microgravity, which causes an alteration in the physiology of different systems, including the reproductive one. It is widely accepted that cytoskeleton is the microgravity-sensitive appar...

Prostate cancer (PC) is one of the most widespread malignancies among males worldwide. The androgen receptor (AR) drives its development and progression and still represents the main target of PC therapy. Second-generation antiandrogens have, indeed,...