Mechanistic Insight on Autophagy Modulated Molecular Pathways in Cerebral Ischemic Injury: From Preclinical to Clinical Perspective

Neurochemical Research - Cerebral ischemia is one of the most devastating brain injuries and a primary cause of acquired and persistent disability worldwide. Despite ongoing therapeutic...     

Upregulation of CD271 transcriptome in breast cancer promotes cell survival via NFκB pathway

Molecular Biology Reports - Biological treatment of many cancers currently targets membrane bound receptors located on a cell surface. We are in a great to need identify novel membrane proteins...     

Systematic analysis of HD-ZIP transcription factors in sesame genome and gene expression profiling of SiHD-ZIP class I entailing drought stress responses at early seedling stage

Molecular Biology Reports - Sesame is an ancient oilseed crop, known for its high oil content and quality. Its sensitivity to drought at early seedling stage is one of the limiting factors...     

Nitrification Inhibitor and Plant Growth Regulators Improve Wheat Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - The field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of applying urea with nitrification inhibitor (NI) (Nitrapyrine) alone or in combination with...     

An Eye-Shaped Ultra-Sensitive Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance–Based Biochemical Sensor

Plasmonics - This research illustrates a parametric study based on surface plasmon resonance of a slightly gold-coated photonic crystal fiber (PCF). In verifying sensing accuracy, the proposed...     

Riluzole is a radio‐sensitizing agent in an in vivo model of brain metastasis derived from GRM1 expressing human melanoma cells

Approximately 50% of patients having metastatic melanoma develop brain metastases during the course of their illness. Evidence exists that melanoma cells have increased aptitude for the repair of sublethal DNA damage caused by ionizing radiation therapy. To address the radio‐resistance of melanoma, many groups adopted radiotherapy schedules that deliver larger daily fractions of radiation, but due to the risk of neurotoxicity, these large fractions cannot be delivered to the whole brain for patients with brain metastases. Here, we used orthotopic implanted GRM1 expressing human melanoma cell xenografts in mice, to demonstrate that animals receiving concurrent glutamate signaling blockade (riluzole) and radiation led to a decrease in intracranial tumor growth compared to either modality alone. These preclinical results suggest riluzole may cause radio‐sensitization that offers enhanced efficacy for a subset of human melanoma patients undergoing radiotherapy for brain metastasis.     

Targeting Apoptosis and Multiple Signaling Pathways with Icariside II in Cancer Cells

Cancer is the second leading cause of deaths worldwide. Despite concerted efforts to improve the current therapies, the prognosis of cancer remains dismal. Highly selective or specific blocking of only one of the signaling pathways has been associated with limited or sporadic responses. Using targeted agents to inhibit multiple signaling pathways has emerged as a new paradigm for anticancer treatment. Icariside II, a flavonol glycoside, is one of the major components of Traditional Chinese Medicine Herba epimedii and possesses multiple biological and pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, anti-osteoporosis, anti-oxidant, anti-aging, and anticancer activities. Recently, the anticancer activity of Icariside II has been extensively investigated. Here, in this review, our aim is to give our perspective on the current status of Icariside II, and discuss its natural sources, anticancer activity, molecular targets and the mechanisms of action with specific emphasis on apoptosis pathways which may help the further design and conduct of preclinical and clinical trials.Icariside II has been found to induce apoptosis in various human cancer cell lines of different origin by targeting multiple signaling pathways including STAT3, PI3K/AKT, MAPK/ERK, COX-2/PGE2 and β-Catenin which are frequently deregulated in cancers, suggesting that this collective activity rather than just a single effect may play an important role in developing Icariside II into a potential lead compound for anticancer therapy. This review suggests that Icariside II provides a novel opportunity for treatment of cancers, but additional investigations and clinical trials are still required to fully understand the mechanism of therapeutic effects to further validate it in anti-tumor therapy.