Dietary and toxicity exposure of emerging persistent organic pollutants to human health through consumption of cereal crops from Pakistan

There is a lack of scientific literature regarding the bioaccumulation, dietary, and toxicity exposure of emerging persistent organic pollutants through food crops. The current mini-review presents the dietary intake, spatial distribution pattern, and screening-levels risk assessment of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the cereal crops and environmental compartments from Punjab Province, Pakistan. Results of congener specific analysis were in accordance to the previously reported pattern of detected POPs across the globe. Spatial distribution was influenced by the industrial and urban fraction and trend of spatial distribution pattern was observed as follows: industrial/urban areas > industrial/peri-urban areas > agricultural/rural areas. Dietary intake of Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) via consumption of cereal crops was observed higher and was in accordance to the previously reported levels while human health was at marginal risk to cancer. The results of dietary and toxicity exposure of detected POPs warrant auxiliary devotion in future, to this group of contaminants.     

Novel delivery systems for interferons

Interferons, IFNs, are among the most widely studied and clinically used biopharmaceuticals. Despite their invaluable therapeutic roles, the widespread use of IFNs suffers from some inherent limitations, mainly their relatively short circulation lifespan and their unwanted effects on some non-target tissues. Therefore, both these constraints have become the central focus points for the research efforts on the development of a variety of novel delivery systems for these therapeutic agents with the ultimate goal of improving their therapeutic end-points. Generally, the delivery systems currently under investigation for IFNs can be classified as particulate delivery systems, including micro- and nano-particles, liposomes, minipellets, cellular carriers, and non-particulate delivery systems, including PEGylated IFNs, other chemically conjugated IFNs, immunoconjugated IFNs, and genetically conjugated IFNs. All these strategies and techniques have their own possibilities and limitations, which should be taken into account when considering their clinical application. In this article, currently studied delivery systems/techniques for IFN delivery have been reviewed extensively, with the main focus on the pharmacokinetic consequences of each procedure.     

Carbon nanotube/polyurethane modified hollow fiber‐pencil graphite electrode for in situ concentration and electrochemical quantification of anticancer drugs Capecitabine and Erlotinib

A sensitive electrochemical sensor has been designed for in situ preconcentration and determination of anticancer drugs Capecitabine (CPT) and Erlotinib hydrochloride (ETHC) based on a pencil graphite electrode modified with multivalued carbon nanotube—polyurethane (MWCNT‐PUFIX) nanocomposite that was supported with a piece of polypropylene hollow fiber (HF‐PGE). The electrochemical behavior of CPT and ETHC on the MWCNT‐PUFIX/HF‐PGE modified electrode was investigated by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques and the obtained results confirmed its efficiency for sensing of CPT and ETHC. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscope. After optimization of some effective parameters on the method efficiency including pH, nanocomposite amount, the type of organic solvent, scan rate and the effect of some additives, the mentioned sensor presented suitable results for determination of CPT and ETHC with the linear ranges from 7.70 to 142.00 μM and 0.11 to 23.50 μM and detection limits of 0.11 and 0.02 μM, respectively. Also, the fabricated sensor has shown good performance in analysis of CPT and ETHC in biological samples.     

Focal Adhesion Kinase Plays a Role in Osteoblast Mechanotransduction In Vitro but Does Not Affect Load-Induced Bone Formation In Vivo

A healthy skeleton relies on bone''s ability to respond to external mechanical forces. The molecular mechanisms by which bone cells sense and convert mechanical stimuli into biochemical signals, a process known as mechanotransduction, are unclear. Focal adhesions play a critical role in cell survival, migration and sensing physical force. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a non-receptor protein tyrosine kinase that controls focal adhesion dynamics and can mediate reparative bone formation in vivo and osteoblast mechanotransduction in vitro. Based on these data, we hypothesized that FAK plays a role in load-induced bone formation. To test this hypothesis, we performed in vitro fluid flow experiments and in vivo bone loading studies in FAK−/− clonal lines and conditional FAK knockout mice, respectively. FAK−/− osteoblasts showed an ablated prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) response to fluid flow shear. This effect was reversed with the re-expression of wild-type FAK. Re-expression of FAK containing site-specific mutations at Tyr-397 and Tyr-925 phosphorylation sites did not rescue the phenotype, suggesting that these sites are important in osteoblast mechanotransduction. Interestingly, mice in which FAK was conditionally deleted in osteoblasts and osteocytes did not exhibit altered load-induced periosteal bone formation. Together these data suggest that although FAK is important in mechanically-induced signaling in osteoblasts in vitro, it is not required for an adaptive response in vivo, possibly due to a compensatory mechanism that does not exist in the cell culture system.     

Gastric cancer biomarkers; A systems biology approach

Gastric cancer is one of the most fatal cancers in the world. Many efforts in recent years have attempted to find effective proteins in gastric cancer. By using a comprehensive list of proteins involved in gastric cancer, scientists were able to retrieve interaction information. The study of protein-protein interaction networks through systems biology based analysis provides appropriate strategies to discover candidate proteins and key biological pathways.In this study, we investigated dominant functional themes and centrality parameters including betweenness as well as the degree of each topological clusters and expressionally active sub-networks in the resulted network. The results of functional analysis on gene sets showed that neurotrophin signaling pathway, cell cycle and nucleotide excision possess the strongest enrichment signals. According to the computed centrality parameters, HNF4A, TAF1 and TP53 manifested as the most significant nodes in the interaction network of the engaged proteins in gastric cancer. This study also demonstrates pathways and proteins that are applicable as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for future attempts to overcome gastric cancer.     

Diet and cancer prevention: Dietary compounds,dietary MicroRNAs,and dietary exosomes

Cancer is one of main health public problems worldwide. Several factors are involved in beginning and development of cancer. Genetic and internal/external environmental factors can be as important agents that effect on emerging and development of several cancers. Diet and nutrition may be as one of important factors in prevention or treatment of various cancers. A large number studies indicated that suitable dietary patterns may help to cancer prevention or could inhibit development of tumor in cancer patients. Moreover, a large numbers studies indicated that a variety of dietary compounds such as curcumin, green tea, folat, selenium, and soy isoflavones show a wide range anti‐cancer properties. It has been showed that these compounds via targeting a sequence of cellular and molecular pathways could be used as suitable options for cancer chemoprevention and cancer therapy. Recently, dietary microRNAs and exosomes have been emerged as attractive players in cancer prevention and cancer therapy. These molecules could change behavior of cancer cells via targeting various cellular and molecular pathways involved in cancer pathogenesis. Hence, the utilization of dietary compounds which are associated with powerful molecules such as microRNAs and exosomes and put them in dietary patterns could contribute to prevention or treatment of various cancers. Here, we summarized various studies that assessed effect of dietary patterns on cancer prevention shortly. Moreover, we highlighted the utilization of dietary compounds, dietary microRNAs, and dietary exosomes and their cellular and molecular pathways in cancer chemoprevention.     

Evaluation of qualitative traits in modified Iranian Red Rey onion and comparison genetic resistance with primary mass selection and Red Azar-shahr cv to Fusarium oxysporum using laboratory and molecular markers

Molecular Biology Reports - The bulb onion (Allium cepa L.) is grown on all continents except Antarctica, and is prized by essentially all of the world's cultures for its flavor and...     

Impact of chicken-origin cells on adaptation of a low pathogenic influenza virus

Understanding the growth dynamics of influenza viruses is an essential step in virus replication and cell-adaptation. The aim of this study was to elucidate the growth kinetic of a low pathogenic avian influenza H9N2 subtype in chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) and chicken tracheal epithelial (CTE) cells during consecutive passages. An egg-adapted H9N2 virus was seeded into both cell culture systems. The amount of infectious virus released into the cell culture supernatants at interval times post-infection were titered and plaque assayed. The results as well as cell viability results indicate that the infectivity of the influenza virus was different among these primary cells. The egg-adapted H9N2 virus featured higher infectivity in CTE than in CEF cells. After serial passages and plaque purifications of the virus, a CTE cell-adapted strain was generated which carried amino acid substitutions within the HA stem region. The strain showed faster replication kinetics in cell culture resulting in an increase in virus titer. Overall, the present study provides the impact of cell type, multiplicity of infection, cellular protease roles in virus infectivity and finally molecular characterization during H9N2 virus adaptation procedure.     

DNA-binding affinity,cytotoxicity, apoptosis,cell cycle inhibition and molecular docking studies of a new stilbene derivative

Stilbene derivatives have been found to possess promising anticancer activities against human cancer cell lines in vitro. In the present study, we have investigated cytotoxic, apoptosis induction and DNA binding activity of new stilbene derivative, (E)-1-(4-Chlorophenyl)-4,5-diphenyl-2-[4-(4-methoxystryl)phenyl]-1H-imidazol (STIM) on K562 chronic myeloid leukemia cell line. Via MTT assay STIM demonstrated cytotoxic activity against K562 cell line with IC₅₀ value of 150?µM. Apoptosis, as the mechanism of cell death, was evaluated by morphological study and flow cytometric analysis. In vitro DNA binding property of STIM has been studied by vital spectroscopic techniques, which indicated that STIM interact with ctDNA through groove binding mode and binding constant (K_b) was estimated to be 6.9?×?10⁴?M^?1. Docking studies revealed that hydrophobic is the most important interaction in STIM-DNA complex, and that the ligand (STIM) interacts with DNA via groove binding mode and the bindiyspng energy was calculated as ?13.37?kcal/mol. Taken together, the present study suggests that STIM exhibits anticancer effect on K562 cell line through the induction of apoptosis as well as cell cycle arrest at Sub-G1 phase and also can bind to double helix DNA in vitro.