Editors choice article: CRISPR/Cas9-based Gene Therapies for Fighting Drug Resistance Mediated by Cancer Stem Cells

Author(s): Masoumeh Eliyasi Dashtaki and Sorayya Ghasemi*

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are cancer-initiating cells found in most tumors and hematological cancers. CSCs are involved in cells progression, recurrence of tumors, and drug resistance. Current therapies have been focused on treating the mass of tumor cells and cannot eradicate the CSCs. CSCs drug-specific targeting is considered as an approach to precisely target these cells. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) gene-editing systems are making progress and showing promise in the cancer research field. One of the attractive applications of CRISPR/Cas9 as one approach of gene therapy is targeting the critical genes involved in drug resistance and maintenance of CSCs. The synergistic effects of gene editing as a novel gene therapy approach and traditional therapeutic methods, including chemotherapy, can resolve drug resistance challenges and regression of the cancers. This review article considers different aspects of CRISPR/Cas9 ability in the study and targeting of CSCs with the intention to investigate their application in drug resistance.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/3V2BTjK

Nanomedicine in Neuroscience: An Application Towards the Treatment of Various Neurological Diseases

Author(s):Vajagathali Mohammed, Iyshwarya Bhaskar Kalarani and Ramakrishnan Veerabathiran*

The effectiveness, cell viability, and selective delivery of medications and diagnostic substances to target organs, tissues, and organs are typical concerns in the care and prognosis of many illnesses. Neurological diseases pose complex challenges, as cerebral targeting represents a yet unresolved challenge in pharmacotherapy, owing to the blood-brain boundary, a densely compacted membrane of endothelial cells that prohibits undesired chemicals from reaching the brain. Engineered nanoparticles, with dimensions ranging from 1 to 100 nm, provide intriguing biomedical techniques that may allow for resolving these issues, including the ability to cross the bloodbrain barrier. It has substantially explored nanoparticles in the previous century, contributing to substantial progress in biomedical studies and medical procedures. Using many synthesized nanoparticles on the molecular level has given many potential gains in various domains of regenerative medicine, such as illness detection, cascaded cell treatment, tissue regeneration, medication, and gene editing. This review will encapsulate the novel developments of nanostructured components used in neurological diseases with an emphasis on the most recent discoveries and forecasts for the future of varied biological nanoparticles for tissue repair, drug inventions, and the synthesizing of the delivery mechanism.

Download and read: https://bit.ly/3ut3Ard

Infographics | All about Cloning

Shared by HayleyMoore

Category: Science

AIMS & SCOPE – Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy

Aims & Scope

Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy publishes high quality frontier reviews, drug clinical trial studies and guest edited issues on all aspects of basic research on stem cells and their uses in clinical therapy. The journal is essential reading for all researchers and clinicians involved in stem cells research

 

 

For more details, please visit: https://benthamscience.com/journals/current-stem-cell-research-and-therapy/aims-scope/#top

OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE – Moving to the Rhythm with Clock (Circadian) Genes, Autophagy, mTOR, and SIRT1 in Degenerative Disease and Cancer – Current Neurovascular Research

Journal: Current Neurovascular Research

Author(s):  Kenneth Maiese

Abstract:

Background: The mammalian circadian clock and its associated clock genes are increasingly been recognized as critical components for a number of physiological and disease processes that extend beyond hormone release, thermal regulation, and sleep-wake cycles. New evidence suggests that clinical behavior disruptions that involve prolonged shift work and even space travel may negatively impact circadian rhythm and lead to multi-system disease.

Methods: In light of the significant role circadian rhythm can hold over the body’s normal physiology as well as disease processes, we examined and discussed the impact circadian rhythm and clock genes hold over lifespan, neurodegenerative disorders, and tumorigenesis.

Results: In experimental models, lifespan is significantly reduced with the introduction of arrhythmic mutants and leads to an increase in oxidative stress exposure. Interestingly, patients with Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease may suffer disease onset or progression as a result of alterations in the DNA methylation of clock genes as well as prolonged pharmacological treatment for these disorders that may lead to impairment of circadian rhythm function. Tumorigenesis also can occur with the loss of a maintained circadian rhythm and lead to an increased risk for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, breast cancer, and metastatic colorectal cancer. Interestingly, the circadian clock system relies upon the regulation of the critical pathways of autophagy, the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK), and silent mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (SIRT1) as well as proliferative mechanisms that involve the wingless pathway of Wnt/β-catenin pathway to foster cell survival during injury and block tumor cell growth.

Conclusion: Future targeting of the pathways of autophagy, mTOR, SIRT1, and Wnt that control mammalian circadian rhythm may hold the key for the development of novel and effective therapies against aging- related disorders, neurodegenerative disease, and tumorigenesis.

Read more here: http://www.eurekaselect.com/154252

Most Accessed Article – Warming Up to New Possibilities with the Capsaicin Receptor TRPV1: mTOR, AMPK, and Erythropoietin – Current Neurovascular Research

Journal: Current Neurovascular Research

Author(s): Kenneth Maiese.

Abstract:

Background: Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a superfamily of ion channels termed after the trp gene in Drosophila that are diverse in structure and control a wide range of biological functions including cell development and growth, thermal regulation, and vascular physiology. Of significant interest is the transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) receptor, also known as the capsaicin receptor and the vanilloid receptor 1, that is a non-selective cation channel sensitive to a host of external stimuli including capsaicin and camphor, venoms, acid/basic pH changes, and temperature.

Methods: Given the multiple modalities that TRPV1 receptors impact in the body, we examined and discussed the role of these receptors in vasomotor control, metabolic disorders, cellular injury, oxidative stress, apoptosis, autophagy, and neurodegenerative disorders and their overlap with other signal transduction pathways that impact trophic factors.

Results: Surprisingly, TRPV1 receptors do not rely entirely upon calcium signaling to affect cellular biology, but also have a close relationship with the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK), and protein kinase B (Akt) that have roles in pain sensitivity, stem cell development, cellular survival, and cellular metabolism. These pathways with TRPV1 converge in the signaling of growth factors with recent work highlighting a relationship with erythropoietin (EPO). Angiogenesis and endothelial tube formation controlled by EPO requires, in part, the activation of TRPV1 receptors in conjunction with Akt and AMPK pathways.

Conclusion: TRPV1 receptors could prove to become vital to target disorders of vascular origin and neurodegeneration. Broader and currently unrealized implementations for both EPO and TRPV1 receptors can be envisioned for for the development of novel therapeutic strategies in multiple systems of the body.

 

To access the article, please visit: http://www.eurekaselect.com/150838

Stem Cell Drug May Halt Cancer Spread

Southern California scientists may have found a potential cancer breakthrough thanks to new stem cell research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Stem cells — usually studied for their disease-curing potential by stimulating growth or replacing diseased cells — are being examined in a different way by researchers. This time, scientists are looking at how they can block bad stem cells that may lead to fatal cancers.

The cells are called “stem cells” because they are the most immature cells that are taken from a baby’s umbilical cord, from bone marrow, or even from an embryo.

Turning Stem Cells into a Powerful Weapon Against AIDS

At UCLA’s special stem cell laboratory in West Los Angeles, scientists have received a grant to see if different types of stem cells can be blocked so that a cancer may be controlled, or even cured.

“Within cancers, there are stem cells that promote the growth of additional cancer cells,” said Dr. Zeb Wainberg, of UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC).

That discovery led to research on a unique, cancer-fighting drug that worked on the cancerous stem cells.

“The drug actually blocks the enzyme activity of an enzyme that’s critical in cell division,” said Dr. Dennis Slamon of UCLA’s JCCC.

In the lab and in tests on animals, the resulting tumors were contained and prevented from spreading.

Scientists believe the next step is to start trials in humans to see if the drugs work the same way as they did in the lab, and to see what the effect is on cancer in humans.

Stem Cells Help Reconstruct Cancer Patient’s Breast

Slamon and Wainberg may be able to start those trials as early as this April, thanks to a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state stem cell agency.

“We will be testing that drug in humans for the first time,” Wainberg said. “This treatment will be used for patients that we believe have colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and possibly some forms of brain center.”

“The way you’ll know if the treatment has worked is you will see responses in the tumor – that is, shrinkage of the tumor – and control of growth over time so that you don’t see progression of the tumor,” Wainberg said.

The hope is that the trial will lead to a cure for some patients and control of cancer for others, with fewer side effects than conventional treatments.

The study will also help determine which cancers and which patients the treatment would best suit.

[Source: nbclonangeles.com]