Having caused over 6.2 million deaths globally ongoing, the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020 continues to pose a serious public health challenge. While the SARS-CoV-2 receptors angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and transmembrane protease serine 2 play requisite roles in permitting the initial infection, up to 10 proviral host factors have also been determined to play crucial roles in controlling the viral replication, but most are not pharmacologically targetable.
Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths, causing more than 750,000 deaths in 2020. Platinum-based 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) combinations improve survival times compared to surgery alone, but emergent treatment resistance limits long-term clinical benefits. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to develop alternative approaches to overcoming chemoresistance.
La Crosse virus (LACV) is one of the most common causes of arboviral encephalitis in children, which causes CNS damage owing to infection in children, but not adults. LACV pathology indicates significant breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, which is strengthened during developmental transition from child to adult.
Researchers from Xinhua Hospital have published data from a study that aimed to assess the role of CEBPG, an important regulator of tumor development, in the progression of ovarian cancer (OC).
It has been previously demonstrated that IL-17A plays a proinflammatory role in autoimmune diseases, and it has also been reported that IL-17A may take part in the occurrence and development of neurodegenerative disorders. Due to its association with both immunomodulation and inflammation, in a recent study, researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University aimed to investigate the role of IL-17A in the pathological process of glaucoma neuropathy.
While microglia constitute the immune cells of the brain, their potential role in the early development of neuronal circuitry is poorly understood. Investigators at the Karolinska Institutet, together with eight other institutions, characterized an anatomically distinct microglial cell population identified as expressing the arginase-1 (ARG1) enzyme.
Treatment failure after repeated administration of cisplatin, one of the most used cancer chemotherapeutics, is due to either development of treatment resistance or chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain.
Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activation plays a crucial role in the development of several vascular diseases, including intimal hyperplasia indicative of restenosis. Fragile X-related protein 1 (FXR1) is a muscle-enhanced RNA binding protein that has been proposed to regulate inflammation negatively and is overexpressed in injured arteries. However, the role of FXR1 in vascular disease remains unclear.
Renal medullary carcinoma (RMC) is characterized by the complete loss of the SMARCB1 tumor suppressor, and it predominantly affects individuals with sickle cell trait (SCT), characterized by increased sickling of red blood cells in the renal medulla. It has been previously demonstrated that RMC tumors show a hypoxia signature, and in a recent study, researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center aimed to investigate the connection between SMARCB1 loss and hypoxia under the setting of SCT.
