Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kurt Engeland
Summary: RB and p53 are central tumor suppressors that play key roles in regulating the cell division cycle. RB downregulates numerous genes by forming complexes with E2F transcription factors, and its repression is released through phosphorylation. p53 activates CDKN1A gene to regulate RB phosphorylation, leading to expression of cell cycle regulators. There is an overlap between RB and DREAM signaling pathways.
CELL DEATH AND DIFFERENTIATION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Olha Puhach, Kenneth Adea, Nicolas Hulo, Pascale Sattonnet, Camille Genecand, Anne Iten, Frederique Jacquerioz, Laurent Kaiser, Pauline Vetter, Isabella Eckerle, Benjamin Meyer
Summary: The infectious viral load of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 is lower than that of Delta in breakthrough infections of vaccinated individuals. Vaccines may lower transmission risk and have a public health benefit.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Alexander Sakers, Mirian Krystel De Siqueira, Patrick Seale, Claudio J. Villanueva
Summary: Adipose tissue, known as fat, plays a crucial role in regulating various physiological aspects of the body. Its high plasticity allows for significant changes in metabolism, structure, and phenotype in response to physiological stimuli. Limitations in this plasticity contribute to decreased or aberrant responses to physiological cues, leading to the progression of cardiometabolic disease.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paul R. Wratil, Marcel Stern, Alina Priller, Annika Willmann, Giovanni Almanzar, Emanuel Vogel, Martin Feuerherd, Cho-Chin Cheng, Sarah Yazici, Catharina Christa, Samuel Jeske, Gaia Lupoli, Tim Vogt, Manuel Albanese, Ernesto Mejias-Perez, Stefan Bauernfried, Natalia Graf, Hrvoje Mijocevic, Martin Vu, Kathrin Tinnefeld, Jochen Wettengel, Dieter Hoffmann, Maximilian Muenchhoff, Christopher Daechert, Helga Mairhofer, Stefan Krebs, Volker Fingerle, Alexander Graf, Philipp Steininger, Helmut Blum, Veit Hornung, Bernhard Liebl, Klaus Ueberla, Martina Prelog, Percy Knolle, Oliver T. Keppler, Ulrike Protzer
Summary: This study reports on the dynamics of neutralizing antibodies in individuals convalescing from coronavirus disease 2019 or who are vaccine-naive and subsequently vaccinated. The findings suggest that infection-plus-vaccination-induced hybrid immunity or triple immunization can induce high-quality antibodies with superior neutralization capacity against variants of concern, including omicron.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Frank L. van de Veerdonk, Evangelos Giamarellos-Bourboulis, Peter Pickkers, Lennie Derde, Helen Leavis, Reinout van Crevel, Job J. Engel, W. Joost Wiersinga, Alexander P. J. Vlaar, Manu Shankar-Hari, Tom van der Poll, Marc Bonten, Derek C. Angus, Jos W. M. van der Meer, Mihai G. Netea
Summary: This review provides an overview of the evidence for immunotherapy strategies in COVID-19 patients, aiming to support clinical decision-making. Immune dysregulation plays a crucial role in the pathophysiology of COVID-19. Immune-based therapies, such as steroids or anti-cytokine therapies, have shown remarkable successes in treating COVID-19 patients. However, the complexity of disease phenotypes, patient heterogeneity, and variable quality of evidence from immunotherapy studies pose challenges to clinical decision-making. This review summarizes the evidence generated by major clinical trials of host-directed therapy and proposes an algorithm for guiding the use of immunotherapy strategies in the clinic, which can not only guide treatment decisions but also inform future trials investigating immunotherapy in severe infections.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Samagya Banskota, Aditya Raguram, Susie Suh, Samuel W. Du, Jessie R. Davis, Elliot H. Choi, Xiao Wang, Sarah C. Nielsen, Gregory A. Newby, Peyton B. Randolph, Mark J. Osborn, Kiran Musunuru, Krzysztof Palczewski, David R. Liu
Summary: We have developed and applied engineered DNA-free virus-like particles (eVLPs) for efficient delivery of gene editing tools, achieving high levels of base editing. By overcoming the limitations of cargo packaging, release, and localization, the fourth-generation eVLPs demonstrated efficient base editing in mouse and human cells. In addition, the off-target effects of eVLPs were significantly reduced compared to other delivery methods such as AAV or plasmid.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dandan Peng, Minyang Fu, Manni Wang, Yuquan Wei, Xiawei Wei
Summary: TGF-beta plays essential roles in early embryonic development, organogenesis, immune regulation, tissue repair, and adult homeostasis. Its involvement in fibrosis and cancer is complex and context-dependent, showing both inhibitory and promoting effects. Therapeutics targeting TGF-beta signaling hold promise in treating fibrosis and cancer, although the development is hindered by potential systemic cytotoxicity.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Joseph A. Lewnard, Vennis X. Hong, Manish M. Patel, Rebecca Kahn, Marc Lipsitch, Sara Y. Tartof
Summary: Comparison of outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 Delta and Omicron infections reveals reduced severity of Omicron infections, especially in unvaccinated individuals. There is no differential risk of severe outcomes between subvariants BA.1 and BA.2. Continual assessment of clinical outcomes associated with SARS-CoV-2 variants is crucial for medical interventions and healthcare resource management.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nazli Dizman, Luis Meza, Paulo Bergerot, Marice Alcantara, Tanya Dorff, Yung Lyou, Paul Frankel, Yujie Cui, Valerie Mira, Marian Llamas, Joann Hsu, Zeynep Zengin, Nicholas Salgia, Sabrina Salgia, Jasnoor Malhotra, Neal Chawla, Alex Chehrazi-Raffle, Ramya Muddasani, John Gillece, Lauren Reining, Jeff Trent, Motomichi Takahashi, Kentaro Oka, Seiya Higashi, Marcin Kortylewski, Sarah K. Highlander, Sumanta K. Pal
Summary: Adding a live bacterial product to an immunotherapy combination can enhance the clinical outcome in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, showing longer progression-free survival and higher response rate.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yanqing Liu, Wei Gu
Summary: p53 plays a crucial role in tumor suppression through modulating ferroptosis, a form of iron-dependent non-apoptotic cell death. Through its metabolic targets, p53 can regulate the cellular response to ferroptosis inducers. This review also discusses the potential of targeting p53-mediated ferroptotic responses for the treatment of human cancers and other diseases.
CELL DEATH AND DIFFERENTIATION
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shifa Jebari-Benslaiman, Unai Galicia-Garcia, Asier Larrea-Sebal, Javier Rekondo Olaetxea, Iraide Alloza, Koen Vandenbroeck, Asier Benito-Vicente, Cesar Martin
Summary: This article provides an overview of the development of atherosclerosis and discusses the regulatory role of microRNAs and lncRNAs, the role of the microbiota, and the importance of sex as a risk factor.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Dan Yu, Yixin Li, Maoye Wang, Jianmei Gu, Wenrong Xu, Hui Cai, Xinjian Fang, Xu Zhang
Summary: Liquid biopsy, a revolutionary strategy for cancer diagnosis and prognosis prediction, uses minimally invasive detection through biofluids such as blood, saliva, and urine. Exosomes, a subset of extracellular vesicles, play a crucial role in intercellular communication and are considered as potential biomarkers in liquid biopsy. However, the lack of high-quality separation and component analysis methods has limited the further clinical application of exosomes.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sheikh Mansoor, Owais Ali Wani, Jafar K. Lone, Sweeta Manhas, Navneet Kour, Pravej Alam, Ajaz Ahmad, Parvaiz Ahmad
Summary: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly reactive and dangerous by-products that can cause oxidative cell death, but they also play a beneficial role in regulating biological processes. ROS are generated in various cell compartments of plants and require the action of antioxidants to scavenge them. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the fate of ROS in plants, their role in stress response, and their interaction with other signaling molecules/pathways.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Changsong Qi, Jifang Gong, Jian Li, Dan Liu, Yanru Qin, Sai Ge, Miao Zhang, Zhi Peng, Jun Zhou, Yanshuo Cao, Xiaotian Zhang, Zhihao Lu, Ming Lu, Jiajia Yuan, Zhenghang Wang, Yakun Wang, Xiaohui Peng, Huiping Gao, Zhen Liu, Huamao Wang, Daijing Yuan, Jun Xiao, Hong Ma, Wei Wang, Zonghai Li, Lin Shen
Summary: The interim analysis results of a phase 1 clinical trial show that CLDN18.2-targeted CAR T cell therapy has promising efficacy and an acceptable safety profile in previously treated, CLDN18.2-positive digestive system cancer patients. Particularly, it shows significant efficacy in patients with gastric cancer.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Liang Qu, Zongyi Yi, Yong Shen, Liangru Lin, Feng Chen, Yiyuan Xu, Zeguang Wu, Huixian Tang, Xiaoxue Zhang, Feng Tian, Chunhui Wang, Xia Xiao, Xiaojing Dong, Li Guo, Shuaiyao Lu, Chengyun Yang, Cong Tang, Yun Yang, Wenhai Yu, Junbin Wang, Yanan Zhou, Qing Huang, Ayijiang Yisimayi, Shuo Liu, Weijin Huang, Yunlong Cao, Youchun Wang, Zhuo Zhou, Xiaozhong Peng, Jianwei Wang, Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Wensheng Wei
Summary: This study reports a circular RNA vaccine that provides potent protection against SARS-CoV-2 by eliciting neutralizing antibodies and T cell responses. The circRNA vaccine exhibits higher and more durable antigen production compared to mRNA vaccines and shows efficacy against the current variants of concern.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jana Sperschneider, Peter N. Dodds
Summary: Many fungi and oomycete pathogens secrete effector proteins to facilitate plant infection. A classifier (EffectorP 3.0) has been developed to accurately predict effector proteins in fungal and oomycete secretomes with low false-positive rates.
MOLECULAR PLANT-MICROBE INTERACTIONS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Elliot Sollis, Abayomi Mosaku, Ala Abid, Annalisa Buniello, Maria Cerezo, Laurent Gil, Tudor Groza, Osman Gunes, Peggy Hall, James Hayhurst, Arwa Ibrahim, Yue Ji, Sajo John, Elizabeth Lewis, Jacqueline A. L. MacArthur, Aoife McMahon, David Osumi-Sutherland, Kalliope Panoutsopoulou, Zoe Pendlington, Santhi Ramachandran, Ray Stefancsik, Jonathan Stewart, Patricia Whetzel, Robert Wilson, Lucia Hindorff, Fiona Cunningham, Samuel A. Lambert, Michael Inouye, Helen Parkinson, Laura W. Harris
Summary: The NHGRI-EBIGWAS Catalog is a knowledgebase that provides comprehensive and standardized genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. By updating software, expanding the scope of the database, and increasing community outreach, the catalog has improved the quality and quantity of data, as well as enhanced interoperability with other resources.
NUCLEIC ACIDS RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jan Choutka, Viraj Jansari, Mady Hornig, Akiko Iwasaki
Summary: Unexplained post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs) represent a group of chronic illnesses with overlapping clinical features with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This review summarizes the current knowledge of PAISs and discusses the need for basic biomedical research into the underlying mechanisms of these enigmatic chronic diseases, including the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC).
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yuanyuan An, Hua Duan
Summary: Metabolic reprogramming is a key characteristic of malignant tumors. The modification of m6A RNA methylation plays a crucial role in the regulation of tumor cell metabolism.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Valentina Oliveri
Summary: Conventional cancer therapies face challenges due to off-target effects, leading to the need for new therapeutic agents with increased selectivity, reduced side effects, and the ability to overcome cancer cell resistance targeting cancer stem cells. Some copper ionophores show promise in inducing cuproptosis in cancer cells with greater selectivity.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
(2022)
