Obesity is a prevalent metabolic disorder,which seriously affects human health and has become the world's public health problem. Kinase S6K1, an important downstream effector of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), influences specific pathological responses, including obesity, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Presently, S6K1 has become an attractive therapeutic target in the treatment of these disorders. Here, the functions of kinase S6K1, its molecular regulation mechanisms, related pathogenesis of disease and relevant small molecular inhibitors are reviewed. Finally, the prospect of research toward S6K1 is expected as well.
PNAS-4 is a novel pro-apoptosis gene identified latetly. In recent years, there has been a large number of research reports on the basic studies about PNAS-4 in cancer gene therapy and gene therapy of PNAS-4 alone or combined with chemotherapy or radiotherapy manifested a good application prospect, but its molecular mechanisms to promote apoptosis is not clear yet. In this paper, recent research about PNAS-4 in cancer gene therapy is briefly reviewed, and recent hypotheses on its molecular mechanisms to promote apoptosis are especially elucidated. Based on its newly identified characteristics of structural domain, we made a point that PNAS-4 might regulate functions of some target protein related to apoptosis by deSumoylation as a new deSumoylating isopeptidase, and consequently promote apoptosis.
Diabetes mellitus patients have the characteristics of higher morbidity of ischemic stroke, severe symptoms, more recurrent stroke and higher mortality. Current studies have shown that stroke patients with or without diabetes mellitus have different pathophysiological mechanisms during stroke progress. Accordingly, treatment that is beneficial to non-diabetes mellitus patients may not be beneficial to diabetes mellitus stroke patients. This article reviews the current research status of pathophysiological mechanism of diabetes mellitus complicated with ischemic stroke, and provides reference for the relevant research of drug intervention in diabetes mellitus patients complicated with stroke.
Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune neuromuscular junction disorder primarily mediated by autoantibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). It is now widely recognized that the total titer of anti-AChR antibodies does not correlate directly with clinical severity and shows significant interindividual variability. This review focuses on the structure of the AChR, the three major pathogenic mechanisms mediated by anti-AChR antibodies, the pathogenic differences associated with distinct antigenic epitopes, the characteristics of various immunoglobulin subclasses, and the limitations of current antibody detection methods. It further explores future directions in antibody profiling and functional assessment. By systematically analyzing the complexity and heterogeneity of anti-AChR antibodies, this article underscores the critical role of precision medicine in the management of myasthenia gravis.
Endogenous adult neural stem cells are closely related to the normal physiological functions of the brain and many neurodegenerative diseases. Neurons are affected by factors such as extracellular microenvironment and intracellular signaling. In recent years, some specific signaling pathways have been found that affect the occurrence of neural stem cells in adult neural networks, including proliferation, differentiation, maturation, migration, and integration with host functions. In this paper, we summarize the signals and their molecular mechanisms, including the related signaling pathways, neurotrophic factors, neurotransmitters, intracellular transcription factors and epigenetic regulation of neuronal differentiation from both the extracellular and intracellular aspects, providing basic theoretical support for the treatment of central nervous system diseases through neural stem cells approach.
Mental disorders are a type of behavioral, emotional, cognitive, or thinking disorder that cause pain and social dysfunction, and are one of the top ten global disease burdens. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the main components of cannabis, with high safety and tolerability, and is a hot topic in drug research. CBD has a wide range of therapeutic effects, and research has found that CBD has neuropsychiatric effects such as anti-addiction, anti-depression, anti-anxiety, and anti-stress, making it one of the candidate drugs for mental disorders. This article summarizes the mechanism and research progress of CBD for major mental disorders, in order to provide useful references for CBD-related compounds in the treatment of mental disorders.
Currently, all the conventional antibiotics have developed corresponding drug-resistant pathogenic strains, which have increasingly become a serious threat to people's health. Development of completely new types of antibiotics is one of effective ways to solve the drug resistance issue. Antimicrobial peptides with broad-spectrum antibacterial and antimicrobial activity and wild variety become the ideal alternative to traditional antibiotics. Antimicrobial peptides are derived from wide range of sources, such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. Mechanism of function of the antimicrobial peptides and the investigation approaches of different antimicrobial peptides also vary dramatically. In this paper, we give an overview of preparation, antibacterial mechanisms, and research methodology of antimicrobial peptides.
At present, the potential hazards of infrasound on heart health have been identified in previous studies, but a comprehensive review of its mechanisms is still lacking. Therefore, this paper reviews the direct and indirect effects of infrasound on cardiac function and explores the mechanisms by which it may induce cardiac abnormalities. Additionally, in order to further study infrasound waves and take effective preventive measures, this paper reviews the mechanisms of cardiac cell damage caused by infrasound exposure, including alterations in cell membrane structure, modulation of electrophysiological properties, and the biological effects triggered by neuroendocrine pathways, and assesses the impact of infrasound exposure on public health.
Iron death is an alternative to normal cell death and is regulated by a variety of cellular metabolic pathways. Iron death has become a hot topic of research because it can cause damage to various organs and degenerative diseases in the body. Metabolism, signalling pathways, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and immune cells can all affect the occurrence of iron death, and the blood-retina destruction induced by iron death plays an important role in autoimmune uveitis. Exploring the components of the blood-retina regulatory mechanism of iron death in autoimmune uveitis can lead to the search for targeted drug targets, which can provide a new research idea for the subsequent study of the diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune uveitis.
ObjectiveTo investigate the neural mechanisms of subjects with anisometropic amblyopia using event-related potential (ERP) technology.MethodsNineteen subjects diagnosed with anisometropic amblyopia were consecutively recruited from the outpatients of the West China Hospital of Sichuan University from June 2013 to February 2014, and twenty normal subjects were recruited as control subjects. All subjects were given different orientation Gabor stimuli with three spatial frequencies (1, 2, 8 cpd) and their ERP was recorded. The differences of P3b, including amplitude and latency, were compared between amblyopic eye and fellow or control eye.ResultsAmong the three groups of amblyopic eye and fellow or control eye, there was no statistically significant difference in accuracy or response time at three spatial frequencies (P>0.05), in latency or amplitude of P3b at low spatial frequencies (1, 2 cpd) ((P>0.05), or in amplitude of P3b at high spatial frequency (8 cpd) (P>0.05). P3b latency of amblyopic eye extended at high spatial frequency (8 cpd), compared to fellow or control eye. Amblyopic eye was most significantly weakened in Brodmann area 17 at the P3b wave of each spatial frequency (1, 2, 8 cpd), and there was most significantly weakened in high spatial frequency (8 cpd).ConclusionThe P3b latency of amblyopic eye extended at high spatial frequency suggests that the cognitive function of amblyopia is impaired, at an extent, in the late visual processing stage.