Biomedical Journal

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements in the clinical utility of liquid biopsy, with a particular focus on epigenetic approaches aimed at overcoming challenges in cancer diagnosis and treatment. It begins by elucidating key epigenetic terms, including methylomics, fragmentomics, and nucleosomics. The review progresses to discuss methods for analyzing circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and highlights recent studies showcasing the clinical relevance of epigenetic modifications in areas such as diagnosis, drug treatment response, minimal residual disease (MRD) detection, and prognosis prediction...

Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) infections pose a significant public health concern in the Asia-Pacific region. EV-A71 is primarily responsible for causing hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) in children. However, this virus can also lead to severe and potentially fatal neurological consequences in affected individuals. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the molecular virology, epidemiology, and recombination events associated with EV-A71. The literature extensively covers the clinical manifestations and neurological symptoms that accompany EV-A71 infections...

Editorial about the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023.

BACKGROUND: With the widespread use of abdominal ultrasonography (US), incidental detection of common bile duct (CBD) dilatation is common in pediatric populations. This study investigated the causes and clinical significance of CBD dilatation in children without biliary symptoms, jaundice, or causative lesions in US. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed pediatric patients with CBD dilatation from July 2013 to June 2023. All cases were detected via abdominal US...

Mitochondria are vital organelles found within living cells and have signalling, biosynthetic, and bioenergetic functions. Mitochondria play a crucial role in metabolic reprogramming, which is a characteristic of cancer cells and allows them to assure a steady supply of proteins, nucleotides, and lipids to enable rapid proliferation and development. Their dysregulated activities have been associated with the growth and metastasis of different kinds of human cancer, particularly ovarian carcinoma. In this review, we briefly demonstrated the modified mitochondrial function in cancer, including mutations in mtDNA, reactive oxygen species production, dynamics, apoptosis of cells, autophagy, and calcium excess to maintain cancer genesis, progression, and metastasis...

BACKGROUND: The occurrence of co-infections during schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, with other parasites have been reported suggesting an impaired host immune defense. Macrophage purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) play an important role against intracellular pathogens. Therefore, we investigated the P2X7R-mediated phagocytosis and killing capacity of Leishmania amazonensis by macrophages during schistosomiasis in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Swiss and C57BL/6 (Wild type) and P2X7R-/- were randomized in two groups: control (uninfected) and Schistosoma mansoni-infected...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Epigenetic machinery has emerged as a central player in gene regulation and chromatin organization in Plasmodium spp. Epigenetic modifications on histones and their role in antigenic variation in P. falciparum are widely studied. Recent discoveries on nucleic acid methylome are exciting and provide a new dimension to the apicomplexan protozoan parasite's gene regulatory process. Reports have confirmed that N6-methyl adenosine (m6A) methylation plays a crucial role in the translational plasticity of the human malaria parasite during its development in RBC...

This issue of the Biomedical Journal delves into the multifaceted roles of NOD-like receptors (NLRs) in immunity, examining their subfamilies and functions within innate and adaptive immunity, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, and mitophagy regulation. In this issue the dynamics of mRNA vaccines are explored, as well as the synergistic effects of a ketogenic diet with anti-tumor therapies, the roles of curcumin and RANKL in osteoclastogenesis, and the validation of a rapid diagnostic test for an oral cancer biomarker...

BACKGROUND: Iron deficiency is the top leading cause of anaemia, whose treatment has been shown to deteriorate gut health. However, a comprehensive analysis of the intestinal barrier and the gut microbiome during IDA have not been performed to date. This study aims to delve further into the analysis of these two aspects, which will mean a step forward minimising the negative impact of iron supplements on intestinal health. METHODS: IDA was experimentally induced in an animal model...

BACKGROUND: There is currently no well-accepted consensus on the association between gut microbiota and the response to treatment of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in patients with advanced cancer. METHODS: Fecal samples were collected before ICI treatment. Gut microbiota was analyzed using 16 S ribosomal RNA sequencing. We investigated the relationship between the α-diversity of fecal microbiota and patients' clinical outcomes. Microbiota profiles from patients and healthy controls were determined...

The development of nanotechnology has brought about groundbreaking advancements in diseases' diagnostics and therapeutics. Among them, multifunctional nanomaterials with enzyme-like activities (i.e., nanozymes) featured with high stability, large surface area for bioconjugation, and easy storage, offer unprecedented opportunities for disease diagnostics and treatment. Recent years have witnessed the great progress of nanozyme-based theranostics. To highlight these achievements, this review first introduces the recent advancements on nanozymes in biosensing and diagnostics...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive malignancy with a poor prognosis. Over the past decade, significant therapeutic advancements have improved the survival rates of patients with pancreatic cancer. One of the primary factors contributing to these positive outcomes is the evolution of chemotherapy, from monotherapy to doublet or triplet regimens, and the integration of multimodal approaches. Additionally, targeted agents tailored to patients with specific genetic alterations and the development of cell therapies show promise in benefiting certain subpopulations...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ras (RAt Sarcoma) activity plays a central role in mediating the effect of glucose in decreasing stress resistance and longevity, with constitutive Ras activation mutations promoting cell growth and oncogenesis. Here, we used transposon mutagenesis in yeast to identify suppressors of the constitutively active Ras2G19V, orthologue of the KRASG12C mammalian oncogene. We identified mutations in YMR1 (Yeast Myotubularin Related), SJL2 (SynaptoJanin-Like) and SJL3 phosphatases, which target phosphatidylinositol phosphates, as the most potent suppressors of constitutive active Ras, able to reverse its effect on stress sensitization and sufficient to extend longevity...

Clostridioides difficile, the etiological agent of C. difficile infection (CDI), elicits a spectrum of diarrheal symptoms with varying severity and the potential to result in severe complications such as colonic perforation, pseudomembranous colitis, and toxic megacolon. The perturbation of gut microbiome, often triggered by antibiotic usage, represents the primary factor augmenting the risk of CDI. This underscores the significance of interactions between C. difficile and the microbiome in determining pathogen adaptability...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Among the various targeting ligands for drug delivery, aptamers have attracted much interest in recent years because of their smaller size compared to antibodies, ease of modification, and better batch-to-batch consistency. In addition, aptamers can be selected to target both known and even unknown cell surface biomarkers. For drug loading, liposomes are the most successful vehicle and many FDA-approved formulations are based on liposomes. In this paper, aptamer-functionalized liposomes for targeted drug delivery are reviewed...

BACKGROUND: Human respiratory sensory gating is a neural process associated with inhibiting the cortical processing of repetitive respiratory mechanical stimuli. While this gating is typically examined in the time domain, the neural oscillatory dynamics, which could offer supplementary insights into respiratory sensory gating, remain unknown. The purpose of the present study was to investigate central neural gating of respiratory sensation using both time- and frequency-domain analyses...