Current Drug Targets - Volume 14, Issue 10, 2013

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that have been recognized to regulate the expression of uncountable number of genes. Their aberrant expression has been found to be linked to the pathology of many diseases including cancer. There is a drive to develop miRNA targeted therapeutics for different diseases especially cancer. Nevertheless, reining in these short non-coding RNAs is not as straightforward as o Read More

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is the fourth leading cause of cancer related deaths in the U.S., with a less than 6% fiveyear survival rate. Treatment is confounded by advanced stage of disease at presentation, frequent metastasis to distant organs at the time of diagnosis and resistance to conventional chemotherapy. In addition, the molecular pathogenesis of the disease is unclear. The extensive study of miRNAs over the p Read More

The predominance of insulin resistance, T2D linked pancreatic cancer has increased throughout the world. The insulin/IGF signaling pathway related to insulin resistance, T2D and pancreatic cancer has been described. In this context, we have demonstrated the role of miRNAs in cancer progression and control of miRNAs in insulin/IGF signaling pathway, and pancreatic cancer. In this paper, an overview was depicted abou Read More

Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, an ubiquitous environmental carcinogen, is classified depending on the wavelength, into three regions; short-wave UVC (200–280 nm), mid-wave UVB (280–320 nm), and long-wave UVA (320– 400 nm). The human skin, constantly exposed to UV radiation, particularly the UVB and UVA components, is vulnerable to its various deleterious effects such as erythema, photoaging, immunosuppre Read More

Overexpression of oncomiR-21 has been observed in most cancer types, such as leukemia. This miR has been implicated in a number of cellular processes, including chemoresistance, possibly by directly modulating the expression of several apoptotic related proteins. It was recently shown to directly target Bcl-2 mRNA and upregulate Bcl-2 protein expression. Nevertheless, the possible effect of miR-21 in autophagy has never Read More

The progress in the understanding of biological events underlying multiple myeloma (MM) development and progression has allowed the design of molecularly targeted therapies (MTTs) for this disease and several new compounds are presently under investigation in the preclinical and clinical settings. The recent discovery that miRNAs, and short non coding RNAs in general, are involved in the pathogenesis of cancer has raised Read More

Although genistein has been shown to inhibit tumorigenesis in a variety of human cancers including pancreatic cancer (PC), the exact molecular mechanism of its anti-cancer effects has not yet been fully elucidated. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to regulate multiple aspects of tumor development and progression, indicating that targeting miRNAs could be a novel strategy to treat human cancers. In t Read More

The Notch signaling plays a key role in cell differentiation, survival, and proliferation through diverse mechanisms. Thus, alterations of the Notch signaling can lead to a variety of disorders including human malignancies. Of considerable interest, recent evidence indicates that there is a significant cross-talk between Notch and microRNAs. As a key component of the Notch-mediated transcription complex, Notch can regul Read More

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small single-strand non-coding endogenous RNAs that regulate gene expression by multiple mechanisms. Recent evidence suggests that miRNAs are critically involved in the pathogenesis, evolution, and progression of cancer. The miRNAs are also crucial for the regulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs). In addition, miRNAs are known to control the processes of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition ( Read More

Failure of conventional as well as target-based therapy against the advanced metastatic cancers is a significant clinical problem. While some cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, respond poorly to any kind of therapies, tumor relapse is often observed in many other cancer types after initial therapeutic response. Hence, significant research is being conducted to understand the mechanisms underlying therapeutic refra Read More

Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) including miR-34 family have been found to play a critical role in tumorigenesis through regulating the expression of its target genes, which are involved in many cellular processes such as cell proliferation, survival, apoptosis, migration, invasion and angiogenesis. Thus, this review described the role of miR-34 family and how its deregulation is involved in the development and progression of human Read More

The transcription factor Forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1) is overexpressed in the majority of cancer patients. This overexpression is implicated to play a role in the pathogenesis, progression, and metastasis of cancer. This important role of FOXM1 demonstrates its significance to cancer therapy. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding, endogenous, single-stranded RNAs that are pivotal posttranscriptional gene expressi Read More

The nociceptin system, which consists of endogenous nociceptin/orphanin FQ and NOP receptors, is present in the central nervous system (CNS), as well as respiratory, cardiovascular, urogenital and gastrointestinal (GI) tissues. It is critically involved in nociception and pain signaling, as well as modulation of hormone and neurotransmitter release, stress responses and reversal of stress-induced analgesia. In the GI tract, the noc Read More

Curcumin, a natural polyphenolic compound present in turmeric, exhibited multiple pharmacological activities. Extensive studies in last two decade suggested that curcumin possesses anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, anti-amyloid, antiarthritic and antioxidant properties. The mechanism for these effects involves modulation of several signaling transduction pathways. Various clinical studies have suggested that curcumin Read More