Current Drug Targets - Volume 17, Issue 11, 2016

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most frequent pediatric soft-tissue tumor accounting for about 7% of childhood malignancies. Multimodal therapy is the standard treatment for individuals with RMS but generally fails to cure high-risk group patients and can result in long-term side effects. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms driving RMS might help to find new candidate targets for more specific and effective therape Read More

The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved developmental network critical for embryonic and postnatal regulation of tissue growth, homeostasis, and repair. Signaling is initiated when transmembrane Notch ligands bind to transmembrane Notch receptors on nearby cells. Sequential proteolytic steps generate an activated Notch fragment that translocates to the nucleus, where it drives activation of canonic Read More

Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common soft tissue malignancy in the pediatric population and recapitulates many of the phenotypic and biological features of embryonic skeletal muscle. RMS is pathologically characterized by myogenic differentiation arrest. Dysregulation of pathways essential for myogenesis like contribute to the tumorigenesis of RMS. The Wnt signaling pathway is one of the major pathways required f Read More

Diabetic nephropathy is the major cause of end-stage renal disease in Western societies. To date, interruption of the Renin-Angiotensin System is the most effective intervention for diabetic nephropathy, however these agents only slow progression of the disease. Thus, there is a major unmet need for new therapeutic targets. Aberrant activation of the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is involved in the path Read More

Neuropeptides, and specifically Substance P (SP), can crucially contribute to the ocular inflammatory response. SP is an undecapeptide that is secreted from sensory nerve endings and from various immune cells during inflammation. SP modulates ocular inflammation through its binding with the high-affinity neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R). This receptor is expressed on nerves, immune cells, and epithelial cells. SP is a key Read More

In the late 1980s, a loss-of-function mutation in the gene encoding for the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) chloride channel was identified to be the primary cause of cystic fibrosis (CF); a fatal multiple-organ disorder that mostly affects Caucasians. To date, approximately 2000 genetic mutations have been identified in the CFTR gene (http://www.genet.sickkids.on.ca/cftr/app). The most com Read More

The increasing prevalence of both obesity and depression is becoming a significant health concern throughout the world. Evidence suggests a positive and bidirectional association between obesity and depression. It is now well established that central serotonergic system is involved in the elicitation of satiety signal and elevation of mood. Drugs that increase serotonin neurotransmission are commonly recommended for th Read More

Apart from functioning as an energy source and important structural components of biological membranes, Free Fatty acids (FFAs) play a key role in the regulation of metabolic homeostasis. FFAs activate specific G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in pancreatic β-cells, immune cells adipose, and intestine. GPR40 (also known as FFA receptor 1) is primarily expressed in pancreatic β-cells and is activated by medium-chain and lo Read More

The availability of new drugs capable of improving the overall survival of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer has led to the possibility of using them sequentially in the hope of obtaining a cumulative survival benefit. The new agents have already been administered as third-line treatments in patients who have previously received them as second line in everyday clinical practice, but the efficacy of this p Read More

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder and over the past decades, it has become a major cause of morbidity and mortality affecting the youth and middle-aged as it is the fourth leading cause of disease related to death. In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes the severe pathogenesis cause micro vascular complications: nephropathy, retinopathy, neuropathy and macro vascular complications: cardiovascular disease, heart attacks Read More