Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 22, Issue 31, 2016

Heart failure is one of the devastating public health problems with high mortality. Among various contributing factors for heart failure, severe dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common indication for cardiac transplantation. Recent evidence revealed that RBM20 mutation represents one main cause for familial dilated cardiomyopathy with a 3% prevalence in all forms of dilated cardiomyopathy. Further scrutiny of molecul Read More

Advances in pharmacotherapy as well as device therapy in common cardiovascular diseases, especially implementation of rapid coronary reperfusion as a key management strategy in acute ischemic disease, improved overall survival. Yet, this success contributes to increased number of patients susceptible to heart failure development due to damaged myocardium. Although survival after heart failure diagnosis has im Read More

Background: Mitochondria fulfill the massive energy demands of the human heart through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) which couples nutrient oxidation and the reduction of molecular oxygen (O2) to the phosphorylation of ADP. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are also generated during OXPHOS which can be damaging at high levels but serve as secondary messengers when produced in a controlled manner. Meth Read More

The survival of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension is closely related with right ventricular function. During the progression of right ventricular remodeling, energetic metabolism shifts from oxidative mitochondrial metabolism to glycolysis. In normal physiological conditions, cardiomyocytes use major sources of glucose and fatty acids to sustain a continuous systolic workload and energy supply. This allows th Read More

Background: Heart failure (HF) is characterized by cardiac functional and structural alterations, progressively leading to clinical symptoms and signs. Certain neurohormonal systems (i.e. the sympathetic nervous system, the reninangiotensin-aldosterone system and the natriuretic peptide system) as well as interactions between endothelial, monocytes/macrophages and myocardial cells are involved in the process. Methods Read More

Background: Mitochondria are cellular organelles responsible for energy production, calcium handling, controlled synthesis of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and regulation of apoptosis. All these functions are crucial for cardiac homeostasis, and may be impaired in chronic heart failure (CHF). Therefore, mitochondrial dysfunction might represent a crucial element in the onset and progression of CHF and, as such, a prom Read More

Heart failure (HF) is a major global problem in public health with no curative treatment currently available. Energy remodeling is one of the features in HF, preceding cardiac structure remodeling. As an important energy organelle, mitochondrion plays critical roles in the progress of HF. This review focuses on the potential mechanisms linking mitochondrial functions and energy remodeling in HF including the energy starvatio Read More

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of primary bone tumor in adolescents and young adults. The dysregulation of cell cycle control and cell division often results in the aberrant growth of osteosarcoma cells. The primary proteins involved in cell cycle control and cell division include checkpoint kinases (CHKs), cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), polo-like kinases (PLKs) and aurora kinases (AURKs). In recent years, a larg Read More

Influenza virus can cause epidemics and pandemics of flu. A highly variable virus genome is responsible for the existence of different viral strains and acquired resistance to antiviral drugs. Today, only one class of therapeutics, neuraminidase inhibitors, is efficient and proved for influenza prophylaxis and treatment; whereas M2 protein inhibitors became inefficient due to evolving drug resistance. Therefore, there is an urg Read More

The labeling of biomolecule using 99mTc-tricarbonyl is an interesting tool for the diagnosis of diseases. This labeling startegy has several advantages as compared to other common radiolabeling techniques. This review is a complete overview of synthesis and chemistry of 99mTc-tricarbonyl molecule for labeling peptides and proteins. Also, the effect of ligand type on the stability and in vivo biodistribution of 99mTc Read More

Introduction: MicroRNA-208a (miR-208a) exacerbated cardiomyocyte apoptosis via inhibiting nemo-like kinase (NLK). miR-208a is a crucial molecule in the regulation of heart diseases, however, the biological function and underlying mechanism of miR-208a in the progression of cardiomyocyte apoptosis is not clearly elucidated. We hypothesized that miR-208a might potentiate cardiomyocyte apoptosis through inhibiting NLK. Me Read More

Aims: The main aim of this study was to verify the effect of natalizumab on the levels of circulating catecholamines and indolamine and their possible relation with MS. Methods: For this purpose, 12 healthy individuals (control group) and 12 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients (RR-MS) were selected. The patients were treated with 300 mg of natalizumab during 56 weeks (1 dose/4 weeks) (MS-56). This selection Read More