Current Signal Transduction Therapy - Volume 10, Issue 2, 2015

Self-assembling peptides have very recently emerged as a new class of drug vehicles, as they hold unique advantages such as good biocompatibility, design flexibility, and controllable nanotructure. In this work, we report a self-assembling peptide containing D-amino acids (Nap- GDFDFDYGRGD) as the carrier of anticancer drug tetrandrine. Tetrandrine is a bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloid isolated from the root of H Read More

Tetrandrine (Ted) has been demonstrated in a series of studies to have potential antitumor effect against several cancers. Its lipophilicity makes it an ideal model drug for nanoparticle encapsulation. We constructed Ted loaded nanoparticles (Ted-NP) with PLGA-PEG as drug carrier. Characterization of the nanoparticles showed that Ted-NP had a size of less than 100 nm and a slight negative surface charge. By adjusti Read More

A novel candidate named 5-(3,5-dichloro-2-hydroxybenzylamino)-2- hydroxybenzoic acid (ZL006) can effectively treat focal cerebral ischemic stroke. However, the application potential of ZL006 was compromised by its poor solubility. In this study, ZL006 was loaded effectively into liposomes to improve the solubility and bioavailability. The particle size of ZL006-loaded liposomes (LPs) was about 115.5 nm with accept Read More

Kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury is a serious illnesses which could threaten to human health. However, there is lack of effective therapy for the disease. Recently, resveratrol (Res) has been reported as a potential antioxidant in treatment of ischemia/reperfusion injury through attenuating oxidative stress and apoptosis. Because of its insolubility and short half-time, the application of Res is limited. Latest evidence reveals th Read More

Harmine (HM), a β-carboline alkaloid extracted from the seeds of Peganum harmala L., has been reported to have antitumor effects. However, the effects and mechanism of action of HM in human gastric cancer cells remain unclear. This study evaluated the antitumor effects of HM in human gastric cancer in vitro. The in vitro cytotoxicity test indicated that HM inhibits gastric cancer cell viability in a dose- and time-dependent Read More

Within the last decade, extensive research has revealed that curcumin can increase the sensitivity of tumor cells to high-energy X-ray radiation in vitro and dual-specificity phosphatase (DUSPs) are implicated in cancer, obesity, diabetes, inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease. To date, the article about the radiosensitizing effect of curcumin via enhancement of the DUSP-2 pathway was rarely reported. Here, we discuss the Read More

Objective: Bone is one of the most common sites of metastases in human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) which is often associated with skeletal-related events and poor prognosis. To explore the significance of Paeonol (Pae) in SCLC, we hypothesize that Pae can inhibit cell proliferation, migration and invasion, finally inhibit bone metastases of SCLC. Methods: The effects of Pae on proliferation of SCLC were detected by M Read More

Pancreas is a retroperitoneally located organ, and thus general CT and MRI have a very limited specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing pancreatic diseases. However, endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) with a better differential diagnostic capability of detecting pancreatic morphology and properties through gastric wall has been widely accepted by physicians and become one of the first-line methods compared with other t Read More

Post-operative liver failure is the deterioration of liver function following liver resection with high mortality. To assure safe liver treatment, accurate preoperative estimation of the functional reserve is crucial. Although the hepatic functional reserve is generally evaluated by the model for endstage liver disease (MELD) scores and Child-Pugh classification, their accuracy is unsatisfactory. In recent years, indocyanine green# Read More