Current Molecular Medicine - Volume 18, Issue 6, 2018

Hypoxia is a condition always present in tumor environment owing to the fast growth of tumor cells not supported by adequate blood supply. There is increasing evidence that hypoxia plays an important role in cancer dormancy and cancer metabolism, increasing stemness activity and bringing about cancer initiation and progression. This condition may influence the production of hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) a helix transcriptio Read More

Background: Animal models play critical roles in studies of the etiology and therapy of retinal degeneration (RD). Objective: To establish an RD model without severe systemic side effects in monkeys. Methods: Cynomolgus monkeys and Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with intravenous and intravitreal sodium iodate (SI). Electroretinographic (ERG) recording, fluorescein fundus angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomo Read More

Background: In our previous study, both allogeneic and xenogeneic smallincision femtosecond laser-assisted intrastromal keratoplasty were demonstrated to be safe and effective surgeries. Glycerol-dehydrated corneal lamellae could serve as alternative xenogeneic inlay grafts. However, these xenogeneic lamellae have not been explored in lamellar keratoplasty (LK). The immunoreactivity differences between c Read More

It is now well established that protein sumoylation is an important mechanism to regulate multiple cellular processes including gene transcription, chromatin structure, cell proliferation and differentiation, as well as pathogenesis. In the vertebrate eye, we and others have previously shown that sumoylation can regulate differentiation of major ocular tissues including retina and lens. However, the expression patterns of the three Read More

Objective: To study transfection efficiency of folate-modified chitosan (FACS) nanoparticles as a non-viral vector delivering pEGFP-C3plasmid (FA-CS/P) to 293T cells with or without the combination of ultrasound and microbubble. Method: pEGFP-C3 was used as a reporter gene and FA-CS nanoparticles, which were prepared by complex coagulation method, were used as biological carriers. Transfection efficiency to 293T ce Read More

Background: Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE), primarily mediated by Orai1 and stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1), is a major Ca2+ influx pathway that has been linked to human diseases including myopathy, epilepsy, immunodeficiency, and cancer. Despite of the recent rapid progress of dissecting molecular mechanisms underlying SOCE activation, the development of therapies against dysfunctional SOCE significantly l Read More

Background: Cadmium is a major heavy metal pollutant. Even at low concentrations in waste water Cadmium can accumulate in algae and sediments, and it is absorbed by both plants and aquatic animals, like shellfish and fish. Triploid crucian carp is an important economic fish, and have been farmed on a large scale in China. Objective: to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying Cadmium stress of triploid cruc Read More