Current Protein and Peptide Science - Volume 22, Issue 8, 2021

Background: Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Polymers have low cytotoxicity and high functionalizability and are hence used for drug delivery systems, tissue engineering, and polymer therapeutics. In drug delivery systems, polymer-drug conjugates have shown considerable promise, especially in anticancer chemotherapy. Objective: Anticancer Drug Delivery Systems (DDS) deliver drugs to the tumor site leading to reduced exposure of the drugs to healthy cells and hence reduced side effects. Efforts have been made in the past to develop effective DDS using stimuli-responsive polymers like thermosensitive and pH-sensitive polymers. Conclusion: Elastin-like Polypeptides (ELP), one of the thermoresponsive polymers, have been identified as drug carriers in anticancer therapy. ELP-drug conjugates have the potential and can be used effectively in combination with hyperthermia for targeting drugs to solid tumors. This review reports on the use of ELPs in cancer therapy, its biomedical applications, and recent developments to target drugs to ovarian solid tumors.

Modern protein science is broadening horizons by moving toward the systemic description of proteins in their natural habitats. This implies a transition from a classical reductionist approach associated with consideration of the unique structure and specific biological activity of an individual protein in a purified form to studying entire proteomes and their functions. This minireview provides a brief description of structural, functional, and expression proteomics, the dark proteome (or unfoldome), and some of the tools utilized in the analyses of proteomes.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the main cause of dementia worldwide. The definitive diagnosis of AD is clinicopathological and based on the identification of cerebral deposition of Amyloid β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, the link between amyloid cascade and depositions of phosphorylated tau (p-tau) is still missing. In this scenario, inflammasomes might play a relevant role. Experimental models of AD have suggested that Aβ accumulation induces, through microglia, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. This activation contributes to the dissemination of Aβ and p-tau, as well as to hyperphosphorylation of tau. Also, in experimental models, NLPR1 promoted neuronal pyroptosis. There are neither comprehensive neuropathologic characterization nor clinicopathologic studies evaluating the NLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasomes in subjects with AD. The current mini-review aims to summarize recent and promising findings on the role of NLRP1 and NLRP3 signaling in the pathophysiology of AD. We also sought to highlight the knowledge gap in patients with AD, mainly the lack of clinicopathologic studies on the interaction among inflammasomes, Aβ/tau pathology, and cognitive decline.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNA) belong to the substantial class of posttranscriptional gene regulators with decisive functions in typical cellular and disease progressions. They are short RNA molecules that are not translated into proteins but bind to the complementary sites of various mRNAs, thus blocking them and leading to translational inhibition. Objective: These miRNA molecules act as signatory molecules or biomarkers for various types of malignancies. Different miRNAs are involved in different cancer-linked pathways depending on the nature, stage, and kind of cancer. The objective of this article is to discuss and review the role and significance of various miRNAs in two of the most prominent cancers; breast and ovarian cancer. Methods: The role of miRNAs in the instigation, propagation, and metastasis of melanoma has been elucidated. Results: This article focuses on the up- and down-regulation of various miRNAs in breast and ovarian cancer, with stress on diversity in their occurrence and specificity in their threshold levels in certain types and stages of cancer, suggesting their potential role as an effective diagnostic and treatment tool for cancer. Conclusion: Considering all the aforementioned information, it can be concluded that miRNAs can act as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of breast and ovarian cancers.

Listeria monocytogenes, a facultative intracellular gram-positive pathogen, is the causative agent of the disease listeriosis. The virulence of this intracellular bacterium is dependent on the coordinated activity of various bacterial factors, which are in turn tightly controlled by a specific set of regulators. The various virulence factors employed by L. monocytogenes for its infection cycle are well reported in literature. Although the internalins of L. monocytogenes have been studied in detail, their structural details are currently scattered and fragmented. Therefore, in the current review, we provide a brief account of the existing knowledge on structural details of the key internalins of L. monocytogenes and also highlight the recent advances in their functional aspects.