The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has spread worldwide, and finding a safe therapeutic strategy and effective vaccine is critical to overcoming severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Therefore, elucidation of pathogenesis mechanisms, especially entry routes of SARS-CoV-2 may help propose antiviral drugs and novel vaccines. Several receptors have been demonstrated for the interaction of spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 with host cells, including angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2), ephrin ligands and Eph receptors, neuropilin 1 (NRP-1), P2X7, and CD147. The expression of these entry receptors in the central nervous system (CNS) may make the CNS prone to SARS-CoV-2 invasion, leading to neurodegenerative diseases. The present review provides potential pathological mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the CNS, including entry receptors and cytokines involved in neuroinflammatory conditions. Moreover, it explains several neurodegenerative disorders associated with COVID-19. Finally, we suggest inflammasome and JaK inhibitors as potential therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative diseases.
Background:
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy among women with a high mortality rate. The blockade of
asparagine-related pathways may be an effective measurement to control the progression and reduction of BC metastasis potential.
Recently, it has been shown that various miRNAs, as part of small non-coding RNAs, have a great role in cancer development, especially
asparagine-related pathways, to modulate the invasiveness.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the expression of miR-130a-5p and miR-615-3p in tumoral and non-tumoral adjacent tissues of
patients with BC.
Methods:
There is a chance that asparagine metabolism is influenced by miR-130a-5p and miR-615-3p confirmed by bioinformatics
analysis. Hence, real-time PCR was conducted on eighty BC tumoral and non-tumoral adjacent tissues to evaluate the expression level of
the two miRNAs. To predict the potential biological process and molecular pathways of miR-130a-5p, in-silico analysis was performed.
Results:
This study indicated that miR-130a was downregulated in tumoral tissues compared to non-tumoral adjacent tissues (P-value=
0.01443 and fold change= -2.5137), while miR-615-3p did not show a significant difference between the two groups. Furthermore, the
subgroup studies did not reveal any significant correlation between the expression of these two miRNAs and subfactors. Furthermore, insilico studies unraveled several biological processes related to amino-acid metabolism, as well as pathways related to tumor development
such as Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN) and JAK-STAT pathways among miR-130a-5p target genes.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicate that miRNA-130a-5p is downregulated in BC tissues and may play a tumor suppressor role in patients
with BC. Therefore, it may be suggested as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for BC.
IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reaction to pollens is a common health problem in atopic patients. In this regard, the assessment of the allergenicity of highly pollinating plants would be demanding. Based on the increment of Ailanthus altissima (A. altissima) tree in some parts of Iran and considering its probable role in respiratory allergy, in this study, we aimed to investigate its IgE-immunoreactivity and in diagnostic applications.
One hundred and twenty-five allergic rhinitis patients who were diagnosed as high IgE responders and demonstrated seasonal rhinitis or rhinoconjunctivitis, as well as 20 healthy controls (HCs) with no allergic symptoms, were enrolled in this study. Total protein extract was prepared from A. altissima pollens and subjected to quality control experiments and finally used in ELISA and western blotting studies.
Approximately 24% of the atopic patients (30 from 125) showed positive immunoreactivity to A. altissima extract. The median (IQR) of absorbance (450 nm) of the specific IgE against A. altissima pollen extract in HCs and positive groups were 0.33 (0.28-0.42) and 0.59 (0.36-0.79), respectively (p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analysis of the specific ELISA results, revealed a cut-off value of 0.46 and a sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 100%. Western blotting with the sera positive cases revealed that the main immunoreactive proteins range from 10 to 70 kDa.
This study revealed that some of A. altissima pollen proteins ranging from 10 to 70 kDa show IgE-reactivity in atopic patients and may play a role in their allergic reaction symptoms.
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