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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a new genetically engineered method of immunotherapy for cancer. The patient’s T-cells are modified to express a specific receptor that sticks to the tumor antigen. This modified cell is then reintroduced into the patient’s body to fight the resilient cancer cells. After exhibiting positive results in hematological malignancies, this therapy is being proposed for solid tumors like colorectal cancer. The clinical data of CAR T-cell therapy in colorectal cancer is rather scarce. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge, challenges, and future perspectives of CAR T-cell therapy in colorectal cancer. A total of 22 articles were included in this review. Eligible studies were selected and reviewed by two researchers from 49 articles found on Pubmed, Web of Science, and clinicaltrials.gov. This therapy, at the moment, provides modest benefits in solid tumors. Not taking into consideration the high manufacturing and retail prices, there are still limitations like increased toxicities, relapses, and unfavorable tumor microenvironment for CAR T-cell therapy in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer remains a frequent disease to which screening and target therapy exist, but despite this is still marked by a high mortality rate. Even though radical surgery may be performed in many cases, patients relapse with metastatic disease. Circulating tumor cells were incriminated for tumor recurrence, that's why vigorous research started on their field. Owning prognostic and predictive value, it was revealed their usefulness in disease monitoring. Moreover, they may serve as liquid biopsies for genetic tests in cases where tissue biopsy is contraindicated or cannot be performed. In spite of these advantages, they were not included in clinical guidelines, despite CellSearch and many other detection methods were developed to ease the identification of circulating tumor cells. This review highlights the implication of circulating tumor cells in metastasis cascade, intrinsic tumor cells mechanisms and correlations with clinical parameters along with their utility for medical practice and detection techniques.

Iron is an important element in living systems as it participates in a series of metabolic processes including DNA synthesis and oxygen and electron transport. Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia globally being an important healthcare problem. If left untreated, iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) can cause significant morbidity and often is the result of a more serious underlying condition. Correcting iron deficiency and replenishing iron reserves are important objectives of a well-conducted treatment, but diagnosis should prompt further investigation to establish the cause for potential reversal. Age, tolerance, preferred route of administration, and severity of anemia are some of the patient's characteristics which require an individualized approach.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies. Although many advances have been made in the clinical study of HCC, the prognosis remains poor. Despite the discoveries in cancer biology in respect with physiological and pathological factors in relation to prognosis, HCC remains still a fatal disease due to late diagnosis. For improving the outcomes of patients with HCC, it is important to identify the factors predisposing to patient death. In recent years, based on cellular and molecular biology techniques, many tumor markers related to invasion, metastasis, recurrence and survival have been explored. However, routine biomarkers for the prediction of HCC evolution and prognosis are available in small number and less specific. These reviews focus on the recent advances in HCC tumorigenesis, revealing those biomarkers with prognosis significance or can be used for early detection.

The reactive oxygen species (ROS) production due to ultraviolet B (UV-B) exposure is extremely harmful to the skin. It causes lesions of DNA, proteins and lipids and leads to cellular death. In the present study the UV-B-induced ROS and subsequent apoptosis in the human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were counterbalanced by a plant extract with antioxidant capacity. Some molecules modulated by common heather (Calluna vulgaris) (CV) extract through which this may exert its photoprotective effects were also identified. The ROS were evaluated with CM-H2DCFDA assay, while apoptosis and Bax-α/Bcl-xL molecules with ELISA. The extract was standardized according to its polyphenolic content and the most important biologically active compounds, such as hyperozid, quercetin, isoquercetin, kampferol were evidenced by high-performance liquid chromatography. The UV-B induced ROS production occurred at its highest level at 2 h after the exposure of the HaCaT cells, while apoptosis later, at 4 h. The most significant changes in Bax-α and Bcl-XL proteins induced by UV-B, as well as the highest effect of the extract on apoptosis, were both registered at 4 h. The CV extract decreased concentration- and time-dependently the UV-B-induced ROS production and prevented apoptosis. These effects of CV occurred, at least to a certain extent, due to the modulation of Bax-α/Bcl-XL proteins. These findings suggest that skin cells could be protected from some of the UV-B-induced harmful effects by the administration of the CV extract, which may be further exploited as a potential photoprotective agent.

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