Probiotics and fermented milk products have attracted the attention of scientists from various fields, such as health care, industry and pharmacy. In recent years, reports have shown that dietary probiotics such as kefir have a great potential for cancer prevention and treatment. Kefir is fermented milk with Caucasian and Tibet origin, made from the incubation of kefir grains with raw milk or water. Kefir grains are a mixture of yeast and bacteria, living in a symbiotic association. Antibacterial, antifungal, anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory effects are some of the health beneficial properties of kefir grains. Furthermore, it is suggested that some of the bioactive compounds of kefir such as polysaccharides and peptides have great potential for inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. Many studies revealed that kefir acts on different cancers such as colorectal cancer, malignant T lymphocytes, breast cancer and lung carcinoma. In this review, we have focused on anticancer properties of kefir.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) arises from mesothelial cells lining the pleural cavity of asbestos-exposed individuals and rapidly leads to death. MPM harbors loss-of-function mutations in BAP1, NF2, CDKN2A, and TP53, but isolated deletion of these genes alone in mice does not cause MPM and mouse models of the disease are sparse. Here, we show that a proportion of human MPM harbor point mutations, copy number alterations, and overexpression of KRAS with or without TP53 changes. These are likely pathogenic, since ectopic expression of mutant KRAS G12D in the pleural mesothelium of conditional mice causes epithelioid MPM and cooperates with TP53 deletion to drive a more aggressive disease form with biphasic features and pleural effusions. Murine MPM cell lines derived from these tumors carry the initiating KRAS G12D lesions, secondary Bap1 alterations, and human MPM-like gene expression profiles. Moreover, they are transplantable and actionable by KRAS inhibition. Our results indicate that KRAS alterations alone or in accomplice with TP53 alterations likely play an important and underestimated role in a proportion of patients with MPM, which warrants further exploration.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is known as the third leading cause of human death globally. Enhanced chronic inflammation and pathological remodeling are the main consequences of COPD, leading to decreased life span. Histological and molecular investigations revealed that prominent immune cell infiltration and release of several cytokines contribute to progressive chronic remodeling. Recent investigations have revealed that exosomes belonging to extracellular vesicles are involved in the pathogenesis of COPD. It has been elucidated that exosomes secreted from immune cells are eligible to carry numerous pro-inflammatory factors exacerbating the pathological conditions. Here, in this review article, we have summarized various and reliable information about the negative role of immune cell-derived exosomes in the remodeling of pulmonary tissue and airways destruction in COPD patients.
New achievements in the field of cancer treatment are results of recent advances in molecular medicine and gene therapy. Usage of microRNAs (miRNAs) which are small noncoding RNAs is one of the molecular research lines for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers. miRNAs have an important role in post-transcriptional regulation of the gene expression and are involved in cellular activities such as growth, differentiation, cell death and cancer development. One of the miRNAs that showed downregulation in human acute erythroleukemia is hsa-let-7c-5p. Down-regulation of hsa-let-7c-5p has been reported in in vitro studies of different cancers. In the present study, upregulation of hsa-let-7c-5p is performed in human acute erythroleukemia cell line (KG-1) using miRNA mimic. qRT-PCR, MTT assay, Annexin-V, and propidium iodide staining at different time points after miRNA mimic transfection were accomplished to assess the expression level of hsa-let-7c-5p, cell viability, apoptosis and late apoptosis. In addition, the expression level of PBX2 oncogene, a validated target gene of hsa-let-7c-5p, is evaluated by RT-qPCR to show the effectivity of this approach on erythroleukemia cancer cells. Our results can be used in translational medicine for future investigation in acute erythroleukemia and to approach treatment based on miRNA mimic therapy.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.