Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, which incidence has increased in recent years. It is constituted by very heterogeneous tissue characterized by an abnormal microenvironment regulating tumor progression and providing evasion from cancer therapies. Breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (BCAFs) are the main cell type of breast cancer microenvironment and can represent up to 80% of the tumor mass. In particular, BCAFs induce cancer initiation, proliferation, invasion and metastasis by undergoing an activation process associated with the secretion of growth factors, cytokines, and paracrine interactions. Therapy resistance is the main cause of poor therapeutic results or even failure in breast cancer patients. Despite recent advances in breast cancer management, there is a need for new prognostic markers and novel agents for targeting key signalling pathways to either improve the efficacy of the current therapies, or reduce toxicity. In this view, BCAFs represent markers useful to clinical diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis of breast cancer. This review focuses on the role of BCAFs in cancer, and describes the processes of endocrine/chemotherapy resistance linked to BCAFs action. Moreover, it points to molecules and pathways regulating therapy resistance induced by BCAFs. Finally, potential therapeutic strategies targeting BCAFs and offering new tools in breast cancer therapy are highlighted.

Fyn is a non-receptor or cytoplasmatic tyrosine kinase (TK) belonging to the Src family kinases (SFKs) involved in multiple transduction pathways in the central nervous system (CNS) including synaptic transmission, myelination, axon guidance, and oligodendrocyte formation. Almost one hundred years after the original description of Fyn, this protein continues to attract extreme interest because of its multiplicity of actions in the molecular signaling pathways underlying neurodevelopmental as well as neuropathologic events. This review highlights and summarizes the most relevant recent findings pertinent to the role that Fyn exerts in the brain, emphasizing aspects related to neurodevelopment and synaptic plasticity. Fyn is a common factor in healthy and diseased brains that targets different proteins and shapes different transduction signals according to the neurological conditions. We will primarily focus on Fyn-mediated signaling pathways involved in neuronal differentiation and plasticity that have been subjected to considerable attention lately, opening the fascinating scenario to target Fyn TK for the development of potential therapeutic interventions for the treatment of CNS injuries and certain neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

In this study, we explored the ability of Annurca apple flesh polyphenol extract (AFPE) to affect the activity of key enzymes involved in neurodegenerative disorders—in particular, Acetyl- and Butirryl-cholinesterases, and type A and B monoamine oxidase. The effect of AFPE on enzyme activity was analyzed by in vitro enzyme assays, and the results showed concentration-dependent enzyme inhibition, with IC50 values corresponding to 859 ± 18 µM and 966 ± 72 µM for AChE and BuChE respectively, and IC50 corresponding to 145 ± 3 µM and 199 ± 7 µM for MAO-A and MAO-B, respectively, with a preference for MAO-A. Moreover, in this concentration range, AFPE did not affect the viability of human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y and fibroblast BJ-5ta cell lines, as determined by an MTT assay. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that AFPE shows the new biological properties of inhibiting the activity of enzymes that are involved in brain functions, neurodegenerative disorders, and aging.

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Melanoma is one of the most aggressive solid tumors and includes a stromal microenvironment that regulates cancer growth and progression. The components of stromal microenvironment such as fibroblasts, fibroblast aggregates and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) can differently influence the melanoma growth during its distinct stages. In this work, we have developed and studied a stromal microenvironment model, represented by fibroblasts, proto-myofibroblasts, myofibroblasts and aggregates of inactivated myofibroblasts, such as spheroids. In particular, we have generated proto-myofibroblasts from primary cutaneous myofibroblasts. The phenotype of proto-myofibroblasts is characterized by a dramatic reduction of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein levels, as well as an enhancement of cell viability and migratory capability compared with myofibroblasts. Furthermore, proto-myofibroblasts display the mesenchymal marker vimentin and less developed stress fibers, with respect to myofibroblasts. The analysis of crosstalk between the stromal microenvironment and A375 or A2058 melanoma cells has shown that the conditioned medium of proto-myofibroblasts is cytotoxic, mainly for A2058 cells, and dramatically reduces the migratory capability of both cell lines compared with the melanoma-control conditioned medium. An array analysis of proto-myofibroblast and melanoma cell-conditioned media suggests that lower levels of some cytokines and growth factors in the conditioned medium of proto-myofibroblasts could be associated with their anti-tumor activity. Conversely, the conditioned media of melanoma cells do not influence the cell viability, outgrowth, and migration of proto-myofibroblasts from spheroids. Interestingly, the conditioned medium of proto-myofibroblasts does not alter the cell viability of both BJ-5ta fibroblast cells and myofibroblasts. Hence, proto-myofibroblasts could be useful in the study of new therapeutic strategies targeting melanoma.