International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Field cancerization in the upper respiratory tract (URT) heavily drives cancer recurrence. The present study evaluated Thai ethnobotanical ingredients from Kampramong’s anticancer remedies as alternative agents for URT cancer control. Thirty-one ethanolic extracts were screened for cytotoxicity against six URT malignant cell lines (HK1, KB, HONE-1, NPC38, NPC43, and HEp2) and two non-cancerous co…

Caloric restriction (CR) is among the most effective nutritional interventions for promoting healthy aging, yet the influence of intervention duration and age at initiation on its efficacy remains incompletely understood. This study investigated the effects of short-term caloric restriction (STCR) and long-term caloric restriction (LTCR) on frailty and brain redox homeostasis in male Wistar rats.…

Congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy (CHED) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of the corneal endothelium caused by biallelic variants in the SLC4A11 gene. Its genetic spectrum is well described in the Indian subcontinent, but poorly characterized in the Saudi population, where high rates of consanguinity may concentrate specific alleles. We performed whole-exome sequencing in 47 clini…

Protein methylation is becoming more prominently recognised as a post-translational modification (PTM) that regulates diverse aspects of cellular biology through the coordinated activity of over 90 protein methyltransferases (PMTs) [...]

Regulatory Factor X3 (RFX3—OMIM#601337) encodes a transcription factor that is highly expressed in the human brain, particularly during neurodevelopment. It has been previously associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual developmental disorder, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, the neurological and epileptic features re…

Endometriosis is a chronic, oestrogen-responsive inflammatory disease characterised by endometrial-like tissue outside the uterine cavity. Because retrograde menstruation is common, lesion establishment probably requires cellular competence and a permissive ectopic microenvironment. This hypothesis-driven narrative review evaluates fascin (FSCN1) as a candidate cytoskeletal effector and considers…

Colorectal cancer progression and therapeutic response are determined not only by tumor-intrinsic programs but also by neural, stromal, and immune components of the tumor microenvironment. However, biologically interpretable transcriptomic scores that jointly capture neural/stromal remodeling and immune activation remain limited. We developed a neuro-immune score (NIS), defined as the neural/stro…

Breast cancer is a highly heterogeneous malignancy in which fatty acid metabolism plays a critical yet insufficiently characterized role in tumor progression, immune evasion, and treatment resistance. To address this gap, we performed a comprehensive re-analysis of single-cell transcriptomic data from 62 breast cancer patients using the Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) algorithm to delinea…

Differentiating active ulcerative colitis (UC) from Crohn’s disease (CD) is one of the unmet needs addressed by biomarkers in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The immune landscapes of UC and CD differ, justifying the search for discriminatory markers and novel therapy targets among their mediators. Herein, 27 systemic cytokines were measured using flow cytometry-based methodology in 138 IBD pati…

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the intracellular pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains a major global health challenge. The prolonged duration of treatment and the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains have highlighted the need for alternative therapeutic strategies. This study investigated the therapeutic potential of Ag85A aptamer-conjugated PEGylated niosomes encapsulating ethano…

Inflammasomes are central mediators of innate immune defense but can also drive pathological inflammation and pyroptotic cell death in numerous diseases. While several small-molecule inhibitors have been described, many selectively target individual inflammasomes or act through the adaptor protein ASC, leaving ASC-independent pathways unaffected. We previously identified thiomuscimol as a broad-s…

Immunotherapy delivers a fundamental shift in the treatment of multiple cancers, offering hope for patients with cancer. Unlike conventional therapies, it leverages the patient’s immune system to precisely identify and destroy cancer cells. The remarkable journey of immunotherapy’s has revolutionized oncology and paved the way for the development of modern immunotherapies. Several approaches are …

RNA aptamers are often used as ligand-recognition modules in engineered RNA systems, but integration into larger RNA constructs can influence stability and ligand binding. As a result, aptamer sequences may need to be adapted to new environments while preserving essential properties. Here, we examine this sequence editability problem for the theophylline RNA aptamer. Starting from the experimenta…

Fragile X syndrome (FRAX) is caused by CGG repeat expansion in the FMR1 gene, which triggers aberrant DNA hypermethylation, chromatin condensation, and transcriptional gene silencing. However, the mechanism that underlies this repeat-induced epigenetic defect remains poorly understood. SMCHD1 is a chromatin regulator that promotes de novo DNA methylation and heterochromatin formation at long repe…

Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory disease in which treatment response is assessed using clinical indices such as the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), despite their limited ability to capture systemic inflammation and underlying immunological activity. This narrative review aims to summarize current evidence on inflammat…

Primary membranous nephropathy (pMN) is an antibody-mediated podocytopathy, most commonly caused by autoantibodies against the M-type phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R1). Rituximab (RTX), an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, is a first-line treatment for moderate-to-high-risk pMN, inducing partial or complete remission in about 60% of patients within 24 months. However, treatment response varies cons…

Salinity restricts rice growth by disrupting cellular ion balance and promoting oxidative damage. Although exogenous melatonin can improve rice salt tolerance, whether expansion of the endogenous tryptophan pool enhances melatonin biosynthetic capacity and stress acclimation remains unclear. Here, we investigated a homozygous transgenic rice line constitutively expressing OASA1D, a feedback-insen…

Exploring protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks during cellular processes is critical for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying these processes. PL (proximity labeling) is an emerging technique with the potential to be a powerful protein interactomics tool. It employs proximity-labeling enzymes, coupled with mass spectrometry, to covalently label, capture, and identify interactin…

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most aggressive primary brain tumor in adults, which displays extremely poor prognosis. Protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) and its downstream effector SerpinB3 are overexpressed in aggressive glioblastomas. In this study we evaluated the antitumor activity of 1-piperidine propionic acid (1-PPA), an allosteric PAR2 inhibitor, in in vitro preclinical models of gliob…

Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs), the primary bioactive components extracted from the traditional medicinal and edible plant Lycium barbarum L., have attracted extensive attention in biomedical research due to their superior anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and biological safety properties. Inflammation is a key pathological basis of various chronic metabolic and immune diseases, and LBP…