Biological effects of essential oils - A review

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is essential for driving plasticity during development, but is an unintentional behaviour of cells during cancer progression. The EMT-associated reprogramming of cells not only suggests that fundamental changes may occur to several regulatory networks but also that an intimate interplay exists between them. Disturbance of a controlled epithelial balance is triggered by altering several layers of regulation, including the transcriptional and translational machinery, expression of non-coding RNAs, alternative splicing and protein stability.

Regulatory networks defining EMT during cancer initiation and progression

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular programme that is known to be crucial for embryogenesis, wound healing and malignant progression. During EMT, cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix interactions are remodelled, which leads to the detachment of epithelial cells from each other and the underlying basement membrane, and a new transcriptional programme is activated to promote the mesenchymal fate. In the context of neoplasias, EMT confers on cancer cells increased tumour-initiating and metastatic potential and a greater resistance to elimination by several therapeutic regimens. In this Review, we discuss recent findings on the mechanisms and roles of EMT in normal and neoplastic tissues, and the cell-intrinsic signals that sustain expression of this programme. We also highlight how EMT gives rise to a variety of intermediate cell states between the epithelial and the mesenchymal state, which could function as cancer stem cells. In addition, we describe the contributions of the tumour microenvironment in inducing EMT and the effects of EMT on the immunobiology of carcinomas. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is crucial for embryogenesis, wound healing and cancer development, and confers greater resistance to cancer therapies. This Review discusses the mechanisms of EMT and its roles in normal and neoplastic tissues, the contribution of cell-intrinsic signals and the microenvironment to inducing EMT, and its effects on the immunobiology of carcinomas.

New insights into the mechanisms of epithelial–mesenchymal transition and implications for cancer

Emerging Biological Principles of Metastasis

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day! This is what is highly recommended and heavily advertised nowadays to the general public to stay fit and healthy! Drinking green tea on a regular basis, eating chocolate from time to time, as well as savoring a couple of glasses of red wine per day have been claimed to increase life expectancy even further! Why? The answer is in fact still under scientific scrutiny, but a particular class of compounds naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables is considered to be crucial for the expression of such human health benefits: the polyphenols! What are these plant products really? What are their physicochemical properties? How do they express their biological activity? Are they really valuable for disease prevention? Can they be used to develop new pharmaceutical drugs? What recent progress has been made toward their preparation by organic synthesis? This Review gives answers from a chemical perspective, summarizes the state of the art, and highlights the most significant advances in the field of polyphenol research.

Plant Polyphenols: Chemical Properties, Biological Activities, and Synthesis

Oxaliplatin (OxP) has been used in combination therapy with gemcitabine for the treatment of pancreatic cancer (PC), but the beneficial effect was marginal, which is believed to be due to de novo and acquired drug resistance of PC. Here, we report our in vitro and in vivo preclinical evidence in support of chemosensitization of drug-resistant cells by a nontoxic chemopreventive agent (genistein). Genistein pretreatment together with low concentration of OxP showed significant reduction in cell viability and colony formation concomitant with increased apoptosis (p < 0.01), which was highly synergistic. Drug resistance of PC is allegedly linked with both constitutive and OxP-induced activation of NF-κB, and we found that inactivation of (nuclear factor kappa B) NF-κB by genistein before treatment of cells with OxP was required for cell killing, which was consistent with the downregulation of NF-κB and its downstream antiapoptotic genes (Bcl-2, XIAPs and survivin). Most importantly, our in vivo experiments using orthotopic mouse model showed significant reduction in tumor size (p < 0.01) and reduction of locoregional lymph node metastasis by combination treatment. These results were also consistent with inactivation of NF-κB and the downregulation of NF-κB downstream genes, decreased proliferation marker (Ki-67) and increased apoptosis (TUNEL) in tumor remnants, all of which was consistent with in vitro findings. From these results, we conclude that genistein sensitizes drug-resistant PC to OxP, which is mechanistically linked with inactivation of NF-κB signaling, resulting in greater antitumor effects, and thus our data suggest that this approach could be useful in improving the treatment outcome for patients diagnosed with PC.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ijc.25658

Restoring sensitivity to oxaliplatin by a novel approach in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Introduction Exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in near and distant intercellular communication and are potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for various cancers. This study focused on evaluation of exosomal miR-2276-5p in plasma as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for glioma. Methods Plasma exosomes from 124 patients with glioma and 36 non-tumor controls were collected and subjected to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis for the exosomal miR-2276-5p expression. Bioinformatic analyses were performed to identify a gene target, and CGGA and TCGA databases were checked for evaluation of prognostic relevance. Results The exosomal miR-2276-5p in glioma patients had a significantly decreased expression, compared with non-glioma patients (p < 0.01). Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve analyses were observed to regulate the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of miR-2276-5p in glioma; the area under the curve (AUC) for miR-2276-5p was 0.8107. The lower expression of exosomal miR-2276-5p in patients with glioma correlated with poorer survival rates. RAB13 was identified as the target of miR-2276-5p which was high in glioma patients, especially those with higher tumor grades and correlated with poor survival. Conclusion The circulating exosomal miR-2276-5p is significantly reduced in the plasma of glioma patients, and thus, it could be a potential biomarker for patients with glioma for diagnostic and/or prognostic purposes.

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Exosomal miR-2276-5p in Plasma Is a Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Glioma

Recently, nutraceuticals have received increasing attention as the agents for cancer prevention and supplement with conventional therapy Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and second leading cause of cancer-related death in men in the US Growing evidences from epidemiological studies, in vitro experimental studies, animal studies, and clinical trials have shown that nutraceuticals could be very useful for the prevention and treatment of PCa Several nutraceuticals including isoflavone, indole-3-carbinol, 3,3′-diindolylmethane, lycopene, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, and curcumin are known to downregulate the signal transductions in AR, Akt, NF-κB, and other signal transduction pathways which are vital for the development of PCa and the progression of PCa from androgen-sensitive to castrate-resistant PCa Therefore, nutraceutical treatment in combination with conventional therapeutics could achieve better treatment outcome in prostate cancer therapy Interestingly, some nutraceuticals could regulate the function of cancer stem cell (CSC)-related miRNAs and associated molecules, leading to the inhibition of prostatic CSCs which are responsible for drug resistance, tumor progression, and recurrence of PCa Hence, nutraceuticals may serve as powerful agents for the prevention of PCa progression and they could also be useful in combination with chemotherapeutics or radiotherapy Such strategy could become a promising newer approach for the treatment of metastatic PCa with better treatment outcome by improving overall survival

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Recent progress on nutraceutical research in prostate cancer.

Long non-coding RNAs in oncourology.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States and the 5-year overall survival outlook for a patient has not improved in several decades. Recently, however, molecular and genomic profi ling of the lung tumors has revealed recurring somatic mutations. As a result the therapeutic landscape of lung cancer is undergoing a paradigm shift from a purely histology-based understanding of the disease to subtype distinctions based on tumor genetics, which has launched cancer-specifi c, mechanism-based targeted therapies with clear benefi t to patients. While targeted therapy advancements are being made at an ever increasing rate, a new challenge in the form of drug resistance has also emerged. This review summarizes the current literature for these issues.

Aamir Ahmad

Papers

Restoring sensitivity to oxaliplatin by a novel approach in gemcitabine-resistant pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Exosomal miR-2276-5p in Plasma Is a Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Glioma

Recent progress on nutraceutical research in prostate cancer.

Long non-coding RNAs in oncourology.

Lung Cancer and Personalized Medicine: Novel Therapies and Clinical Management. Preface.