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Elisabetta Meucci

Bio: Elisabetta Meucci is an academic researcher from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ascorbic acid & Alkaline phosphatase. The author has an hindex of 24, co-authored 74 publications receiving 1773 citations. Previous affiliations of Elisabetta Meucci include The Catholic University of America.


Papers
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TL;DR: The presence of OS indexes in NTIS supports the hypothesis that it represents a condition of hypothyroidism at the tissue level and not only an adaptive mechanism to diseases.
Abstract: Inflammation and oxidative stress (OS) are closely related processes, as well exemplified in obesity and cardiovascular diseases. OS is also related to hormonal derangement in a reciprocal way. Among the various hormonal influences that operate on the antioxidant balance, thyroid hormones play particularly important roles, since both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism have been shown to be associated with OS in animals and humans. In this context, the nonthyroidal illness syndrome (NTIS) that typically manifests as reduced conversion of thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3) in different acute and chronic systemic conditions is still a debated topic. The pathophysiological mechanisms of this syndrome are reviewed, together with the roles of deiodinases, the enzymes responsible for the conversion of T4 to T3, in both physiological and pathological situations. The presence of OS indexes in NTIS supports the hypothesis that it represents a condition of hypothyroidism at the tissue level and not only an adaptive mechanism to diseases.

280 citations

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TL;DR: The review intends to conduct a systematic analysis of the literature in order to critically evaluate the association between lycopene (or tomato products) supplementation and cardiovascular diseases and/or cardiovascular disease risk factors progression, and to prepare provision of evidence-based guidelines for patients and clinicians.
Abstract: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in Western societies and accounts for up to a third of all deaths worldwide. In comparison to the Northern European or other Western countries, the Mediterranean area has lower rates of mortality from cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and this is attributed, at least in part, to the so-called Mediterranean diet, which is rich in plantderived bioactive phytochemicals. Identification of the active constituents of the Mediterranean diet is therefore crucial to the formulation of appropriate dietary guidelines. Lycopene is a natural carotenoid found in tomato, an essential component of the Mediterranean diet, which, although belonging to the carotenoid family, does not have pro-vitamin A activity but many other biochemical functions as an antioxidant scavenger, hypolipaemic agent, inhibitor of pro-inflammatory and pro-thrombotic factors, thus potentially of benefit in CVD. In particular, the review intends to conduct a systematic analysis of the literature (epidemiological studies and interventional trials) in order to critically evaluate the association between lycopene (or tomato products) supplementation and cardiovascular diseases and/or cardiovascular disease risk factors progression, and to prepare provision of evidence-based guidelines for patients and clinicians. Several reports have appeared in support of the role of lycopene in the prevention of CVD, mostly based on epidemiological studies showing a dose-response relationship between lycopene and CVD. A less clear and more complex picture emerges from the interventional trials, where several works have reported conflicting results. Although many aspects of lycopene in vivo metabolism, functions and clinical indications remain to be clarified, supplementation of low doses of lycopene has been already suggested as a preventive measure for contrasting and ameliorating many aspects of CVD.

147 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the binding properties of human serum albumin via purely conformational changes are investigated. But no gross alteration can be observed in the electrophoretic and chromatographic patterns of albumin, whereas localized modifications are indicated by the changes in absorption and fluorescence spectra and in polarization degree.

110 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review discusses recent developments in the molecular mechanisms underlying anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, focusing on controversial aspects and on recent data regarding analogues of the natural compounds, tumor-targeted formulations and cardioprotective agents.
Abstract: Anthracyclines are among the most effective anticancer drugs ever developed. Unfortunately, their clinical use is severely limited by the development of a progressive dose-dependent cardiomyopathy that irreversibly evolves toward congestive heart failure, usually refractory to conventional therapy. The pathophysiology of anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy remains controversial and incompletely understood. The current thinking is that anthracyclines are toxic per se but gain further cardiotoxicity after one-electron reduction with ROS overproduction or two-electron reduction with conversion to C-13 alcohol metabolites. ROS overproduction can probably be held responsible for anthracycline acute cardiotoxicity, but not for all the aspects of progressive cardiomyopathy. Intramyocardial formation of secondary alcohol metabolites might play a key role in promoting the progression of cardiotoxicity toward end-stage cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. In this review we also discuss recent developments in: a) the molecular mechanisms underlying anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity; b) the role of cytosolic NADPH-dependent reductases in anthracycline metabolism; c) the influence of genetic polymorphisms on cardiotoxicity outcome; d) the perspectives on the most promising strategies for limiting or preventing anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity, focusing on controversial aspects and on recent data regarding analogues of the natural compounds, tumor-targeted formulations and cardioprotective agents.

91 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is emphasized that not only one cigarette is sufficient to impair the salivary enzymatic activities but also strengthen the proposed protective role of GSH against the noxious biochemical effects of CS.
Abstract: Tobacco smoke is involved in the pathogenesis of several diseases regarding different body systems, mainly cardiovascular and respiratory in addition to its local toxic effect in the oral cavity. The noxious effects of smoke compounds justify the high incidence of periodontal diseases, caries, and neoplastic diseases of oral tissues in smokers. Some toxic components of tobacco smoke, unsaturated and saturated aldehydes, could interact with thiol rich compounds, leading to structural and functional modification of these molecules. Previous papers have demonstrated an in vitro significant decrease of some enzymatic activities, both in plasma and in saliva, following external addition of aldehydes or exposure to cigarette smoke (CS). Furthermore, the same studies underlined the protective effect exerted by the addition of glutathione (GSH) against the damaging role of smoke aldehydes. In this study some salivary enzymes (lactic dehydrogenase [LDH], aspartate aminotransferase [AST] and amylase), and total GSH were measured in 20 volunteers smokers, before and just after smoking a single cigarette. All enzymatic activities showed a significant inhibition following a single cigarette, probably due to the interaction between smoke aldehydes and -SH groups of the enzyme molecules. Moreover, the percentage of the enzymatic inhibition showed a negative correlation with the basal level of salivary GSH. Our results emphasize that not only one cigarette is sufficient to impair the salivary enzymatic activities but also strengthen the proposed protective role of GSH against the noxious biochemical effects of CS.

86 citations


Cited by
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08 Dec 2001-BMJ
TL;DR: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one, which seems an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.
Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

33,785 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An overview of issues confirms that anthracyclines remain “evergreen” drugs with broad clinical indications but have still an improvable therapeutic index.
Abstract: The clinical use of anthracyclines like doxorubicin and daunorubicin can be viewed as a sort of double-edged sword. On the one hand, anthracyclines play an undisputed key role in the treatment of many neoplastic diseases; on the other hand, chronic administration of anthracyclines induces cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure usually refractory to common medications. Second-generation analogs like epirubicin or idarubicin exhibit improvements in their therapeutic index, but the risk of inducing cardiomyopathy is not abated. It is because of their janus behavior (activity in tumors vis-a-vis toxicity in cardiomyocytes) that anthracyclines continue to attract the interest of preclinical and clinical investigations despite their longer-than-40-year record of longevity. Here we review recent progresses that may serve as a framework for reappraising the activity and toxicity of anthracyclines on basic and clinical pharmacology grounds. We review 1) new aspects of anthracycline-induced DNA damage in cancer cells; 2) the role of iron and free radicals as causative factors of apoptosis or other forms of cardiac damage; 3) molecular mechanisms of cardiotoxic synergism between anthracyclines and other anticancer agents; 4) the pharmacologic rationale and clinical recommendations for using cardioprotectants while not interfering with tumor response; 5) the development of tumor-targeted anthracycline formulations; and 6) the designing of third-generation analogs and their assessment in preclinical or clinical settings. An overview of these issues confirms that anthracyclines remain "evergreen" drugs with broad clinical indications but have still an improvable therapeutic index.

3,320 citations

01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The terms "antioxidant", "oxidative stress" and "oxoidative damage" are widely used but rarely defined as discussed by the authors, and a brief review attempts to define them and to examine the ways in which oxidative stress and oxidative damage can affect cell behaviour both in vivo and in cell culture, using cancer as an example.
Abstract: The terms 'antioxidant', 'oxidative stress' and 'oxidative damage' are widely used but rarely defined. This brief review attempts to define them and to examine the ways in which oxidative stress and oxidative damage can affect cell behaviour both in vivo and in cell culture, using cancer as an example.

1,309 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review will provide an overview of oxidative biochemistry related to sperm health and identify which men are most at risk of oxidative infertility, and outline methods available for diagnosing oxidative stress and the various treatments available.
Abstract: Oxidative stress occurs when the production of potentially destructive reactive oxygen species (ROS) exceeds the bodies own natural antioxidant defenses, resulting in cellular damage. Oxidative stress is a common pathology seen in approximately half of all infertile men. ROS, defined as including oxygen ions, free radicals and peroxides are generated by sperm and seminal leukocytes within semen and produce infertility by two key mechanisms. First, they damage the sperm membrane, decreasing sperm motility and its ability to fuse with the oocyte. Second, ROS can alter the sperm DNA, resulting in the passage of defective paternal DNA on to the conceptus. This review will provide an overview of oxidative biochemistry related to sperm health and will identify which men are most at risk of oxidative infertility. Finally, the review will outline methods available for diagnosing oxidative stress and the various treatments available.

1,231 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A brief background on the literature supporting the PharmGKB pathway about doxorubicin action, and a summary of this active area of research can be found in this paper.
Abstract: The goal of this study is to give a brief background on the literature supporting the PharmGKB pathway about doxorubicin action, and provides a summary of this active area of research. The reader is referred to recent in-depth reviews [1–4] for more detailed discussion of this important and complex pathway. Doxorubicin is an anthracyline drug first extracted from Streptomyces peucetius var. caesius in the 1970’s and routinely used in the treatment of several cancers including breast, lung, gastric, ovarian, thyroid, non-Hodgkin’s and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, sarcoma, and pediatric cancers [5–7]. A major limitation for the use of doxorubicin is cardiotoxicity, with the total cumulative dose being the only criteria currently used to predict the toxicity [4,8]. As there is evidence that the mechanisms of anticancer action and of cardiotoxicity occur through different pathways there is hope for the development of anthracycline drugs with equal efficacy but reduced toxicity [4]. Knowledge of the pharmacogenomics of these pathways may eventually allow for future selection of patients more likely to achieve efficacy at lower doses or able to withstand higher doses with lesser toxicity. We present here graphical representations of the candidate genes for the pharmacogenomics of doxorubicin action in a stylized cancer cell (Fig. 1) and toxicity in cardiomyocytes (Fig. 2), and a table describing the key variants examined so far. Open in a separate window Fig. 1 Graphical representation of the candidate genes involved in the pharmacodynamics of doxorubicin in a stylized cancer cell. A fully interactive version of this pathway is available online at PharmGKB at http://www.pharmgkb.org/do/serve?objId=PA165292163o ROS, reactive oxygen species.

1,168 citations