S100A8 and S100A9 (also known as MRP8 and MRP14, respectively) are Ca2+ binding proteins belonging to the S100 family. They often exist in the form of heterodimer, while homodimer exists very little because of the stability. S100A8/A9 is constitutively expressed in neutrophils and monocytes as a Ca2+ sensor, participating in cytoskeleton rearrangement and arachidonic acid metabolism. During inflammation, S100A8/A9 is released actively and exerts a critical role in modulating the inflammatory response by stimulating leukocyte recruitment and inducing cytokine secretion. S100A8/A9 serves as a candidate biomarker for diagnosis and follow-up as well as a predictive indicator of therapeutic responses to inflammation-associated diseases. As blockade of S100A8/A9 activity using small-molecule inhibitors or antibodies improves pathological conditions in murine models, the heterodimer has potential as a therapeutic target. In this review, we provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of the distribution and biological functions of S100A8/A9 and highlight its application as a diagnostic and therapeutic target in inflammation-associated diseases.

Tumor immune escape is an important strategy of tumor survival. There are many mechanisms of tumor immune escape, including immunosuppression, which has become a research hotspot in recent years. The programmed death ligand-1/programmed death-1 (PD-L1/PD-1) signaling pathway is an important component of tumor immunosuppression, which can inhibit the activation of T lymphocytes and enhance the immune tolerance of tumor cells, thereby achieving tumor immune escape. Therefore, targeting the PD-L1/PD-1 pathway is an attractive strategy for cancer treatment; however, the therapeutic effectiveness of PD-L1/PD-1 remains poor. This situation requires gaining a deeper understanding of the complex and varied molecular mechanisms and factors driving the expression and activation of the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway. In this review, we summarize the regulation mechanisms of the PD-L1/PD-1 signaling pathway in the tumor microenvironment and their roles in mediating tumor escape. Overall, the evidence accumulated to date suggests that induction of PD-L1 by inflammatory factors in the tumor microenvironment may be one of the most important factors affecting the therapeutic efficiency of PD-L1/PD-1 blocking.

Microtubules, major structural components in cells, are the target of a large and diverse group of natural product anticancer drugs. Given the success of this class of drugs in cancer treatment, it can be argued that microtubules represent the single best cancer target identified to date. Microtubules are highly dynamic assemblies of the protein tubulin. They readily polymerize and depolymerize in cells, and they undergo two interesting kinds of dynamics called dynamic instability and treadmilling. These dynamic behaviors are crucial to mitosis, the process of chromosomal division to form new cells. Microtubule dynamics are highly regulated during the cell cycle by endogenous cellular regulators. In addition, many antitumor drugs and natural compounds alter the polymerization dynamics of microtubules, blocking mitosis, and consequently, inducing cell death by apoptosis. These drugs include several that inhibit microtubule polymerization at high drug concentrations, namely, the Vinca alkaloids, cryptophycins, halichondrins, estramustine, and colchicine. Another group of these compounds stimulates microtubule polymerization and stabilizes microtubules at high concentrations. These include Taxol, Taxotere, eleutherobins, epothilones, laulimalide, sarcodictyins, and discodermolide. Importantly, considerable evidence indicates that, at lower concentrations, these drugs have a common mechanism of action; they suppress the dynamics of microtubules without appreciably changing the mass of microtubules in the cell. The drugs bind to diverse sites on tubulin and at different positions within the microtubule, and they have diverse effects on microtubule dynamics. However, by their common mechanism of suppression microtubule dynamics, they all block mitosis at the metaphase/anaphase transition, and induce cell death.

Mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (Mlkl) was recently found to interact with receptor interacting protein 3 (Rip3) and to be essential for tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced programmed necrosis (necroptosis) in cultured cell lines. We have generated Mlkl-deficient mice by transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs)-mediated gene disruption and found Mlkl to be dispensable for normal mouse development as well as immune cell development. Mlkl-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and macrophages both showed resistance to necrotic but not apoptotic stimuli. Mlkl-deficient MEFs and macrophages were indistinguishable from wild-type cells in their ability to activate NF-κB, ERK, JNK, and p38 in response to TNF and lipopolysaccharides (LPS), respectively. Consistently, Mlkl-deficient macrophages and mice exhibited normal interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and TNF production after LPS treatment. Mlkl deficiency protects mice from cerulean-induced acute pancreatitis, a necrosis-related disease, but has no effect on polymicrobial septic shock-induced animal death. Our results provide genetic evidence for the role of Mlkl in necroptosis.