The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) is a transmembrane receptor of the immunoglobulin superfamily, capable of binding a broad repertoire of ligands. RAGE-ligands interaction induces a series of signal transduction cascades and lead to the activation of transcription factor NF-κB as well as increased expression of cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecules. These effects endow RAGE with the role in the signal transduction from pathogen substrates to cell activation during the onset and perpetuation of inflammation. RAGE signaling and downstream pathways have been implicated in a wide spectrum of inflammatory-related pathologic conditions such as arteriosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, acute respiratory failure, and sepsis. Despite the significant progress in other RAGE studies, the functional importance of the receptor in clinical situations and inflammatory diseases still remains to be fully realized. In this review, we will summarize current understandings and lines of evidence on the molecular mechanisms through which RAGE signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of the aforementioned inflammation-associated conditions.

Reactive oxygen species are well known for induction of oxidative stress conditions through oxidation of vital biomarkers leading to cellular death via apoptosis and other process, thereby causing devastative effects on the host organs. This effect is believed to be linked with pathological alterations seen in several neurodegenerative disease conditions. Many phytochemical compounds proved to have robust antioxidant activities that deterred cells against cytotoxic stress environment, thus protect apoptotic cell death. In view of that we studied the potential of glucomoringin-isothiocyanate (GMG-ITC) or moringin to mitigate the process that lead to neurodegeneration in various ways. Neuroprotective effect of GMG-ITC was performed on retinoic acid (RA) induced differentiated neuroblastoma cells (SHSY5Y) via cell viability assay, flow cytometry analysis and fluorescence microscopy by means of acridine orange and propidium iodide double staining, to evaluate the anti-apoptotic activity and morphology conservation ability of the compound. Additionally, neurite surface integrity and ultrastructural analysis were carried out by means of scanning and transmission electron microscopy to assess the orientation of surface and internal features of the treated neuronal cells. GMG-ITC pre-treated neuron cells showed significant resistance to H2O2-induced apoptotic cell death, revealing high level of protection by the compound. Increase of intracellular oxidative stress induced by H2O2 was mitigated by GMG-ITC. Thus, pre-treatment with the compound conferred significant protection to cytoskeleton and cytoplasmic inclusion coupled with conservation of surface morphological features and general integrity of neuronal cells. Therefore, the collective findings in the presence study indicated the potentials of GMG-ITC to protect the integrity of neuron cells against induced oxidative-stress related cytotoxic processes, the hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases.

The unique variants or biomarkers of individuals help to understand the pathogenesis as well as the potential risk of individuals or patients to diabetic nephropathy (DN). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of a genetic polymorphism of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (CCL2-rs3917887), chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5-rs1799987), engulfment and cell mortality (ELMO1-rs74130), and interleukin-8 (IL8-rs4073) with the development of DN among Malaysian type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. More than one thousand diabetic patients were examined and a total of 652 T2DM patients were tested comprising 227 Malays (nonnephrotic=96 and nephrotic=131), 203 Chinese (nonnephrotic=95 and nephrotic=108), and 222 Indians (nonnephrotic=136 and nephrotic=86). DNA Sequenom mass ARRAY was employed to identify polymorphisms in CCL2, CCR5, ELMO1, and IL8 genes. DNA was extracted from the secondary blood samples taken from the T2DM patients. The alleles and genotypes were tested using four genetic models and the best mode of inheritance was chosen. CCR5 rs1799987 (G>A) showed strong association with the development of diabetic nephropathy only among the Chinese with OR=6.71 (2.55-17.68) 95% CI while IL8 rs4073 (T>A) showed association with nephropathy only among the Indians with OR=1.57 (0.66-3.71) 95% CI. The additive model was the best model for the mode of inheritance of all the genes. The contribution of genetic variants differs across ethnic groups or background. Further studies which involve environmental risk factors should be taken into consideration.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have garnered vast interests in clinical settings, especially in regenerative medicine due to their unique properties-they are reliably isolated and expanded from various tissue sources; they are able to differentiate into mesodermal tissues such as bones, cartilages, adipose tissues, and muscles; and they have unique immunosuppressive properties. However, there are some concerns pertaining to the role of MSCs in the human body. On one hand, they are crucial component in the regeneration and repair of the human body. On the contrary, they are shown to transform into sarcomas. Although the exact mechanisms are still unknown, many new leads have pointed to the belief that MSCs do play a role in sarcomagenesis. This review focuses on the current updates and findings of the role of MSCs in their transformation process into sarcomas.

BackgroundBreast cancer remains a leading cause of death in women worldwide. Although breast cancer therapies have greatly advanced in recent years, many patients still develop tumour recurrence and metastasis, and eventually succumb to the disease due to chemoresistance. Citral has been reported to show cytotoxic effect on various cancer cell lines. However, the potential of citral to specifically target the drug resistant breast cancer cells has not yet been tested, which was the focus of our current study.MethodsThe cytotoxic activity of citral was first tested on MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro by MTT assay. Subsequently, spheroids of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells were developed and treated with citral at different concentrations. Doxorubicin, cisplatin and tamoxifen were used as positive controls to evaluate the drug resistance phenotype of MDA-MB-231 spheroids. In addition, apoptosis study was performed using AnnexinV/7AAD flowcytometry. Aldefluor assay was also carried out to examine whether citral could inhibit the ALDH-positive population, while the potential mechanism of the effect of citral was carried out by using quantitative real time- PCR followed by western blotting analysis.ResultsCitral was able to inhibit the growth of the MDA-MB-231 spheroids when compared to a monolayer culture of MDA-MB-231 cells at a lower IC50 value. To confirm the inhibition of spheroid self-renewal capacity, the primary spheroids were then cultured to additional passages in the absence of citral. A significant reduction in the number of secondary spheroids were formed, suggesting the reduction of self-renewal capacity of these aldehyde dehydrogenase positive (ALDH+) drug resistant spheroids. Moreover, the AnnexinV/7AAD results demonstrated that citral induced both early and late apoptotic changes in a dose-dependent manner compared to the vehicle control. Furthermore, citral treated spheroids showed lower cell renewal capacity compared to the vehicle control spheroids in the mammosphere formation assay. Gene expression studies using quantitative real time PCR and Western blotting assays showed that citral was able to suppress the self-renewal capacity of spheroids and downregulate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.ConclusionThe results suggest that citral could be a potential new agent which can eliminate drug-resistant breast cancer cells in a spheroid model via inducing apoptosis.