Besides the critical functions in hemostasis, thrombosis and the wounding process, platelets have been increasingly identified as active players in various processes in tumorigenesis, including angiogenesis and metastasis. Once activated, platelets can release bioactive contents such as lipids, microRNAs, and growth factors into the bloodstream, subsequently enhancing the platelet–cancer interaction and stimulating cancer metastasis and angiogenesis. The mechanisms of treatment failure of chemotherapeutic drugs have been investigated to be associated with platelets. Therefore, understanding how platelets contribute to the tumor microenvironment may potentially identify strategies to suppress cancer angiogenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance. Herein, we present a review of recent investigations on the role of platelets in the tumor-microenvironment including angiogenesis, and metastasis, as well as targeting platelets for cancer treatment, especially in drug resistance.

With over 1 million incidence cases and more than 780,000 deaths in 2018, gastric cancer (GC) was ranked as the 5th most common cancer and the 3rd leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Though several biomarkers, including carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and cancer antigen 72-4 (CA72-4), have been identified, their diagnostic accuracies were modest. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cells derived from tumors and present in body fluids, have recently emerged as promising biomarkers, diagnostically and prognostically, of cancers, including GC. In this review, we present the landscape of CTCs from migration, to the presence in circulation, biologic properties, and morphologic heterogeneities. We evaluated clinical implications of CTCs in GC patients, including diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic management, as well as their application in immunotherapy. On the one hand, major challenges in using CTCs in GC were analyzed, from the differences of cut-off values of CTC positivity, to techniques used for sampling, storage conditions, and CTC molecular markers, as well as the unavailability of relevant enrichment and detection techniques. On the other hand, we discussed future perspectives of using CTCs in GC management and research, including the use of circulating tumor microembolies; of CTC checkpoint blockade in immunotherapy; and of organoid models. Despite the fact that there are remaining challenges in techniques, CTCs have potential as novel biomarkers and/or a non-invasive method for diagnostics, prognostics, and treatment monitoring of GC, particularly in the era of precision medicine.

No abstract

An efficient choline chloride-based DES method is used to extract curcumin in turmeric residue for the first time.

Summary Background Albuminuria is the standard biomarker for the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, some patients with persistent microalbuminuria still progress to chronic kidney disease, raising the question of finding a better biomarker. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation of urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) levels with renal function and to compare the role of urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) with urinary L-FABP in early detection of DN in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods The cross-sectional study was done on 106 type 2 diabetic patients and 30 non-diabetic people. L-FABP was measured with the Latex enhanced immunoturbidimetric technique. Results There was a strong and negative correlation between the urine L-FABP levels and eGFR (r = -0.606, p<0.001). The urinary L-FABP levels were significantly higher (p<0.001) in the normoalbuminuria diabetic group than the non-diabetic control group. The ROC-curve analyses in the diabetic patients and the normoalbuminuria diabetic patients showed that the AUCL-FABP was remarkably higher (p<0.001) than the AUCACR. An optimal cutoff value of 5 mg L-FABP/g Cr (with the sensitivity of 98.1% and specificity of 90%) and of 4.3 mg L-FABP/g Cr (with the sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 86.67%) was set to detect DN in the diabetic patients and the normoalbuminuria diabetic patients, respectively. Conclusions The change in urinary L-FABP levels happened earlier than in urinary albumin during renal function impairment. Urinary L-FABP can be used as a better indicator than ACR for early detection of DN in type 2 diabetes.