Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation: Non-Invasive Imaging of PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signalling in Cancer.
Non-invasive imaging of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling in cancer.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2012; 2(4): 418-31
Gaikwad SM, Ray P
Platinum based drugs are widely used to treat various types of cancers by inducing DNA damage mediated cytotoxicity. However, acquirement of chemoresistance towards platinum based drugs is a common phenomenon and a major hurdle in combating the relapse of the disease. Oncogenesis and chemoresistance are multifactorial maladies which often involve deregulation of one of the prime cell survival pathways, the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling cascade. The genetic alterations related to this pathway are often responsible for initiation and/or maintenance of carcinogenesis. Molecular components of this pathway are long being recognized as major targets for therapeutic intervention and are now also have emerged as potential tools for diagnosis of cancer. To develop novel therapeutics against the key molecules of PI3K pathway, stringent validation is required using both in-vitro and in-vivo models. Repetitive and non-invasive molecular imaging techniques, a relatively recent field in biomedical imaging hold great promises for monitoring such diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we first introduced the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway and its role in acquirement of chemoresistance in various cancers. Further we described how non-invasive molecular imaging approaches are sought to use this PI3K signalling axis for the therapeutics and diagnosis. A theranostic approach using various imaging modalities should be the future of PI3K signalling based drug development venture.
HubMed – drug
Mechanistic and Single-Dose In Vivo Therapeutic Studies of Cry5B Anthelmintic Action against Hookworms.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012 Nov; 6(11): e1900
Hu Y, Zhan B, Keegan B, Yiu YY, Miller MM, Jones K, Aroian RV
BACKGROUND: Hookworm infections are one of the most important parasitic infections of humans worldwide, considered by some second only to malaria in associated disease burden. Single-dose mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths, including hookworms, relies primarily on albendazole, which has variable efficacy. New and better hookworm therapies are urgently needed. Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein Cry5B has potential as a novel anthelmintic and has been extensively studied in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we ask whether single-dose Cry5B can provide therapy against a hookworm infection and whether C. elegans mechanism-of-action studies are relevant to hookworms. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test whether the C. elegans invertebrate-specific glycolipid receptor for Cry5B is relevant in hookworms, we fed Ancylostoma ceylanicum hookworm adults Cry5B with and without galactose, an inhibitor of Cry5B-C. elegans glycolipid interactions. As with C. elegans, galactose inhibits Cry5B toxicity in A. ceylanicum. Furthermore, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which controls one of the most important Cry5B signal transduction responses in C. elegans, is functionally operational in hookworms. A. ceylanicum hookworms treated with Cry5B up-regulate p38 MAPK and knock down of p38 MAPK activity in hookworms results in hypersensitivity of A. ceylanicum adults to Cry5B attack. Single-dose Cry5B is able to reduce by >90% A. ceylanicum hookworm burdens from infected hamsters, in the process eliminating hookworm egg shedding in feces and protecting infected hamsters from blood loss. Anthelmintic activity is increased about 3-fold, eliminating >97% of the parasites with a single 3 mg dose (?30 mg/kg), by incorporating a simple formulation to help prevent digestion in the acidic stomach of the host mammal. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These studies advance the development of Cry5B protein as a potent, safe single-dose anthelmintic for hookworm therapy and make available the information of how Cry5B functions in C. elegans in order to study and improve Cry5B function against hookworms.
HubMed – drug
Analysis of Neglected Tropical Disease Drug and Vaccine Development Pipelines to Predict Issuance of FDA Priority Review Vouchers over the Next Decade.
Filed under: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012 Oct; 6(10): e1803
Stefanakis R, Robertson AS, Ponder EL, Moree M
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