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Tubule formation in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial cells treated with conditioned medium from MCF7. See article by Mukherjee et al. pp. 804–817.

The graphical representation shows that the depletion of FRG1 in breast cancer cells enhances the level of FGF2. This FGF2 binds to the FGF receptors, expressed on the HUVECs, which in turn activates the ERK- and AKT-mediated downstream angiogenic cascade.

We investigated the signaling and biological effects of human urocortin 1 (hUCN1) in HeLa cells. hUCN1 treatment stimulates ERK1/2 MAPK phosphorylation, which is initiated by CRF1 and then mediated via MEK. The S-phase gene-activating transcription factor E2F-1 is also induced, leading eventually to increased cell proliferation, as demonstrated by MTT assay.

We identified the signaling pathway dynamics of male embryonic chicken germ cells during mitotic arrest by single-cell transcriptome analysis of germ cells isolated from a germ-cell tracing chicken model (DAZL::GFP chicken). BMP, Notch, and JAK–STAT signaling were downregulated at the mitotic-arrest stage and were reactivated 1 week after hatching. On the contrary, MAPK, Hedgehog, and thyroid-hormone (TH) signaling steadily increased after mitotic arrest.

Pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids in vitro can be widely used in disease modelling and drug screening. Based on a retinal organoid model, we found that alcohol significantly inhibited retinal cell proliferation and promoted cell apoptosis. Furthermore, pretreatment with resveratrol can reduce alcohol-induced retinal cell damage by activating the PI3K-AKT signalling pathway.

SCAV-3 is widely distributed and localized in lysosomes in Caenorhabditis elegans to maintain the integrity of the lysosomal membrane. Loss of function of SCAV-3 causes the accumulation of apoptotic cells (ACs). We propose that hydrolases may leak from the damaged lysosome in the process of phagolysosome formation in scav-3 mutants, which leads to the accumulation of ACs.

The gene for rhomboid 5 homolog 2 (RHBDF2) is a protein-coding gene and participates in important biological processes. We found that overexpression of RHBDF2 predicts worse prognosis for HCC patients and is significantly associated with immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, RHBDF2 can impact the prognosis of HCC patients partly because of tumor immune infiltration in HCC.

In this study, we demonstrated that reversine attenuates cholestatic ductular reaction and fibrosis in BDL rats and reduces bile duct formation associated with the Dlk1/Notch/Sox9 signaling pathway, suggesting reversine may have the potential for preventing ductular reaction and fibrosis progression in cholangiopathies.

Imidazole is largely employed in recombinant protein purification, including of GH1 β-glucosidases, but its effect on the enzyme activity is overlooked. Computational docking suggested that imidazole interacts within the active site of a GH1 β-glucosidase. By using enzyme kinetics experiments, we demonstrated that this inhibition occurs through a partial competitive mechanism, reducing the substrate affinity by about threefold.

Currently, information on the higher-order structure of lipid rafts marker, Stomatin, Prohibitin, Flotillin, and HflK/C (SPFH)-domain proteins is limited. The homo-24mer structure of stomatin PH1511 was constructed using AI prediction techniques. SPFH domain proteins may form huge cage structures enclosing cargo proteins. Based on these refined 3D homo-oligomeric structures, the substrate recognition mechanism of the membrane protease was investigated.

It is shown that trifluorolactate is a substrate for glycolate oxidase. Flavin reduction by trifluorolactate is a mechanistic proof for the intermediate formation of a carbanion. Surprisingly, for glycolate, lactate and trifluorolactate, the reduction end product is a flavin semiquinone. Global analysis of the flavin reduction kinetics suggests an inter-tetramer electron transfer.