Targeting molecular subtypes in solid cancers: successes and failures

Cancer research in Lebanon: Scope of the most recent publications of an academic institution (Review)

Cancer may be considered one of the most interesting areas of study, and although oncology research has grown markedly over the last decade, there is as yet no known cure for cancer. The objective of the present review is to examine various approaches to cancer research from a single institution, summarize their key conclusions and offer recommendations for future evaluations. The review examined 72 cancer-associated studies that were published within six years from 2017 to 2022. Published works in the subject fields of 'cancer' or 'oncology' and 'research' that were indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were retrieved and sorted according to article title, author names, author count, citation count and key words. After screening, a total of 28 in vitro/animal studies and 46 patient-associated published studies were obtained. A large proportion of these studies comprised literature reviews (20/72), while 20 studies were observational in nature. The 72 publications included 23 in which various types of cancer were examined, while the remaining studies focused on specific types of cancer, including lung, breast, colon and brain cancer. These studies aimed to investigate the incidence, prevalence, treatment and prevention mechanisms associated with cancer. Despite the existence of extensive cancer research, scientists seldom contemplate an ultimate cure for cancer. However, it is crucial to continuously pursue research on cancer prevention and treatment in order to enhance the effectiveness and minimize potential side effects of cancer therapy.

GPCRs Are Optimal Regulators of Complex Biological Systems and Orchestrate the Interface between Health and Disease

GPCRs arguably represent the most effective current therapeutic targets for a plethora of diseases. GPCRs also possess a pivotal role in the regulation of the physiological balance between healthy and pathological conditions; thus, their importance in systems biology cannot be underestimated. The molecular diversity of GPCR signaling systems is likely to be closely associated with disease-associated changes in organismal tissue complexity and compartmentalization, thus enabling a nuanced GPCR-based capacity to interdict multiple disease pathomechanisms at a systemic level. GPCRs have been long considered as controllers of communication between tissues and cells. This communication involves the ligand-mediated control of cell surface receptors that then direct their stimuli to impact cell physiology. Given the tremendous success of GPCRs as therapeutic targets, considerable focus has been placed on the ability of these therapeutics to modulate diseases by acting at cell surface receptors. In the past decade, however, attention has focused upon how stable multiprotein GPCR superstructures, termed receptorsomes, both at the cell surface membrane and in the intracellular domain dictate and condition long-term GPCR activities associated with the regulation of protein expression patterns, cellular stress responses and DNA integrity management. The ability of these receptorsomes (often in the absence of typical cell surface ligands) to control complex cellular activities implicates them as key controllers of the functional balance between health and disease. A greater understanding of this function of GPCRs is likely to significantly augment our ability to further employ these proteins in a multitude of diseases.