Comprehensive MicroRNAome Analysis of the Relationship Between Alzheimer Disease and Cancer in PSEN Double-Knockout Mice

Apoptosis Genes as a Key to Identification of Inverse Comorbidity of Huntington's Disease and Cancer

Cancer and neurodegenerative disorders present overwhelming challenges for healthcare worldwide. Epidemiological studies showed a decrease in cancer rates in patients with neurodegenerative disorders, including the Huntington disease (HD). Apoptosis is one of the most important processes for both cancer and neurodegeneration. We suggest that genes closely connected with apoptosis and associated with HD may affect carcinogenesis. We applied reconstruction and analysis of gene networks associated with HD and apoptosis and identified potentially important genes for inverse comorbidity of cancer and HD. The top 10 high-priority candidate genes included APOE, PSEN1, INS, IL6, SQSTM1, SP1, HTT, LEP, HSPA4, and BDNF. Functional analysis of these genes was carried out using gene ontology and KEGG pathways. By exploring genome-wide association study results, we identified genes associated with neurodegenerative and oncological disorders, as well as their endophenotypes and risk factors. We used publicly available datasets of HD and breast and prostate cancers to analyze the expression of the identified genes. Functional modules of these genes were characterized according to disease-specific tissues. This integrative approach revealed that these genes predominantly exert similar functions in different tissues. Apoptosis along with lipid metabolism dysregulation and cell homeostasis maintenance in the response to environmental stimulus and drugs are likely key processes in inverse comorbidity of cancer in patients with HD. Overall, the identified genes represent the promising targets for studying molecular relations of cancer and HD.

New RNA-Based Breakthroughs in Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis and Therapeutics

Dementia is described as the fifth leading cause of death worldwide and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is recognized as the most common, causing a huge impact on health costs and quality of patients’ lives. The main hallmarks that are commonly associated with the pathologic process are amyloid deposition, pathologic Tau phosphorylation and neurodegeneration. It is still unclear how these events are linked to the disease progression, due to the complex pathologic mechanisms. Nevertheless, several hypotheses have been proposed for a better understanding of AD. The AD diagnosis is performed by using a combination of several tools to detect β-amyloid peptide (Aβ) deposits and modifications in cognitive performance, sometimes being expensive and invasive. In the treatment field, there is still an absence of effective treatments to delay or stop the progression of the disease, with most of the approved drugs used to relieve symptoms, and all of them with significant adverse side effects. Considering all limitations, the need to establish new and more effective diagnostic and therapeutic strategies becomes clear. This review aims not only to describe the disease and its impact but also to collect the currently available diagnostic and therapeutic strategies, highlighting new promising RNA-based strategies for AD.

Presenilin1 exerts antiproliferative effects by repressing the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in glioblastoma

Background

Glioblastoma and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are the most common and devastating diseases in the central nervous system. The dysfunction of Presenilin1 is the main reason for AD pathogenesis. However, the molecular function of Presenilin1 and its relative mechanism in glioblastoma remain unclear.

Methods

Expression of presenilin1 in glioma was determined by IHC. CCK-8, colony formation, Flow cytometry, Edu staining were utilized to evaluate functions of presenilin1 on glioblastoma proliferation. The mechanism of above process was assessed by Western blotting and cell immunofluorescence. Mouse transplanting glioblastoma model and micro-MRI detection were used to verified presenilin1 function in vivo.

Results

In this study, we found that all grades of glioma maintained relatively low Presenilin1 expression and that the expression of Presenilin1 in high-grade glioma was significantly lower than that in low-grade glioma. Moreover, the Presenilin1 level had a positive correlation with glioma and glioblastoma patient prognosis. Next, we determined that Presenilin1 inhibited the growth and proliferation of glioblastoma cells by downregulating CDK6, C-myc and Cyclin D1 to arrest the cell cycle at the G1/S phase. Mechanistically, Presenilin1 promoted the direct phosphorylation of β-catenin at the 45 site and indirect phosphorylation at the 33/37/41 site, then decreased the stabilized part of β-catenin and hindered its translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. Furthermore, we found that Presenilin1 downregulation clearly accelerated the growth of subcutaneous glioblastoma, and Presenilin1 overexpression significantly repressed the subcutaneous and intracranial transplantation of glioblastoma by hindering β-catenin-dependent cell proliferation.

Conclusion

Our data implicate the antiproliferative effect of Presenilin1 in glioblastoma by suppressing Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which may provide a novel therapeutic agent for glioblastoma.

Therapeutic Study of Phytochemicals Against Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease Management

BACKGROUND

Phytochemicals are a significant piece of conventional prescription and have been researched in detail for conceivable consideration in current drug discovery. Medications and plants are firmly identified for traditional prescriptions and ethnomedicines that are basically arranged from plants. Recognizing the medical advantages of phytochemicals is of fundamental advancement in medication and useful sustenance improvement. Secondary metabolites of different plants have been customarily used for the improvement of human wellbeing. The phytochemicals are diets rich, which can upgrade neuroplasticity and protection from neurodegeneration.

RESULTS

Phytochemicals keep on entering clinical preliminaries or provide leads for the synthesis of medicinal agents. Phytochemicals are a great extent cancer prevention agents in nature at lower concentrations and under favorable cell conditions that adequately avoid the oxidation of different molecules that have an ability to produce free radicals and thus protect the body.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of this review is to describe the use of phytochemicals against cancer and Alzheimer's disease treatment.

The analysis of miRNA expression profiling datasets reveals inverse microRNA patterns in glioblastoma and Alzheimer's disease

There is recent evidence to indicate the existence of an inverse association between the incidence of neurological disorders and cancer development. Concurrently, the transcriptional pathways responsible for the onset of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been found to be mutually exclusive between the two pathologies. Despite advancements being made concerning the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of GBM and AD, little is known about the identity of the microRNA (miRNAs or miRs) involved in the development and progression of these two pathologies and their possible inverse expression patterns. On these bases, the aim of the present study was to identify a set of miRNAs significantly de-regulated in both GBM and AD, and hence to determine whether the identified miRNAs exhibit an inverse association within the two pathologies. For this purpose, miRNA expression profiling datasets derived from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) DataSets and relative to GBM and AD were used. Once the miRNAs significantly de-regulated in both pathologies were identified, DIANA-mirPath pathway prediction and STRING Gene Ontology enrichment analyses were performed to establish their functional roles in each of the pathologies. The results allowed the identification of a set of miRNAs found de-regulated in both GBM and AD, whose expression levels were inversely associated in the two pathologies. In particular, a strong negative association was observed between the expression levels of miRNAs in GBM compared to AD, suggesting that although the molecular pathways behind the development of these two pathologies are the same, they appear to be inversely regulated by miRNAs. Despite the identification of this set of miRNAs which may be used for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes, further functional in vitro and in vivo evaluations are warranted in order to validate the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of the identified miRNAs, as well as their involvement in the development of GBM and AD.

New Platform for the Direct Profiling of microRNAs in Biofluids

Circulating microRNAs have been identified as potential biomarkers for early detection, prognosis, and prediction of several diseases. Their use in clinical diagnostics has been limited by the lack of suitable detection techniques. Most of the current technologies suffer from requiring complex protocols, not yet able to deliver robust and cost-effective assays in the field of clinical diagnostics. In this work, we report the development of a breakthrough platform for profiling circulating microRNAs. The platform comprises a novel silicon photomultiplier-based reader in conjunction with a chemical-based method for nucleic acid detection. Accurate microRNAs profiling without extraction, pre-amplification, or pre-labeling of the target is now achievable. We designed and synthesized a set of reagents that combined the chemical-based method with a chemiluminescent reaction. The signals generated were read out using a novel, compact silicon photomultiplier-based reader. The platform sensitivity was determined by measuring known concentrations of hsa-miR-21-5p spike-ins. The limit of detection was calculated as 4.7 pmol/L. The platform was also successfully used to directly detect hsa-miR-21-5p in eight non-small cell lung cancer plasma samples. Levels of plasma hsa-miR-21-5p expression were also measured via TaqMan RT-qPCR. The successful integration of the unique chemical-based method for nucleic acid detection with the novel silicon photomultiplier-based reader created an innovative product (ODG platform) with diagnostic utility, for the direct qualitative and quantitative analysis of microRNA biomarkers in biological fluids.