What's Your Poison? Impact of Individual Repair Capacity on the Outcomes of Genotoxic Therapies in Cancer. Part I—Role of Individual Repair Capacity in the Constitution of Risk for Late-Onset Multifactorial Disease

Stem cell application for osteoarthritis in the knee joint: A minireview

Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic, indolent disease that will affect an ever increasing number of patients, especially the elderly and the obese. It is characterized by degeneration of the cartilage substance inside the knee which leads to pain, stiffness and tenderness. By some estimations in 2030, only in the United States, this medical condition will burden 67 million people. While conventional treatments like physiotherapy or drugs offer temporary relief of clinical symptoms, restoration of normal cartilage function has been difficult to achieve. Moreover, in severe cases of knee osteoarthritis total knee replacement may be required. Total knee replacements come together with high effort and costs and are not always successful. The aim of this review is to outline the latest advances in stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis as well as highlight some of the advantages of stem cell therapy over traditional approaches aimed at restoration of cartilage function in the knee. In addition to the latest advances in the field, challenges associated with stem cell therapy regarding knee cartilage regeneration and chondrogenesis in vitro and in vivo are also outlined and analyzed. Furthermore, based on their critical assessment of the present academic literature the authors of this review share their vision about the future of stem cell applications in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.

Deregulation of the circadian clock constitutes a significant factor in tumorigenesis: a clockwork cancer. Part II. In vivo studies

The uneventful progression through the cell cycle is closely associated with the rhythm set by the circadian clock machinery, with the S-phase of the cell cycle typically occurring at night. Presence of unrepaired DNA damage may reset the phase of the circadian clock, providing opportunities for damage assessment, repair and/or the induction of pro-apoptotic pathways. The core proteins of the circadian clock regulate directly or indirectly a significant number of genes coding for proteins involved in checkpoint transition, cell proliferation and programmed cell death. Disruption of the circadian rhythm may increase the risk for some multifactorial diseases and conditions, including glucose intolerance, cardiovascular disease and various common cancers. In patients with cancer, chronic circadian misalignment may stimulate the growth of tumours and may modify the outcomes of anticancer therapy. Knowledge about the role of physiological rhythms in human disease may contribute to the field of individualized medicine, specifically, in risk assessment and prognostication of the outcomes in patients with multifactorial disease.