Affective disorder and hyperandrogenism.
Authors: Zerouni C, Kummerow E, Martinez M, Diaz A, Ezequiel U, Wix-Ramos R Abstract A 40-year-old female patient with bipolar disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder did not present any physical evidence of virilization, treated with quetiapine and lithium carbonate. Laboratory testing showed evidence of hyperandrogenism (Testosterone levels 88.5ng/dL). After control, testosterone levels were normal (free testosterone 0.20 pg/ml, total testosterone 27.90ng/dl), as free thyroxine levels decreased (T4 0.83ng/dl) and increased progesterone levels (progesterone 3.80ng/ml). We consider an association betw...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Cancer therapy based on a mechanism of action for controlling the immune system and the resulting patent portfolio.
Authors: Goswitz VC, Sawicki ZP Abstract Despite decades of research, current cancer therapies extend survival but often do not actually cure the disease. Immune cell based therapy is described here that can eliminate tumor cells without the toxicity associated with chemotherapy or allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT). Allogeneic BMT has beneficial graft vs. tumor (GVT) effects but accompanied by the undesirable graft vs. host disease (GVHD). The mechanism described here relates to generating the Mirror Effect™ that elicits a host vs. tumor (HVT) effect along with a non-toxic host vs. graft (HVG) resp...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Diabetic nephropathy: causes and managements.
Authors: Tripathi YB, Yadav D Abstract Uncontrolled diabetic patients often develop diabetic nephropathy (DN). Since, it involves different molecular pathways, such as polyol pathway, protein kinase-C (PKC) activation, inflammatory and oxidative stress etc., and so multi-targeted drugs would be required for its management. Although, combination therapies with various conventional medicines are already in use, but herbal preparations are being preferred as adjuvant therapy, because of their multi targeted drug action due to the presence of natural cocktail of various secondary metabolites. This review descr...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

tPA in the central nervous system: relations between tPA and cell surface LRPs.
Authors: Ortolano S, Spuch C Abstract A growing body of evidence has implicated the plasminogen activating system in various aspects of neurophysiology and pathophysiology. In ischemic stroke, blood-brain barrier (BBB) regulations, typically involving matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), inhibitors tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) and the low density lipoprotein receptor- related protein/alpha 2-macroglobulin receptor (LRPs) as mediators became interesting since tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)-related BBB breakdown with risk of secondary hemorrhage was considered to involve these mediators t...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Mitochondria in cancer stem cells: a target for therapy.
Authors: Loureiro R, Mesquita KA, Oliveira PJ, Vega-Naredo I Abstract Complete knowledge about the evolution of the carcinogenic process has to include cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are essential to understand tumor occurrence, recurrence, and also its reduction rate after radio- and/or chemotherapeutic treatments. Understanding CSCs physiology and metabolism may be crucial for the development of novel effective therapies. Therefore, being mitochondria an undeniable target for cancer therapy and a central hub in metabolism and cell and death decisions, it is essential to take this organelle into account ...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Role of mitochondrial translocator protein (18 kDa) on mitochondrial- related cell death processes.
Authors: Caballero B, Veenman L, Gavish M Abstract The 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is able to modulate several mitochondria-related cell death processes due to close association with proteins and other molecules involved to the mitochondrial permeability transition pore. In this way, herein we review cell death mechanisms targeting mitochondria, including programmed cell death type I, II and III. Several proteins involved in these cell death processes and with a possible interplay with the TSPO are also discussed including the voltage dependent anion channel, the adenine nucleotide transporter, card...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Role of mitochondria on muscle cell death and meat tenderization.
Authors: Sierra V, Oliván M Abstract The possibility that mitochondria are involved in cellular dysfunction is particularly high in situations associated with increases in free radical activity, like hypoxia or ischemia; therefore its potential role in the muscle post-mortem metabolism is reviewed. In the dying muscle, different routes of cell death catabolism (apoptosis, autophagy) may occur having great influence on the process of conversion of muscle into meat. Mitochondria are the first and also one of the main organelles affected by post-mortem changes; therefore they are decisive in the subsequent c...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Editorial: Mitochondrion: an organelle more and more implication in new processes.
Authors: Coto-Montes A PMID: 23432156 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery)
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

MAVS: a new weapon in the fight against viral infections.
Authors: Boga JA, de Oña M, Melon S, Alvarez-Arguelles ME, Morilla A, Coto-Montes A Abstract In addition to their participation in metabolic processes and control of programmed cell death, the role of mitochondria as a fundamental hub for innate anti-viral immunity is now emerging. The participation of the mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) as a central regulator of a complex signaling cascade, which results in the induction of antiviral and inflammatory responses has been described. A patent based on this role of MAVS is highlighted in this review. PMID: 23432157 [PubMed - indexed f...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

The Wnt pathway: emerging anticancer strategies.
Authors: Gupta A, Verma A, Mishra AK, Wadhwa G, Sharma SK, Jain CK Abstract The canonical Wnt cascade has emerged as a critical regulator of cancer cells. Activation of the Wnt signaling pathway has also been associated with stem cell, thus raising the possibility of its role in embryogenesis and in the proliferation of malignant cancer cells. Wnt pathway has been reported to be involved in normal physiological processes in adult animals and integrally associated with cancer cell growth and maintenance, thus has been harnessed to devise strategies for anticancer therapy. The presence or absence of some mem...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Effect of radio frequency waves of electromagnetic field on the tubulin.
Authors: Taghi M, Gholamhosein R, Saeed RZ Abstract Microtubules (MTs) are macromolecular structures consisting of tubulin heterodimers and present in almost every eukaryotic cell. MTs fulfill all conditions for generation of electromagnetic field and are electrically polar due to the electrical polarity of a tubulin heterodimer. The calculated static electric dipole moment of about 1000 Debye makes them capable of being aligned parallel to the applied electromagnetic field direction. In the present study, the tubulin heterodimers were extracted and purified from the rat brains. MTs were obtained by polyme...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Cognitive impairment and diabetes.
Authors: Dash SK Abstract The aim of this manuscript is to provide a brief review of the link between diabetes mellitus with cognitive impairment, the possible pathophysiology linking the two, and some possible therapeutic interventions for the treatment of this condition. The prevalence of diabetes increases with age, so also dementia increases in later life. As the population ages, type 2 diabetes and AD are increasing. Both diseases are chronic and are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Recent studies showed that older people with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of cognitive decline. The ...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Patents on enhancing the potency and longevity of highly valuable protein hormones.
Authors: Fares F, Fima E, Havron A Abstract One major issue regarding the clinical use of many peptides is their short half-life span in the body, due to the rapid clearance from the circulation. Thus, at the clinical level, there is a need for a regime of frequent injections of the peptides into the patients to overcome this low stability factor. The major strategies for overcoming this problem by pharmaceutical companies are based on chemical techniques and using specific peptidase inhibitors or cocktails. For this purpose, the cassette gene contains the sequence of the carboxyl-terminal peptide (CTP) of...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Galectin-9 in cancer therapy.
Authors: Fujihara S, Mori H, Kobara H, Rafiq K, Niki T, Hirashima M, Masaki T Abstract Galectin-9 is a tandem-repeat type galectin with two carbohydrate-recognition domains, and it was first identified as an eosinophil chemoattractant and activation factor. Subsequent studies revealed that galectin-9, similar to other galectins, modulates a variety of biological functions including cell aggregation and adhesion, as well as apoptosis of tumor cells. Galectin-9 has recently been shown to have an anti-proliferative effect on cancer cells. Recent studies have uncovered additional mechanisms by which T cell imm...
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research

Immunotherapy with dendritic cells as a cancer treatment: perspectives and therapeutic potential.
This article provides a clarifying review of recent perspectives on the development of cancer immunotherapy, which has a wide potential for therapeutic applications, and of patents related to immunotherapy with DCs. PMID: 23675964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] (Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery)
Source: Recent Patents on Endocrine, Metabolic and Immune Drug Discovery - June 4, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Recent Pat Endocr Metab Immune Drug Discov Source Type: research