Significance: This study demonstrated that intranasal (IN) administration of A1-exosomes alleviates multiple adverse changes that typically emerge after status epilepticus (SE), a medical crisis that presents a high propensity to evolve into chronic hippocampus dysfunction. Specifically, A1-exosome treatment after SE led to reduced neuron loss and inflammation, maintenance of normal neurogenesis, and preservation of cognitive and memory function. The results have significance for clinical application of A1-exosomes for curbing the evolution of SE-induced injury into chronic hippocampus dysfunction. The results also imply that IN administration of A1-exosomes is therapeutic for other neurological conditions that present with significant neuroinflammation.
Melanoma is a most dangerous and deadly type of skin cancer, and considered intrinsically resistant to both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It has become a major public health concern as the incidence of melanoma has been rising steadily over recent decades with a 5-year survival remaining less than 5%. Detection of the disease in early stage may be curable, but late stage metastatic disease that has spread to other organs has an extremely poor prognosis with a median survival of less than 10 months. Since metastatic melanoma is unresponsive to therapy that is currently available, research is now focused on different treatment strategies such as combinations of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The molecular basis of resistance to chemotherapy seen in melanoma is multifactorial; defective drug transport system, altered apoptotic pathway, deregulation of apoptosis and/or changes in enzymatic systems that mediate cellular metabolic machinery. Understanding of alterations in molecular processes involved in drug resistance may help in developing new therapeutic approaches to treatment of malignant melanoma.
13 March 2012 in Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is associated with retinal neovascularization, hard exudates, inflammation, oxidative stress and cell death, leading to vision loss. Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (Anti-VEGF) therapy through repeated intravitreal injections is an established treatment for reducing VEGF levels in the retina for inhibiting neovascularization and leakage of hard exudates to prevent vision loss. Although anti-VEGF therapy has several clinical benefits, its monthly injection potentially causes devastating ocular complications, including trauma, intraocular hemorrhage, retinal detachment, endophthalmitis, etc.