Cancer is one of the main causes of death worldwide. There are several different types of cancer recognized thus far, which can be treated by different approaches including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination thereof. However, these approaches have certain drawbacks and limitations. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is regarded as an alternative noninvasive approach for cancer treatment based on the generation of toxic oxygen (known as reactive oxygen species (ROS)) at the treatment site. PDT requires photoactivation by a photosensitizer (PS) at a specific wavelength (λ) of light in the vicinity of molecular oxygen (singlet oxygen). The cell death mechanisms adopted in PDT upon PS photoactivation are necrosis, apoptosis and stimulation of the immune system. Over the past few decades, the use of natural compounds as a photoactive agent for the selective eradication of neoplastic lesions has attracted researchers’ attention. Many reviews have focused on the PS cell death mode of action and photonanomedicine approaches for PDT, while limited attention has been paid to the photoactivation of phytocompounds. Photoactivation is ever-present in nature and also found in natural plant compounds. The availability of various laser light setups can play a vital role in the discovery of photoactive phytocompounds that can be used as a natural PS. Exploring phytocompounds for their photoactive properties could reveal novel natural compounds that can be used as a PS in future pharmaceutical research. In this review, we highlight the current research regarding several photoactive phytocompound classes (furanocoumarins, alkaloids, poly-acetylenes and thiophenes, curcumins, flavonoids, anthraquinones, and natural extracts) and their photoactive potential to encourage researchers to focus on studies of natural agents and their use as a potent PS to enhance the efficiency of PDT.

The current health crisis caused by coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) and associated pathogens emphasize the urgent need for vaccine systems that can generate protective and long-lasting immune responses. Vaccination, employing peptides, nucleic acids, and other molecules, or using pathogen-based strategies, in fact, is one of the most potent approaches in the management of viral diseases. However, the vaccine candidate requires protection from degradation and precise delivery to the target cells. This can be achieved by employing different types of drug and vaccine delivery strategies, among which, nanotechnology-based systems seem to be more promising. This entry aims to provide insight into major aspects of vaccine design and formulation to address different diseases, including the recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2. Special emphasis of this review is on the technical and practical aspects of vaccine construction and theranostic approaches to precisely target and localize the active compounds.

Objective: Despite the treatment of anovulation, infertility is still one of the main complications in PCOS women during reproductive age, which appears to be mainly due to impaired uterine receptivity. This study investigated the transcriptome profiles of endometrium in PCOS patients and healthy fertile individuals as the control group. Material and methods: Total mRNA was extracted from endometrial tissues of PCOS patients (n = 12) and healthy fertile individuals (n = 10) during the luteal phase. After cDNA synthesis, [...] ABSTRACT Objective: Despite the treatment of anovulation, infertility is still one of the main complications in PCOS women during reproductive age, which appears to be mainly due to impaired uterine receptivity. This study investigated the transcriptome profiles of endometrium in PCOS patients and healthy fertile individuals as the control group. Material and methods: Total mRNA was extracted from endometrial tissues of PCOS patients (n = 12) and healthy fertile individuals (n = 10) during the luteal phase. After cDNA synthesis,

Zaire ebolavirus, a member of family Filoviridae is the cause of hemorrhagic fever. Due to lack of appropriate antiviral or vaccine, this disease is very lethal. In this study, we tried to find epitopes for superficial glycoprotein and nucleoprotein of Zaire ebolavirus (that have high antigenicity for MHC I, II and B cells) by using in silico methods and immunoinformatics approach. By using CTLPred, SYFPEITHI and ProPred web applications for MHC class I and SYFPEITHI and ProPred1 web applications for MHC class II, we had been able to find epitopes (peptides) that have the highest score. Also ElliPro, IgPred and DiscoTope web tools had been performed to predict B cells conformational epitopes. Linear epitope prediction for B cell was performed with six methods from IEDB. All of the results that including candidate epitopes for T cells and B cells were reported. It was expected that these peptides could be stimulated immune response and used for designing the multipeptide vaccine against ZEV but these results should be reliable with experimental analysis.