Bladder cancer (BC) is the 11th most common diagnosed cancer, and a number of factors including environmental and genetic ones participate in BC development. Metastasis of BC cells into neighboring and distant tissues significantly reduces overall survival of patients with this life-threatening disorder. Recently, studies have focused on revealing molecular pathways involved in metastasis of BC cells, and in this review, we focus on microRNAs (miRNAs) and their regulatory effect on epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mechanisms that can regulate metastasis. EMT is a vital process for migration of BC cells, and inhibition of this mechanism restricts invasion of BC cells. MiRNAs are endogenous non-coding RNAs with 19–24 nucleotides capable of regulating different cellular events, and EMT is one of them. In BC cells, miRNAs are able to both induce and/or inhibit EMT. For regulation of EMT, miRNAs affect different molecular pathways such as transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), Snail, Slug, ZEB1/2, CD44, NSBP1, which are, discussed in detail this review. Besides, miRNA/EMT axis can also be regulated by upstream mediators such as lncRNAs, circRNAs and targeted by diverse anti-tumor agents. These topics are also discussed here to reveal diverse molecular pathways involved in migration of BC cells and strategies to target them to develop effective therapeutics.

Okinawa propolis (OP) and its major ingredients were reported to have anti-cancer effects and lifespan-extending effects on Caenorhabditis elegans through inactivation of the oncogenic kinase, p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1). Herein, five prenylated flavonoids from OP, nymphaeol-A (NA), nymphaeol-B (NB), nymphaeol-C (NC), isonymphaeol-B (INB), and 3′-geranyl-naringenin (GN), were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, and anti-Alzheimer’s effects using in vitro techniques. They showed significant anti-inflammatory effects through inhibition of albumin denaturation (half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values of 0.26–1.02 µM), nitrite accumulation (IC₅₀ values of 2.4–7.0 µM), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity (IC₅₀ values of 11.74–24.03 µM). They also strongly suppressed in vitro α-glucosidase enzyme activity with IC₅₀ values of 3.77–5.66 µM. However, only INB and NA inhibited acetylcholinesterase significantly compared to the standard drug donepezil, with IC₅₀ values of 7.23 and 7.77 µM, respectively. Molecular docking results indicated that OP compounds have good binding affinity to the α-glucosidase and acetylcholinesterase proteins, making non-bonded interactions with their active residues and surrounding allosteric residues. In addition, none of the compounds violated Lipinski’s rule of five and showed notable toxicity parameters. Density functional theory (DFT)-based global reactivity descriptors demonstrated their high reactive nature along with the kinetic stability. In conclusion, this combined study suggests that OP components might be beneficial in the treatment of inflammation, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Kale (Brassica oleracea var. acephala) is a vegetable common in most cultures but is less studied as a functional food compared to other cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli. We investigated the effect of supplementing a high-fat diet (HFD) with kale (HFKV) in C57BL/6J mice. We particularly explored its role in metabolic parameters, gut bacterial composition and diversity using 16S rRNA sequencing, systematically compared changes under each phylum and predicted the functional potential of the altered bacterial community using PICRUSt2. Like other cruciferous vegetables, kale attenuated HFD-induced inflammation. In addition, kale modulated HFD-induced changes in cecal microbiota composition. The HFD lowered bacterial diversity, increased the Firmicutes: Bacteroidetes (F/B) ratio and altered composition. Specifically, it lowered Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes (Bacteroidia, Rikenellaceae and Prevotellaceae) but increased Firmicutes (mainly class Bacilli). Kale supplementation lowered the F/B ratio, increased both alpha and beta diversity and reduced class Bacilli and Erysipelotrichi but had no effect on Clostridia. Within Actinobacteria, HFKV particularly increased Coriobacteriales/Coriobacteriaceae about four-fold compared to the HFD (p < 0.05). Among Bacteroidia, HFKV increased the species Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron by over two-fold (p = 0.05) compared to the HFD. This species produces plant polysaccharide digesting enzymes. Compared to the HFD, kale supplementation enhanced several bacterial metabolic functions, including glycan degradation, thiamine metabolism and xenobiotic metabolism. Our findings provide evidence that kale is a functional food that modulates the microbiota and changes in inflammation phenotype.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is generally characterized by elevated blood glucose level, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin, however, insulin resistance is the predominant risk factor. Hence, the use of insulin sensitizer drugs to increase insulin sensitivity have gained immense interest as an attractive treatment option for T2D and their major target is a nuclear receptor PPAR-γ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ). A wide range of synthetic insulin sensitizers such as thiazolidinedione act as PPAR-γ agonists thereby enhancing insulin action and improving hyperglycemia in patients. Nonetheless, they pose severe adverse effects for human, necessitating an emergent need to develop effective insulin sensitizer drugs. Herein, virtual screening of 10,000 ligands is performed and the best five ligands are identified. MET364, ILE341, CYS285, ALA292, PHE282, and LEU330 residues are found to play an important role in ligand binding. It is shown from the molecular dynamics simulations results of the top-ranked ligands that increased numbers of hydrogen bonds are formed with PPAR-γ catalytic residues. Quantum chemical calculations reveal that all the best ligands can demonstrate good thermodynamic stability and pharmacokinetic properties. Partial-least-square (PLS) regression of quantitative structural activity relationship (QSAR) is utilized to model and predict the binding energy for ligands. Principal component analysis is further explored for the best ligands’ QSAR pattern recognition. Importantly, the predicted values of the binding energy of the potential ligands by the PLS regression is favourably compared with the values of binding energy obtained from molecular docking with incredible high accuracy of 98%.