Ecancermedicalscience is the peer-reviewed open access cancer journal founded by the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. We consider articles on all aspects of research relating to cancer, including molecular biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epide

This review will briefly outline the major signaling pathways in PMA-activated neutrophils. PMA is widely used to understand neutrophil pathways and formation of NETs. PMA activates PKC; however, we highlight some isoforms that contribute to specific functions. PKC α, β and δ contribute to ROS production while PKC βII and PKC ζ are involved in cytoskeleton remodeling. Actin polymerization is important for the chemotaxis of neutrophils and its remodeling is connected to ROS balance. We suggest that, although ROS and production of NETs are usually observed together in PMA-activated neutrophils, there might be a regulatory mechanism balancing both. Interestingly, we suggest that serine proteases might determine the PAD4 action. PAD4 could be responsible for the activation of the NF-κB pathway that leads to IL-1β release, triggering the cleavage of gasdermin D by serine proteases such as elastase, leading to pore formation contributing to release of NETs. On the other hand, when serine proteases are inhibited, NETs are formed by citrullination through the PAD4 pathway. This review puts together results from the last 31 years of research on the effects of PMA on the neutrophil and proposes new insights on their interpretation.

Plants are constantly exposed to a large array of pathogenic organisms and the survival in these conditions demands quick defense responses which include the synthesis of defense peptides and proteins with antimicrobial properties. The main groups of antimicrobial peptides found in plants are thionins, defensins and lipid transfer proteins. They constitute interesting candidates to engineer disease resistance in plants.

Helices are one of the most common secondary structures found in peptides and proteins. The wheel and net projections have been proposed to represent in two dimensions the tridimensional helical structures and facilitate the observation of their properties, especially in terms of residues polarity and intramolecular bonding. Nevertheless, there are few software options to create these projections. We have developed a web-based application that has several futures to create, customize and export these projections and is freely available at http://lbqp.unb.br/NetWheels .