Open Access
REVIEW
EMILIA MANOLE1,2,#, LAURA DUMITRESCU2,3,#, CRISTINA NICULIȚE1,3, BOGDAN OVIDIU POPESCU1,2,3, LAURA CRISTINA CEAFALAN1,3,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 1-16, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013452
Abstract An increasing number of studies provide evidence for the existence of a microbiota-gut-brain axis and its
potential involvement in the development of sporadic Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
The neuropathologic hallmark of Parkinson’s disease is the presence of brain intraneuronal aggregates of misfolded
alpha-synuclein, known as Lewy bodies. Some gut microbiota products may trigger alpha-synuclein conformational
changes in the neurons of the enteric nervous system, which can then spread to the brain in a prion-like fashion
through the vagus nerve. Others may interfere with neuroinflammatory pathways and susceptibility to
neurodegeneration. In this review, we assess the potential role of… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
MERVIN BURNETT1, VITO RODOLICO2, FAN SHEN1, ROGER LENG1, MINGYONG ZHANG3, DAVID D. EISENSTAT4,5, CONSOLATO SERGI1,3,6,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 17-26, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013973
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Molecular and Cellular Diagnostic Models)
Abstract MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules involved in the pathogenesis and
progression of cancer, including osteosarcoma. We aimed to clarify the pathways involving miRNAs using new
bioinformatics tools. We applied WikiPathways and PathVisio, two open-source platforms, to analyze miRNAs in
osteosarcoma using miRTar and ONCO.IO as integration tools. We found 1298 records of osteosarcoma papers
associated with the word “miRNA”. In osteosarcoma patients with good response to chemotherapy, miR-92a, miR-
99b, miR-193a-5p, and miR-422a expression is increased, while miR-132 is decreased. All identified miRNAs seem to
be centered on the TP53 network. This is the first application of… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
PENG LIU1,2, ANFANG ZOU3, QI CHEN4, BIAO CHENG1,*, QIN LI1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 27-39, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.012601
Abstract The diabetic ulcer is one of the serious complications of diabetes. In this study, we aimed to establish an exosomal
microRNA (miRNA)-targeted messenger RNA (mRNA) regulatory network for screening new biomarkers for diabetic ulcer
treatment. For this purpose, exosomes were extracted from bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) collected from diabetic ulcer
patients and healthy adults. The miRNAs in exosomes was detected by high-throughput sequencing analysis. The Gene
Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis of the
differential miRNAs were performed. The miRNA-mRNA regulatory network between candidate miRNAs and their
target genes were constructed by… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
YONGLI ZHANG1,#, YIZHAN CAO2,#, BO ZHU3, YANNI JIANG3, PENGCHONG LIANG3,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 41-48, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.010454
Abstract Glycosylation of mucins mediated by N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferases (GALNTs) is closely related to
respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition, long non-coding
RNAs (LncRNAs) participate in physiological and pathological processes through various epigenetic mechanisms. In
this study, we found that a novel LncRNA named NKILA combined with multiple mucins and GALNTs potentially
by several bioinformatics methods, and we used quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) to detect the expressions of
NKILA, MUC5AC, MUC5B, and GALNT2 mRNA in 50 cases of asthma samples and 19 cases of normal samples,
whose results showed that the expression of NKILA was significantly… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
FEI TIAN*, GANG LIU, LINLIN FAN, ZHONGYUN CHEN, YAN LIANG,
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 49-56, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013794
Abstract Cerebral ischemia is due to the formation of blood clots or embolisms in the brain arteries, which leads to local
brain tissue necrosis and neural cell apoptosis. Recent studies have shown that microRNA (miRNA) plays an important
regulatory role in the pathological process of ischemic injury. The aim of this study is to investigate the role and the
mechanism of miR-21-3p and drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic 2 (SMAD2) in cerebral ischemic
reperfusion injured (CIRI) neural cells. The CIRI model was established by oxygen-glucose deprivation and recovery
process for N2a cells. The cell viability and the apoptotic was evaluated by MTT… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
YANGUO PENG1,#, WEI LI2,#, SHUIYU CHEN1, WANGCHUN WU1, ZHANFANG SHANG1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 57-64, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.011756
Abstract Peripheral nerve injury is a common neurodegenerative disease, which causes disability and a huge economic
burden for patients. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been acknowledged as major regulators and therapeutic targets of
neurological disease. Thus, the functional studies of miRNAs in neurological disease will contribute to discover new
therapeutic targets for peripheral nerve injury. Sprague Dawley rats treated sciatic nerve surgical injury were regarded
as peripheral nerve injury model in vivo. The expression of miR-494-3p and Kruppel like factor7 (KLF7) were
measured by Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay. In addition, western blot analysis
was conducted to measure the protein levels… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
JIA-FONG HONG1, BAGHDAD OUDDANE2, JIANG-SHIOU HWANG3,4,5, HANS-UWE DAHMS1,6,7,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 65-77, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014154
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Biomonitoring of Toxic Effects Using OMICs Markers)
Abstract Harmful algal blooms (HABs) that are formed by cyanobacteria have become a serious issue worldwide in
recent years. Cyanobacteria can release a type of secondary metabolites called cyanotoxins into aquatic systems which
may indirectly or directly provide health risks to the environment and humans. Cyanotoxins provide some of the
most powerful natural poisons including potent neurotoxins, hepatotoxins, cytotoxins, and endotoxins that may result
in environmental health risks, and long-term morbidity and mortality to animals and humans. In this research, we
used the chemcomputational tool Molinspiration for molecular property predictions, Pred-hERG 4.2 web software for
cardiac toxicity prediction, and Pred-Skin 2.0… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
YONG LIU1,2,#, ZHIHUA JU1,#, QIANG JIANG1, WENHAO LIU1, CHUNHONG YANG1, YARAN ZHANG1, XIUGE WANG1, YAPING GAO1, XIAOCHAO WEI1, YAN SUN1, JINPENG WANG1, MINGHAI HOU1, LING YANG2, JINMING HUANG1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 79-87, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013583
Abstract F-box and WD-40 domain protein 11 (FBXW11) is an important component of the E3 ubiquitin-ligase enzyme
that plays a key role in the ubiquitin-dependent regulation of spermatogenesis. In our previous research, the mRNA
expression of FBXW11 in bull sperm with high motility is significantly higher than that with low motility. In the
present study, the protein expression levels of FBXW11 in bull testicular tissues with low-performance sperm quality
groups were significantly higher than those in normal performance groups. The immunohistochemistry result
demonstrated that FBXW11 protein was located in the periphery of Leydig cells and seminiferous tubules. Three
splice variants of… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
ATTALLA EL-KOTT1,2, EMAN ELBEALY3, FAHMY ELSAID1,4, HAITHAM EL-MEKKAWY1, ABD-EL-KARIM ABD-LATEIF5, ABDULALI TAWEEL6, HEBA KHALIFA2, AHMAD KANDEEL5, KAREEM MORSY1,7, ESSAM IBRAHIM1,8,9, MASHAEL MOHAMMED BIN-MEFERIJ10,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 89-101, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.012516
Abstract This study investigates if the anti-tumor effect of Pterostilbene in the SKOV3 ovarian cancer (OC) cell line involves
inhibition of cell metabolism and tested in this effect involves modulating AMPK and Akt-induced regulation of mTORC1.
Initially, SKOV3 cells were cultured in the humidified conditions in DMEM media for 24 h with or without increasing
concentration of Pterostilbene. Then, the cells were incubated with Pterostilbene (IC50 = 50 µM) under similar conditions
with or without pre-incubation with Dorsomorphin, an AMPK inhibitor. In a dose-dependent manner, Pterostilbene
inhibited SKOV3 cell survival and increased their lysate levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and single-stranded… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
PING YANG, LIJUAN YUAN, SHUJIA PENG, YANMING DONG, LIN YANG, XI’E HU, GUOQIANG BAO*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 103-108, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.011220
Abstract This study aimed to evaluate the association between the CLEC3A gene polymorphisms (rs2735401/rs2293776/
rs2072665) and the gastric cancer risk in the Northwestern Chinese population. A hospital-based case-control study was
conducted on 681 cases and 756 healthy controls. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were applied to
evaluate the association of the CLEC3A polymorphisms on gastric cancer risk. We found that there was no significant
association between the CLEC3A polymorphisms and gastric cancer susceptibility, which was detected in the main
analysis or stratification analyses of age, gender, and clinical stages. Our findings verified that the CLEC3A
polymorphisms are not… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
PENG WU#, MANLI GAO#, JIANJIAN DONG, CHENCHEN XU, BO LI, XUN WANG, YONGZHU HAN, NAN CHENG*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 109-117, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.012048
Abstract Wilson disease (WD), known as hepatolenticular degeneration (HLD), is a treatable autosomal recessive disorder
of copper metabolism. Because copper deposits in the liver first, the liver is not only the original defective organ but also the
most affected organ. The liver injury is also one of the main causes of death throughout the course of the disease. Therefore,
the treatment of liver injury is the main task of WD treatment, which is of great significance to improve the prognosis of
patients. Autophagy is a process that promotes cell survival through degradation, recycling, and absorption in order to
maintain the normal… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
SALLY NEGM1,2, MOHAMMAD EL-METWALLY3, WESAM ELDIN SABER4, SAHAR ABO-NEIMA5, MAHMOUD MOUSTAFA6,7,*, ATTALLA EL-KOTT6,8
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 119-127, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.012011
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: New Insights in Biology of Depression: New Molecules and Approaches)
Abstract The need for the bacterial proteinase is rapidly growing, urging to catch a lowcost medium for the microbial
fermentation, nanoparticles can play a vital role in this respect. The proteinase of Talaromyces purpureogenus was
produced on the tubers of Helianthus tuberosus that also operated as solid support for the fermentation process. The
interface amongst nitrogen sources (NH4Cl and yeast extract) was investigated, applying the statistical modeling of
central composite design under solid-state fermentation. The optimum medium for proteinase secretion was
stimulated by 979.82 mg NH4Cl and 437.68 mg yeast extract per 100 g substrate, yielding 108.15 U/g tubers. Using
Plackett-Burman… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
YUN SUN#, YI LIU#, BINHUA XUE, XIAODIE WANG, WEILI YU*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 129-138, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013275
Abstract Hyperlipidemia acute pancreatitis (HLAP) is a significant cause of AP, characterized by recurrent attacks, more
complications and high incidence and mortality. HLAP is often accompanied by single or multiple organ damage.
Negative regulation of interferon-regulatory factor 9 (IRF9) on sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) contributes to a range of diseases.
However, the function of IRF9 and SIRT1, and the relationship of the two in HLAP with heart injury remain to be
illustrated so far. Animal models of HLAP were set up by feeding with high-fat chow and subsequently injecting 20%
L-arginine intraperitoneally. The degree of pancreas and heart tissue injury was evaluated. Heart… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
ABDUR RAUF1,*, SAUD BAWAZEER2,*, MUSLIM RAZA3, EMAN EL-SHARKAWY4, MD. HABIBUR RAHMAN5,6, MOHAMED A. EL-ESAWI7, GHIAS UDDIN8, BINA S. SIDDIQUI9, ANEES AHMED KHALIL10, JOSEPH MOLNAR11, AKOS CSONKA11, DIÁNA SZABÓ12, HAROON KHAN13, MOHAMMAD S. MUBARAK14, TAIBI BEN HADDA15, MUDYAWATI KAMARUDDIN16, SEEMA PATEL17
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 139-147, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013277
Abstract The bioactive triterpenoid 3-oxo-6-β-hydroxy-β-amyrin (1) has been isolated from multiple plant sources. In this
study, chloroform fraction of Pistacia integerrima extract was processed for the isolation of the compound. The compound
identity was confirmed by advanced spectroscopy technique. X-ray crystallography was applied for molecular structure
confirmation. In addition, compound 1 was screen for its activity on reversal of MDR (multidrug resistance) mediated
by P-gp (P-glycoprotein). This was accomplished by using rhodamine123 exclusion on multidrug-resistant human
ABCB1 gene transfected mouse T-lymphoma cell line. Outcomes revealed that MDR reversing effect was comparable to
verapamil as positive control in vitro. Treatment of TPA-induced… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
DONGYUE ZHANG, LINA WANG, HAO WANG, XIAOQIAN LV, QIAN REN, GUOGUANG ZHENG*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 149-156, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.010334
Abstract Legumain is a C13 family cysteine protease. It plays diverse roles under both physiological and pathological
conditions. The high-level expression of legumain is detected in solid tumors. Legumain promotes the proliferation
and migration of tumor cells. However, the effect of legumain in blood diseases has not been established. In this
report, we studied the effect of legumain on leukemia cells by overexpressing it in THP1 cells. The results
demonstrated that legumain promoted cell proliferation, whereas it had little effect on cell apoptosis. Furthermore,
legumain promoted the migration of THP1 cells. It was worth noting that legumain decreased the stemness of… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
ZHIXIONG WANG1,2, NA RISU2, JIAYU FU2, HUI LIU3, GUOMIN ZHOU3, QIAN LIU3, YAN ZOU4, JIAXING TANG4, LONG LI4, XUEKAI ZHU4,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 157-165, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.010261
Abstract Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy is mostly limited to hematological malignancies and has a poor
effect on solid tumors. CAR T cells as a kind of immune cell may be affected by some immunomodulatory drugs such as
pomalidomide, so the use of pomalidomide may improve the effect of CAR T cells on solid tumors. In this study, CD133-
or HER2-specific CAR T cells were chosen to investigate whether pomalidomide can regulate the function of CAR T cells
in vitro. We found that pomalidomide can significantly enhance the ability of CD133-CAR T cells and HER2-CAR T cells
to kill tumor… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
SUFANG ZHANG1,2,#, XIANG LV1,#, LI LI3,#, YINGBIN LUO1, HUINAN XIANG1, LIXIN WANG2,*, YAN LI1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 167-175, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013636
Abstract Chemotherapy is widely used for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients at a late stage; however, NSCLC
patients often acquire resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, thus limiting the therapy efficacy. Melittin, a major
component of bee venom, possesses anti-tumor activity in various cancer cells. Here, we examined the effects of
melittin on A549/DDP cisplatin-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells and xenografts formed from this cell line and
investigated the possible target of melittin. Treatment with melittin resulted in the induction of cell apoptosis,
glycolysis inhibition, and reduction of phosphorylated AKT (p-AKT) in A549/DDP cells. We also identified that
tripartite motif-containing 8 (TRIM8) was… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
SINEM GÖKÇE KÜTÜK1, MUSTAFA NAZIROĞLU2,3,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 177-188, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013531
Abstract A protective action of melatonin (MELAT) on docetaxel (DCT)-induced inflammation, apoptosis, and reactive free
oxygen radical (fROS) generation values via blocking of TRPM2 calcium-permeable channel was investigated in different cells
except for laryngo-tracheal epithelial (LT-Epi) cells. Hence, the protective action of MELAT on DCT-induced oxidative toxicity
and inflammation in LT-Epi tissue and cells of mice were investigated in the current study. MELAT treatment ameliorated DCTinduced mitochondrial ROS in the LT-Epi cells by reducing the generation of fROS (cytosolic and mitochondrial), lipid
peroxidation, and depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane, while increasing reduced glutathione (GSH), GSH
peroxidase, and total antioxidant status. In… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
YAO QIAN2, JINGPING WANG2, ZIWAN JI2, HAO CHEN2, YUCANG HE2, XULING LV2, ZIKAI ZHANG2, TIAN LI2, TIANYUN PAN3, LIQUN LI2, MING LIN1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 189-198, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.011827
Abstract The cell activity of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) is affected by the intracellular reactive oxygen species
(ROS) and the level of autophagy. Previous studies reveal that acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) possesses capacities of resisting
oxidative stress and regulating autophagy. Activating molecule in Beclin1-regulated autophagy protein 1 (AMBRA1)
plays a key role in initiating Beclin1-regulated autophagy. In the present study, we discovered ALC pretreatment (1
mM, 24 h) significantly increased the activity of ADSCs exposed to H2O2 (100 μM, 2 h) in vitro with improved
stemness, and reduced the production of intracellular ROS. In addition, we found for the first time that ALC… More >
Open Access
ARTICLE
BEEMNET MENGESHA KASSAHUN1,#, BEUM-CHANG KANG2,#, SU-JI BAE2, YE JIN NAM1, GRETEL FONSECA MUNDO1, GA-HUI KANG1, KYOUNGOOK KIM3, JEUNG-SUL HAN1,4,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 199-215, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.012353
Abstract Solanum lycopersicum ‘Heinz 1706’ is a pioneer model cultivar for tomato research, whose whole genome
sequence valuable for genomics studies is available. Nevertheless, a genetic transformation procedure for this cultivar
has not yet been reported. Meanwhile, various genome editing technologies such as transfection of clustered regularly
interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated (Cas) ribonucleoprotein complexes into cells are
in the limelight. Utilizing the Cas9-expressing genotype possessing a reference genome can simplify the verification of
an off-target effect, resolve the economic cost of Cas9 endonuclease preparation, and avoid the complex assembly
process together with single-guide RNA (sgRNA) in the transfection approach. Thus,… More >
Open Access
EDITORIAL
BIOCELL Editorial Office
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.1, pp. 217-227, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015666
Abstract This article has no abstract. More >
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