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JOE R. DELANEY^*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1167-1170, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.017296
Abstract Single-cell sequencing data has transformed the understanding of biological heterogeneity. While many flavors of single-cell sequencing have been developed, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is currently the most prolific form in published literature. Bioinformatic analysis of differential biology within the population of cells studied relies on inferences and grouping of cells due to the spotty nature of data within individual cell scRNA-seq gene counts. One biologically relevant variable is readily inferred from scRNA-seq gene count tables regardless of individual gene representation within single cells: aneuploidy. Since hundreds of genes are present on chromosome arms, high-quality inferences of aneuploidy can be made… More >

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1167

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VIEWPOINT

FRANCESCO MAININI^*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1171-1173, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.017399
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Molecular and Cellular Nanobiotechnology)
Abstract Adoptive cell therapy and Immune Checkpoint Blockade Inhibitors have recently revolutionized the field of oncology. However, these types of immunotherapeutic approaches have limited success in treating solid tumors. In particular, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells efficacy is hampered by immunosuppressive signals in the tumor microenvironment (TME) and by a limited infiltration of re-infused T cells to the tumor site. The field of nanobiotechnology applied to oncology is also rapidly expanding. Nanoparticles-based delivery systems can be employed to modulate the activity of immune cells present in the TME enhancing the efficacy of CAR-T cells. Interestingly, nano-backpacks can be attached to CAR-T… More >

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SAIKAT SAMANTA^1,#, ASHISH RANJAN SHARMA^2,#, ABINIT SAHA¹, MANOJ KUMAR SINGH¹, ARPITA DAS¹, MANOJIT BHATTACHARYA³, RUDRA PRASAD SAHA^1,*, SANG-SOO LEE^2,*, CHIRANJIB CHAKRABORTY^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1175-1186, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015537
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Bacteriophage Biology and Biotechnology)
Abstract Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and can choose any one of the two alternative pathways for infection, i.e., lysis or lysogeny. Phage lysis is one of the conventional biological processes required to spread infection from one bacterium to another. Our analysis suggests that in the paradigm bacteriophage Mu, six proteins might be involved in host cell lysis. Mu has a broad host range, and Mu-like phages were found in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. An analysis of the genomes of Mu and Mu-like phages could be useful in elucidating the lysis mechanism in this group of phages. A detailed… More >

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REVIEW

HUAN YIN¹, LIZHEN WANG¹, YUBO FAN¹, BINGMEI M. FU^1,2,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1187-1199, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016650
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Cellular Biomechanics in Health and Diseases)
Abstract Primary cilium is an antenna-like and non-motile structure protruding from the apical surface of most mammalian cells including endothelial cells lining the inner side of all the blood vessels in our body. Although it has been over a century since primary cilia were discovered, the investigation about their mechano-sensing and other roles in maintaining normal functions of cardiovascular system has just started in recent years. This focused review aims to give an update about the current literature for the role of endothelial primary cilia in blood flow mechano-sensing and shear stress-shielding. To do this, we first summarized the characteristic features… More >

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CHEN-LIANG TSAI¹, YU-HUEI LIN², CHIH-YING CHANGCHIEN³, CHIH-FENG CHIAN^1,#,*, CHI-HUEI CHIANG^4,#,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1201-1211, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014279
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Cellular Biomechanics in Health and Diseases)
Abstract Primary lung graft dysfunction could significantly attribute to ischemia-reperfusion lung injury (IRLI) during transplantation surgery. β2-adrenergic agonists were one of the bronchodilators that had been well-established in the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with anti-inflammatory potency. By applying the model of isolated rat lung, we evaluated the efficacy of short-acting β2-agonist inhalation to ameliorate ischemia-reperfusion damage. The experiment protocol was 180 min of global ischemia and then reperfusion for 60 min. In the β2-agonist inhalation group, aerosolized albuterol was administrated prior ischemia procedure. Increased weight ratios of wet to dry lung and microvascular permeability were characterized… More >

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MIZUNA YANO¹, YUTA UMEHARA¹, TOMOKAZU KUDO¹, TAKAO NAKAMURA², TADASHI KOSAWADA¹, ATSUYOSHI NISHINA³, MASAKI SAZUKA⁴, DAISUKE SATO^1,*, ZHONGGANG FENG^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1213-1229, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016281
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Cellular Biomechanics in Health and Diseases)
Abstract While fatty acids play essential roles in the physiology of the myocardium, conventional culture media contain little lipid. We previously revealed that rat neonatal myocardium mainly contains docosahexaenoic (DHA), linoleic (LA), and arachidonic (AA) acids as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and these contents in cultured cardiomyocytes derived from fetal rats were markedly lower than those in the neonatal myocardium. In this study, we first assessed the effects of supplementation of DHA, LA, or AA on the fatty acid contents and the percentage change of contractile area in primarily cultured rat cardiomyocytes. Based on this assessment, we then evaluated the effects… More >

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LINMEI ZHENG¹, RONG TANG², ^1,*, ZHONGYI ZHOU³
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1231-1240, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015752
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Cellular Biomechanics in Health and Diseases)
Abstract Pre-eclampsia is characterized by an excessive maternal inflammatory response. The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) has been shown as the efferent arm of a vagal reflex with the potential to limit inflammatory responses. Therefore, in this study, the CAP regulation through the nervous vagal stimulation (VNS) reduced the severity of NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME)-induced pre-eclampsia was determined in a rat model. Rats were given 125 mg/kg/day of L-NAME via subcutaneous injection on gestational day (GD) 10–16. In addition, the rats were treated by active or sham electrical stimulation once a day during GD 13–19. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), urinary albumin, and… More >

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1131

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HAZAEL RAMIRO CEJA-GALVEZ¹, ERANDIS DHENI TORRES-SÁNCHEZ¹, JUAN HERIBERTO TORRES-JASSO², EMMANUEL REYESURIBE¹, JOEL SALAZAR-FLORES^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1241-1250, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015771
Abstract Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes organophosphate pesticides. The presence of polymorphisms in PON-1 (L55M and Q192R) decreases its enzyme activity and increases the risk of central nervous system (CNS) toxicity in occupationally exposed farmers, leading to chronic degenerative diseases and death. We studied 103 farmers in the region of Cienega Jalisco, Mexico, which were exposed mainly to organophosphate pesticides. We used serum and plasma samples to assay PON-1 activity and perform polymorphism analysis (L55M and Q192R) using qPCR and TaqMan probes, respectively. For both polymorphisms, there was high percentage of heterozygosity (55 LL = 0.19, LM = 0.75,… More >

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906

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NARAYANAN NAMPOOTHIRI V. P.¹, VIGNESH SUNDARARAJAN¹, PALLAVI DAN¹, G. DEVANAND VENKATASUBBU^2,*, SAHABUDEEN SHEIK MOHIDEEN^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1251-1262, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015090
Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common forms of dementia. Cognitive dysfunction and memory loss are the two main clinical symptoms of AD. Drosophila melanogaster models of AD, which are based on overexpression of human amyloid β (Aβ) or human tau (hTau) protein, have been used to study the mechanism underlying AD and to screen potential therapeutic compounds. Drugs that are currently available for AD provide only symptomatic relief. Huge unmet medical needs exists to slow, stop, or reverse the progression of AD. Thymoquinone (TQ) is an active ingredient isolated from Nigella sativa (NS) and possesses various pharmacological… More >

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MOHAMMAD EL-METWALLY^1,*, MAMDOUH ABDEL-MOGIB², MANAL ELFEDAWY², GAAD SOHSAH², AHMED REZK³, MAHMOUD MOUSTAFA⁴, MOHAMED SHAABAN^5,6
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1263-1271, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013198
Abstract Microorganisms are a huge mine of bioactive metabolites, and actinomycetes are one of the very active groups in this area. In this article, we are concerned about the full taxonomical characterization of Streptomyces lividans AM, isolated from Egyptian soil. This isolate produced three new bioactive metabolites, namely: 1-Nona-decanoyl,4-oleyl disuccinate (1), filoboletic acid; (9Z,11E)-8,13-dihydroxy octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid (2), and sitosteryl-3β-D-glucoside (3). Extensive 1D and 2D NMR and HR-mass spectrometry were used to elucidate the structures of the three compounds. Moreover, ten known compounds were also identified. The antimicrobial activity of the producing organism and newly reported compounds (1–3) was investigated against a… More >

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945

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ARTICLE

BARKAT ALI KHAN¹, FAZAL KARIM¹, MUHAMMAD KHALID KHAN^1,*, FAHEEM HAIDER¹, SADIQULLAH KHAN²
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1273-1285, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015323
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Biotherapeutic Agents and Innovative Theranostic Formulations: Physical-Chemical Aspects, Pharmacological and Biological Effects)
Abstract The fourth most predominant overwhelming type of trauma is burn injuries worldwide. Ideal wound healing dressings help in the wound healing process in a lower time with less pain. Commonly used dry wound dressing, like absorbent gauze or absorbent cotton, possess limited therapeutic effects and require repeated use, which further exaggerates patients’ suffering. In contrast, hydrogels films present a promising alternative to improve healing by guaranteeing a moisture balance at the wound site. The aim of the current study was to synthesize Tamarix aphylla (T. aphylla) extract-loaded hydrogel film with Na-CMC and pectin and to study their wound healing properties.… More >

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ALAA OMRAN ALMAGRABI¹, YASER DAANIAL KHAN², SHER AFZAL KHAN^3,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1287-1298, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013770
Abstract Phosphoaspartate is one of the major components of eukaryotes and prokaryotic two-component signaling pathways, and it communicates the signal from the sensor of histidine kinase, through the response regulator, to the DNA alongside transcription features and initiates the transcription of correct response genes. Thus, the prediction of phosphoaspartate sites is critical, and its experimental identification can be expensive, time-consuming, and tedious. For this purpose, we propose iPhosD-PseAAC, a new computational model for predicting phosphoaspartate sites in a particular protein sequence using Chou’s 5-steps rues: (1) Benchmark dataset. (2) The feature extraction techniques such as pseudo amino acid composition (PseAAC), statistical… More >

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GAGANJOT GUPTA¹, DEEPAK BANSAL², ANSHULA SHARMA¹, TAWSEEF AHMAD¹, ATUL SACHDEV², AJAZ AHMAD³, HAMED A. EL-SEREHY⁴, BALJINDER KAUR^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1299-1311, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015411
Abstract Helicobacter pylori infection has been significantly linked to Peptic Ulcer Disease and Gastric Cancer. Metabolomic fingerprinting may offer a principal way of early diagnosis and to understand the molecular mechanism of H. pylori-induced pathogenicity. The rationale of the study is to explore the underlying distinct metabolic mechanisms of H. pylori-induced PUD and to identify potential biomarkers for disease diagnosis and associated risks using Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. GC/MS-based analytical method was used to compare metabolic profiles of healthy controls (N = 20) and peptic ulcer patients (N = 45). Acquired metabolomic data were analyzed by constructing a diagnostic model using principal… More >

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919

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ARTICLE

TING LAN, SHENG QIN, XIAOJIN GONG, PING ZHENG, JIAXIN YAN, YANG LIU^*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1313-1319, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015923
Abstract Invasive stratified mucin-producing carcinoma (ISMC) is a recently described histologic variant of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated endocervical adenocarcinoma, as the putative invasive counterpart of the stratified mucin-producing intraepithelial lesion (SMILE). ISMC can display variable architectural patterns and usually coexists with other more conventional types of HPV-associated carcinomas, which makes diagnosis and differential diagnosis of ISMC is difficult for pathologists. Moreover, the prognosis of ISMC is still controversial. We analyzed 6 ISMCs with detailed pathological and clinical information. Intraepithelial lesion, including 1 high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and 1 SMILE, was found. Various architectures were observed (including nest, glandular, solid, trabecular, and… More >

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1252

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HUI ZHANG^1,3,#, SHIRUI CHEN^1,3,#, MENGTING LIU^1,2, YAOCHI WANG^1,2, CONG XIN^1,2, JING MA^1,3, XIAODONG ZHENG^1,2, YUANDI HUANG^1,2, BO ZHANG^3,4, XUEJUN ZHANG^1,2, LIANGDAN SUN^1,2,*, SEN YANG^1,3,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1321-1335, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016524
Abstract The skin is the largest organ of the human body, and its aging is visible to the naked eye. The aging rate of men and women is slightly different. This study compared the protein expression of skin samples on the curved forearms of 11 healthy women and 9 healthy men. Quantitative proteomics analysis found that the expression of epidermal proteins in men and women of the same age group was different. Compared with female skin, in male skin, 20 proteins were upregulated, and 7 proteins were downregulated. These data suggest that men and women have differences in the speed of… More >

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ATTALLA F. EL-KOTT^1,2,*, AYMAN E. EL-KENAWY³, EMAN R. ELBEALY⁴, ALI S. ALSHEHRI¹, HEBA S. KHALIFA², MASHAEL MOHAMMED BIN-MEFERIJ⁵, EHAB E. MASSOUD^6,7,8, AMIRA M. ALRAMLAWY⁹
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1337-1353, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015464
Abstract This study examined if the anti-tumorigenesis effect of Exendin-4 in HT29 and HCT116 colorectal cancer (CRC) involves modulation of SIRT1 and Akt/GSR3K/β-catenin/NF-κB axis. HT29 and HCT116 cells were treated either with increasing levels of Exendin-4 (0.0-200 µM) or with Exendin-4 (at its IC₅₀) in the presence or absence of EX-527 (10 µM/a selective SIRT1 inhibitor) or Exendin-4 (9-39) amide (E (9-39) A) (1 µM/an Exendin-4 antagonist). In a dose-dependent manner, Exendin-4 inhibited cell survival, but enhanced levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in both HT29 and HCT116. In both cell lines and at it has an IC₅₀… More >

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ISIDORA PETROVIC¹, MILENA MILIVOJEVIC¹, ANA ARSENIJEVIC², ANDRIJANA LAZIC¹, NATASA KOVACEVIC GRUJICIC¹, MARIJA SCHWIRTLICH¹, JELENA POPOVIC³, MILENA STEVANOVIC^1,4,5,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1355-1367, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015817
Abstract Genetic and molecular heterogeneity, together with intrinsic and acquired resistance to therapy, represent the major obstacles to the successful treatment of different types of breast carcinoma. Increasing evidence demonstrates that SOX transcription factors in breast carcinomas could act both as oncogenes and tumor suppressors and have been associated with tumor stage and grade, poor prognosis, and therapy resistance. Both SOX2 and SOX18 overexpression has been correlated with poor prognosis in breast carcinomas, and these genes are recognized as potential antitumor targets. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of retinoic acid (RA), a well-known cyto-differentiating agent, on breast carcinoma cells… More >

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ANZANA PARVIN^1,3, BANG-HONG WEI¹, SHUANG-LI HAO¹, WAN-XI YANG^1,*, FU-QING TAN^1,2,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1369-1391, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.016654
Abstract Mitotic kinesin KIFC1 plays critical roles in mitosis by regulating the spindle length, pole formation, and known for clustering extra centrosomes in cancer cells. Centrosome clustering is associated with the survival of cancer cells, but this phenomenon remains obscure in prostate cancer (PCa). The present study demonstrated that PCa cells showed centrosome amplification and clustering during interphase and mitosis, respectively. KIFC1 is highly expressed in PCa cells and tumor tissues of prostatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) patients. Up-regulation of KIFC1 facilitated the PCa cell survival in vitro by ensuring bipolar mitosis through clustering the multiple centrosomes, suggesting centrosome clustering could be a… More >

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DEBI RANI DATTA¹, MOHD RAFII YUSOP^1,2,*, AZIZAH MISRAN², MASHITAH JUSOH², YUSUFF OLADOSU¹, FATAI AROLU¹, AZADUL HAQUE¹, NADZIRAH M. SULAIMAN¹
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1393-1401, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015321
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Advances in Plant Cell Biology Research)
Abstract Indo-Burmese region was the primary center of eggplant diversity from where the crop extended to several secondary origins of diversity. In this study, the genetic diversity among fifty-six eggplant accessions collected from three countries was assessed using sixteen polymorphic SSR markers to determine suitable parents for heterotic hybridization. The estimation of genetic diversity among the population of three countries (Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Thailand) varied from 0.57 to 0.74, with Shannon’s index value of 0.65. The mean value of expected heterozygosity and Nei’s index was 0.49, with an average PIC value of 0.83. A dendrogram was constructed based on UPGMA (unweighted… More >

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SULAIMAN A. AL YOUSEF^*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1403-1411, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015450
（This article belongs to this Special Issue: Advances in Plant Cell Biology Research)
Abstract Seeds from soybean collected from different commercial markets were surveyed for seed-borne fungi. Ninetyeight fungal colonies were isolated all over three monthly isolations constituting twenty-two fungal species. The isolated fungi were belonging to the genera: Alternaria, Aspergillus, Cephalosporium, Chaetomium, Cladosporium, Colletotrichum, Curvularia, Fusarium, Macrophomina, Mucor, Penicillium, Rhizoctonia, Rhizopus, Sclerotium, Stemphylium, and Verticillium. Assay of the antifungal activity of four ethanolic extracts of clove, cinnamon, garlic, and mint was carried out against the most common fungal species (Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Fusarium solani, F. oxysporium, and F. moniliforme), which significantly reduced the growth of tested fungi. Clove extract recorded the highest… More >

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MURTAZA KHAN^1,*, TIBA NAZAR IBRAHIM AL AZZAWI², MUHAMMAD IMRAN³, ADIL HUSSAIN⁴, BONG-GYU MUN¹, ANJALI PANDE¹, BYUNG-WOOK YUN^1,*
BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1413-1423, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015954
Abstract

In rice, high concentration of lead (Pb) can cause phyto-toxicity affecting several physiological functions. Cultivation of rice varieties that are resistant to Pb-induced oxidative stress is an important management strategy in Pb-contaminated soils. In the current study, we evaluated four different rice cultivars for their response to Pb-induced stress. Three japonica type cultivars X-Jigna, Ediget, and Furat, and one Indica type cultivar Amber 33 were grown in soil containing different Pb concentrations (0 mM, 0.6 mM, and 1.2 mM). The soil was treated with 0 mM or 0.6 mM or 1.2 mM Pb solution one month prior to rice seedling… More >

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