Protein degradation is an emerging strategy to treat diseases, especially proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs). PROTACs are heterobifunctional molecules that comprise a ligand targeting the protein of interest (POI), an element that recruits E3 ligases, and a linker connecting the above two moieties. Among them, the linker plays a critical role in bridging these two moieties. While many traditional linkers, including PEG, linear aliphatic chains, and more rigid (piperazine-type) linkers, have been studied, designing effective linkers remains challenging. Recently, DNA has been engineered to form DNA frameworks, such as DNA tetrahedra, octahedra, and icosahedra, with well-controlled......2023-09-21

On August 3, 2023,Wei Huang, State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmaceutics, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, China, and his team published a paper titled “Biomimetic multifunctional nanodrugs enable regulating abnormal tumor metabolism and amplifying PDT-induced immunotherapy for synergistically enhanced tumor ablation” in Materials Today. They reported a biomimetic multifunctional nanoparticle to regulate abnormal tumor metabolism and reverse immunosuppressive microenvironment for boosting anti-tumor immunotherapy.The kit [ELISA Kit for Interferon Gamma (I......2023-09-14

Obesity is a global, multifactorial disease defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. Obesity is associated with several comorbidities, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)andcancer. Because of their increasing prevalence, significant impacts on health and medical costs, obesity with its comorbidities has become a public health concern. Traditionally, the cause of obesity is considered an imbalance between caloric intake and energy expended. Research has shown that a weight loss between 5% and 10% is enough to induce clinically relevant improvements in health risk factors such as raised blood......2023-09-11

Identifying therapeutics to delay, and potentially reverse, age-related cognitive decline is critical in light of the increased incidence of dementia-related disorders forecasted in the growing older population. Systemic rejuvenating interventions—such as heterochronic parabiosis (in which the circulatory systems of young and aged animals are joined)—can reverse age-related impairments in neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity and cognitive function in aged mice. Reports using heterochronic parabiosis led to studies in which systemic administration of blood plasma preparations derived from young or exercised mice was demonstrated to rejuvenate the aged brain. Although the field of rejuv......2023-09-08

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common progressive neurodegenerative disease and its incidence is expected to increase as the global population ages.Resulting from a pathophysiologic loss or degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the midbrain and the development of neuronal Lewy Bodies, idiopathic PD is associated with risk factors including aging, family history, pesticide exposure and environmental chemicals. Given that aggregated and misfolded a-synuclein (a-Syn)species are the major constituents of Lewy bodies, PD is classified as a synucleinopathy. Numerous therapies have been developed that provide meaningful symptomatic benefits for the c......2023-09-05

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis, affects more than 7% of the global population. The prevalence of osteoarthritis is high in individuals of advanced age (>65 years).OA is a typical degenerative disease characterized by abnormal neurovascularization. The invasion of nerves and vessels in the osteochondral junction is one of its hallmarks and is the primary reason for aggravated pain. Anti-inflammatory drug therapy and surgery are the major treatment modalities for OA. However, until recently, long-term disease remission has not been achieved, and the uncertain pathophysiological mechanisms of OA limit treatment options. Many cytokines, including semaphorins, net......2023-09-01