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Meropi Plousiou,1 Alessandro De Vita,2 Giacomo Miserocchi,2 Erika Bandini,1 Ivan Vannini,1 Mattia Melloni,1 Nestory Masalu,3 Francesco Fabbri,1 Patrizia Serra4 1Biosciences Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST) “Dino Amadori”, 47014 Meldola, Italy; 2Osteoncology Unit, Bioscience Laboratory IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo Per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST), “Dino Amadori”, 47014 Meldola, Italy; 3Unit of Biostatistics and Clinical Trials, Bioscience Laboratory IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo Per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST), “Dino Amadori”, 47014 Meldola, Italy; 4Unit of Biostatistics and Clinical Trials, IRCCS Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo Per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST), “Dino Amadori”, Meldola, ItalyCorrespondence: Meropi Plousiou, Biosciences Laboratory, IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori (IRST) “Dino Amadori”, 47014 Meldola, Italy, Tel +39 0543739298, Fax +39 0543739221, Email meropi.plousiou@irst.emr.itIntroduction: Retinoblastoma (Rb) is the most common ocular paediatric malignancy and is caused by a mutation of the two alleles of the tumor suppressor gene, RB1. The tumor microenvironment (TME) represents a complex system whose function is not yet well defined and where microvesicles, such as exosomes, play a key role in intercellular communication. Micro-RNAs (mRNAs) have emerged as important modifiers of biological mechanisms involved in cancer and been able to regulate tumor progression.Methods: Co-culture of monocytes with retinoblastoma cell lines, showed a significant growth decrease. Given the interaction between Rb cells and monocytes, we investigated the role of the supernatant in the cross-talk between cell lines, by taking the product of the co-culture and then using it as a culture medium for Rb cells.Results: miR-142-3p showed to be particularly over-expressed both in the Rb cell line and in the medium used for their culture, comparing to control cell line and the normal supernatant, respectively. Therefore, we provided evidence that miR-142-3p is released by monocytes in the co-culture medium’s exosomes and that it is subsequently up-taken by Rb cells, causing the inhibition of proliferation of Rb cell line by affecting cell cycle progression.Conclusion: This study highlights the role of exosomic miR-142-3p in the TME of Rb and identifies new molecular targets, which are able to control tumor growth aiming the development of a forward-looking miR-based strategy.Keywords: tumor microenvironment, microvescicles, microRNAs, co-culture, monocytes, cross-talk

Microalgae represent a growing innovative source of nutraceuticals such as carotenoids and phenolic compound which are naturally present within these single-celled organisms or can be induced in response to specific growth conditions. The presence of the unfavourable allelic variant in genes involved in the control of oxidative stress, due to one or more SNPs in gene encoding protein involved in the regulation of redox balance, can lead to pathological conditions such as insulin resistance, which, in turn, is directly involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this review we provide an overview of the main SNPs in antioxidant genes involved in the promotion of insulin resistance with a focus on the potential role of microalgae-derived antioxidant molecules as novel nutritional tools to mitigate oxidative stress and improve insulin sensitivity.

Understanding the inner morphology of intact tissues is one of the most competitive challenges in modern biology. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, optical tissue clearing (OTC) has provided solutions for volumetric imaging, allowing the microscopic visualization of thick sections of tissue, organoids, up to whole organs and organisms (for example, mouse or rat). Recently, tissue clearing has also been introduced in clinical settings to achieve a more accurate diagnosis with the support of 3D imaging. This review aims to give an overview of the most recent developments in OTC and 3D imaging and to illustrate their role in the field of medical diagnosis, with a specific focus on clinical applications. Graphical abstract

Metaplastic breast cancer (MpBC) is a rare tumor representing 1% of all breast malignancies. The prognosis of this histologic subtype is actually poor and there are no current clear-cut therapeutic guidelines. Hence, despite its uniqueness, its aggressive prognostic profile strongly encourages further studies to identify new markers and therapeutic targets. Herein, we report a case of 32-years-old patient affected with of triple negative spindle-shaped MpBC. The research of molecular targets on the primary tumor did not allow performing an effective therapeutic choice. Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are under intense study as new potential pathophysiological markers and targets for therapeutic applications, in different tumors for their role in tumor onset, progression and aggressiveness. Here, we examined the involvement of EVs in this case, to look into the MpBC microenvironment willing to identify new potential molecular targets, pathways of aggressiveness, and markers of prognosis and therapeutic efficacy. Firstly, we characterized MpBC patient EV dimensions and surface proteins. Moreover, we analyzed the EV RNA cargo supposed to be delivered to nearby and distant recipient cells. Interestingly, we observed a dysregulation EV-contained miRNAs, which could determine an increased expression of oncogenes in the tumor microenvironment, probably enabling cancer progression. These data suggest that the characterization of miRNA cargo of EVs could be important for the identification of new markers and for the application of future new target therapies.

open 14 no Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed malignant tumor in women worldwide, and the leading cause of cancer death in the female population. The percentage of patients experiencing poor prognosis along with the risk of developing metastasis remains high, also affecting the resistance to current main therapies. Cancer progression and metastatic development are no longer due entirely to their intrinsic characteristics, but also regulated by signals derived from cells of the tumor microenvironment. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) packed with DNA, RNA, and proteins, are the most attractive targets for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications, and represent a decisive challenge as liquid biopsy-based markers. Here we performed a study based on a multiplexed phenotyping flow cytometric approach to characterize BC-derived EVs from BC patients and cell lines, through the detection of multiple antigens. Our data reveal the expression of EVs-related biomarkers derived from BC patient plasma and cell line supernatants, suggesting that EVs could be exploited for characterizing and monitoring disease progression. open Bandini E.; Rossi T.; Scarpi E.; Gallerani G.; Vannini I.; Salvi S.; Azzali I.; Melloni M.; Salucci S.; Battistelli M.; Serra P.; Maltoni R.; Cho W.C.; Fabbri F. Bandini E.; Rossi T.; Scarpi E.; Gallerani G.; Vannini I.; Salvi S.; Azzali I.; Melloni M.; Salucci S.; Battistelli M.; Serra P.; Maltoni R.; Cho W.C.; Fabbri F.

The oresent invention relates to an heterogeneous catalyst comprising silica and a metal oxide from the group consisting of magnesium oxide, CaO, BaO and ZnO. The invention also relates to a process for preparing esters of one or more fatty acidswith one or more alcohols

5-Hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (HMF) is a key bio-based platform for the production of renewable monomers and bio-fuels. However, most of its syntheses are carried out under not sustainable conditions. In this work, the production of HMF from fructose and inulin was investigated following the Green Chemistry principles, adopting aqueous medium, appreciable substrate concentration (10 wt%), low loading of heterogeneous acid catalyst (niobium or zirconium phosphate) and microwave heating. Both the catalysts resulted very active and promising, in particular zirconium phosphate and the performances were related to their different acid characteristics. The optimization of HMF synthesis with zirconium phosphate was also supported by a statistical modelling, which shows that the highest yield to HMF (about 40 mol%) is ascertained at high temperature (190 °C) and short reaction time (8 min). The catalysts resulted recyclable maintaining their starting activity almost unchanged.