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Background: Radiomics refers to the acquisition of traces of quantitative features that are usually non-perceptible to human vision and are obtained from different imaging techniques and subsequently transformed into high-dimensional data. Diffuse midline gliomas (DMG) represent approximately 20% of pediatric CNS tumors, with a median survival of less than one year after diagnosis. We aimed to identify which radiomics can discriminate DMG tumor regions (viable tumor and peritumoral edema) from equivalent midline normal tissue (EMNT) in patients with the positive H3.F3K27M mutation, which is associated with a worse prognosis. Patients and methods: This was a retrospective study. From a database of 126 DMG patients (children, adolescents, and young adults), only 12 had H3.3K27M mutation and available brain magnetic resonance DICOM file. The MRI T1 post-gadolinium and T2 sequences were uploaded to LIFEx software to post-process and extract radiomic features. Statistical analysis included normal distribution tests and the Mann–Whitney U test performed using IBM SPSS® (Version 27.0.0.1, International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, USA), considering a significant statistical p-value ≤ 0.05. Results: EMNT vs. Tumor: From the T1 sequence 10 radiomics were identified, and 14 radiomics from the T2 sequence, but only one radiomic identified viable tumors in both sequences (p < 0.05) (DISCRETIZED_Q1). Peritumoral edema vs. EMNT: From the T1 sequence, five radiomics were identified, and four radiomics from the T2 sequence. However, four radiomics could discriminate peritumoral edema in both sequences (p < 0.05) (CONVENTIONAL_Kurtosis, CONVENTIONAL_ExcessKurtosis, DISCRETIZED_Kurtosis, and DISCRETIZED_ExcessKurtosis). There were no radiomics useful for distinguishing tumor tissue from peritumoral edema in both sequences. Conclusions: Less than 5% of the radiomic characteristics identified tumor regions of medical–clinical interest in T1 and T2 sequences of conventional magnetic resonance imaging. The first-order and second-order radiomic features suggest support to investigators and clinicians for careful evaluation for diagnosis, patient classification, and multimodality cancer treatment planning.

Background: Radiomics refers to a recent area of knowledge that studies features extracted from different imaging techniques and subsequently transformed into high-dimensional data that can be associated with biological events. Diffuse midline gliomas (DMG) are one of the most devastating types of cancer, with a median survival of approximately 11 months after diagnosis and 4–5 months after radiological and clinical progression. Methods: A retrospective study. From a database of 91 patients with DMG, only 12 had the H3.3K27M mutation and brain MRI DICOM files available. Radiomic features were extracted from MRI T1 and T2 sequences using LIFEx software. Statistical analysis included normal distribution tests and the Mann–Whitney U test, ROC analysis, and calculation of cut-off values. Results: A total of 5760 radiomic values were included in the analyses. AUROC demonstrated 13 radiomics with statistical significance for progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Diagnostic performance tests showed nine radiomics with specificity for PFS above 90% and one with a sensitivity of 97.2%. For OS, 3 out of 4 radiomics demonstrated between 80 and 90% sensitivity. Conclusions: Several radiomic features demonstrated statistical significance and have the potential to further aid DMG diagnostic assessment non-invasively. The most significant radiomics were first- and second-order features with GLCM texture profile, GLZLM_GLNU, and NGLDM_Contrast.

Eggplant is a vegetable grown worldwide, and due to quality standards, large amounts of biomass are generated after harvest. Biomass is considered a source of bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties. Therefore, this research aimed to evaluate the bioaccessibility (BA) and antioxidant capacity of microencapsulated alkaloids from eggplant fruit biomass. Eggplant biomass was collected, and the total alkaloid content, antioxidant capacity (TEAC, FRAP, and ORAC), and alkaloid profile (UPLC/MS) were determined before and after the in vitro digestion of encapsulated and non-encapsulated alkaloids. In vitro digestion significantly reduced the total alkaloid content and antioxidant capacity of alkaloid-rich extracts. Microencapsulation increased the bioaccessibility of alkaloid-rich extracts threefold, and the antioxidant capacity increased by up to 50%. The antioxidant capacity of digested microcapsules increased, and their bioaccessibility was higher than that of non-encapsulated alkaloids. Solamargine and solasonine decreased by 17 and 15% BA, respectively, during in vitro digestion; however, microencapsulation protected these alkaloids during in vitro digestion and enhanced their content. This study demonstrates that microencapsulation is a feasible option to protect alkaloids and preserve their antioxidant capacity during gastrointestinal digestion, as well as to give added value to eggplant plant biomass.

Polyphenols have attracted attention for their anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anticancer properties. Due to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of these molecules, they are also proposed as a potential therapeutic tool to prevent complications of cancer and decrease the secondary effects of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs. Nonetheless, polyphenols such as flavonoids and phenolic acids have low bioavailability, as they are highly metabolized. Thus, administration strategies have been developed to enhance the anticancer properties of polyphenols. Most of these strategies involve different encapsulation techniques, such as nanoencapsulation, nanoemulsion, and the use of other polymeric matrixes. These techniques can increase the activity of these compounds after going through the gastrointestinal process and improve their solubility in an aqueous medium. This review comprises recent studies regarding encapsulation techniques to enhance the bioactivity of polyphenols against cancer and their current state in clinical studies. Overall, micro- and nanoencapsulation techniques with different polymers enhanced the anticancer properties of polyphenols by inhibiting tumor growth, modulating the expression of genes related to metastasis and angiogenesis, decreasing the expression of pro-inflammatory biomarkers.

Chitosan is a non-toxic, biodegradable, and biocompatible natural biopolymer widely used as a nanocarrier, emulsifier, flocculant, and antimicrobial agent with potential applications in industry. Recently, chitosan has been used as an encapsulating agent for bioactive plant compounds and agrochemicals by different technologies, such as spray-drying and nanoemulsions, to enhance antimicrobial activity. Chitosan nanocomposites have been shown to increase potential biocidal, antibacterial, and antifungal activity against pathogens, presenting higher stability, decreasing degradation, and prolonging the effective concentration of these bioactive compounds. Therefore, the objective of this work is to review the most outstanding aspects of the most recent developments in the different methods of encapsulation of bioactive compounds (phenolic compounds, essential oils, among others) from plants, as well as the applications on phytopathogenic diseases (fungi and bacteria) in vitro and in vivo in cereal, fruit and vegetable crops. These perspectives could provide information for the future formulation of products with high efficacy against phytopathogenic diseases as an alternative to chemical products for sustainable agriculture.

The role played by a sustained angiogenesis in cancer and other diseases stimulates the interest in the search for new antiangiogenic drugs. In this manuscript, we provide evidence that 1,8- dihydroxy-9,10-anthraquinone (danthron), isolated from the fermentation broth of the marine fungus Chromolaenicola sp. (HL-114-33-R04), is a new inhibitor of angiogenesis. The results obtained with the in vivo CAM assay indicate that danthron is a potent antiangiogenic compound. In vitro studies with human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC) reveal that this anthraquinone inhibits certain key functions of activated endothelial cells, including proliferation, proteolytic and invasive capabilities and tube formation. In vitro studies with human breast carcinoma MDA-MB231 and fibrosarcoma HT1080 cell lines suggest a moderate antitumor and antimetastatic activity of this compound. Antioxidant properties of danthron are evidenced by the observation that it reduces the intracellular reactive oxygen species production and increases the amount of intracellular sulfhydryl groups in endothelial and tumor cells. These results support a putative role of danthron as a new antiangiogenic drug with potential application in the treatment and angioprevention of cancer and other angiogenesis-dependent diseases.

Dendritic cell (DC) targeting by DEC205+ cells effectively promotes the internalization of antigens that may trigger a specific immune response. In this study, we evaluated the ability of a recombinant antibody, anti-DEC205 (rAb ZH9F7), to trigger cellular endocytosis in subpopulations of DCs and targeted cells after intradermal injection and subsequent migration toward lymph nodes. Furthermore, the cellular immune response was evaluated in pigs after intradermal application of the antigenized rAb ZH9F7 combined with porcine circovirus type 2 cap antigen (rAb ZH9F7-Cap). We demonstrated that rAb ZH9F7 recognized conventional type 1 and 2 DCs from the blood and skin and monocytes. It promoted receptor-mediated endocytosis and migration of cDCs and moDCs toward regional lymph nodes. Intradermal application of rAb ZH9F7-Cap induced a higher frequency of IFN-γ-secreting CD4+CD8+ T lymphocytes and antibodies against Cap protein than that in the control group. In conclusion, the rAb ZH9F7-Cap system promoted the target of skin cDC1 and cDC2, provoking migration to the regional lymph nodes and inducing a Th1 response, as evidenced by the proliferation of double-positive CD4+CD8+ T cells, which correlates with an enhanced ability to target the cDC1 subset both in vitro and in vivo.

The number of cancer cases worldwide keeps growing unstoppably, despite the undeniable advances achieved by basic research and clinical practice. Urologic tumors, including some as prevalent as prostate, bladder or kidney tumors, are no exceptions to this rule. Moreover, the fact that many of these tumors are detected in early stages lengthens the duration of their treatment, with a significant increase in health care costs. In this scenario, prevention offers the most cost-effective long-term strategy for the global control of these diseases. Although specialized diets are not the only way to decrease the chances to develop cancer, epidemiological evidence support the role of certain plant-derived foods in the prevention of urologic cancer. In many cases, these plants are rich in antiangiogenic phytochemicals, which could be responsible for their protective or angiopreventive properties. Angiogenesis inhibition may contribute to slow down the progression of the tumor at very different stages and, for this reason, angiopreventive strategies could be implemented at different levels of chemoprevention, depending on the targeted population. In this review, epidemiological evidence supporting the role of certain plant-derived foods in urologic cancer prevention are presented, with particular emphasis on their content in bioactive phytochemicals that could be used in the angioprevention of cancer.

In the course of a screening program for the inhibitors of angiogenesis from marine sources, AD0157, a pyrrolidinedione fungal metabolite, was selected for its angiosupressive properties. AD0157 inhibited the growth of endothelial and tumor cells in culture in the micromolar range. Our results show that subtoxic doses of this compound inhibit certain functions of endothelial cells, namely, differentiation, migration and proteolytic capability. Inhibition of the mentioned essential steps of in vitro angiogenesis is in agreement with the observed antiangiogenic activity, substantiated by using two in vivo angiogenesis models, the chorioallantoic membrane and the zebrafish embryo neovascularization assays, and by the ex vivo mouse aortic ring assay. Our data indicate that AD0157 induces apoptosis in endothelial cells through chromatin condensation, DNA fragmentation, increases in the subG1 peak and caspase activation. The data shown here altogether indicate for the first time that AD0157 displays antiangiogenic effects, both in vitro and in vivo, that are exerted partly by targeting the Akt signaling pathway in activated endothelial cells. The fact that these effects are carried out at lower concentrations than those required for other inhibitors of angiogenesis makes AD0157 a new promising drug candidate for further evaluation in the treatment of cancer and other angiogenesis-related pathologies.

Aeroplysinin-1 is a brominated metabolite extracted from the marine sponge Aplysina aerophoba that has been previously characterized by our group as a potent antiangiogenic compound in vitro and in vivo. In this work, we provide evidence of a selective induction of apoptosis by aeroplysinin-1 in endothelial cells. Studies on the nuclear morphology of treated cells revealed that aeroplysinin-1 induces chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation, and it increases the percentage of cells with sub-diploid DNA content in endothelial, but not in HCT-116, human colon carcinoma and HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells. Treatment of endothelial cells with aeroplysinin-1 induces activation of caspases-2, -3, -8 and -9, as well as the cleavage of apoptotic substrates, such as poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and lamin-A in a caspase-dependent mechanism. Our data indicate a relevant role of the mitochondria in the apoptogenic activity of this compound. The observation that aeroplysinin-1 prevents the phosphorylation of Bad relates to the mitochondria-mediated induction of apoptosis by this compound.