Search

Purpose: Liver cancer is one of the most common tumors with the seventh-highest incidence and the third-highest mortality. Many studies have shown that small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) play an important role in liver cancer. Here, we report comprehensive signatures for sEV proteins from plasma obtained from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which might be valuable for the evaluation and diagnosis of HCC. Methods: We extracted sEVs from the plasma of controls and patients with HCC. Differentially expressed proteins in the sEVs were analyzed using label-free quantification and bioinformatic analyses. Western blotting (WB) was used to validate the abovementioned sEV proteins. Results: Proteomic analysis was performed for plasma sEVs from 21 patients with HCC and 15 controls. Among the 335 identified proteins in our study, 27 were significantly dysregulated, including 13 upregulated proteins that were involved predominantly in the complement cascade (complement C1Q subcomponent subunit B (C1QB), complement C1Q subcomponent subunit C (C1QC), C4B-binding protein alpha chain (C4BPA), and C4B-binding protein beta chain (C4BPB)) and the coagulation cascade (F13B, fibrinogen alpha chain (FGA), fibrinogen beta chain (FGB), and fibrinogen gamma chain (FGG)). We verified increased levels of the C1QB, C1QC, C4BPA, and C4BPB proteins in the plasma sEVs from patients with HCC in both the discovery cohort and validation cohort. Conclusions: The complement cascade in sEVs was significantly involved in HCC progression. C1QB, C1QC, C4BPA, and C4BPB were highly abundant in the plasma sEVs from patients with HCC and might represent molecular signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine microbes are known for their bioactive compounds in various industries. Similarly, marine bacteria are vital in sustainability of aquaculture around the world. Despite its essential role in synthesis of bioactive compounds, commercial use of marine bacteria as probiotics in aquaculture industry is the neglected sector in the world. Few developed countries are utilizing the probiotics in aquaculture industry while rest of the world has not considered it as an option. Probiotics can target wide spectrum of issues in aquaculture industry from reducing pollutants to a source of disease treatment that can be exploited accordingly. Marine bacteria are selected via rigorous processes to isolate potential probiotic. These probiotics are known for targeting various sites for competition, chemicals present in the environment, produce inhibitory substances to prevent fungal, bacterial, viral infection, augment stress conditions, and boost immunity. In this review we will highlight the importance of marine bacteria as potential source of probiotics in aquaculture industry. We aimed to highlight the challenges faced by aquaculture industry to emphasize the gravity of this issue. Finally, we stress on the advantages on marine probiotics and the methods that can be employed to identify potential probiotics. Marine bacteria are identified via series of processes involving pre-experimental screening in which the marine bacteria are isolated, cultured and tested for its activities in favor of host health. Second is experimental screening in which the microbe is delivered to aquaculture host and the results are observed. If the results are substantially robust in terms of improving health, the probiotic is approved for final screening tests. Finally, in postexperimental screening, the marine bacteria are identified to its strain level and assessed whether it has the potential to be used as probiotics and can be produced as mass culture. Further research is essential to identify promising bacteria and effectively utilize them in the aquaculture culture industry. It is crucial to aware farmers regarding the economic importance of aquaculture at an industrial scale to boost economy but produce quality seafood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to the contribution of our reviewers, in 2021, the median time to first decision was 19 days and the median time to publication was 38 days. Thanks to the great efforts of our reviewers, I Agronomy i was able to maintain its standards for the high quality of its published papers. Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing. [Extracted from the article]