Raghu Nataraj

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been defined as cells within tumor that possess the capacity to self-renew and to cause the heterogeneous lineages of cancer cells that comprise the tumor. CSCs have been increasingly identified in blood cancer, prostate, ovarian, lung, melanoma, pancreatic, colon, brain and many more malignancies. CSCs have slow growth rate and are resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy that lead to the failure of traditional current therapy. Eradicating the CSCs and recurrence, is promising aspect for the cure of cancer. The CSCs like any other stem cells activate the signal transduction pathways that involve the development and tissue homeostasis, which include Notch signaling pathway. The new treatment targets these pathway that control stem-cell replication, survival and differentiation that are under development. Notch inhibitors either single or in combination with chemotherapy drugs have been developed to treat cancer and its recurrence. This approach of targeting signaling pathway of CSCs represents a promising future direction for the therapeutic strategy to cure cancer.

The impact of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on public health is growing due to their wide-ranging consequence and likelihood of morbidity on human health. Humans are confronted with EDCs through their skin and drinks, as well as by inhaling. EDCs are extensively dispersed in the environment. EDCs have been shown to primarily influence puberty, the reproductive system, embryonic growth, the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis (HPG) neuroendocrine axis, and gender differentiation in the foetus, despite their capacity to influence a variety of hormone systems. Treatment for afflicted persons will benefit greatly from an understanding of the several ways that modifiable lifestyle circumstances connected to PCPS impede female infertility. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of the hidden danger that environmental dyes (EDCs) pose to human health, particularly in terms of their detrimental effects on female reproductive health.

Catharanthus roseus is a popular medicinal plant available all over the world. Across the globe, different parts of the plant are used to treat diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and menstrual abnormalities. In the current study, aim was to isolate, purify and characterize vindoline from the aerial parts (stem, leaves and flowers) of C.roseus. Vindoline was extracted by hot ethanolic extraction procedure and then purified using preparative thin layer chromatography (pTLC). The functional group analysis was performed to authenticate the presence of specific functional groups by using fourier transform- infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were performed to conform the purity of the isolated compound and the scientific data presented.

Background: Sex hormones controlling the ovarian function are centrally controlled by the hypothalamus, and the downstream control are carried through the pituitary secretion via the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. In rodents, corticosterone under stress conditions is known to disrupt the hormones of HPG axis at multiple stages and exhibits pathological impact on ovaries. The current study aimed to investigate the role of chronic stress effect on the regulation of corticosterone and its counter effectiveness in dysregulating testosterone, estradiol levels, along with the interference in ovarian follicular development and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) induction in Rattus norvegicus . Methods: The study identified the rat models into three groups, i.e., control, stress and stress with ketoconazole treated. The high dosage of ketoconazole exhibits the corticosterone suppression effect. Control animals were left undisturbed and maintained under standard conditions. Stress group animals were exposed to different stress induction parameters such as restraining, dark shift, forced swimming, acute heat, and social isolation. Another stress group of animals were treated with 50 mg/kg body weight of ketoconazole prior to the stress exposure which was conducted for 30 days. At the end of stress observations, animals were euthanized, ovaries collected, stored in neutral buffer formalin for further histopathology studies and the plasma was collected and stored under -20 °C for further hormonal investigations. Results: The study demonstrates a significant increase in number of days per estrous cycle among the stress group animals by vaginal cytology analysis. Histopathology study of ovaries revealed healthy follicular development in control group of animals and cystic follicular growth among the stress group animals. Animals treated with 50 mg/kg body weight ketoconazole exhibited improper follicular growth. All the study observations were correlated with the hormonal estimations across the animal groups against Rotterdam criteria and the results inferred. Conclusions: Our observation is that damaged impaired folliculogenesis which has led to ovarian failure may be imputed to change in hormonal secretion pattern. J Endocrinol Metab. 2023;13(3):114-120 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jem880

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited autosomal recessive hereditary disorder caused by a mutation in the beta-globin gene leading to the production of abnormal haemoglobin-S which causes normal blood cells to ‘sickle’ by facilitating the polymerization of deoxygenated sickle haemoglobin. The condition imparts acute chest syndrome, vasoocclusive crisis, chronic haemolysis, pulmonary hypertension, edema and splenic sequestration in SCD individuals. Blood plasma from six patients diagnosed with SCD was collected, proteins were precipitated by acetone/TCA method and quantified through standard procedures. The quantified proteins were subjected to electrophoresis for the separation of proteins to observe the differences across protein band pattern in each sample.