Protein kinases (PKs) are regulators of protein phosphorylation in many infectious diseases, including malaria. How- ever, the cellular functions of majority of PKs in Plasmodium falciparum remain unknown. The mechanisms involved in P. falciparum cell cycle progress are not fully understood. The activation of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), which constitute a PK family that includes crucial regulators of cell cycle progression in eukaryotes, is strictly being coordinated by the interaction with specific cyclins at well-defined points within the cell cycle. These cyclin/CDK complexes are very well characterised in humans, but little is known in P. falciparum. This review expand our un- derstanding of the characteristic of CDKs and cyclins in P. falciparum, and paves the way for further investigations on the precise molecular role of these crucial regulatory proteins in mosquito and human. This represents a valuable step towards the elucidation of cell cycle control mechanisms in malaria parasites.
Metastasis is a process of tumour cells escaping from the primary site and form a new lesion in other organs. It is a common phenomenon where bone is the frequent metastatic site. Bone scan using 99m-Techetium-Methylenedi- phosphate (99mTc-MDP) is used to diagnose bone pathologies such as bone metastases. 99mTc-MDP specifically binds to calcium which present in bone. This study aimed to validate 99mTc-MDP in breast cancer-induced to bone rat model and to determine calcium presence in the progression of metastasis. The rats were divided into two groups (normal and cancer-induced groups). For cancer-induced group, the left femur was induced with breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231. After 21 days, all rats were subjected to SPECT-CT scan. Our finding suggests that the kidney uptake of 99mTc-MDP is due to the calcium crystal presence caused by hypercalcemia. This is only a preliminary data, and further analysis will be conducted.
More studies are now focusing on vitamin E as an anticancer agent for its good effects in many in-vitro studies. Current studies proposed that vitamin E might be a suitable candidate as an alternative treatment for cancer due to its antioxidant properties. Vitamin E act as an antioxidant by their long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, and thus the integrity of membranes in the cells is maintained and consequently retain the bioactivity of the cells. This mini review will focus on the activity of vitamin E as an antioxidant to protect against cancer in in-vitro, in-vivo, and clin- ical studies. Although most studies reported great outcomes for the anticancer activity of vitamin E, there were some conflicting data. To date, studies on effects of vitamin E are still undergoing where researchers are still debating on the positive and negative effects of vitamin E as an anticancer therapeutic action.