Featured Pathways
The sphingolipids are primarily situated in the noncytoplasmic leaflet of cellular membranes contribute to the structural integrity and fluidity characteristics of cell membranes and signal transduction complexes. Ceramide sits at the hub of sphingolipid metabolism as the neutral, lipid building block for complex sphingolipids and glycosphingolipids, serving as a[..]
Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive sphingomyelin derivative that is present in plasma and serum at high nanomolar concentrations. S1P acts via the specific cell surface G-protein-coupled receptors, S1P1-5. S1P1 and S1P2 were originally identified from vascular endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells, respectively. S1P receptors modulate multiple intracellular pathways and[..]
The experience of pain in response to noxious stimuli serves a crucial biological purpose: it alerts a living organism to environmental dangers, inducing behavioral responses that protect the organism from further damage. In contrast, chronic pain arising from disease states and/or pathological functioning of the nervous system offers no advantage and may be debilitating to those afflicted.[..]
Helicobacter pylori is a gram negative bacterium that causes chronic inflammation in essentially all hosts, a process that increases the risk of developing peptic ulceration, distal gastric adenocarcinoma, and gastric mucosal lymphoproliferative disease. This bacterium also is the most common cause of ulcers worldwide. H. pylori infection is most likely acquired by ingesting contaminated food[..]
Estrogens are a class of steroid hormones that play a central role in reproduction, and are regarded as the powerful female hormones that make a girl develop into a woman capable of reproduction. Estrogenic steroids, that include: E1 (Estrone), E2 (Estradiol/17-beta Estradiol) and E3 (Estriol), regulate cellular functions in a wide variety of tissues and influence proliferation in the female[..]
Biological membranes are composed of hundreds of distinct proteins and phospholipids. Phospholipids are diacylglycerol derivatives with a hydrophilic, zwitter ionic, often charged headgroup at position C3 of the glycerol backbone. The properties of phospholipids give lipid bilayer membranes their self-organizing structure. Phospholipids are usually composed of two fatty acid[..]
RNAi (RNA interference) is broadly defined as a gene silencing pathway that is triggered by dsRNA (double-stranded RNA). The dsRNA trigger can be supplied exogenously, as an experimental tool, or can derive from the genome. RNAi involves a number of steps from biogenesis of the trigger RNA, processing of dsRNA to small RNAs and formation of an effector complex containing the small RNA which[..]
Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein structures found at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes. Telomeres confer stability to chromosomes by preventing nucleolytic degradation and recombination. They also function in chromosomal localization, nuclear architecture, and repression of nearby genes. The telomeric DNA of most organisms consists of simple tandem repeats that are rich in dG[..]
AIF (apoptosis-inducing factor), is a phylogenetically old flavoprotein which is confined to the mitochondrial intermembrane space in healthy cells but upon lethal signaling, it translocates, via the cytosol, to the nucleus where it binds to DNA and provokes Caspase-independent chromatin condensation [Ref.1]. Proteolysis of the membrane tether in mature AIF can be mediated by local or cytoplasmic[..]
