H7N9 influenza: The concern in oncology.

Emerging influenza is at great concern at present. Since early 2013, the new emerging H7N9 influenza has been detected in China. As a new disease, it is lack for knowledge on this emerging disease. Here, the author will discuss on this new emerging influenza and concern in oncology.

Adrenal cortical carcinoma in Thailand: A review on the previous reported case.

Background: Adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) is an uncommon cancer. Materials and Methods: The author performed a literature review on the reports of ACC in Thailand in order to summarize the characteristics of this rare cancer among Thai patients. Results: According to this study, there have been at least seven reports in the literature of nine individual cases of ACC, of which none was lethal directly to ACC. Conclusions: Here, the ACC is sporadically reported in Thailand. The diagnosis of ACC is usually by detection adrenal mass using imaging technique and the confirmation for the nature of cancer is usually by histopathology. Nevertheless, among the Thai population, the prognostic outcome is usually good.

Important vaccines used as tools for tertiary prevention in oncology patients.

For the prevention of many diseases, vaccination is considered to be a good method. At present, a number of vaccines are available. The concept of vaccination for oncology patients as a tertiary prevention protocol was introduced recently. A literature review on this topic was performed. For reviewing, the author used the electronic search for the keyword "vaccine" and "cancer" on PubMed for inclusion of the previously published articles and further search of reference papers on vaccines as tools for tertiary prevention in oncology patients was done. In this article, the important vaccines for oncology patients are briefly discussed. There are many interesting vaccinations that are useful for tertiary prevention in oncology patients.

Ligand binding prediction for BRCA1, a key molecule in the pathogensis of breast cancer.

Background : Cell adhesion plays a pivotal role in diverse biological processes that occur in oncogenesis. BRCA1 was the first breast cancer susceptibility gene to be successfully identified and cloned. The role of BRCA1 as a predictive marker of chemotherapy response in breast cancer is proposed. Ligand binding is an important factor in the success of chemoprevention. Materials and Methods : In this work, the author performed a ligand-binding prediction for BRCA1 using a new bioinformatics tool. Results : According to this study, 10 strong possible ligands were identified. Conclusion : These sites can be useful for further drug development studies.

Analysis of binding energy activity of imatinib and Abl tyrosine kinase domain based on simple consideration for conformational change: An explanation for variation in imatinib effect in mutated type.

Imatinib is a clinically well-tolerated small molecule inhibitor that exerts selective, dual inhibition on the transforming growth factor beta and platelet-derived growth factor pathways. The recognition of an inactive conformation of Abl, in which a catalytically important Asp-Phe-Gly motif is flipped by approximately 180 degrees with respect to the active conformation, underlies the specificity of the cancer drug imatinib, which is used to treat chronic myelogenous leukemia. However, conformational analysis shows that the effect of the drug depends on the potential energy, which varies due to the alpha rotatable angles of the Abl tyrosine kinase domain. In this study, the author determines the change of binding energy between the Abl tyrosine kinase domain, due to the variation in rotatable angles, and bond lengthening. According to this study, the ratio between the required binding energy between the wild and mutated types is equal to 1: 1.16.

Identification of transmembrane region and orientation of aquaglyceroporin of Plasmodium falciparum.

Aquaglyceroporin is a subclass of aquaporin water channels. This protein is also a focused potential drug target for falciparum malaria. However, the knowledge about the structure of this protein is limited. In this communication, the author performed a study to determine the transmembrane region and orientation of aquaglyceroporin of Plasmodium falciparum . According to this study, six transmembrane regions of aquaglyceroporin of P. falciparum can be identified. These regions can be the focused target for future drug development.

Identification of weak points prone for mutation in ferredoxin of Trichomonas vaginalis.

Trichomonas vaginalis, the causative agent for human trichomoniasis, is a problematic sexually transmitted disease mainly in women. At present, metronidazole-resistant trichomoniasis is an infrequent but challenging problem with no universally successful treatment. Genetic mutation is believed to be an important factor leading to increasing drug resistance. Understanding the mutation status will help to design accurate strategies of therapy against mutant strains of T. vaginalis. The author performed a bioinformatic analysis to determine positions that tend to comply peptide motifs in the amino acid sequence of ferredoxin of T. vaginalis. Based on this study, the weak linkages in the studied protein can be identified and can be useful information for prediction of possible new mutations that can lead to drug resistance. In addition, the results from this study can be good information for further research on the diagnosis for mutants and new effective drug development.