Long non-coding RNA signatures and related signaling pathway in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a malignancy caused by clonal proliferation of T-cell pre-cursors arising from the thymus. Although the optimized chemotherapy regimen could improve the outcome of such patients, some challenges such as higher risk for induction failure, early relapse and isolated central nervous system (CNS) relapse occurring in T-ALL patients are of great significance, leading to increased mortality rates. Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is a key component involved in cell signaling through a variety of mechanisms in regulating gene expression. Oncogenes and tumor suppressors are no exception and their expression can be affected by lncRNAs. In addition, accumulating researches in samples from T-ALL patients as well as pre-clinical studies in mice suggest that the expression profile of lncRNAs in T-ALL could be aberrant, resulting in deregulation of target genes and downstream signaling pathways. In addition, accumulating researches in samples from T-ALL patients as well as pre-clinical studies in mice suggest that the expression profile of lncRNAs in T-ALL could be aberrant, resulting in deregulation of target genes and downstream signaling pathways. These lncRNAs may be determinants of proliferation, apoptosis, and drug resistance observed in T-ALL. Thus, lncRNAs can be a good tool to develop novel strategies against cancer cells in the treatment of relapsed and refractory T-ALL. They can also act as promoting biomarkers in assessing T-ALL and differentiating between patients with poor prognosis and good prognosis.

A review on medicinal plants used for treating ototoxicity and acoustic trauma induced hearing loss

Hearing loss induced by chemotherapy and acoustic trauma is mainly associated with two factors, free radical formation and apoptosis pathway activation. Despite numerous efforts on reducing the effects of these factors, no definite strategy is still determined to interfere with and control these processes. In recent studies, various protective agents, including antioxidants have been used on animal models, to inhibit the formation of free radicals thus improving hearing loss.In this review article we will discuss the role of traditional herbal medicine in treatment of noise/drug induced hearing loss, focusing on medicinal plants' active substances,as well as their mechanisms of action in reducing or preventing the formation of free radicals thus increasing the rate of survival of cochlea cells. Data have been gathered since year 2000, from scientific publications including the following keywords: deafness, drug toxicity, acute trauma, medicinal herbs and oxidative stress. The study includes all herbs and medicinal plants that have been experimentally used in studies on animal models and clinical trials. The results from these studies indicate the effectiveness of most of these herbs and their active substances through their antioxidative properties. Medicinal plants reported in this review can thus be considered as effective remedies intreating noise/drug induced hearing loss,yet further studies need to be done.