Drug repurposing of rimantadine for treatment of cancer.

Repurposing of approved drugs allows strong savings in time and investment. Rimantadine is an FDA-approved drug for prevention and treatment of influenza A infection. Patent US2021330605 describes the use of rimantadine, an adamantane derivative, for the treatment of melanoma, breast cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Rimantadine inhibited proliferation of cell lines of melanoma, breast cancer, and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, increased the survival of mice injected with cancer cell lines and restores the expression of MHC class I. Rimantadine has the potential to be used successfully in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Conotrachelus dimidiatus Champion, 1904 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Molytinae): morphological re-description of the immature stages, keys, tribal comparisons and biology.

The mature larva and pupa of Conotrachelus dimidiatus Champion, 1904 (Curculionidae: Molytinae) are morphologically re-described, keyed and, for the first time, compared with known larvae and pupae of other Conotrachelus species. The chaetotaxy of the larval and pupal body in the genus Conotrachelus is probably strictly uniform. The immature stages of described species are also compared with available data on the immature stages of genera from several tribes in the subfamily Molytinae. All larvae of Conotrachelus have a distinct endocranial line of a different size and a frons with only three setae. The states of these two distinct characteristics in larvae of the eight known Conotrachelus species are constant and unique compared to other tribes in the subfamily Molytinae. In Central Mexico, overwintering Conotrachelus beetles emerge in July and then feed and mate on host plants. Larvae are endophagous within the fruits. In September and October, the larvae pupate in the soil. This new information will be very useful in the application of pesticides to the fight against this well-known pest in Mexico.

Isolation and characterization of Magnetospirillum sp. strain 15-1 as a representative anaerobic toluene-degrader from a constructed wetland model.

Previously, Planted Fixed-Bed Reactors (PFRs) have been used to investigate microbial toluene removal in the rhizosphere of constructed wetlands. Aerobic toluene degradation was predominant in these model systems although bulk redox conditions were hypoxic to anoxic. However, culture-independent approaches indicated also that microbes capable of anaerobic toluene degradation were abundant. Therefore, we aimed at isolating anaerobic-toluene degraders from one of these PFRs. From the obtained colonies which consisted of spirilli-shaped bacteria, a strain designated 15-1 was selected for further investigations. Analysis of its 16S rRNA gene revealed greatest similarity (99%) with toluene-degrading Magnetospirillum sp. TS-6. Isolate 15-1 grew with up to 0.5 mM of toluene under nitrate-reducing conditions. Cells reacted to higher concentrations of toluene by an increase in the degree of saturation of their membrane fatty acids. Strain 15-1 contained key genes for the anaerobic degradation of toluene via benzylsuccinate and subsequently the benzoyl-CoA pathway, namely bssA, encoding for the alpha subunit of benzylsuccinate synthase, bcrC for subunit C of benzoyl-CoA reductase and bamA for 6-oxocyclohex-1-ene-1-carbonyl-CoA hydrolase. Finally, most members of a clone library of bssA generated from the PFR had highest similarity to bssA from strain 15-1. Our study provides insights about the physiological capacities of a strain of Magnetospirillum isolated from a planted system where active rhizoremediation of toluene is taking place.