Marco A. Meraz-Rios

Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute | Cinvestav · Department of Molecular Biomedicine

Prostate cancer is the second most common neoplasia amongst men worldwide. Hereditary susceptibility and ancestral heritage are well-established risk factors that explain the disparity trends across different ethnicities, populations, and regions even within the same country. The Y-chromosome has been considered a prototype biomarker for male healt...

Immune mediators affect multiple biological functions of intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and, like Paneth and Paneth‐like cells, play an important role in intestinal epithelial homeostasis. IFN‐γ a prototypical proinflammatory cytokine disrupts intestinal epithelial homeostasis. However, the mechanism underlying the process remains unknown. In t...

Chronic neuroinflammation is crucial in many neurodegenerative diseases, including AD. Neuroinflammation activates microglia, the CNS's central effector cells, and immune cells. Toxins and neuroinflammatory reactions can kill or damage neurons, activating microglial cells. Inflammatory mediators from activated microglia can kill neurons like cytoki...

Introduction Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women, with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) representing one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant subtypes. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the antitumor potential of C14 and P8 molecules in both TNBC and radioresistant TNBC cells. These compounds...

Nurr1 is a member of the orphan nuclear receptor family NR4A that modulates inflammation in several cell lineages, both positively and negatively. Macrophages are key regulators of inflammatory responses, yet information about the role of Nurr1 in human macrophages is scarce. Here we examined Nurr1 expression and activity in steady state and activa...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the predominant form of dementia globally. No reliable diagnostic, predictive techniques, or curative interventions are available. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are vital to controlling gene expression, making them valuable biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis. This study examines the...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has the worst prognosis among all human cancers as it is highly resistant to che-motherapy. K-Ras mutations usually trigger the development and progression of PDAC. We hypothesized that compounds stabilizing the KRas4B/PDE6δ complex could serve as PDAC treatments. Using in silico approaches, we identified the...

Dengue virus (DENV) uses cellular nuclear transport machinery to import some proteins into the nucleus. Recently, the non-structural protein 3 (NS3) of DENV was localized in the nucleus of infected cells; however, its nuclear import mechanism is still unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that Ivermectin (IVM) inhibits the nuclear localization of...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common neurodegenerative disease and the first cause of dementia worldwide, has no effective treatment, and its pathological mechanisms are not yet fully understood. We conducted this study to explore the proteomic differences associated with Familial Alzheimer’s Disease (FAD) in olfactory ecto-mesenchymal stem ce...

Flaviviruses, including Dengue (DENV), Zika (ZIKV), and Yellow Fever (YFV) viruses, represent a significant global health burden. The development of effective antiviral therapies against these viruses is crucial to mitigate their impact. This study investigated the antiviral potential of the cholesterol-lowering drugs atorvastatin and ezetimibe in...

Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 has been related to drug side effects and cancer susceptibility; its protein structure and acetylation capacity results from the polymorphism’s arrays on the NAT2 gene. Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, cornerstones of the pharmacological effects, have shown diversity patterns across populations, e...

The Retinoblastoma 1 (RB1) gene, located on chromosome 13q14 and encodes the tumor-suppressor retinoblastoma protein, is the cause of Retinob-lastoma. The mutational inactivation of both gene alleles brings on this cancer. Retinoblastoma (RB) high-risk histopathological characteristics indicate metastasis or local recurrence with rapid progresses f...

The orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 is involved in diverse cellular processes such as inflammation, proliferation, differentiation and survival. Stimuli like lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) increase Nur77 expression in human and murine macrophages, and it has been proposed that Nur77 plays a major role in dampening the inflam...

Gold nanoparticles have been used in diagnosis and treatment of several diseases; for this purpose, they must be biocompatible and easy bio-distribution. Carbohydrate coatings provide to nanoparticles stability, biocompatibility, and biological action. Disaccharides have showed potential for neurotherapeutic actions, but synthesis methods of gold n...

The PDZ (PSD95, Dlg and ZO-1) genes encode proteins that primarily function as scaffolds of diverse signaling pathways. To date, 153 PDZ genes have been identified in the human genome, most of which have multiple protein isoforms widely studied in epithelial and neural cells. However, their expression and function in immune cells have been poorly s...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing cells found in almost all postnatal organs and tissues in the perivascular region. These cells have a high capacity for mesodermal differentiation; however, numerous studies have shown that MSCs can also differentiate into cells of endodermal and ectodermal lineages. Due to this multilineage different...

Background: Imidazo[1,2-a]azines with an acid group decrease inflammatory processes in murine models, and the effect has been attributed to the inhibition of COX enzymes. Results: The optimization of a series of imidazo[1,2-a]azines was performed using the reduced factorial design 23-1. The inhibitory effects of five acid derivatives of imidazo[1,2...

Background: Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal survival aneuploidy. The increase in DS life expectancy further heightens the risk of dementia, principally early-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). AD risk in DS is higher, considering that this population may also develop metabolic diseases such as obesity, dyslipidemias, and diabetes me...

Nanocomposite engineering of biosensors, biomaterials and flexible electronics demand highly tunable synthesis of precursor materials to achieve enhanced or desired properties. However, this process remains lim-ited due to the need for proper synthesis-property strategies. Herein, we report on the ability to synthesize chi-tosan-gold nanocomposite...

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing cells found in almost all postnatal organs and tissues in the perivascular region. These cells present multiple characteristics that make them candidates to be applied in cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, such as their secretory action, migration to the lesion area, and immunomodulatory pot...

Many individuals with early dementia, mostly from Jalisco,with an average age of 58.11 years, have the mutation thatcauses a substitution in the amino acid alanine for glutamicacid at position 431 in exon 12 of the PSEN1 gene. In 2001,Rogaeva et al. [4] made the discovery.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are self-renewing cells found in almost all postnatal organs and tissues in the perivascular region. These cells have a high capacity for mesodermal differentiation; however, numerous studies have shown that MSCs can also differentiate into cells of endodermal and ectodermal lineages. Due to this multilineage different...

La nanomedicina ha tenido un gran impacto en los últimos años, principalmente con el uso de las nanopartículas de oro (AuNPs) en el diagnóstico y tratamiento de enfermedades, para este fin, las AuNPs deben ser biocompatibles y de fácil biodistribución. La incorporación de recubrimientos post-síntesis a base de polímeros de carbohidratos de alto p...

This study examined Y-chromosome variation in 1614 mestizo Mexican males from different geographic regions to delineate the indigenous and colonial history of Mexico. The findings reveal a great diversity of paternal lineages within Mexican males, as well as a limited number of shared haplotypes among them. Native American haplogroups Q-L54 and Q-M...

Native Mexican populations are crucial for understanding the genetic ancestry of Aztec descendants and coexisting ethnolinguistic groups in the Valley of Mexico and elucidating the population dynamics of the prehistoric colonization of the Americas. Mesoamerican societies were multicultural in nature, and also experienced significant admixture duri...

Modern lifestyle of the population plays an important role in the development of multiple chronic-degenerative diseases particularly those associated with overweight and obesity. The consumption of diets with highly caloric contains and the lack of physical activity associated with stress are considered some of the risk factors for the development...

The amyloid beta-peptide (Aβ) is the low-abundance product of amyloid precursor protein (APP), which is produced lifelong in the healthy brain. The functional properties of Aβ40 and Aβ42 peptides have not been completely elucidated to date. Although, several studies suggest that these peptides have a number of neurotrophic and neurotoxic properties...

Background Valproic acid (VPA) is an HDAC inhibitor (HDACI) with anticancer activity, but it is hepatotoxic. N-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propylpentanamide (o-OH-VPA) is a VPA aryl derivative designed in silico as a selective inhibitor of HDAC8 with biological properties against HeLa, rhabdomyosarcoma and breast cancer cell cultures. Objective We studied...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has become one of the most threatening diseases in the elderly, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major health problem in the world, representing 7.4% of the population. Several studies have produced epidemiological, clinical, and pathological evidence of the relationship between AD and T2DM. Laboratory research usin...

Obesity is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with adipose tissue macrophage (ATM) activation. ATMs from lean mice contribute to tissue homeostasis by their M2‐oriented polarization, whereas obesity leads to an increase of M1 inflammatory ATMs that underlies obesity‐related metabolic disorders. In humans, studies characterizing ATMs and thei...

Cardiovascular diseases are complex conditions whose more prominent clinical manifestations more prominent are coronary arterial disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke, the principal causes of death worldwide. Although different risk factors have been related to their development, heritability is one of the most relevant predictors. Thus, the e...

Objective: We studied multi-loci variants to identify the contribution of six candidate genes (ADIPOQ, CDH13, LYPLAL1, MC4R, PPARG and PGC1A) in the development of obesity and overweight. Design: We genotyped 404 chromosomes with eleven SNPs in Mexican female adolescents, who were subdivided into two groups (obesity-overweight and normal-weight) us...

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most widespread and deadly types of neoplasia around the world, where the inflammatory microenvironment has critical importance in the process of tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance. Despite its limited effectiveness, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the main drug utilized for CRC treatment. The combination o...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190775.].

Atherothrombosis is the cornerstone of cardiovascular diseases and the primary cause of death worldwide. Genetic contribution to disturbances in lipid metabolism, coagulation, inflammation and oxidative stress increase the susceptibility to its development and progression. Given its multifactorial nature, the multiloci studies have been proposed as...

Presenilin 1 gene (PSEN1) mutations are the most common cause of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD). One of the most abundant FAD mutations, PSEN1 A431E, has been reported to be associated with spastic paraparesis in about half of its carriers, but the determining mechanisms of this phenotype are still unknown. In our study we characterized three A...

In this investigation we report the fabrication of composite coatings with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), bioactive 45S5 Bioglass® (45S5 BG) and the polysaccharide chitosan (CTS) by voltage-pulsed (VP) and voltage-constant (VC) electrophoretic deposition (EPD) on Ti-6Al-4V anodized surfaces. AgNPs were synthesized by chemical reduction and subsequen...

A single layer of polarized epithelial cells lining the colonic mucosa create a semipermeable barrier indispensable for gut homeostasis. The role of intestinal epithelial cell (IEC) polarization in the maintenance of the epithelial homeostasis and in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases is not fully understood. In this review, now we repo...

Neurogenesis plays a significant role during adulthood, and the observation that neural stem cells reside in the central nervous system and the olfactory epithelium has attracted attention due to their importance in neuronal regeneration. In addition, soluble factors (SFs) release by neural stem cells may modulate the neurogenic process. Thus, in t...

Epithelial cells lining the intestinal mucosa constitute a selective-semipermeable barrier acting as first line of defense in the organism. The number of those cells remains constant during physiological conditions, but disruption of epithelial cell homeostasis has been observed in several pathologies. During colitis, epithelial cell proliferation...

Cervical cancer (CC) is associated with alterations in immune system balance, which is primarily due to a shift from Th1 to Th2 and the unbalance of Th17/Treg cells. Using in silico DNA copy number analysis, we have demonstrated that ~20% of CC samples exhibit gain of 8q22.3 and 19q13.31; the regions of the genome that encodes the KLF10 and PSG gen...

Abstract: The effects of the immune system response in the malignant transformation process have been described. Molecules such as interferons are involved in such process. Interferons are small single-chained glycoproteins, involved in the first line of defense against pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Interferon epsilon (IFNε) i...

The mechanisms controlling degradation of cytosolic β-catenin are important for regulating β-catenin co-transcriptional activity. Loss of pVHL has been shown to stabilize β-catenin, increasing β-catenin transactivation and β-catenin mediated cell proliferation. However, the role of PI3K/Akt in the regulation of β-catenin signaling downstream of pVH...

Background and Aims Krüppel Like Factors (KLF) refers to a family of seventeen members of transcription factors. Involved in several cellular processes. As other cancer types, Cervical Cancer (CC) presents molecular deregulations in transcription factors, but especially Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) sequences. Here in this work we analyzed the mRNA e...

Cardiovascular diseases are complex conditions whose more prominent clinical manifestations more prominent are coronary arterial disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke, the principal causes of death worldwide. Although different risk factors have been related to their development, heritability is one of the most relevant predictors. Thus, the e...

Curcumin is extensively investigated as a good chemo-preventive agent in the development of many cancers and particularly in leukemia, including treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia and it has been proposed as an adjuvant for leukemia therapies. Human chronic myeloid leukemia cells (K562), were treated with 20 μM of curcumin, and we found that...

Active Rel A (NFkB p65), is diminished in nuclear compartment after 12 h of the curcumin treatment. The level of NFκB p65/Rel A was investigated in cytoplasm and nuclear of the K652 cells treated with 20 μM curcumin during 6 or 12 h, using western blot analysis. The level of hnRNPA1 and GAPDH proteins was analyzed as control for the purity of the n...

Comparation of the percentage of K562 cells arrested in G2/M phase of the cell cycle or killed after treatment with 20 μM or 30 μM curcumin. (TIF)

Apoptosis cell death induced by P73 during mitotic catastrophe. A) diminution of BIM mRNA level in K562 after curcumin treatment as analyzed by RT-PCR. Cells were incubated with 20μM curcumin for 12, 18 or 24 h; then harvested and total RNA was isolated and use for first strand cDNA synthesis. B) Level of P73 protein of K562 cells transfected with...

p class="Pa7"> Objective: We studied multi-loci variants to identify the contribution of six candidate genes ( ADIPOQ, CDH13, LYPLAL1, MC4R, PPARG and PGC1A ) in the development of obesity and overweight. Design: We genotyped 404 chromosomes with eleven SNPs in Mexican female adoles­cents, who were subdivided into two groups (obesity-overweight and...

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia in occidental countries. The majority of the cases develop the disease for no genetic reasons; therefore, it is crucial to establish which environmental factors trigger the development of the disease. It has been proposed that nutritional habits, especially main components of Western countries...

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the largest hormone-producing organ in the body due to a specialized cell population called enteroendocrine cells (EECs). The number of EECs increases in the mucosa of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients; however, the mechanisms responsible for these changes remain unknown. Here, we show that the proinflamma...

This research topic gives an overview of the current knowledge on some of the most common processes in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Parkinson and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Here we reviewed different aspects of each neurodegenerative process, including epigenetics, oxidative and inflammatory responses, genetic susceptibility, aging, m...

In this contribution, we focused on evaluating a novel compound developed by our group. This molecule, derived from glutamine (Gln) and valproic acid (VPA), denominated (S)-5-amino-2-(heptan-4-ylamino)-5-oxopentanoic acid (Gln-VPA), was submitted to docking studies on histone deacetylase 8 (HDAC8) to explore its non-bonded interactions. The theoret...

Epigallo-catechin-3-gallate (EGCG), found in the leaves of Camellia sinensis (green tea), has antioxidant- and scavenger-functions and acts neuroprotectively. It has been publicized as anti-aging remedy but data on potential cellular mechanisms are scarce. Recent studies claimed that EGCG specifically promotes neural precursor cell proliferation in...

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring au...