Milad Ashrafizadeh

• Data Scientist at IICD

Phytochemicals in Cancer Therapy and Beyond examines the role of natural products in the treatment of diseases, especially cancer. With a strong focus on the treatment of diseases, it demonstrates the mechanisms that natural products follow in treatment. In 24 chapters, the book describes not only regular cancer treatments, challenges, and developm...

Cancer immunotherapy, encompassing both experimental and standard-of-care therapies, has emerged as a promising approach to harnessing the immune system for tumor suppression. Experimental strategies, including novel immunotherapies and preclinical models, are actively being explored, while established treatments, such as immune checkpoint inhibito...

The accumulation of dysfunctional giant mitochondria is a hallmark of aged cardiomyocytes. This study investigated the core mechanism underlying this phenomenon, focusing on the disruption of mitochondrial lipid metabolism and its effects on mitochondrial dynamics and autophagy, using both naturally aging mouse models and etoposide-induced cellular...

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The aggressive behaviour of breast tumor results from their metastasis. Notably, the brain tissue is one of the common regions of metastasis, thereby reducing the overall survival of patients. Moreover, the metastatic tumors demonstrate poor response or resistance to therapies. In addit...

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor with a high metastatic rate. Despite the improvement in patient prognosis with conventional therapeutics, enhancing the survival of patients with metastatic disease remains a challenge. Zoledronic acid (ZOL) stimulates apoptosis in cancer cells and is considered a promising drug for osteosarcoma th...

Carbohydrate polymers, including Chitosan, Cellulose, Starch, Dextran, Pectin, Alginate, and Hyaluronic Acid, are well-known as stimuli-responsive biopolymers showing great potential for drug delivery vehicles. Depending on the specific design and fabrication, they can respond to changes in pH, temperature, or enzymatic activity when exposed. This...

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a malignancy of gastrointestinal tract threatening the life of people around the world. In spite of the advances in the treatment of PC, the overall survival of this disease in advanced stage is less than 12%. Moreover, PC cells have aggressive behaviour in proliferation and metastasis as well as capable of developing ther...

Doxorubicin (DOX), a chemotherapeutic agent utilized in the management of cancer, provokes cardiotoxicity although effective remedy is lacking. Given that DOX provokes oxidative stress and cell death in cardiomyocytes, this study evaluated the possible involvement of cuproptosis, a newly identified form of cell death, in DOX-instigated cardiac remo...

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) devices represent advanced in vitro models that enable mimicking the human tissue architecture function and physiology, offering a promising alternative to traditional animal testing methods. These devices combine the microfluidics with soft materials, specifically hydrogel membranes (HMs) for mimicking the extracellular matri...

Dysfunction of keratinocytes affects diabetic wound healing, but underlying mechanisms have not been understood. This study examines crotonylation's role in ferroptosis and autophagy in keratinocytes, particularly regarding ACSL4, using STZ-induced diabetic rats and high glucose-exposed keratinocytes to assess these processes. The ACSL4 knockdown w...

Urological cancers are responsible for high mortality and morbidity around the world. Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death in men, and currently, surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are utilized for the treatment of this disease. However, tumor cells can develop resistance to therapy, making surgi cal resection less...

ARID1A deletion mutation contributes to improved treatment of several malignancies with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). However, its role in modulating of tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) of gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. Here, we report an increase of CD8+ T cells infiltration in GC patients with ARID1A-mutation (MUT), which enhance...

Gastrointestinal tumors are the main causes of death among the patients. These tumors are mainly diagnosed in the advanced stages and their response to therapy is unfavorable. In spite of the development of conventional therapeutics including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, the treatment of these tumors is still challenging....

Hydrogels are promising candidates for the delivery of therapeutics in the treatment of human cancers. Regarding to the biocomaptiiblity, high drug and encapsulation efficacy and adjustable physico-chemical features, the hydrogels have been widely utilized for the delivery of chemotherapy drugs. Doxorubicin (DOX) is one of the most common chemother...

The alliance between nanomaterials and cancer therapy has revolutionized the treatment of tumor patients. After cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the leading cause of death, so interdisciplinary approaches should be used for the treatment of this malignant disease. Both treatment and early diagnosis of cancer are challenging. The micelles belong t...

Drug resistance has compromised the efficacy of chemotherapy. The dysregulation of drug transporters including P-glycoprotein (P-gp) can mediate drug resistance through drug efflux. In this review, we highlight the role of P-gp in cancer drug resistance and the related molecular pathways, including phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)–Akt, phosphatase...

Electroconductive polymers are the materials of interest for the fabrication of electro-conductive tissues. Metal ions through the redox systems offer polymers with electrical conductivity. In this study, we processed a gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) network with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) through a redox system with parahydroxybenzaldehyde (PHB) or c...

A prominent cause of death among patients is cancer that can result from somatic mutations and exposure to environmental factors, among others. The treatment of cancer has been possible through the application of chemotherapy and radiotherapy that mainly mediate cell death and DNA damage. However, the tumor cells are able to induce the alternative...

Cancer is considered as one of the leading causes of death after cardiovascular diseases. Until now, various kinds of therapeutic modalities have been introduced for the treatment of cancer including chemotherapy, surgical resection, radiotherapy and immunotherapy. However, efficacy of these therapeutics have been reduced due to the resistance deve...

Macroautophagy/autophagy is primarily accountable for the degradation of damaged organelles and toxic macromolecules in the cells. Regarding the essential function of autophagy for preserving cellular homeostasis, changes in, or dysfunction of, autophagy flux can lead to disease development. In the current paper, the complicated function of autopha...

Neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) are highly heterogeneous and potentially malignant tumors arising from secretory cells of the neuroendocrine system. Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) are the most common subtype of NENs. Historically, GEP-NENs have been regarded as infrequent and slow-growing malignancies; however, recent da...

Interrupted ER homeostasis contributes to the etiology of obesity cardiomyopathy although it remains elusive how ER stress evokes cardiac anomalies in obesity. Our study evaluated the impact of ER stress inhibition on cardiac anomalies in obesity. Lean and ob/ob obese mice received chemical ER chaperone tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA, 50 mg/kg/d,...

The non-coding RNAs comprise a large part of human genome lack of capacity in encoding functional proteins. Among various members of non-coding RNAs, the circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been of importance in the pathogenesis of human diseases, especially cancer. The circRNAs have a unique closed loop structure and due to their stability, they are pot...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affected people worldwide, and fever is one of the major symptoms of this disease. Although Acetaminophen (APAP) is a common fever-reducing medication, it can also induce liver injury. However, the role of PGC-1α in regulating mitochondrial quality control by lactate dehydrogenase B (LDHB), a vital enzyme that ca...

The combination of peptides and nanoparticles in cancer therapy has shown synergistic results. Nanoparticle functionalization with peptides can increase their targeting ability towards tumor cells. In some cases, the peptides can develop self-assembled nanoparticles, in combination with drugs, for targeted cancer therapy. The peptides can be loaded...

Macrophages are phagocytic cells with important physiological functions, including the digestion of cellular debris, foreign substances, and microbes, as well as tissue development and homeostasis. The tumor microenvironment (TME) shapes the aggressiveness of cancer, and the biological and cellular interactions in this complicated space can determi...

Cancer immunotherapy and vaccine development have significantly improved the fight against cancers. Despite these advancements, challenges remain, particularly in the clinical delivery of immunomodulatory compounds. The tumor microenvironment (TME), comprising macrophages, fibroblasts, and immune cells, plays a crucial role in immune response modul...

Alcohol intake provokes severe organ injuries including alcoholic cardiomyopathy with hallmarks of cardiac re-modeling and contractile defects. This study examined the toxicity of facilitated ethanol metabolism in alcoholism evoked changes in myocardial morphology and contractile function, insulin signaling and various cell death domains using card...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a malignant disorder of prostate gland being asymptomatic in early stages and high metastatic potential in advanced stages. The chemotherapy and surgical resection have provided favourable prognosis of PCa patients, but advanced and aggressive forms of PCa including CRPC and AVPC lack response to therapy properly, and there...

Metastasis accounts for 90% of cancer-related deaths among the patients. The transformation of epithelial cells into mesenchymal cells with molecular alterations can occur during epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). The EMT mechanism accelerates the cancer metastasis and drug resistance ability in human cancers. Among the different regulators o...

Despite the challenges posed by drug resistance and side effects, chemotherapy remains a pivotal strategy in cancer treatment. A key issue in this context is macroautophagy (commonly known as autophagy), a dysregulated cell death mechanism often observed during chemotherapy. Autophagy plays a cytoprotective role by maintaining cellular homeostasis...

The nanotechnology is an interdisciplinary field that has become a hot topic in cancer therapy. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are porous materials and hybrid composites consisted of organic linkers and metal cations. Despite the wide application of MOFs in other fields, the potential of MOFs for purpose of cancer therapy has been revealed by the...

Aims: Multidrug resistance in pancreatic cancer poses a significant challenge in clinical treatment. Bufalin (BA), a compound found in secretions from the glands of toads, may help overcome this problem. However, severe cardiotoxicity thus far has hindered its clinical application. Hence, the present study aimed to develop a cell membrane-camoufla...

The metastasis is a multistep process in which a small proportion of cancer cells are detached from the colony to enter into blood cells for obtaining a new place for metastasis and proliferation. The metastasis and cell plasticity are considered major causes of cancer-related deaths since they improve the malignancy of cancer cells and provide poo...

The emergence of drug resistance is a major challenge for oncologists. Resistance can be categorized as acquired or intrinsic; the alteration of several biological mechanisms contributes to both intrinsic and acquired resistance. Macroautophagy/autophagy is the primary process in eukaryotes for the degradation of macromolecules and organelles. This...

An optimal tissue-engineered dermal substitute should possess biocompatibility and cell adhesion conduction to facilitate fibroblast and keratinocyte infiltration and proliferation, as well as angiogenesis potential to escalate wound healing. Zinc was doped to bioactive glass-ceramic (Zn-BGC) to promote biocompatibility and angiogenesis properties....

Environmental factors such as exposure to ionizing radiations, certain environmental pollutants, and toxic chemicals are considered as risk factors in the development of breast cancer. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a molecular variant of breast cancer that lacks therapeutic targets such as progesterone receptor, estrogen receptor, and hum...

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a serious gastrointestinal tract disease for which the 5-year survival rate is less than 10%, even in developed countries such as the USA. The genomic profile alterations and dysregulated biological mechanisms commonly occur in PC. Macroautophagy/autophagy is a cell death process that is maintained at a basal level in phys...

Breast cancer is the most malignant tumor in women, and there is no absolute cure for it. Although treatment modalities including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are utilized for breast cancer, it is still a life‐threatening disease for humans. Nanomedicine has provided a new opportunity in breast cancer treatment, which is the focus of the...

Exosomes are small extracellular vesicles that can be derived from human cells such as mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The size of exosomes is at nano-scale range and owing to their biocompatibility and other characteristics, they have been promising candidates for delivery of bioactive compounds and genetic materials in disease therapy, especially...

Membranes are ubiquitous tools for modern water treatment technology that critically eliminate hazardous materials such as organic, inorganic, heavy metals, and biomedical pollutants. Nowadays, nano-membranes are of particular interest for myriad applications such as water treatment, desalination, ion exchange, ion concentration control, and severa...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria is a major contributor to cardiovascular failure, but the signaling mechanisms underlying its stress response are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the antioxidant enzyme catalase on LPS-induced cardiac abnormalities and the mechanisms involved, with particular f...

Gastrointestinal (GI) tumors (cancers of the esophagus, gastric, liver, pancreas, colon, and rectum) contribute to a large number of deaths worldwide. STAT3 is an oncogenic transcription factor that promotes the transcription of genes associated with proliferation, antiapoptosis, survival, and metastasis. STAT3 is overactivated in many human malign...

A precise nano-scale biosensor was developed here to detect Hg²⁺ in aqueous media. Nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres (NCS) created from the pyrolysis of melamine–formaldehyde resin were characterized by FESEM, XRD, Raman spectra, EDS, PL, UV–vis spectra, and N2 adsorption–desorption, and were used as a highly selective and sensitive probe for detec...

Organophosphates (OPs) are an important class of toxic agents that are applied for controlling pests. Toxic effects of OPs have been found at concentrations below inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). OPs are able to cause damage in various tissues, leading to acute and chronic diseases. A limited number of OPs are able to directly bind to cho...

The site-specific delivery of antitumor agents is of importance for providing effective cancer suppression. Poor bioavailability of anticancer compounds and the presence of biological barriers prevent their accumulation in tumor sites. These obstacles can be overcome using liposomal nanostructures. The challenges in cancer chemotherapy and stimuli-...

Green chemistry has been a growing multidisciplinary field in recent years showing great promise in biomedical applications, especially for cancer therapy. Chitosan (CS) is an abundant biopolymer derived from chitin and is present in insects and fungi. This polysaccharide has favorable characteristics, including biocompatibility, biodegradability,...

Nanocarriers have received special attention in biomedicine for the treatment of various diseases, especially cancer, as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Nanocarriers can improve the potential of contemporary strategies in cancer therapy and also provide new methods for diagnosis and biosensing. The present review focuses on the biomed...

Overexpression of proteins/antigens and other gene-related sequences in the bodies could lead to significant mutations and refractory diseases. Detection and identification of assorted trace concentrations of such proteins/antigens and/or gene-related sequences remain challenging, affecting different pathogens and making viruses stronger. Correspon...

Background: One of the most malignant tumors in men is prostate cancer that is still incurable due to its heterogenous and progressive natures. Genetic and epigenetic changes play significant roles in its development. The RNA molecules with more than 200 nucleotides in length are known as lncRNAs and these epigenetic factors do not encode protein....

Biomimetic approaches utilize natural cell membrane‐derived nanovesicles to camouflage nanoparticles to circumvent some limitations of nanoscale materials. This emergent cell membrane‐coating technology is inspired by naturally occurring intercellular interactions, to efficiently guide nanostructures to the desired locations, thereby increasing bot...

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the factors responsible for its progression need to be elucidated. Exosomes are structures with an average size of 100 nm that can transport proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. This review focuses on the role of exosomes in cancer progression and therapy. We discuss how exosomes are able...

Urological cancers are among the most common malignancies around the world. In particular, bladder cancer severely threatens human health due to its aggressive and heterogeneous nature. Various therapeutic modalities have been considered for the treatment of bladder cancer although its prognosis remains unfavorable. It is perceived that treatment o...

Chemotherapy is the first choice in the treatment of cancer and is always preferred to other approaches such as radiation and surgery, but it has never met the need of patients for a safe and effective drug. Therefore, new advances in cancer treatment are now needed to reduce the side effects and burdens associated with chemotherapy for cancer pati...

Among the different kinds of tumors threatening human life, lung cancer is one that is commonly observed in both males and females. The aggressive behavior of lung cancer and interactions occurring in tumor microenvironment enhances the malignancy of this tumor. The lung tumor cells have demonstrated capacity in developing chemo- and radio-resistan...

Inflammation is a multifactorial process and various biological mechanisms and pathways participate in its development. The presence of inflammation is involved in pathogenesis of different diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases and even, cancer. Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) comprise large part of transcribed genome and their criti...

Gene and drug co-delivery is considered a promising strategy in combination cancer therapy. In this study, we fabricated Cu-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) decorated with nanoscale ortho-, meta-, and para-poly(phenylenediamine), and afterward, doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into nanoparticles. Finally, LDH was wrapped with plasmid CRISPR (pCRISPR)....

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are RNA molecules involved in gene regulation at transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and epigenetic levels. lncRNAs participate in regulating apoptosis and autophagy in pancreatic cancer (PCa) and can promote and/or decrease the proliferation rate of tumor cells. The metastasis of PCa cells is tightly regulated by l...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) is a member of a family of secreted cytokines with vital biological functions in cells. The abnormal expression of TGF-β signaling is a common finding in pathological conditions, particularly cancer. Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of death among men. Several genetic and epigenetic alterati...

Is it possible to accelerate cell internalization by hybridization of nanomaterials? Herein we support the realization of using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with the assistance of rigid porphyrin structure (H2TMP) aimed at drug loading, drug release, relative cell viability, and targeted in vitro drug delivery. There are several MOFs, i.e., UiO-...

Background The treatment of cancer is a current challenge for public health, causing high rates of morbidity and mortality around the world. Doxorubicin (DOX) and cisplatin (CP) are two well-known chemotherapeutic agents approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of cancer patients. However, there are two problems associated wit...

Introduction: The application of doxorubicin (DOX) in cancer therapy has been limited due to its drug resistance and poor internalization. Graphene oxide (GO) nanostructures have the capacity for DOX delivery while promoting its cytotoxicity in cancer. Areas covered: The favorable characteristics of GO nanocomposites, preparation method, and app...

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world and has a high mortality rate. It is believed that dysfunction in the expression of mucins and aberrant expression of some lncRNAs are associated with the occurrence and development of CRC. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression...

The macrophages are abundantly found in TME and their M2 polarization is in favor of tumor malignancy. On the other hand, non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) can modulate macrophage polarization in TME to affect cancer progression. The miRNAs can dually induce/suppress M2 polarization of macrophages and by affecting various molecular pathways, they modulate t...

Diosgenin (DG), a well-known steroid saponin, has shown anti-inflammatory effects. This review was aimed to discuss all published literature concerning the anti-inflammatory effects of diosgenin. Based on the modulatory impact of DG on the NF-κB pathway, its supplementation is associated with downregulation of NF-κB pathway and TGF-β, resulting in...

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and new estimates revealed prostate cancer as the leading cause of death in men in 2021. Therefore, new strategies are pertinent in the treatment of this malignant disease. Macroautophagy/autophagy is a “self-degradation” mechanism capable of facilitating the turnover of long-lived and toxic mac...

Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate possible sensitization effect of imperatorin (IMP) for radiotherapy and hyperthermia (HT). Background Breast cancer is one of the most common types of malignancies in the world. Cancer resistance is an unavoidable consequence of therapy with radiation or other modalities. Numerous researches aimed at impro...

Green-synthesized nanobiomaterials can be engineered as smart nanomedicine platforms for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in medicine. Herein we investigated the bioengineering of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and evaluated their physicochemical, antibacterial, biofilm inhibitory, anticoagulant, and antioxidant performance. Characterization of th...

Antibacterial materials have obtained much attention in recent years due to the presence of hazardous agents causing oxidative stress and observation of pathogens. However, materials with antioxidant and antibacterial activities can cause toxicity due to their low biocompatibility and safety profile, urging scientists to follow new ways in the synt...

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are a large family of RNA molecules with no capability in encoding proteins. However, they participate in developmental and biological processes and their abnormal expression affects cancer progression. These RNA molecules can function as upstream mediators of different signaling pathways and enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZ...

Cancer is a deadly disease that has long plagued humans and has become more prevalent in recent years. The common treatment modalities for this disease have always faced many problems and complications, and this has led to the discovery of strategies for cancer diagnosis and treatment. The use of magnetic nanoparticles in the past two decades has h...

Brain tumors are responsible for high mortality and morbidity worldwide. The brain tumor treatment depends on identification of molecular pathways involved in progression and malignancy. Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) has obtained much attention in recent years in field of cancer therapy due to its aberrant expression and capacity in modulating...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is considered as a main challenge in both developing and developed countries, as lifestyle has changed and its management seems to be vital. Type I and type II diabetes are the main kinds and they result in hyperglycemia in patients and related complications. The gene expression alteration can lead to development of DM and re...

Fast, efficient, and accurate detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen is pivotal to control the spread and reduce the mortality of COVID-19. Nevertheless, the sensitivity of available nanobiosensors to detect recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike antigen seems insufficient. As a proof-of-concept, MOF-5/CoNi2S4 is developed as a low-cost, safe, and bioactive h...

Biodegradable and absorptive wound dresses with antibacterial activity are in demand to accelerate wound healing along with eliminating bacterial infection. Plant-derived naphthoquinones compounds such as lawsone have shown sustained antibacterial functions to avoid development of bacterial resistance by reducing pH or attaching to bacterial protei...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous short noncoding RNAs with approximately 22 nucleotides. The primary function of miRNAs is the negative regulation of target gene expression via mRNA degradation or translation inhibition. During recent years, much attention has been made toward miRNAs’ role in different disorders; particularly cancer and compounds...

With an increasing incidence of diabetes mellitus globally due to various factors, including unhealthy lifestyle, there is a need for developing novel drugs for the management of diabetes. This chronic metabolic disorder results in high blood glucose levels due to the body’s inability to reduce the concentration of glucose. The decreased secretion...

Nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a major signaling pathway for the maintenance of homeostasis and redox balance. This pathway also plays a significant role in proteostasis, xenobiotic/drug metabolism, apoptosis, and lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Conversely, the Nrf2 signaling pathway is impaired in several pathological con...

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is among the chronic metabolic disorders that its incidence rate has shown an increase in developed and wealthy countries due to lifestyle and obesity. The treatment of DM has always been of interest, and significant effort has been made in this field. Exosomes belong to extracellular vesicles with nanosized features (30–150...

Background: Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Iran. Due to the side effects of common cancer treatments, everyone has turned to herbal remedies and new treatments. This study aimed to compare the effect of S14161 small molecule and Glaucium flavum extract on the induction of apoptosis in A549 cancer cells. Materials and Methods: In thi...

Background: Lung cancer is the fifth most common cancer in Iran. Due to the side effects of common cancer treatments, everyone has turned to herbal remedies and new treatments. This study aimed to compare the effect of S14161 small molecule and Glaucium flavum extract on the induction of apoptosis in A549 cancer cells. Materials and Methods: In thi...