Vanesa Cepas-López

University of Turin / Candiolo Cancer Institute - IRCCS · Oncology

During food processing and storage, and in tissues and fluids under physiological conditions, the Maillard reaction occurs. During this reaction, reactive 1,2-dicarbonyl compounds arise as intermediates that undergo further reactions to form advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Diet is the primary source of exogenous AGEs. Endogenously formed AG...

Diets are currently characterized by elevated sugar intake, mainly due to the increased consumption of processed sweetened foods and drinks during the last 40 years. Diet is the main source of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs). These are toxic compounds formed during the Maillard reaction, which takes place both in vivo, in tissues and fluids u...

Neuroindole melatonin, a hormone synthesized during the night mainly—but not exclusively—by the pineal gland of all vertebrates, functions as an adapting signal to the light-dark cycle. Its antioxidant, neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor properties are all well-known and widely reported. Melanoma is one of the most common carcinomas...

Melatonin, N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is an indole mainly synthesized from tryptophan in the pineal gland and secreted exclusively during the night in all the animals reported to date. While the pineal gland is the major source responsible for this night rise, it is not at all the exclusive production site and many other tissues and organs produ...

Mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD2/MnSOD) is a primary line of antioxidant defense. Under aerobic conditions, its role detoxifying superoxide into H2O2 is crucial, as deduced from the early death of SOD2-/- KO mice after birth. SOD2 has been reported as a key enzyme that increases along with tumor progression in the prostate. To get a further...

Although glucose metabolism was override in prostate cancer, it is recognized that there are metabolic differences between androgen-sensitive and castration-resistant phenotypes that might be responsible of progression or treatment success. Among the targets of glucose metabolism, glucose uptake is on the top of the cascade. The increase of glucose...

In addition of being a primary defense against O2•– SOD2, the mitochondrial antioxidant enzyme was claimed for years to have a tumor suppressor role. However, in the last few years numerous reports indicate that, rather on the contrary this enzyme is associated with poor patient outcome and a more aggressive disease in a wide variety of tumors. We...

In this study, the in vitro uptake by fibroblasts and in vivo biodistribution of 15 nm 11-mercaptoundecanoicacid-protected gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-MUA) and 3 nm glutathione- and 3 nm bovine serum albumin-protected gold nanoclusters (AuNCs@GSH and AuNCs@BSA, respectively) were evaluated. In vitro cell viability was examined after gold nanoparticle...

Epigenetic modifications, including methylation or acetylation as well as posttranscriptional modifications are mechanisms used by eukaryotic cells to increase the genome diversity in terms of differential gene expression and protein diversity. Among these modifying enzymes, sirtuins, a class III histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes are of particular...

Treatment of prostate cancer (PCa), a leading cause of cancer among males lacks successful strategies especially in advanced, hormone-refractory stages. Some clinical studies have shown an increase in neuroendocrine like cells parallel to the tumor progression but their exact role is a matter of debate. The prostate is a well-known target for melat...