Uncontrolled cell proliferation is a hallmark of cancer. To sustain the ceaseless cell division, cancer cells rewire metabolic pathways in order to provide sufficient nutrient and energy for mitotic progression. Metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells is usually orchestrated by dysregulation of metabolic enzymes. It is generally thought that dysregulated metabolic enzymes contribute to cell cycle progression mainly by providing essential metabolites to meet the cellular needs for biosynthesis an...

Leukemia, the blood cancer, is a group of hematopoietic malignancies. Many types of leukemia are associated with poor outcome. Unfortunately, during the past a few decades, the first-line leukemia therapy has long been traditional chemotherapy with high cytotoxicity and low selectivity, such as the “7+3” strategy, i.e., a combination of cytarabine and doxorubicin. Also, side effects of such intensive chemotherapies are often severe, especially in elder patients. Therefore, it is in urgent need...

Diabetes has become the leading metabolic disease threatening human health. Meanwhile, the association between exposure to harmful environmental factors and the occurrence of diabetes has always been a hot spot of public health and environmental medicine.A recent study conducted by Dr. ZHOU Zhou’s lab at the Department of Environmental Medicine, the Zhejiang University School of Medicine elucidated the Cd perturbed metabolomic signature in pancreatic beta cells and human urine. The origina...

Metabolomics involves the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific physiological and pathological processes leave behind. Due to its uniqueness of closely linking to the phenotypes, metabolomics is applied to a variety of stages in drug discovery (such as drug target identification, lead compound discovery, drug metabolism analysis, drug response and resistance), and expected to significantly accelerate the development of new drug. However, the succ...

In the human body, there is a soft spot- Achilles tendon. As its name suggests, the Achilles tendon is one of the most powerful and fragile tendons in the body. The Achilles tendon can endure a load close to 8 times the body weight during exercise, making it extremely vulnerable to injury. Furthermore, due to the unique nature of tendons, failing to consult a doctor soon after an injury can lead to chronic tendon disease, which is characterized by pain, swelling, and movement problems. Tendo het...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is two to five times more common in men than in women. An in-depth analysis of the mechanisms underlying the gender heterogeneity of HCC may contribute to the identification of key HCC suppression mechanisms physiologically present in women, thus benefiting the HCC cohort.A cytochrome P450 family member with female-preferential expression blocking hepatocarcinogenesisAgainst this backdrop, Prof. JI Junfang at the Zhejiang University Life Sciences Institute&nbs...

Drug-free macromolecular therapies can induce cell apoptosis by clustering non-internalizing cell-surface receptors. These show enormous promise in tumor treatment, particularly in terms of non-specific toxicities when compared with low-molecular-weight drugs. However, most reported drug-free macromolecular therapies involve a ‘two-step’ administration manner and there is a paucity of in vivo research. On December 23, 2021, the research team led by Prof. DU Yongzhong at the Coll...

Asthma is one of the most common chronic respiratory diseases worldwide and its prevalence is on the rise. Epidemiological studies reveal that the incidence of asthma ranges from 1% to 18% in various countries. More than 400 million people are suffering from asthma all over the world. The number of asthma patients aged 20 years and above in China has added up to 45.7 million. However, the treatment of asthma is far from satisfactory. Therefore, it is of urgent need to explore the pathogenesis of...

Mutations in genes encoding mitochondrial aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are linked to diverse diseases. However, the precise mechanisms by which these mutations affect mitochondrial function and disease development are not fully understood.The joint team led by Dr. GE Wanzhong from the Women’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine and Prof. GUAN Min-Xin from the Institute of Genetics, Zhejiang University published their collaborative research regarding the developmental delay ...

Lung cancer is one of the leading cancer types for human mortality. Even though different medical interventions, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, have contributed to lung cancer treatment in a great deal, the lack of an early diagnosis leads to poor prognosis and low overall survival rate. Less than 20% of patients survive to 5 years after diagnosis. Standard lung cancer screening methods employing computerized tomography (CT) examination encounter the challenge of distingui...