Rev Invest Clin
-
The open access (OA) publishing, where a reader- pays economy has been replaced by an author-pays model, began at the end of the 20th century. This movement arose as an attempt to avoid excessive costs and copyright transfer agreements inherent to the subscription model.
-
In the last century, progress in the knowledge of human diseases, their diagnosis and treatment have grown exponentially, due in large part to the introduction and use of laboratory animals. Along with this important progress, the need to provide training and guidance to the scientific community in all aspects related to the proper use of experimental animals has been indispensable. Animal research committees play a primary role in evaluating experimental research protocols, from their feasibility to the rational use of animals, but above all in seeking animal welfare. ⋯ Here, we present and discuss the topics that we consider of utmost importance to take in the account during the design of any experimental research protocol, so we invite researchers, technicians, and undergraduate and graduate students to dive into the fascinating subject of proper animal care and use for experimentation. The main intention of these contributions is to sensitize users of laboratory animals for the proper and rational use of them in experimental research, as well as to disseminate the permitted and unpermitted procedures in laboratory animals. In the first part, the significance of experimental research, the main functions of IACUC, and the principle of the three R's (replacement, reduction, and refinement) are addressed.
-
In the last century, progress in the knowledge of human diseases, their diagnosis and treatment have grown exponentially, due in large part to the introduction and use of laboratory animals. Along with this important progress, the need to provide training and guidance to the scientific community in all aspects related to the proper use of experimental animals has been indispensable. Animal research committees play a primary role in evaluating experimental research protocols, from their feasibility to the rational use of animals, but above all in seeking animal welfare. ⋯ Here, we present and discuss the topics that we consider of utmost importance to take in the account during the design of any experimental research protocol, so we invite researchers, technicians, and undergraduate and graduate students to dive into the fascinating subject of proper animal care and use for experimentation. The main intention of these contributions is to sensitize users of laboratory animals for the proper and rational use of them in experimental research, as well as to disseminate the permitted and unpermitted procedures in laboratory animals. In the first part, the significance of experimental research, the main functions of IACUC, and the principle of the three R's (replacement, reduction, and refinement) are addressed.
-
Infection with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) increases the likelihood of developing cervical cancer (CC). A plethora of cellular processes is required to produce pre-malignant lesions, which in turn may become malignant if left untreated. Those changes are induced by viral oncoproteins, which represent an ideal target to identify the viral presence, or by some particularities of the host that ultimately promote the establishment of CC. ⋯ In addition, we analyzed validated biomarkers and those under clinical investigation for the classification (triage) of women at risk of developing CC after an initial positive HPV test and that could be used as prognostic biomarkers for CC. The use of molecular biomarkers, together with the detection of HPV DNA sequences, provides a high impact diagnostic and prognostic tool in the detection of patients at increased risk of developing CC and also may guide their clinical management. In addition, some of those biomarkers could represent pharmacological targets for the future design of therapeutic approaches to CC treatment.
-
Cancer gene therapy using a nonviral vector is expected to be repeatable, safe, and inexpensive, and to have longterm effectiveness. Gene therapy using the E3 and C1 (E3C1) domain of developmental endothelial locus-1 (Del1) has been shown to improve prognosis in a mouse transplanted tumor model. ⋯ These findings indicate that cancer gene therapy using a nonviral vector encoding E3C1 significantly improved life-span by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis.