Spray-dried Spirulina platensis as an effective ingredient to improve yogurt formulations: testing different encapsulating solutions

The consumption of foods functionalized with spirulina might have positive health effects. However, spirulinabased food products are usually associated with unpleasant flavor and odor, and can present non-homogeneous appearance, impairing consumers’ acceptance. Moreover, it is important to assure bioactivity maintenance. To develop a novel food ingredient, spirulina was chemically characterized, and spray-dried using two encapsulating materials: i) maltodextrin and ii) maltodextrin crosslinked with citric acid. Thereafter, free and encapsulated spirulina were evaluated for their bioactive properties. Microencapsulated spirulina presented higher thermal stability than the base materials, while showing better anti-inflammatory activity without exerting cytotoxicity. Free and encapsulated spirulina were further added to yogurts to validate their suitability as functionalizing agents. Yogurts added with encapsulated spirulina presented a more homogeneous appearance, and the best solution was spirulina encapsulated in maltodextrin crosslinked with citric acid, considering the nutritional profile, attractive color, and improved antioxidant activity throughout storage time.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) and FEDER under Program PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2019); L. Barros, J.C.M. Barreira, R. C. Calhelha, I.P. Fernandes and A. Fernandes thank the national funding by FCT , P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract for their contracts; and C. Pereira also thanks for her contract, though the celebration of program-contract foreseen in No. 4, 5 and 6 of article 23º of Decree-Law No. 57/2016, of 29th August, amended by Law No. 57/2017, of 19th July. Associate Laboratory LSRE-LCM - UID/EQU/50020/2019 - funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), and Project NORTE- 01-0145-FEDER-000006, funded by NORTE 2020, under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement through ERDF.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

HuR/ELAVL1 drives malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor growth and metastasis

Cancer cells can develop a strong addiction to discrete molecular regulators, which control the aberrant gene expression programs that drive and maintain the cancer phenotype. Here, we report the identification of the RNA-binding protein HuR/ELAVL1 as a central oncogenic driver for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), which are highly aggressive sarcomas that originate from cells of the Schwann cell lineage. HuR was found to be highly elevated and bound to a multitude of cancer-associated transcripts in human MPNST samples. Accordingly, genetic and pharmacological inhibition of HuR had potent cytostatic and cytotoxic effects on tumor growth, and strongly suppressed metastatic capacity in vivo. Importantly, we linked the profound tumorigenic function of HuR to its ability to simultaneously regulate multiple essential oncogenic pathways in MPNST cells, including the Wnt/β-catenin, YAP/TAZ, RB/E2F, and BET pathways, which converge on key transcriptional networks. Given the exceptional dependency of MPNST cells on HuR for survival, proliferation, and dissemination, we propose that HuR represents a promising therapeutic target for MPNST treatment