Matrix Metalloproteinase-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade and modify the extracellular matrix (ECM) as well as cell-ECM and cell-cell contacts, facilitating detachment of epithelial cells from the surrounding tissue. MMPs play key functions in embryonic development and mammary gland branching morphogenesis, but they are also upregulated in breast cancer, where they stimulate tumorigenesis, cancer cell invasion and metastasis. MMPs have been investigated as potential targets for cancer therapy, but clinical trials using broad-spectrum MMP inhibitors yielded disappointing results, due in part to lack of specificity toward individual MMPs and specific stages of tumor development. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a developmental process in which epithelial cells take on the characteristics of invasive mesenchymal cells, and activation of EMT has been implicated in tumor progression. Recent findings have implicated MMPs as promoters and mediators of developmental and pathogenic EMT processes in the breast. In this review, we will summarize recent studies showing how MMPs activate EMT in mammary gland development and in breast cancer, and how MMPs mediate breast cancer cell motility, invasion, and EMT-driven breast cancer progression. We also suggest approaches to inhibit these MMP-mediated malignant processes for therapeutic benefit

A Forgotten Adivasi Landscape: Museums and Memory in western India

This article focuses on processes of remembering, forgetting and re-remembering. It examines a fundamental tension between the project of retrieving an adivasi past, initiated by an adivasi museum in rural western India, and the social and material landscape surrounding it, characterised instead by fragmentation and separation from the identity of adivasi. The article reflects on a collaborative research project between the researcher, young adivasi curators and inhabitants of the area adjoining the museum. It shows how, while curators engaged in a project of recuperation, at the same time, they were distancing themselves from their traditional identity by joining reform movements and new religious sects. Processes of memory and forgetting, however, also co-existed. People held multiple identities and the process of retrieving the past also called for transformation and reform. The article is a timely contribution to debates about adivasi identity, social transformation and religious reform. It also offers a reflection on the new role of indigenous museums and their potential to address a ‘crisis of postcolonial memory’ (Werbner 1998). Finally, it contributes to discussions of methodology with a focus on the collaborative process of collecting and its role in eliciting or preventing certain kinds of memories

L’oral dans la transmission des savoirs en Inde : culture, société et langues

Le recours aux pratiques orales en Inde ne saurait être réduit à une question purement pédagogique. Le contexte social et culturel de l’expression orale est profondément ancré dans une longue histoire d’exclusion sociale, l’accès à l’écrit ayant été réservé à une fraction infime de la population. L’article tente de retracer la manière dont l’oral a été réduit à un « non-savoir », et les raisons pour lesquelles les pratiques éducatives actuelles prennent peu en compte les pratiques orales, dans un contexte de profusion des langues et de complexité des interrelations entre des langues considérées comme « supérieures » et « inférieures ».The use of oral practices in India cannot be reduced to a purely pedagogical matter. The social and cultural context of oral expression is deeply rooted in a long history of social exclusion, access to writing having been restricted to a tiny fraction of the population. This article aims to retrace the way in which the spoken word has been reduced to a “non-knowledge”, and the reasons why current educational practices take little account of oral practices, in a context of myriad languages and complex. interrelations between languages considered as “superior” and “inferior”.El recurso a las prácticas orales en India no podría reducirse a una cuestión puramente pedagógica. El contexto social y cultural de la expresión oral queda profundamente arraigado en una larga historia de exclusión social, mientras que el acceso al escrito ha sido reservado a una fracción ínfima de la población. El artículo intenta evocar la manera con la que lo oral ha sido reducido a un « no-saber », y las razones por las que las prácticas educativas actuales toman muy poco en cuenta las prácticas orales, en un contexto de profusión de lenguas y de complejidad de las interrelaciones entre unas lenguas consideradas como « superiores » e « inferiores »

Literary History and Translation: An Indian View

A discussion of the relations between canonized and non-canonized literary forms, between 'self and 'other', within the Indian context, leads to a différenciation between the Western tradition of a single dominant literary tradition and the more diverse, and inclusive, parallel and multiple traditions of India. At the origin of such traditions, and holding them together long enough to permit cross fertilization, are acts of translation, merging sign systems and forming a community of 'translating consciousness' where several languages are used simultaneously and are parts of a larger, continuous spectrum. Translation in such a multilingual context plays a fundamental role, transforming and revitalizing original texts.Un examen des relations entre les formes littéraires canoniques et non canoniques, entre le "moi" et "l'Autre" dans la littérature indienne permet de différencier la tradition occidentale- centrée sur un modèle littéraire dominant--, de la tradition indienne qui, elle, est diversifiée, multiforme. Cette tradition est ancrée dans un univers où multilinguisme et traduction, en étroite interaction, contribuent à créer une "conscience traductive". Dans cet univers où une pluralité de langues se trouvent simultanément mobilisées, la traduction joue un rôle fondamental, véritablement proligère

Beyond Cultural Aphasia.

A Conversation between Rossella Ciocca and the scholar and cultural activist G. N. Devy, author of the People's Linguistic Survey of India, about nomadic communities and their endangered languages and cultures

Radiosensitization with Gadolinium Chelate-Coated Gold Nanoparticles Prevents Aggressiveness and Invasiveness in Glioblastoma

Maxime Durand,1 Alicia Chateau,1,* Justine Jubréaux,1,* Jérôme Devy,2 Héna Paquot,1 Gautier Laurent,3 Rana Bazzi,3 Stéphane Roux,3 Nicolas Richet,4 Aurélie Reinhard-Ruch,1 Pascal Chastagner,1,5 Sophie Pinel1 1Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, Nancy, F-54000, France; 2Université de Reims-Champagne-Ardennes, UMR CNRS/URCA 7369, MEDyC, Reims, F-51100, France; 3Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UMR 6213 CNRS-UBFC, UTINAM, Besançon, F-25000, France; 4Université de Reims-Champagne-Ardennes, Plateau Technique Mobile de Cytométrie Environnementale MOBICYTE Mobicyte, Reims, F-51100, France; 5CHRU de Nancy, Hôpital d’enfants - Brabois, Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, F-54500, France*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Sophie Pinel, Email [email protected]: This study aimed to evaluate the radiosensitizing potential of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles when combined with conventional external X-ray irradiation (RT) to treat GBM.Methods: Complementary biological models based on U87 spheroids including conventional 3D invasion assay, organotypic brain slice cultures, chronic cranial window model were implemented to investigate the impact of RT treatments (10 Gy single dose; 5× 2 Gy or 2× 5 Gy) combined with Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles on tumor progression. The main tumor mass and its infiltrative area were analyzed. This work focused on the invading cancer cells after irradiation and their viability, aggressiveness, and recurrence potential were assessed using mitotic catastrophe quantification, MMP secretion analysis and neurosphere assays, respectively.Results: In vitro clonogenic assays showed that Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles exerted a radiosensitizing effect on U87 cells, and in vivo experiments suggested a benefit of the combined treatment “RT 2× 5 Gy + Au@DTDTPA(Gd)” compared to RT alone. Invasion assays revealed that invasion distance tended to increase after irradiation alone, while the combined treatments were able to significantly reduce tumor invasion. Monitoring of U87-GFP tumor progression using organotypic cultures or intracerebral grafts confirmed the anti-invasive effect of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) on irradiated spheroids. Most importantly, the combination of Au@DTDTPA(Gd) with irradiation drastically reduced the number, the viability and the aggressiveness of tumor cells able to escape from U87 spheroids. Notably, the combined treatments significantly reduced the proportion of escaped cells with stem-like features that could cause recurrence.Conclusion: Combining Au@DTDTPA(Gd) nanoparticles and X-ray radiotherapy appears as an attractive therapeutic strategy to decrease number, viability and aggressiveness of tumor cells that escape and can invade the surrounding brain parenchyma. Hence, Au@DTDTPA(Gd)-enhanced radiotherapy opens up interesting perspectives for glioblastoma treatment.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: gold nanoparticles, radiotherapy, brain tumor, cancer cell invasion, tumor recurrenc

The Effect of Acid Hydrolysis Treatment on the Production of Nanocellulose Based on Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches

Nanocellulose has been known as promising reinforcing material in various polymer based product resulted to remarkable improvement in mechanical and thermal properties. Hence, studies to date have developed and explored various sources of biomass to produce nanocellulose. The aims of this study are to synthesize and fully characterize nanocellulose obtained from abundantly available oil palm empty fruit bunches via two different methods which are strong (H2SO4) and mild acid (H3PO4) hydrolysis at 50 °C for 3.5 hours. Based on the morphological study using Transmission Electron Microscopy, rod like nanocellulose was obtained using strong acid hydrolysis while mild acid hydrolysis produced long filament shape. X-Ray diffraction analysis showed that the degree crystallinity of nanocellulose produced from strong acid hydrolysis was higher which is 96% than that of mild acid hydrolysis recorded with 86%. While the sulphuric acid hydrolysis usually produces lower thermal stability than that of other types acid hydrolysis, surprisingly, in this study, the thermal stability of nanocellulose from strong acid hydrolysis was relatively similar to mild acid hydrolysis due to the formation of single crystal structure affording unique characteristic of the obtained nanocellulose