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Estrogen is more than a female sex hormone

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Estrogen is a key hormone in both genders, though predominant in the females. When aromatase enzyme (cytochromes P450) acts on androgen (C19), estrogen (C18) is formed. Estrogen is critical player in glucose homeostasis, immune defense, bone health, cardiovascular health, fertility, and neural functions. Estrogen imbalance can cause pathologies ranging from infectious, autoimmune, metabolic to degenerative.  Aging depletes estrogen level, causing bone, muscle, neural degeneration. The increasing exposure to inflammatory agents is fueling ‘estrogen dominance’. The encounter to excess estrogen mimics or xeno-estrogens, is inducing the overexpression of estrogen receptors (ERa and ERß). This overabundance of ER receptors is causing metabolic, autoimmune diseases, and cancers. The diseases like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, breast cancer, ovary cancer, and gynecomastia, osteoporosis are direct result of estrogen imbalance. Apart from that, gastric cancer, pituitary cance
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Understanding Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an inflammatory disease, originated from lifestyle abuses. Its an endocrine disorder characterized by amenorrhea, anovulation, hirsutism, hyperandrogenism, and hyperprolactinemia. PCOS can cause infertility, and its co-morbidities include insulin resistance, obesity, cardiovascular problems, among other health issues. As a result of PCOS, ovulation is impaired; fertilization, and conception is affected; even if implantation occurs, abortion and still birth risks increases. High blood pressure (eclampsia) and the small-for-gestational-age babies (IUGR) can occur. PCOS can cause several pregnancy-related complications as gestational diabetes. So, basically every step of pregnancy is jeopardized by PCOS. It is understandable as a critical and prolonged adaptation like pregnancy, requires the hormonal circuitry to be in good shape. PCOS is teh other name of hormonal imbalance. So, pregnancy becomes unpredictable, and dangerous. Interventions like oral co
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Importance of Vitamin D in inflammation mitigation

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Vitamin D (25(OH)D3 and 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) is avital enzyme for immune defense. It plays role in calcium uptake, bone metabolism, mineral homeostasis, modulation of the innate and adaptive immune systems and the regulation of cell proliferation, among other functions. Vitamin D deficiency (serum level below 30-40ng/mL) can lead to cancers, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune conditions, and infections. Its antiproliferative, antifibrotic, immunomodulatory, anti-estrogenic are being recognized. Vitamin D is likely to be a signaling molecule, like estrogen. In fact, both VDR and estrogen receptors share the same protein domains i.e. ZnF (a zinc finger domain) and HOLI (ligand binding domain of hormone receptors). Also, like a CYP enzyme member aromatase, is responsible for conversion of androgen into estrogen, other CYP enzymes are responsible for generating the active form of vitamin D. Vitamin D is more than a vitamin. Its a hormone with anabolic switch properties. Its level
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Mushroom polysaccharides as therapeutics

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Mushroom polysaccharides have shown antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, and antilipemic to immunomodulatory properties. The ß-glucan, a component of fungal cell wall, has proven its therapeutic relevance. The variants of ß-glucans include pleuran from Pleurotus , lentinan from Lentinus , schizophyllan from Schizophyllum , grifolan from Grifola etc. Some ß-glucans are bound to proteins, as proteoglycan, such as PSK or krestin from Trametes versicolor . Beta-glucans interact with receptors of macrophages, and dendritic cells. These glucans bind to the membrane pattern recognition receptors, TLRs and dectin-1, inducing innate immune activity. On attachment to the ß-glucan, dectin-1 is phosphorylated by tyrosine kinases, and induces an intracellular signaling cascade. The recognition of the glucan by the macrophage triggers proinflammatory cytokine production such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF-a) and various interleukins (ILs). So, the pharmacological
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The double-edged sword: Proteases cathepsins

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The state of enzymes in the human body determines the normal physiology or pathology, so all the six classes of enzymes are crucial.  Proteases, the hydrolases are one of the six classes of enzymes in the human body. The proteases are several types based on the nucleophilic amino acid or the metal cofactor used Cathepsins are proteases with serine, cysteine, or aspartic acid residues as the nucleophiles. These enzymes are critical for digestion, coagulation, immune response, adipogenesis, hormone secretion, peptide synthesis, among scores of other functions. But, in inflammatory state of the body, cathepsin precursors undergo perpetual proteolytic processing and maturation within lysosomes. These constant switching on drive cathepsins to play devastating roles. They degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as collagen and elastin, mediating parasite infection, autoimmune diseases, tumor metastasis, cardiovascular issues, and neural degeneration, among others.   Dysregulated cat
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Microbial biosurfactants for oil spill remediation

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The crude oils are viscous hydrocarbons. During transportation through waterways,  sometimes oil spill occurs, which cause environmental disasters. Among others, Exxon Valdez in Alaska (1989), Deepwater Horizon/BP well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (2010) are major oil-spill-related eco-disasters of the past decades. The viscous oil forming a gooey film on the water surface choke aquatic life, to death and ruin the ecological balance in the affected areas. The chemical and mechanical ways of oil spill remediation is effective, but has its own issues. So, lately biosurfactant-producing bacteria and fungi are being explored. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds capable of reducing interfacial tension, dispersing the oil particles, and degrading into non-toxic debris. Among the microbes, only Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Candida have shown much promise.  Of all the candidates, rhamnolipid, sophorolipid and surfactin have been characterized well. Biosurfactants are the same compounds use
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Danger associated molecular patterns (DAMPs)

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Allergen are irritants, offenders or inflammatory agents. They can be pathogens, mutagens, xenobiotics, and pollutants. Danger associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) are altered metabolism products of necrotic or stressed cell, which serve as alarm signals for the innate immune system. When excess, DAMPs can prove lethal due to their signal transduction roles.  Inflammatory agents as arthropod chitin, bacterial pneumolysin are DAMP triggers. In fact, any inflammatory agent, including food preservatives, cosmetics, pesticides, polluted air,  can lead to DAMP generation. These generate DAMPs, which in turn create a pro-inflammatory state. Some well-studied DAMPs include uric acid, creatinine, ferritin, extracellular ATP, HSPs, amyloid ß, S100, HMGB1, and ECM proteins. ECM proteins as elastin, fibronectin, laminin, collagen have been identified as DAMPs. The DAMPs such as S100 and chromogranin A are already known as cancer biomarkers, so other cancer markers such as a-fetoprotein (AFP), BC
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