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Although Oncolytic viruses have been regarded as a promising tool for targeted therapy of cancer, accomplishing high efficacy and specificity with this strategy is challenging. Oncolytic virotherapy is one of the novel therapeutic methods recently used for the therapy of human malignancies. Cervical cancer is on the major public health problem and the second most common cause of cancer death among females in less developed countries. The aim of this study was mainly to determine the apoptosis effect of oncolytic Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in TC-1 cell line.In the current study, the oncolytic NDV, vaccine strain LaSota, was used to infect murine TC-1 cells of human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated carcinoma which expressing human papillomavirus 16 (HPV-16) E6/E7 antigens in vitro. The effectiveness of NDV for cervical cancer cell line was investigated by evaluating the antitumor activity of oncolytic NDV and the involved mechanisms. Antitumor activities of oncolytic NDV were assessed by cell proliferation (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release analysis. In addition, molecular changes of early stage of apoptosis and the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were analyzed by flow cytometry and Western Blot in NDV-treated TC-1 cells.The results showed that NDV treatment significantly decreased the viability of a TC-1 cell line and suppressed the growth by inducing apoptotic cell death. In addition, we demonstrated that NDV-induced apoptosis of TC-1 cells is mediated by ROS production. In summary, our findings suggest that oncolytic NDV is a possible therapeutic candidate as a selective antitumor agent for the treatment of cervical cancer. Keywords: Human papillomavirus, Oncolytic virotherapy, Newcastle disease virus, Apoptosis, Reactive oxygen species

In this work, the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of ferromagnetic fluid, which flows through a copper tube in thermal entrance region, has been studied. The flow in the tube is laminar and subjected to constant heat flux. A part of the tube contains a porous medium with paramagnetic properties and porosity of 0.46. Ferrofluid is composed of Fe 3 o 4 and water with ( CH 3 ) 4 NOH as a surfactant that is prepared in three different volume fractions. The effects of constant and oscillating magnetic fields on convective heat transfer coefficient were examined for various Reynolds numbers, frequencies and volume fractions. The results show that the maximum enhancements of average heat transfer coefficient of Ferrofluid in a magnetizable porous medium under constant and oscillating magnetic fields are 9% and 38.66%, respectively in comparison with that of water in no magnetic field condition. This enhancement is reduced to 6.39% and 36.13% for a non magnetizable porous medium. The results indicate that variable magnetic field enhances convective heat transfer coefficient and this enhancement is greater in the magnetizable porous medium.

The expansion of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), known as heterogeneous population of immature myeloid cells, is enhanced during several pathological conditions such as inflammatory or viral respiratory infections. It seems that the way MDSCs behave in infection depends on the type and the virulence mechanisms of the invader pathogen, the disease stage, and the infection-related pathology. Increasing evidence showing that in correlation with the severity of the disease, MDSCs are accumulated in COVID-19 patients, in particular in those at severe stages of the disease or ICU patients, contributing to pathogenesis of SARS-CoV2 infection. Based on the involved subsets, MDSCs delay the clearance of the virus through inhibiting T-cell proliferation and responses by employing various mechanisms such as inducing the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokines, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)-mediated hampering of IFN-γ production, or forcing arginine shortage. While the immunosuppressive characteristic of MDSCs may help to preserve the tissue homeostasis and prevent hyperinflammation at early stages of the infection, hampering of efficient immune responses proved to exert significant pathogenic effects on severe forms of COVID-19, suggesting the targeting of MDSCs as a potential intervention to reactivate T-cell immunity and thereby prevent the infection from developing into severe stages of the disease. This review tried to compile evidence on the roles of different subsets of MDSCs during viral respiratory infections, which is far from being totally understood, and introduce the promising potential of MDSCs for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, especially against COVID-19 disease., Graphical abstract

This paper reviews epigenetic mechanisms by which influenza viruses affect cellular gene activity to control their life cycles, aiming to provide new insights into the complexity of functional interactions between viral and cellular factors, as well as to introduce novel targets for therapeutic intervention and vaccine development against influenza infections.

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces the apoptosis pathway in tumor cells leading to tumor cell death. Because TRAIL induction can kill tumor cells, cancer researchers have developed many agents to target TRAIL and some of these agents have entered clinical trials in oncology. Unfortunately, these trials have failed for many reasons, including drug resistance, off-target toxicities, short half-life, and specifically in gene therapy due to the limited uptake of TRAIL genes by cancer cells. To address these drawbacks, translational researchers have utilized drug delivery platforms. Although, these platforms can improve TRAIL-based therapies, they are unable to sufficiently translate the full potential of TRAIL-targeting to clinically viable products. Herein, we first summarize the complex biology of TRAIL signaling, including TRAILs cross-talk with other signaling pathways and immune cells. Next, we focus on known resistant mechanisms to TRAIL-based therapies. Then, we discuss how nano-formulation has the potential to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of TRAIL protein. Finally, we specify strategies with the potential to overcome the challenges that cannot be addressed via nanotechnology alone, including the alternative methods of TRAIL-expressing circulating cells, tumor-targeting bacteria, viruses, and exosomes.

Coinjection of a low concentration of solvent with steam has been studied as an alternative to steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). This research presents a semi-analytical method for comparing oil drainage rates of SAGD and coinjection processes using different single-component solvents for a given set of reservoir/operating conditions. The oil recovery in coinjection involves complex interaction of energy and mass balances with the effects of gravity, phase behavior, and multiphase flow. We simplify the complex interaction without loss of fundamental mechanisms, while retaining the phase behavior details near the chamber edge. The new method begins with solution for thermodynamic conditions at the chamber edge, where the phase transition occurs between two and three phases. Three components are considered; oil, solvent, and water. The chamber-edge conditions that are solved for are used to estimate distributions of solvent and temperature beyond the chamber edge. Darcy’s law and material balance are then applied to derive an analytical expression for oil-drainage ratio, the ratio of oil drainage in coinjection to that in SAGD. Since the chamber-edge temperature and composition are interdependent for this ternary phase behavior problem, oil-drainage ratio is solved for as a function of solvent concentration in the oleic (L) phase at the chamber edge ( x sL edge ). Case studies with the semi-analytical method show that oil-drainage ratio is higher in the higher x sL edge range than in the lower x sL edge range for a given coinjection solvent. This indicates that efficient oil recovery in coinjection requires high accumulation of solvent at the chamber edge. Oil-drainage ratios calculated for different coinjection solvents are compared in the high x sL edge range for preliminary screening of single-component coinjection solvents. This offers significant time savings in selecting a coinjection solvent by reducing the need for numerical reservoir simulation. The semi-analytical method also indicates that highly volatile solvents, which are relatively less expensive in general, tend to be more effective for less viscous reservoir oil and higher operating pressure. Less volatile solvents may offer more flexibility in operating conditions since they remain effective at lower pressures. These results are validated using fine-scale numerical reservoir simulations.

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is the most widely used method for in-situ bitumen recovery. Expanding-solvent-SAGD (ES-SAGD) has been proposed as an alternative to SAGD to improve its efficiency. In ES-SAGD, steam is coinjected with a small amount of solvent. Detailed oil recovery mechanisms near the chamber edge are little known due to the complex interaction of fluid and energy flow, and phase behavior. Prior research on ES-SAGD explains that coinjected solvent can further decrease oil viscosity near the chamber edge by dilution, in conjunction with heat. In this paper, we conduct a detailed investigation on oil displacement mechanisms and the placement of solvent near the chamber edge using fine-scale reservoir simulation. The importance of properly considering both phase behavior and flow to design ES-SAGD is demonstrated. Results show that ES-SAGD can achieve a higher displacement efficiency than SAGD. Oil production rate in ES-SAGD can be two times higher than that in SAGD. As a result, the ultimate oil recovery of ES-SAGD is enhanced by almost 20%, compared to SAGD in this research. The oil saturation reduction results from condensed solvent bank and phase transition near the chamber edge. The condensed solvent bank lowers the oil-component concentrations there. The diluted oil with solvent is then redistributed in the gaseous and oleic phases in the presence of the water phase on the phase transition at the chamber edge. The resulting amount of the oleic phase can be significantly small, yielding lowered oil saturations in the ES-SAGD chamber.