Current and future alternative therapies for beta-thalassemia major.

Beta-thalassemia is a group of frequent genetic disorders resulting in the synthesis of little or no ß-globin chains. Novel approaches are being developed to correct the resulting α/ß-globin chain imbalance, in an effort to move beyond the palliative management of this disease and the complications of its treatment (e.g. life-long red blood cell transfusion, iron chelation, splenectomy), which impose high costs on healthcare systems. Three approaches are envisaged: fetal globin gene reactivation by pharmacological compounds injected into patients throughout their lives, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and gene therapy. HSCT is currently the only treatment shown to provide an effective, definitive cure for ß-thalassemia. However, this procedure remains risky and histocompatible donors are identified for only a small fraction of patients. New pharmacological compounds are being tested, but none has yet made it into common clinical practice for the treatment of beta-thalassemia major. Gene therapy is in the experimental phase. It is emerging as a powerful approach without the immunological complications of HSCT, but with other possible drawbacks. Rapid progress is being made in this field, and long-term efficacy and safety studies are underway.

A phytoestrogen diarylheptanoid mediates estrogen receptor/Akt/glycogen synthase kinase 3ß protein-dependent activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Estrogen promotes growth in many tissues by activating Wnt/ß-catenin signaling. Recently, ASPP 049, a diarylheptanoid isolated from Curcuma comosa Roxb., has been identified as a phytoestrogen. This investigation determined the involvement of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in the estrogenic activity of this diarylheptanoid in transfected HEK 293T and in mouse preosteoblastic (MC3T3-E1) cells using a TOPflash luciferase assay and immunofluorescence. ASPP 049 rapidly activated T-cell-specific transcription factor/lymphoid enhancer binding factor-mediated transcription activity and induced ß-catenin accumulation in the nucleus. Interestingly, the effects of ASPP 049 on the transcriptional activity and induction and accumulation of ß-catenin protein in the nucleus of MC3T3-E1 cells were greater compared with estradiol. Activation of ß-catenin in MC3T3-E1 cells was inhibited by ICI 182,780, suggesting that an estrogen receptor is required. In addition, ASPP 049 induced phosphorylations at serine 473 of Akt and serine 9 of GSK-3ß. Moreover, ASPP 049 also induced proliferation and expressions of Wnt target genes Axin2 and Runx2 in MC3T3-E1 cells. In addition, ASPP 049 increased alkaline phosphatase expression, and activity that was abolished by DKK-1, a blocker of the Wnt/ß-catenin receptor. Taken together, these results suggest that ASPP 049 from C. comosa induced osteoblastic cell proliferation and differentiation through ERα-, Akt-, and GSK-3ß-dependent activation of ß-catenin signaling. Our findings provide a scientific rationale for using C. comosa as a dietary supplement to prevent bone loss in postmenopausal women.