Anti-apoptotic effect of Astragalus Polysaccharide on myeloid cells / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to assess the effect of Astragalus Polysaccharide (ASPS) on in-vitro hematopoiesis. CFU-GM assays were used to determine the effect of ASPS and thrombopoietin (TPO) on granulocytic-monocyte progenitor cells. The CFU assays were also used to investigate the effect of ASPS on the proliferation of HL-60 cells.HL-60 cells were cultured with serum-free RPMI 1640 medium and treated with or without of different concentrations of ASPS. After 72 h incubation, the number of cells were counted.In addition, the caspase-3 and JC-1 expression was determined by flow cytometry with Annexin V/PI double staining. The results showed that ASPS (100, 200 µg/ml) and TPO (100 ng/ml) significantly promoted CFU-GM formation in vitro. Various concentrations of ASPS and TPO also promoted the colony formation of HL-60 cells, the largest effect of ASPS was observed at a concentration of 100 µg/ml. There were no synergistic effects between TPO and ASPS on cellular proliferation. The results also showed that ASPS significantly protected HL-60 cells from apoptosis in condition of serum-free medium culture, suppressed caspase 3 activation, and reduced the cell apoptosis. It is concluded that ASPS can significantly promote the formation of bone marrow CFU-GM and the proliferation of HL-60 cells, the optimal concentration of ASPS is at 100 µg/ml. In the absence of serum inducing apoptosis, ASPS also significantly reduced the apoptosis of HL-60 cells via suppressing the activation of caspase-3.

Effect of rhGH on JAK2-STAT3 signal pathway after GHR was down-regulated by siRNA in gastric cancer cell / 药学学报

To investigate the effect of recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) on JAK2-STAT3 pathway and the growth of gastric cancer cell lines at different GHR expression status, the eukaryotic expression vector targeting human GHR (pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shGHR and pGPU6/GFP/Neo-scramble) was constructed and transfected into MGC803 cells by Lipofectamine 2000. Stable expressive cell lines were obtained by G418 screening. The expression of GHR was analyzed by Western blotting. After being stimulated with rhGH, cell growth was detected by MTT assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis were examined by flow cytometry. The components of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway were detected by Western blotting. There is no significant difference of GHR expression between MGC803 and pGPU6/GFP/Neo-scramble-transfected cells (named as MGC803-NC) (P > 0.05). Compared with MGC803, the GHR expression in pGPU6/GFP/Neo-shGHR-transfected cells (named as MGC803-shGHR) decreased significantly (protein decreased 50%). The cells were treated with rhGH at 0, 150 and 300 ng x mL(-1), the growth rate of MGC803 and MGC803-NC increased significantly, PI and the number of G2/M phase cells all increased significantly, and apoptosis decreased significantly. Western blotting revealed that the expression of pJAK2 and pSTAT3 was up-regulated after being treated with rhGH in MGC803 and MGC803-NC cells. In contrast, similar change was not observed in MGC803-shGHR cells. Knockdown of GHR gene may decrease the sensitivity of gastric cancer cells to rhGH, and down-regulating of components of the expression of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway may be the potential mechanisms.

Research progression of CD133 as a marker of cancer stem cells / 癌症

More and more evidences support the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis which postulates that CSCs are responsible for tumor initiation metastasis recurrence and resistance to treatments. Therefore they are the targets of antitumor therapy. Sorting CSCs using specific surface markers is the premise of investigating their biological behaviors. Recently CD133 has been used extensively as a marker for the identification of stem cells from normal and cancerous tissues. Moreover CD133- positive (CD133+) tumor cells associate with the self-renewal differentiation potentials signal pathway drug-resistance recurrence and prognosis of tumors. Therefore CD133+ cells could be potential targets of antitumor therapy in the future.

Diminished dose nedaplatin combined with low-dose cisplatin as first-line therapy for advanced esophageal carcinoma: A randomized clinical trial / 肿瘤

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of the combination of diminished dose of nedaplatin (NDP) and low dose of cisplatin (PDD) for advanced esophageal carcinoma. Methods: The patients who had no indications for surgery or radiotherapy were recruited in our study. They were divided into the three groups randomly. Group A were given NDP (25 mg/m2, iv) and PDD (15 mg/m2, iv) on day 1 and day 8 and continuously infused with 5-FU (300 mg/m2) for 24 h on days 1-5 and days 8-12. Group B were given NDP (40 mg/m2, iv) on days 1-2 and continuously infused with 5-FU (500 mg/m2, iv) on days 1-5. Group C were administered PDD (40 mg/m2, iv) on days 1-2 and infused with 5-FU (500 mg/m2, iv) on days 1-5. All the patients were given folic acid tablet 60 mg/d following infusion of 5-FU. The therapeutic regimens were repeated every 22 days (one cycle). The effect was evaluated after two cycles. Results: The total response ratio (complete response and partial response) and median remission time were 60.00% and 5.5 months for group A. respectively; 54.54% and 5.0 months for group B, respectively; 41.18% and 3.0 months for group C, respectively. The difference was not significant between group A and group B (P>0.05). The clinical efficacy in groups A and B was significantly different compared with group C (P<0.05). The main toxicities included leucopenia and thrombocytopenia. The incidence rate of III to IV grade leucopenia was 14.29%, 27.27%, and 8.82% in groups A, B, and C, respectively; and that of thrombocytopenia was 11.43%, 39.39%, and 5.88%, respectively. The difference was significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Diminished dose of NDP combined with low dose of cisplatin has definite effects on advanced esophageal carcinoma with less hematological toxicity.