Effects of xuebijing on nitric oxide and VEGF-A in exhaled breath condensate of patients with ALI/ARDS / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the clinical significance of changes of nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) of patients with acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS) after they were treated by Xuebijing (XBJ), and to evaluate the effect of the EBC detection technology.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Totally 32 ALI/ARDS patients receiving mechanical ventilation at intensive care unit (ICU) were randomly assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 16 cases in each group. Patients in the control group were treated by routine therapy, while those in the treatment group were treated by routine therapy + XBJ. The therapeutic course for all was 5 days. The EBC sample was collected by improved EcoScreen condenser within 24 h after confirmed diagnosis of ALI/ARDS and on the fifth day of medication. The levels of NO and VEGF-A were measured by EIA in EBC and serum. The changes of NO and VEGF-A in EBC were observed before and after treatment.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with before treatment, the level of NO in EBC and serum decreased and VEGF-A increased after treatment, showing statistical difference (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). After treatment the level of NO in EBC and serum was lower in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). The VEGF-A in EBC was higher in the treatment group than in the control group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical difference in the serum VEGF-A level between the two groups (P > 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>XBJ was an effective therapeutic drug capable to control the in vivo inflammation reaction in patients with ALI/ARDS. The detection of changes of VEGF-A and NO levels by EBC could judge the inflammatory reaction degree in ALI/ARDS patients, and help evaluating the therapeutic effect.</p>

Effect of bortezomib on VEGF gene expression of endothelial cell line HMEC-1 and its possible mechanisms / 中国实验血液学杂志

This study was aimed to investigate the effects of bortezomib on VEGF gene expression of endothelial cell line HMEC-1, and to determine the changes of the transcriptional regulation activity of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1alpha) and expression intensity of Annexin A2, so as to analyze the possible mechanisms of the above expression of VEGF gene. Expression intensity of VEGF gene was determined by real-time quantitative PCR; the relative proliferation activity of cells was assayed by cell count kit CCK-8; the expression intensity of carbonic anhydrase IX (CA IX) gene was detected by RT-PCR; expression of Annexin A2 at gene and protein levels were determined by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot respectively. The results showed that after being treated by bortezomib with 2.5, 5.0, 10 nmol/L for 12 hours, the expression intensity of VEGF gene of endothelial cell line HMEC-1 was as follows: 0.730 +/- 0.106, 0.673 +/- 0.153, 0.767 +/- 0.090 (as 1.0 was made in 0 nmol/L) (p < 0.05); the proliferation activity of cells was not significantly suppressed by bortezomib in 2.5, 5.0 nmol/L (p > 0.05), while that was significantly suppressed by bortezomib of 10 nmol/L (p = 0.024), The results from RT-PCR showed that expression intensity of CA IX gene was conspicuously down-regulated by bortezomib in different concentrations, which suggested that the transcriptional regulation activity of HIF-1alpha was inhibited by bortezomib. And down-regulated expression of Annexin A2 protein by bortezomib in different concentrations was confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. It is concluded that low doses of bortezomib has no significant inhibition effect on the activity of proteasome. Bortezomib may down-regulate the expression of VEGF gene of endothelial cell through regulating the activity of HIF-1alpha and the expression of Annexin A2.

The effect of bortezomib on migration of endothelial cells and angiogenesis / 中华血液学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of bortezomib on the migration of endothelial cells and the expression of angiogenesis-related molecules, and explore the mechanism of its antiproliferation of tumor cells.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Cell count kit CCK-8 was used to detect the relative proliferation activity of cells after treated by bortezomib at different concentrations for 12 h and 24 h, respectively. Transwell model was uesd to detect the migration rate of cells. Expression levels of VEGF and Annexin A2 genes were determined by real-time quantitative PCR. Annexin A2 protein was validated by Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>After treated with bortezomib at concentrations of 2.5, 5.0 and 10 nmol/L for 12h, respectively, the HMEC-1 cell proliferation activity was 1.004 ± 0.002, 0.793 ± 0.021 and 0.874 ± 0.062, respectively, being no statistical difference from that of control group (1.000) P < 0.05); while the migration rates of them were 0.697 ± 0.060, 0.597 ± 0.090 and 0.874 ± 0.062, respectively, being significantly lower than that of control group (1.000) (P < 0.05) and so did for the expression of VEGF and Annexin A2 genes. After treated with 5 nmol/L bortezomib for 12 h, the Annexin A2 and VEGF gene relative expression level of HMEC-1 cells was 0.540 ± 0.001 and 0.793 ± 0.153, respectively, being of statistical difference from that of control group (1.000) P < 0.05). The conspicuous downregulation of Annexin A2 protein was also confirmed by Western Blot.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Bortezomib can inhibit migration of endothelial cell HMEC-1 by downregulating the expression of VEGF and Annexin A2, displaying a new mechanism of bortezomib for inhibition of tumor proliferation.</p>