Shikonin down-regulates CXCR4 expression and inhibits CXCL12-induced migratory responses in colorectal carcinoma cell line SW480 / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of shikonin on the proliferation, expression of CXCR4 and the migratory responses to CXCL12 in colorectal carcinoma cell line SW480.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The proliferation of SW480 cells was assessed by MTT assay. Cell surface expression of CXCR4 was determined by flow cytometry. The migratory ability was determined by Transwell.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Shikonin inhibited the proliferation of SW480 cells in time- and concentration-dependent manner. The expression rate of CXCR4 in SW480 cells was 99.1%. After application of shikonin 0.01 micromol/L, 0.1 micromol/L and 1.0 micromol/L for 24 h, the expression rate of CXCR4 decreased to 76.0%, 59.1% and 35.5% respectively (F=1098.041, P <0.001), and the CXCL12-induced SW480 cell migratory inhibition rate was 25.2%, 38.5% and 55.7% respectively (F=48.970, P <0.001).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Besides having inhibiting tumor cell proliferation effect, Shikonin may also play a role in anti-metastasis via down-regulating the expression of CXCR4 and reducing the CXCL12-induced migratory response in colorectal carcinoma cell.</p>

Association of Bmi-1 expression with clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the expression of B cell specific MLV integration site-1 (Bmi-1) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its correlation to the clinicopathological features and prognosis of CRC.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Sixty CRC, 30 adenomas and 20 normal colorectal mucosal tissues were collected to detect the expression of Bmi-1 protein using immunohistochemistry, and the results were analyzed in comparison with the clinicopathological features and survival rate of patients.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The positivity rate of Bmi-1 expression in CRC tissue was 51.7%. In CRC, the rate of Bmi-1 overexpression was 25.0%, significantly higher than that in the adenomas and normal colorectal mucosal tissues (6.67% and 0%, respectively, P<0.05). The overexpression of Bmi-1 protein in CRC was obviously associated with distant metastasis and the TNM stage (P<0.05), but not with gender, age, tumor size, tumor site, histological type, differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis (P>0.05). But logistic regression analysis showed that Bmi-1 protein overexpression in CRC was associated only with distant metastasis (P<0.01,OR>1); Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the survival rate of the patients with high Bmi-1 expression was significantly lower than that in patients with low expression (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The overexpression of Bmi-1 protein was significantly correlated to the tumorigenesis, metastasis and prognosis of CRC, and may serve as an indicator for evaluating the prognosis of CRC.</p>

Changes of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 on the peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with chronic hepatitis B and chronic severe hepatitis B / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the changes of TLR2 and TLR4 on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and their role in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B and chronic severe hepatitis B.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expressions of TLR2 and TLR4 on 10000 CD14+ PBMCs were determined by flow cytometry in 30 healthy controls, in 31 patients with chronic hepatitis B and in 30 patients with chronic severe hepatitis B. The level of serum tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) was determined by ELISA. The differences of expression of TLR2 and TLR4 on PBMCs and serum TNFalpha among the three groups of study subjects were determined by Student-t test. The correlations between TLR2, TLR4 and TNF alpha were determined by linear correlation test.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The values of mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of TLR2 on PBMCs of the healthy controls, patients with chronic hepatitis B and patients with chronic severe hepatitis B groups were 21.5+/-2.7, 39.0+/-4.1, and 47.7+/-21.4; TLR4 of those groups was 2.3+/-1.1, 3.7+/-2.3, and 6.9+/-4.1. The serum TNF alpha(ng/L) of the respective groups was 53.8+/-38.1, 164.3+/-89.9, and 359.8+/-140.0. There was a gradual increase of these values from the group of healthy controls to the group of patients with chronic hepatitis B and patients with chronic severe hepatitis B. No significant positive correlations between TLR2, TLR4 and serum TNFalpha were found.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TLR2 and TLR4 may have a role in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B and chronic severe hepatitis B.</p>

Changes of RANTES levels in livers of patients with chronic hepatitis B: the clinical significance and the possible mechanisms / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To study the relationship between intra-hepatic levels of regulated on activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and the disease severity and liver inflammatory degrees in patients with chronic hepatitis B and the possible mechanism of the changes of intra-hepatic levels of RANTES.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The expression of RANTES of the livers was studied using immunohistochemical stainings and morphometric quantitative measurements in liver specimens from 10 normal subjects and 64 patients with chronic hepatitis B with different degrees of liver inflammation and different clinical severity. The expressions of RANTES protein and mRNA in cell line HepG2, HepG2.2.15 and HepG2 treated with 10 ng/ml TNFa at different times were quantified by ELISA and one-step RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The expression of RANTES of the livers in patients was significantly higher than that in the normal controls. Hepatic RANTES levels increased significantly and the increases were parallel to the increases of the severity of the hepatitis, from mild, moderate to severe hepatitis (the positive units were 3.7+/-1.5, 15.6+/-6.9, 24.0+/-4.0, 37.9+/-11.1, respectively) and from G0 degree to G4 degrees of liver inflammation (the positive units were 3.7+/-1.5, 15.0+/-5.7, 21.6+/-5.9, 30.3+/-8.2, 40.9+/-12.3, respectively). The expressions of RANTES protein and mRNA of HepG2.2.15 were higher than that of HepG2. RANTES protein and mRNA were induced in HepG2 by TNFa.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>RANTES may have an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B. The elevation of hepatic RANTES may be caused by hepatitis B virus and TNFa.</p>