The effects of chitosan oligosaccharides on OPG and RANKL expression in a rat osteoarthritis model

Abstract Purpose: To investigate the effect of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) against osteoarthritis (OA) and preliminarily discuss the osteoprotegerin (OPG), receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) and RANK expression in a rat OA model. Methods: Thirty-six 6-week-old Male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operated group(CON), OA-induction group(OA), COS intervention group(n=12/group). At 4 weeks after the operation, COS (50 ul) intervention weekily for consecutive 5 weeks. The OA and CON groups received an injection of 50 ul physiological saline. At death, 11 weeks following surgery, cartilage was harvested and total RNA and protein were extracted. Both the morphological changes of the cartilage were observed and harvested the total RNA and protein. Meanwhile, the expression of OPG, RANKL and RANK in cartilage were determined. Results: The expression of OPG and RANKL were both enhanced in the cartilage of the OA model. Compared with the OA group, COS treatment improved the cartilage damage (both extent and grade). Furthermore, the COS group showed highly OPG and lower RANKL. Simultaneously, COS treatment upregulated the ratio of OPG/RANKL and downregulated the RANKL/RANK. Conclusion: Chitosan oligosaccharides may be used as a unique biological agent to prevent and treat osteoarthritis, and this effect is associated with modulation of the expression of osteoprotegerin and receptor activator of NF-κB ligand.

Expression levels of ERCC1 and RRM1 mRNA and clinical outcome of advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Objective: We conducted a study to understand the genetic effect of ERCC1 and RRM1 on the chemotherapy response and clinical outcome of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer [NSCLC]

Methods: The relative cDNA quantification for ERCC1 and RRM1 was conducted using a fluorescence-based real-time detection method among 294 NSCLC patients

Results: Compared with the internal reference gene beta-action, the median levels of ERCC1 and RRM1 expression were 2.43x10-2 and 0.11x10-2, respectively. Our study showed response to platinum-containing regimen chemotherapy was high in those with high ERCC1 expression, and the OR [95% CI] were 1.73[1.06-2.81]. An apparently high response to chemotherapy was decreased when patients were carrying both high expression of ERCC1 and RRM1, with OR [95% CI] of 2.57[1.21-4.90]. Patients with high expression of ERCC1 were associated with a longer OS by multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Moreover, those carrying both high levels of ERCC1 and RRM1 were seem to have a longer OS when compared with those with low expression [HR=0.31, 95% CI=0.13-0.62 for OS]

Conclusion: This observation could be used in personalized chemotherapy, increase the response rate and prolonged survival time, and could encourage to explore the predictive value of other genes