Alpinia officinarum Hance extract alleviates particulate matter-induced lung injury in mice

To evaluate the effect of Alpinia officinarum Hance (A. officinarum) extract on lung injury caused by particulate matter (PM). Methods: The Kunming mice were intranasally instilled with PM and treated with A. officinarum extract for 3 weeks. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, blood and lung samples were collected for biochemical, serological and histopathological studies. Results: Serological analysis showed that albumin levels, lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase activities in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were significantly reduced after administrations of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg of A. officinarum extracts to the PM injured mice. Markers of oxidative stress, nitric oxide, malondialdehyde levels and nitric oxide synthase activities, were significantly decreased. Correspondingly, total superoxide dismutase activity was improved dramatically. The expressions of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha were also down-regulated obviously. In addition, pathological sections of lung tissue showed that A. officinarum could reduce the infiltration of inflammatory cells, pulmonary edema and pulmonary fibrosis. These results showed that A. officinarum extract could alleviate PM-induced lung injury via reducing the permeability of cell membranes in lung tissue, eliminating oxidative stress and relieving inflammatory response. Conclusions: A. officinarum extract was an efficient treatment for PM-induced lung injury ir mice, and it may be a promising therapeutic agent in future.

Impact of Taurine on the proliferation and apoptosis of human cervical carcinoma cells and its mechanism / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Cervical cancer has the fourth highest incidence and mortality rate of all cancers in women worldwide; it seriously harms their physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to observe the roles and preliminary mechanism of Taurine (Tau)-induced apoptosis in cervical cancer cells.@*METHODS@#Cells from the human cervical cancer cell line SiHa were transfected with the recombinant plasmid pEGFP-N1-MST1 (mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1); then, the cell proliferation activity was analyzed by the MTT assay, cell apoptosis by flow cytometry, and the related protein levels by Western blotting.@*RESULTS@#Tau inhibited the proliferation of SiHa cells and induced apoptosis in these cells (the apoptotic rate was 21.95% in the Tau 160 mmol/L group and 30% in the Tau 320 mmol/L group), upregulated the expression of the MST1 (control, 0.53; Tau 40-320 mmol/L groups, 0.84-1.45) and Bax (control, 0.45; Tau 40-320 mmol/L groups, 0.64-1.51) proteins (P < 0.01), and downregulated the expression of Bcl-2 (control, 1.28, Tau 40-320 mmol/L groups, 0.93-0.47) (P < 0.01). The overexpression of MST1 promoted the apoptosis of SiHa cells, enhanced the apoptosis-inductive effects of Tau (P < 0.01), upregulated the expression of the proapoptotic proteins p73, p53, PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis), and caspase-3, and promoted the phosphorylation of YAP (Yes-associated protein).@*CONCLUSIONS@#Tau inhibited the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of cervical cancer SiHa cells. The MST1 protein plays an important role in the Tau-induced apoptosis of cervical cancer cells.

IGFBP7 plays a potential tumor suppressor role against colorectal carcinogenesis with its expression associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon 1 / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Insulin-like growth factor binding-protein-7 (IGFBP7) was obtained from our previous colonic adenocarcinoma (CRC) and normal mucosa suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) cDNA libraries. By RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, we found that IGFBP7 was overexpressed in CRC tissue compared to normal tissue. However, our in vitro experiments performed in 10 CRC cell lines showed that IGFBP7 expressed only in SW480 and Caco2 cell lines, which implied an underlying reversible regulatory mechanism. Using methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sodium PCR (BSP), we found that its expression was associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon1. This was further supported by the in vitro study which showed restored IGFBP7 expression after demethylation agent 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine treatment. Correlation analysis between IGFBP7 expression and prognosis indicated that overexpression of IGFBP7 in CRC tissue correlated with favourable survival. Investigation of the functional role of IGFBP7 through transfection studies showed that IGFBP7 protein could inhibit growth rate, decrease colony formation activity, and induce apoptosis in RKO and SW620 cells, suggesting it a potential tumor suppressor protein in colorectal carcinogenesis. In conclusion, our study clearly demonstrated that IGFBP7 plays a potential tumor suppressor role against colorectal carcinogenesis and its expression is associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon 1.

Anticancer effects of Chinese herbal medicine, science or myth? / 浙江大学学报（英文版）（B辑：生物医学和生物技术）

Currently there is considerable interest among oncologists to find anticancer drugs in Chinese herbal medicine (CHM). In the past, clinical data showed that some herbs possessed anticancer properties, but western scientists have doubted the scientific validity of CHM due to the lack of scientific evidence from their perspective. Recently there have been encouraging results, from a western perspective, in the cancer research field regarding the anticancer effects of CHM. Experiments showed that CHM played its anticancer role by inducing apoptosis and differentiation, enhancing the immune system, inhibiting angiogenesis, reversing multidrug resistance (MDR), etc. Clinical trials demonstrated that CHM could improve survival, increase tumor response, improve quality of life, or reduce chemotherapy toxicity, although much remained to be determined regarding the objective effects of CHM in human in the context of clinical trials. Interestingly, both laboratory experiments and clinical trials have demonstrated that when combined with chemotherapy, CHM could raise the efficacy level and lower toxic reactions. These facts raised the feasibility of the combination of herbal medicines and chemotherapy, although much remained to be investigated in this area.

VNTR polymorphism of C6orf37 in Chinese population / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify a novel VNTR in C6orf37 and to detect the C6orf37 VNTR polymorphism distribution in Chinese population.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>RT-PCR and sequencing were conducted to identify VNTR alleles in the variable region of C6orf37.SSLP and DHPLC were applied in detecting the VNTR genotypes in 166 Chinese individuals.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>A novel VNTR sequence was found in the second exon of C6orf37, which was composed of 15 base pairs encoding 5-amino-acid (G-G-D-F-G). The repeat times ranged from 3 to 5. There were three common alleles containing three repeats (a), four repeats (b) and five repeats (c), respectively, which produced three homozygotes (a/a, b/b and c/c) and three heterozygotes (a/b, a/c and b/c). The frequency of a, b, c alleles were 0.145, 0.304, 0.551, respectively in Chinese population. Heterozygosity (H) was 0.583. Polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.510. The screened result of DHPLC was consistent with that of SSLP.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>A novel highly polymorphic VNTR in C6orf37 exists in Chinese population. DHPLC is the most efficient technique for screening VNTR polymorphism.</p>