Black phosphorus loaded with zinc ions for enhanced photothermal therapy of prostate cancer / 药学学报

Prostate cancer is the most common malignant tumor of male reproductive system, which seriously threatens men's health. It has been shown that the existence of zinc ions can inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells. In addition, photothermal treatment of cancer is attracting more and more attention due to its high accuracy and efficiency. In this study, zinc ions loaded black phosphorus nanosheets (BP-Zn) were prepared, and the photothermal therapy efficiency of the system on human prostate cancer cells (PC-3) was evaluated. The inhibition effect of zinc ions on PC-3 cells was studied. It was demonstrated that the toxicity of zinc ions on PC-3 cells was concentration- and time-dependent. Moreover, it can be seen from in vitro photothermal therapy that the treatment effect of black phosphorus assisted by zinc ions is superior to that of black phosphorus alone. This study further studied the in vivo therapeutic effect of BP-Zn. The results once again confirmed that the combinational photothermal treatment of zinc ions and BP had excellent anti-tumor effect. The animal procedures were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School.

Down-regulated serum microRNA-101 is associated with aggressive progression and poor prognosis of cervical cancer / 부인종양

OBJECTIVE: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a vital role in pathogenesis and progression of many cancers, including cervical cancer. However, importance of serum level of miR-101 in cervical cancer has rarely been studied. In the present study, clinical significance and prognostic value of serum miR-101 for cervical cancer was investigated. METHODS: Association between miR-101 level in cervical cancer tissues and prognosis of patients was analyzed by using data retrieved from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, which was followed with our clinical study in which miR-101 serum level comparison between cervical cancer patients and healthy controls was conducted by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: TCGA database demonstrated that miR-101 was down-regulated in cervical cancer tissues compared with normal cervical tissues, and univariate Cox regression analysis indicated that decreased miR-101 expression was a highly significant negative risk factor. Similar trend was found in the serum miR-101. Serum level of miR-101 was associated with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage (p=0.003), lymph node metastasis (p=0.001), and serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) level >4 (p=0.007). The overall survival time of cervical cancer patients with a higher level of serum miR-101 was significantly longer than that of patients with a lower level of serum miR-101. Moreover, multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the down-regulated serum level of miR-101 was an independent predictor for the unfavorable prognosis of cervical cancer. CONCLUSION: Serum level of miR-101 is closely associated with metastasis and prognosis of cervical cancer; and, hence could be a potential biomarker and prognostic predictor for cervical cancer.

Effects of erigeron injection on renal interstitial fibrosis in rats / 中国中西医结合杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effect and mechanism of Erigeron Injection (EI) on renal interstitial fibrosis in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) model rats were taken as the subject of study. Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the control group (A), the UUO model group (B) and the treatment group (C) treated with intraperitoneal injection of EI 5 mL/kg per day from 24 h before to 9 days after the operation. On the 10th day of UUO, rats were killed and their kidneys were processed to paraffin sections with HE, PAS and picro-sirius-red staining. The pathological change of renal tubular interstitial tissue and relative cortical/interstitial volume (C/I) as well as the relative content of collagen (RC) were observed by light microscope. The expression of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1), alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and collagen I in the renal mesenchyma were examined by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Marked renal interstitial fibrosis changes were found in Group B and C, but the changes were milder in Group C. C/I and RC were higher in Groups B and C as compared with those in Group A (P < 0.01), but they were much lower in Group C than in Group B (P < 0.01). The expression of TGF-beta1, alpha-SMA and collagen I were higher in Group B and C than those in Group A (P < 0.05), but they were lower in Group C than in Group B (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>EI could ameliorate renal interstitial fibrosis in rats, which might be partially realized by down-regulating the expression of TGF-beta1 to prevent the renal epithelial cell differentiation and reducing the synthesis of collagen I.</p>

Expression of Lck in renal tubule epithelial cells of lupus nephritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To investigate the Lymphocyte-specific protein-tyrosine kinase(Lck)gene ex- pression in the renal tubule epithelial cells(TECs)of lupus nephritis,and the effect of interlenkin-2(IL-2) stimulation on its expression.Methods Proximal TECs derived from 6 weeks old spontaneous systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE)BXSB mice were exposed to IL-2(100 U/ml),the expression of Lck mRNA and protein was examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR)and immunoblotting respectively. The difference of Lck gene expression before and after IL-2 stimulation was investigated.The expression of Lck protein in TECs of renal tissues of BXSB mice and human with lupus nephritis was observed through im- munohistochemistry.Results The expression of Lck mRNA and protein was very low in cultured TECs of 6 weeks old BXSB mice,but increased sharply after IL-2 stimulation(P