Advances in invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast research: A review.

Invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) of the breast represents a rare subtype of breast cancer, accounting for 1% to 2% of all breast cancers worldwide. Although clinically asymptomatic, they are usually detected during routine breast screenings. The common symptoms include breast lumps, skin or nipple changes, and nipple discharge. Histopathologically, IMPCs are characterized by tumor cells forming small papillary-like structures inside the glandular spaces, and arranged in an inverted pattern, with their apex pointing toward the center of the gland. This unique morphological feature is critical for diagnosing these cases. Another notable characteristic is its high propensity for lymph node metastasis (LNM). While the precise mechanism of metastasis is not clear, unique cellular arrangement and cellular interactions with the surrounding environment might promote tumorigenesis and higher node positivity. Hence, proper lymph node dissection and assessment are particularly crucial for this type of breast cancer. This review aims to discuss the recent progress in managing IMPC cases.

Psychobiotic supplementation of HK-PS23 improves anxiety in highly stressed clinical nurses: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study.

Nurses often experience adverse health effects associated with increasing levels of work-related stress. Stress may induce systemic effects through the HPA axis, glucocorticoid responses, and inflammatory cascades. Psychobiotics may help alleviate stress through associations of the microbiota, anti-inflammation factors, and the gut-brain axis. We aimed to investigate whether interventions with a psychobiotic, heat-killed (HK)-PS23 cells, may help improve perceived stress, anxiety, and related biological markers among highly stressed clinical nurses. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study included seventy clinical nurses from a medical center in Northern Taiwan who scored 27 or higher on the 10-item version of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and participants were randomized into either taking HK-PS23 or a placebo for 8 weeks. Baseline and endpoint results of the PSS, Job Stress Scale, State and Trait Anxiety Index (STAI), emotional questionnaires, gastrointestinal severity questionnaires, Trails Marking Tests, blood biological markers, and sleep data were analyzed. While both groups demonstrated improvements in most measures over time, only the blood cortisol measure demonstrated significant group differences after the 8-week trial. Further analyses of the subgroup with higher anxiety (nurses with STAI ≥ 103) revealed that anxiety states had improved significantly in the HK-PS23 group but not in the placebo group. In summary, this placebo-controlled trial found significant reduction in the level of blood cortisol after 8 weeks of HK-PS23 use. The distinctive anxiolytic effects of HK-PS23 may be beneficial in improving perceived anxiety and stress hormone levels in female nurses under pressure. Clinical trial registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT04452253-sub-project 1.

Lactobacillus paracasei PS23 improves cognitive deficits via modulating the hippocampal gene expression and the gut microbiota in D-galactose-induced aging mice.

Probiotic supplements are potential therapeutic agents for age-related cognitive deficits. A prior study showed that probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei PS23 (PS23) supplementation delayed age-related cognitive decline in mice. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effects of live or heat-killed PS23 (HK-PS23) on cognitive function in D-galactose (D-gal)-induced aging mice and explore the underlying mechanisms. We designed four groups of mice: control, D-gal aging mice, and PS23 supplemented and HK-PS23 supplemented D-gal aging mice. We evaluated memory function and anxiety using Morris water maze and open field tests, respectively. Neural monoamines and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the hippocampus were evaluated. RNA-seq was used to evaluate hippocampal gene expression profiles in each group, and the composition of the gut microbiota was analyzed. We revealed that PS23 and HK-PS23 supplementation ameliorated D-gal-induced memory deficits and improved motor and anxiety-behaviors in aging mice. In the hippocampus, serotonin levels (5-HT) were increased and the genes involved in neuroplasticity, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant functions were upregulated in PS23 and HK-PS23 supplemented groups. The gut microbiota showed specific changes. Our results suggest that PS23 and HK-PS23 supplements could ameliorate age-related cognitive decline, possibly by upregulating the genes involved in synaptic plasticity and preventing oxidation and inflammation.

Psychobiotic Supplementation of PS128TM Improves Stress, Anxiety, and Insomnia in Highly Stressed Information Technology Specialists: A Pilot Study.

Background: Information technology (IT) is an industry related to the production of computers, information processing, and telecommunications. Such industries heavily rely on the knowledge and solutions provided by IT specialists. Previous reports found that the subjective stress scores were higher in IT specialists who developed diabetes, hypertension, and depression. Specific probiotics, known as psychobiotics, may alleviate stress and mood symptoms. This study aimed to examine whether an 8-week intervention of a novel psychobiotic, Lactobacillus plantarum PS128TM (PS128TM), improved self-perceived stress and mood symptoms among high-stress IT specialists. Methods: This open-label, single-arm, baseline-controlled study included IT specialists from a large IT company in Northern Taiwan. Participants with a Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) 10-item version score of 27 or higher were included. Participants were asked to take two capsules containing PS128TM powder, equivalent to 20 billion colony-forming units, daily. Self-report measures, such as the Job Stress Scale, Visual Analog Scale of Stress, the Insomnia Severity Index, the State and Trait Anxiety Index, the Questionnaire for Emotional Trait and State, the Patient Health Questionnaire, the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire, and Gastrointestinal Severity Index were compared at baseline and at the end of the trial period. The primary outcome was a 20% reduction in the PSS score at endpoint. Objective measures included salivary levels of stress biomarkers, including cortisol, α-amylase, immunoglobulin A, lactoferrin, and lysozymes, as well as results of the Test of Attentional Performance. Results: Of the 90 eligible IT specialists, 36 met the inclusion criteria. After the 8-week trial period, significant improvements in self-perceived stress, overall job stress, job burden, cortisol level, general or psychological health, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, quality of life, and both positive and negative emotions were found. Conclusion: Our results suggest that PS128TM has the distinct advantage of providing stress relief and can improve mental health for people with a high-stress job. Future placebo-controlled studies are warranted to explore the effect and underlying mechanisms of action of PS128TM. Clinical Trial Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (identifier: NCT04452253-sub-project 2).

Gerobiotics: probiotics targeting fundamental aging processes.

Aging is recognized as a common risk factor for many chronic diseases and functional decline. The newly emerging field of geroscience is an interdisciplinary field that aims to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of aging. Several fundamental biological processes have been proposed as hallmarks of aging. The proposition of the geroscience hypothesis is that targeting holistically these highly integrated hallmarks could be an effective approach to preventing the pathogenesis of age-related diseases jointly, thereby improving the health span of most individuals. There is a growing awareness concerning the benefits of the prophylactic use of probiotics in maintaining health and improving quality of life in the elderly population. In view of the rapid progress in geroscience research, a new emphasis on geroscience-based probiotics is in high demand, and such probiotics require extensive preclinical and clinical research to support their functional efficacy. Here we propose a new term, "gerobiotics", to define those probiotic strains and their derived postbiotics and para-probiotics that are able to beneficially attenuate the fundamental mechanisms of aging, reduce physiological aging processes, and thereby expand the health span of the host. We provide a thorough discussion of why the coining of a new term is warranted instead of just referring to these probiotics as anti-aging probiotics or with other similar terms. In this review, we highlight the needs and importance of the new field of gerobiotics, past and currently on-going research and development in the field, biomarkers for potential targets, and recommended steps for the development of gerobiotic products. Use of gerobiotics could be a promising intervention strategy to improve health span and longevity of humans in the future.

Corrigendum: Regulatory Role of Hexokinase 2 in Modulating Head and Neck Tumorigenesis.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00176.].

Regulatory Role of Hexokinase 2 in Modulating Head and Neck Tumorigenesis.

To support great demand of cell growth, cancer cells preferentially obtain energy and biomacromolecules by glycolysis over mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). Among all glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase (HK), a rate-limiting enzyme at the first step of glycolysis to catalyze cellular glucose into glucose-6-phosphate, is herein emphasized. Four HK isoforms, HK1-HK4, were discovered in nature. It was shown that HK2 expression is enriched in many tumor cells and correlated with poorer survival rates in most neoplastic cells. HK2-mediated regulations for cell malignancy and mechanistic cues in regulating head and neck tumorigenesis, however, are not fully elucidated. Cellular malignancy index, such as cell growth, cellular motility, and treatment sensitivity, and molecular alterations were determined in HK2-deficient head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells. By using various cancer databases, HK2, but not HK1, positively correlates with HNSCC progression in a stage-dependent manner. A high HK2 expression was detected in head and neck cancerous tissues compared with their normal counterparts, both in mouse and human subjects. Loss of HK2 in HNSCC cells resulted in reduced cell (in vitro) and tumor (in vivo) growth, as well as decreased epithelial-mesenchymal transition-mediated cell movement; in contrast, HK2-deficient HNSCC cells exhibited greater sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil but are more resistant to photodynamic therapy, indicating that HK2 expression could selectively define treatment sensitivity in HNSCC cells. At the molecular level, it was found that HK2 alteration drove metabolic reprogramming toward OxPhos and modulated oncogenic Akt and mutant TP53-mediated signals in HNSCC cells. In summary, the present study showed that HK2 suppression could lessen HNSCC oncogenicity and modulate therapeutic sensitivity, thereby being an ideal therapeutic target for HNSCCs.

Psychobiotics in mental health, neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Psychobiotics are a group of probiotics that affect the central nervous system (CNS) related functions and behaviors mediated by the gut-brain-axis (GBA) via immune, humoral, neural, and metabolic pathways to improve not only the gastrointestinal (GI) function but also the antidepressant and anxiolytic capacity. As a novel class of probiotics, the application of psychobiotics has led researchers to focus on a new area in neuroscience. In the past five years, some psychobiotics strains were reported to inhibit inflammation and decreased cortisol levels, resulting in an amelioration of the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Psychobiotics are efficacious in improving neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Use of psychobiotics can improve GI function, ASD symptoms, motor functions of patients with PD and cognition in patients with AD. However, the evidence for the effects of psychobiotics on mental and neurological conditions/disorders remains limited. Further studies of psychobiotics are needed in order to determine into their effectiveness and mechanism as treatments for various psychiatric disorders in the future.

Ultrafast Excited-State Dynamics of Hydrogen-Bonded Cytosine Microsolvated Clusters with Protic and Aprotic Polar Solvents.

Microsolvation effects on the ultrafast excited-state deactivation dynamics of cytosine (Cy) were studied in hydrogen-bonded Cy clusters with protic and aprotic solvents using mass-resolved femtosecond pump-probe ionization spectroscopy. Two protic solvents, water (H2O) and methanol (MeOH), and one aprotic solvent, tetrahydrofuran (THF), were investigated, and transients of Cy·(H2O)1-6, Cy·(MeOH)1-3, and Cy·THF microsolvated clusters produced in supersonic expansions were measured. With the aid of electronic structure calculations, we assigned the observed dynamics to the low-energy isomers of various Cy clusters and discussed the microsolvation effect on the excited-state deactivation dynamics. With the protic solvents only the microsolvated clusters of Cy keto tautomer were observed. The observed decay time constants of Cy·(H2O) n are 0.5 ps for n = 1 and ∼0.2-0.25 ps for n = 2-6. For Cy·(MeOH) n clusters, the decay time constant for n = 1 cluster is similar to that of the Cy monohydrate, but for n = 2 and 3 the decays are about a factor of 2 slower than the corresponding microhydrates. With the aprotic solvent, THF, hydrogen-bonded complexes of both keto and enol tautomers are present in the beam. The keto-Cy·THF shows a decay similar to that of the keto-Cy monomer, whereas the enol-Cy·THF exhibits a 2-fold slower decay than the enol-Cy monomer, suggesting an increase in the barrier to excited-state deactivation upon binding of one THF molecule to the enol form of Cy.

HSP40 co-chaperone protein Tid1 suppresses metastasis of head and neck cancer by inhibiting Galectin-7-TCF3-MMP9 axis signaling.

Human tumorous imaginal disc (Tid1), a DnaJ co-chaperone protein, is classified as a tumor suppressor. Previously, we demonstrated that Tid1 reduces head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) malignancy. However, the molecular details of Tid1-mediated anti-metastasis remain elusive. Methods: We used affinity chromatography and systemic mass spectrometry to identify Tid1-interacting client proteins. Immunohistochemical staining of Tid1 in HNSCC patient tissues was examined to evaluate the association between the expression profile of Tid1-interacting client proteins with pathologic features and prognosis. The roles of Tid1-interacting client proteins in metastasis were validated both in vitro and in vivo. The interacting partner and downstream target of Tid1-interacting client protein were determined. Results: Herein, we first revealed that Galectin-7 was one of the Tid1-interacting client proteins. An inverse association of protein expression profile between Tid1 and Galectin-7 was determined in HNSCC patients. Low Tid1 and high Galectin-7 expression predicted poor overall survival in HNSCC. Furthermore, Tid1 abolished the nuclear translocation of Galectin-7 and suppressed Galectin-7-induced tumorigenesis and metastasis. Keratinocyte-specific Tid1-deficient mice with 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) treatment exhibited increased protein levels of Galectin-7 and had a poor survival rate. Tid1 interacted with Galectin-7 through its N-linked glycosylation to promote Tid1-mediated ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of Galectin-7. Additionally, Galectin-7 played a critical role in promoting tumorigenesis and metastatic progression by enhancing the transcriptional activity of TCF3 transcription factor through elevating MMP-9 expression. Conclusions: Overall, future treatments through activating Tid1 expression or inversely repressing the oncogenic function of Galectin-7 may exhibit great potential in targeting HNSCC progression.

Mitochondrial co-chaperone protein Tid1 is required for energy homeostasis during skeletal myogenesis.

BACKGROUND: Tid1 is a mitochondrial co-chaperone protein and its transcript is abundantly expressed in skeletal muscle tissues. However, the physiological function of Tid1 during skeletal myogenesis remains unclear. METHODS: In vitro induced differentiation assay of mouse myoblast C2C12 cells was applied to examine the physiological role of Tid1 during skeletal myogenesis. In addition, transgenic mice with muscle specific (HSA-Cre) Tid1 deletion were established and examined to determine the physiological function of Tid1 during skeletal muscle development in vivo. RESULTS: Expression of Tid1 protein was upregulated in the differentiated C2C12 cells, and the HSA-Tid1f/f mice displayed muscular dystrophic phenotype. The expression of myosin heavy chain (MyHC), the protein served as the muscular development marker, was reduced in HSA-Tid1f/f mice at postnatal day (P)5 and P8. The protein levels of ATP sensor (p-AMPK) and mitochondrial biogenesis protein (PGC-1α) were also significantly reduced in HSA-Tid1f/f mice. Moreover, Tid1 deficiency induced apoptotic marker Caspase-3 in muscle tissues of HSA-Tid1f/f mice. Consistent with the in vivo finding, we observed that downregulation of Tid1 not only reduced the ATP production but also abolished the differentiation ability of C2C12 cells by impairing the mitochondrial activity. CONCLUSION: Together, our results suggest that Tid1 deficiency reduces ATP production and abolishes mitochondrial activity, resulting in energy imbalance and promoting apoptosis of muscle cells during myogenesis. It will be of importance to understand the function of Tid1 during human muscular dystrophy in the future.

Attenuation of cancer-initiating cells stemness properties by abrogating S100A4 calcium binding ability in head and neck cancers.

S100A4 is a calcium-binding protein capable of promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Previously, we have demonstrated that S100A4 is required to sustain the head and neck cancer-initiating cells (HN-CICs) subpopulation. In this study, to further investigate the molecular mechanism, we established the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines stably expressing mutant S100A4 proteins with defective calcium-binding sites on either N-terminal (NM) or C-terminal (CM), or a deletion of the last 15 amino-acid residues (CD). We showed that the NM, CM and CD harboring sphere cells that were enriched with HN-CICs population exhibited impaired stemness and malignant properties in vitro, as well as reduced tumor growth ability in vivo. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that mutant S100A4 proteins decreased the promoter activity of Nanog, likely through inhibition of p53. Moreover, the biophysical analyses of purified recombinant mutant S100A4 proteins suggest that both NM and CM mutant S100A4 were very similar to the WT S100A4 with subtle difference on the secondary structure, and that the CD mutant protein displayed the unexpected monomeric form in the solution phase.Taken together, our results suggest that both the calcium-binding ability and the C-terminal region of S100A4 are important for HN-CICs to sustain its stemness property and malignancy, and that the mechanism could be mediated by repressing p53 and subsequently activating the Nanog expression.

Microhydration Effects on the Ultrafast Photodynamics of Cytosine: Evidences for a Possible Hydration-Site Dependence.

Ultrafast excited-state deactivation dynamics of small cytosine (Cy) and 1-methylcytosine (1mCy) microhydrates, Cy⋅(H2O)1-3 and 1mCy⋅(H2O)1,2, produced in a supersonic expansion have been studied by mass-selected femtosecond pump-probe photoionization spectroscopy at about 267 nm excitation. The seeded supersonic expansion of Ar/H2O gas mixtures allowed an extensive structural relaxation of Cy and 1mCy microhydrates to low-energy isomers. With the aid of electronic structure calculations, we assigned the observed ultrafast dynamics to the dominant microhydrate isomers of the amino-keto tautomer of Cy and 1mCy. Excited-state lifetimes of Cy⋅(H2O)1-3 measured here are 0.2-0.5 ps. Comparisons of the Cy⋅H2O and 1mCy⋅H2O transients suggest that monohydration at the amino Watson-Crick site induces a substantially stronger effect than at the sugar-edge site in accelerating excited-state deactivation of Cy.

Ribose-5-phosphate isomerase A regulates hepatocarcinogenesis via PP2A and ERK signaling.

The deregulated nonoxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) is known to promote oncogenesis, but the molecular mechanism remains unknown. Here, we report that human ribose-5-phosphate isomerase A (RPIA) plays a role in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A significant increase in RPIA expression was detected both in tumor biopsies of HCC patients and in a liver cancer tissue array. Importantly, the clinicopathological analysis indicated that RPIA mRNA levels were highly correlated with clinical stage, grade, tumor size, types, invasion and alpha-fetoprotein levels in the HCC patients. In addition, we demonstrated that the ability of RPIA to regulate cell proliferation and colony formation in different liver cancer cell lines required ERK signaling as well as the negative modulation of PP2A activity and that the effects of RPIA could be modulated by the addition of either a PP2A inhibitor or activator. Furthermore, the xenograft studies in nude mice revealed that the modulation of RPIA in liver cancer cells regulated tumor growth and that NIH3T3 cells overexpressing RPIA exhibited increased proliferation, enhanced colony formation, elevated levels of p-ERK1/2 and accelerated tumor growth. This study provides new insight into the molecular mechanisms by which RPIA overexpression can induce oncogenesis in HCC. Furthermore, it suggests that RPIA can be a good prognosis biomarker and a potential target for HCC therapy.

Apicidin-resistant HA22T hepatocellular carcinoma cells massively promote pro-survival capability via IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activation.

Despite rapid advances in the diagnostic and surgical procedures, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains one of the most difficult human malignancies to treat. This may be due to the chemoresistant behaviors of HCC. It is believed that acquired resistance could be overcome and improve the overall survival of HCC patients by understanding the mechanisms of chemoresistance in HCC. A stable HA22T cancer line, which is chronically resistant to a histone deacetylase inhibitor, was established. After comparing the molecular mechanism of apicidin-R HA22T cells to parental ones by Western blotting, cell cycle-regulated proteins did not change in apicidin-R cells, but apicidin-R cells were more proliferative and had higher tumor growth (wound-healing assay and nude mice xenograft model). Moreover, apicidin-R cells displayed increased levels of p-IGF-IR, p-PI3K, p-Akt, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-2 but also significantly inhibited the tumor suppressor PTEN protein and apoptotic pathways when compared to the parental strain. Therefore, the highly proliferative effect of apicidin-R HA22T cells was blocked by Akt knockdown. For all these findings, we believe that novel strategies to attenuate IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling could overcome chemoresistance toward the improvement of overall survival of HCC patients.

Apicidin-resistant HA22T hepatocellular carcinoma cells strongly activated the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway and MMP-2 expression via the IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway enhancing cell metastatic effect.

The IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway inhibited GSK3-ß activity by phosphorylation and this promoted ß-catenin nuclear localization. Our previous study indicated that ß-catenin mRNA level was significantly higher in tumor areas than in non-tumor ones, especially in late pathologic stage tumors. However, ß-catenin inhibition resulted in significantly suppressed migration and invasion ability of HA22T cells. Thus, Wnt/ß-catenin pathway over-activation might be involved in metastatic enhancement of apicidin-resistant HA22T cell metastasis. Apicidin-resistant (AR) HA22T cells showed higher ß-catenin nuclear accumulation and significantly decreased GSK-3-ß protein level, in relation to parental cells. Results also indicated that AR cells increased abundantly in Tbx3, a downstream target of Wnt/ß-catenin that it is implicated in liver cancer. AR cells also inhibited the MEK/ERK/PEA3 pathway which promoted MMP-2 activation. But, apicidin-resistant effect was totally reversed by LY294002 and AG1024. In conclusion, Apicidin-R HA22T cells activated the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway and induced, MMP-2 expression via IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling further enhancing cell the metastatic effects.

Activation of snail and EMT-like signaling via the IKKαß/NF-κB pathway in Apicidin-resistant HA22T hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

The molecular and phenotypic associations between chemo- or radio-resistance and the acquisition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-like phenotype are tightly related in cancer cells. Wnt/ß- catenin and NF-κB signaling pathways play crucial roles in EMT induction. Apicidin-resistant (Apicidin- R) HA22T cells are known to activate the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway and MMP-2 expression via the IGF-IR/PI3K/Akt signaling pathway to enhance metastatic effects of cancer cells. In this study, we further investigated if Apicidin-R HA22T cells actually underwent EMT. In Apicidin-R HA22T cells, E-cadherin protein level was reduced but Vimentin, Snail and Twist were significantly activated. Activation of p-IKKαß and p-IκBα was also observed in Apicidin-R HA22T cells. Apicidin-R HA22T cells displayed even higher NF-κB nuclear accumulation. Snail was enhanced but GSK3-ß was reduced. However, unphosphorylated GSK3-ß protein level was totally reversed when the Snail-specific siRNA was applied in a knockdown experiment. Taken together, Apicidin-R HA22T cells could potentiate aggressive metastasis behavior due to up-regulation of Snail expression and promoted EMT effects via the IKKαß/NF-κB pathway. In addition, Snail might decrease the GSK3-ß level resulting in extraordinarily activation of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Association of cyclooxygenase 2 single-nucleotide polymorphisms and hepatocellular carcinoma in Taiwan.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a worldwide neoplasm for which early diagnosis is difficult and the prognosis is usually poor. Overexpression of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) has been suggested to be associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. Although several COX-2 inhibitors have been used in hepatoma therapy, the genetic background between COX-2 and HCC remains largely unknown. In this study, the association of genotypic polymorphisms in COX-2 with HCC was investigated. 298 patients with HCC and 298 healthy controls recruited from the China Medical Hospital in Taiwan were genotyped by a PCR-RFLP method. We have investigated six polymorphic variants of COX-2, including A-1195G, G- 765C, T+8473C, and variants in introns 1, 5 and 6, and analyzed the association of specific genotype(s) with susceptibility to HCC. The results showed that, for each of the six genotypes, no differences un distribution between the HCC and control groups were found. There was neither obvious joint effect of COX-2 G-765C/intron 6 haplotype nor its genotypes with smoking or alcohol consumption on HCC risk. Environmental factors, other than smoking and alcohol drinking, may affect the post-natal expression of COX-2 in the etiology of HCC, which is an outcome of complex genetic and environmental interactions. Moreover , our immunohistochemistrical results indicated that the COX-2 protein was significantly over-expressed in well-differentiated HCC, but not significantly increased in expression in poorly-differentiated HCC. We suggest that COX-2 may be a determinant of the differentiation grade of HCC.

Disentangling intrinsic ultrafast excited-state dynamics of cytosine tautomers.

Gas-phase ultrafast excited-state dynamics of cytosine, 1-methylcytosine, and 5-fluorocytosine were investigated in molecular beams using femtosecond pump-probe photoionization spectroscopy to identify the intrinsic dynamics of the major cytosine tautomers. The results indicate that, upon photoexcitation in the first absorption band, the cytosine enol tautomer exhibits a significantly longer excited-state lifetime than its keto and imino counterparts. The initially excited states of the cytosine keto and imino tautomers decay with sub-picosecond dynamics for excitation wavelengths shorter than 300 nm, whereas that of the cytosine enol tautomer decays with time constants ranging from 3 to 45 ps for excitation between 260 and 285 nm.

Lycopene inhibits growth of human colon cancer cells via suppression of the Akt signaling pathway.

The aberrant regulation of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt survival signaling pathway in cancer has prompted significant interest in suppression of this pathway to treat cancer. Previous studies identified an important role for phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt in colon cancer progression. Lycopene, a major component in tomato, exhibited potential anti-carcinogenic activity. Consumption of tomato has been associated with reduced risk of several types of human cancer. However, the inhibitory mechanisms of lycopene on the proliferation of human colon cancer have not been studied well yet. Thus we investigated the inhibitory effects of lycopene on the Akt signaling pathway in human colon cancer HT-29 cells. Lycopene inhibited cell proliferation in human colon cancer HT-29 cells with a IC(50) value of 10 microM. Lycopene treatment suppressed Akt activation and non-phosphorylated beta-catenin protein level in human colon cancer cells. Immunocytochemical results indicated that lycopene increased the phosphorylated form of beta-catenin proteins. These effects were also associated with reduced promoter activity and protein expression of cyclin D1. Furthermore, lycopene significantly increased nuclear cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27(kip)abundance and inhibited phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein in human colon cancer cells. In conclusion, lycopene inhibited cell proliferation of human colon cancer cells via suppression of the Akt signaling pathway and downstream targeted molecules.