ABSTRACT
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death. Gemcitabine is widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, but the prognosis is still poor. Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid extracted from a variety of natural herbs, possesses a variety of pharmacological properties including anticancer effects. In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects of berberine and compared its use with that of gemcitabine in the pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2. Berberine inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. After berberine treatment, the G1 phase of PANC-1 cells increased by 10% compared to control cells, and the G1 phase of MIA-PaCa2 cells was increased by 2%. Whereas gemcitabine exerts antiproliferation effects through S-phase arrest, our results showed that berberine inhibited proliferation by inducing G1-phase arrest. Berberine-induced apoptosis of PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2 cells increased by 7 and 2% compared to control cells, respectively. Notably, berberine had a greater apoptotic effect in PANC-1 cells than gemcitabine. Upon treatment of PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2 with berberine at a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), apoptosis was induced by a mechanism that involved the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) rather than caspase 3/7 activation. Our findings showed that berberine had anti-cancer effects and may be an effective drug for pancreatic cancer chemotherapy.
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity , Child Psychiatry/education , Faculty , Learning Disabilities , Professional Competence/standards , Analysis of Variance , Brazil , Feasibility Studies , Schools , Self Report , Social Adjustment , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death. Gemcitabine is widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, but the prognosis is still poor. Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid extracted from a variety of natural herbs, possesses a variety of pharmacological properties including anticancer effects. In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects of berberine and compared its use with that of gemcitabine in the pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2. Berberine inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. After berberine treatment, the G1 phase of PANC-1 cells increased by 10% compared to control cells, and the G1 phase of MIA-PaCa2 cells was increased by 2%. Whereas gemcitabine exerts antiproliferation effects through S-phase arrest, our results showed that berberine inhibited proliferation by inducing G1-phase arrest. Berberine-induced apoptosis of PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2 cells increased by 7 and 2% compared to control cells, respectively. Notably, berberine had a greater apoptotic effect in PANC-1 cells than gemcitabine. Upon treatment of PANC-1 and MIA-PaCa2 with berberine at a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), apoptosis was induced by a mechanism that involved the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) rather than caspase 3/7 activation. Our findings showed that berberine had anti-cancer effects and may be an effective drug for pancreatic cancer chemotherapy.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/therapeutic use , Apoptosis/drug effects , Berberine/therapeutic use , G1 Phase/drug effects , Pancreatic Neoplasms/drug therapy , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism , Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic/therapeutic use , Caspase 3/drug effects , Caspase 7/drug effects , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Proliferation/drug effects , Cell Survival/drug effects , Deoxycytidine/analogs & derivatives , Deoxycytidine/therapeutic use , Flow Cytometry , Humans , Time Factors , GemcitabineABSTRACT
To determine the usefulness of MspI/int22h-1 (intron 22 homologous region-1) polymorphism of the factor VIII gene for molecular genetic diagnosis of hemophilia A in the Korean population, MspI/intron 22 and XbaI/intron 22 polymorphisms were analyzed in 101 unrelated Korean families with severe hemophilia A. The expected heterozygosity rates of MspI/int22h-1 and XbaI/int22h-1 polymorphisms were 49.5 and 43.6%, respectively; these polymorphisms were not in complete linkage disequilibrium. Combined analysis using both polymorphisms provided an informative rate of 66.3%. These results suggest that PCR analysis of the MspI/int22h-1 polymorphism of the factor VIII gene would be useful for carrier detection and prenatal diagnosis of hemophilia A in the Korean population.
Subject(s)
Asian People/genetics , Factor VIII/genetics , Hemophilia A/diagnosis , Hemophilia A/genetics , Deoxyribonuclease HpaII/metabolism , Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific/metabolism , Genetic Testing/methods , Humans , Introns/genetics , Linkage Disequilibrium , Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length , Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide , Republic of Korea , Sequence Analysis, DNAABSTRACT
Se reportan tres pacientes que presentaron cuadros de micosis profunda de tipo oportunista, asociados a tratamiento inmunosupresor por enfermedad difusa del tejido conectivo de fondo. En dos de los pacientes se diagnosticó aspergilosis. Uno de ellos es portador de artritis reumatoide en tratamiento con metotrexate, presentando un aspergiloma en columna lumbar; y la otra de lupus eritematoso sistémico con manifestaciones severas como hemorragia intraalveolar, compromiso hematológico y psicosis que condicionaron un tratamiento agresivo con ciclofosfamida, metilprednisolona y dosis altas de prednisona; y que en el curso de su evolución presentó un cuadro de aspergilosis retroorbitaria y etmoidal. El tercer caso correspondió a un paciente con diagnóstico de dermatomiositis, en tratamiento con dosis altas de prednisona, quien desarrolló un cuadro de criptococosis meníngea. Cabe resaltar el éxito en el tratamiento antimicótico y la buena evolución de los pacientes.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid , Aspergillosis , Cryptococcosis , Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic , Mycoses , PrednisoneABSTRACT
A semiautomatic method is described for extracting the volume and shape of the left ventricular (LV) chamber from a dynamic spatial reconstructor cardiac volume. For a given volume, the operator first performs some simple manual edits. Then, an automated stage, which incorporates concepts from 3-D mathematical morphology and technology, the maximum-homogeneity filter, and an adaptive 3-D thresholder, extracts the LV chamber. The method gives more consistent measurements and demands considerably less operator time than manual slice-editing.