Clinical Value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Combined With Serum Prostate-specific Antigen, Epithelial Cadherin and Early Prostate Cancer Antigen 2 In Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer.

AIM: To explore the clinical value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with serum prostate specific antigen (PSA), epithelial cadherin (sE-cadherin) and early prostate cancer antigen-2 (EPCA-2) in prostate cancer (PC) diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty patients with PC and 50 with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) confirmed by pathology from January 2020 to July 2021 were studied retrospectively. All patients underwent MRI and measurement of the serum levels of PSA, EPCA-2, and sE-cadherin. The diagnostic accuracy and efficacy of these methods was compared between the groups. RESULTS: In MRI diagnosis of PC, lesions were mainly located in the peripheral zone; T2-weighted imaging of this zone showed low signal intensity, with different degrees of prostate enlargement. BPH had a clear boundary, complete capsule and central zone hyperplasia and uneven signal nodules. PC and BPH had different degrees of prostate enlargement. Serum levels of PSA, sE-cadherin and EPCA-2 in the cancer group were significantly higher than those in the BPH group (p<0.05). The diagnostic concordance of combined assessment of MRI, PSA, sE-cadherin, and EPCA-2 in differentiating PC from BPH was 93%, which was significantly higher than these approaches used alone (84%, 79%, 81% and 82%, respectively; p<0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for the combined approach in PC diagnosis was 0.900, which was significantly higher than those for the individual methods (0.840, 0.730, 0.760 and 0.810, respectively; Z=2.343, p=0.004). CONCLUSION: MRI combined with PSA, sE-cadherin and EPCA-2 can improve the sensitivity and accuracy of PC diagnosis and has potential as a guiding scheme for early diagnosis of PC.

Characterization of genes encoding ω-6 desaturase PoFAD2 and PoFAD6, and ω-3 desaturase PoFAD3 for ALA accumulation in developing seeds of oil crop Paeonia ostii var. lishizhenii.

Paeonia ostii var. lishizhenii has emerged as a valuable oil-producing crop with splendid characteristic of high α-linolenic acid (C18:3, ALA) content in its seed oil for healthy food supplement, but the molecular mechanism for seed ALA accumulation remains enigmatic. In our previous report, a PoSAD gene encoding stearoyl-ACP desaturase had been cloned and functional charactered for the first desaturation procedure involved in ALA biosynthesis pathway in P. ostii var. lishizhenii endosperms, while other participants have not been identified to date. In this study, full-length cDNAs of PoFAD2 (1489 bp), PoFAD6 (1638 bp), and PoFAD3 (1709 bp) were isolated based on our recent transcriptome sequencing data. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that the PoFADs were closest to their counterparts from Paeoniaceae species P. ludlowii, P. rockii, and P. suffruticosa in phylogenetic tree, which shared highly conserved histidine boxes (HXXXH, HXXHH, and HXXHH), exhibiting typical characters of membrane-bound desaturases in higher plants. Additionally, the PoFAD2 and PoFAD3 were specifically expressed and highly associated with LA and ALA accumulation in developing endosperms, whereas PoFAD6 expression has no significantly difference during whole seed developing stages. The catalytic function of these PoFADs were further analyzed by heterologous expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana. The results showed that PoFAD2 and PoFAD6 could catalyze linoleic acid (C18:2) synthesis, while PoFAD3 had ability to produce ALA. This study functional identified three PoFAD genes, which indicates their critical roles in ALA biosynthesis pathway in P. ostii var. lishizhenii, and is of great theoretical and practical meaning on breeding and cultivating new tree peony varieties to promote human health and nutrition supplement.

LINC00511 knockdown suppresses glioma cell malignant progression through miR-15a-5p/AEBP1 axis.

BACKGROUND: A strong relationship between long intergenic non-protein coding RNA 511 (LINC00511) and glioma has been previously reported but the mechanism of LINC00511 in glioma is yet to be determined. This study examined the mechanism of LINC00511 in glioma. METHODS: The expression of LINC00511 in glioma was determined by bioinformatics analysis and real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. The target relationship between genes was predicted by starBase, TargetScan, and was verified by dual-luciferase. Subsequently, siRNA targeting LINC00511 (siLINC00511) and miR-15a-5p mimic were transfected into glioma cells to examine the effect on biological characteristics using cell counting kit-8, clone formation, flow cytometry, wound-healing, and transwell. MiR-15a-5p inhibitor and AEBP1 were used for in vitro rescue experiments, and tumorigenesis assay and immunohistochemical assays were performed for in vivo experiments. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and p65 phosphorylation were examined by Western blot. RESULTS: LINC00511 was predicted and verified to be up-regulated in glioma. SiLINC00511 suppressed cell viability, proliferation, migration and invasion, accelerated apoptosis of glioma cells. Mechanically, siLINC00511 promoted E-cadherin expression but suppressed N-cadherin and Snail expressions. MiR-15a-5p bound to LINC00511, and miR-15a-5p inhibitor partially reversed the effect and regulation of siLINC00511 on glioma cells. AEBP1, a target gene of miR-15a-5p, could activate p65 phosphorylation to promote EMT protein expression and partially reverse the inhibitory effect of miR-15a-5p mimic on the malignant phenotype of glioma cells. SiLINC00511 inhibited tumor growth, down-regulated miR-15a-5p expression and up-regulated AEBP1 and Ki67 expressions in vivo. CONCLUSION: LINC00511 knockdown inhibits glioma cell progression via miR-15a-5p/AEBP1 axis.

Characterization of the stearoyl-ACP desaturase gene (PoSAD) from woody oil crop Paeonia ostii var. lishizhenii in oleic acid biosynthesis.

Paeonia ostii var. lishizhenii has been approved as a woody oil crop with the outstanding characteristic of abundant α-linolenic acid (C18:3, ALA) in its seed oil. The stearoyl-ACP desaturase gene (SAD) regulates the first key step from stearic acid (C18:0, SA) to oleic acid (C18:1, OA) in the ALA biosynthetic pathway, but its functional characterization in P. ostii var. lishizhenii is absent to date. In this study, a key PoSAD gene (1719 bp in length) was acquired from endosperm of P. ostii var. lishizhenii by transcriptome sequencing analysis and the RACE (rapid-amplification of cDNA ends) method. Bioinformatic analysis of the PoSAD protein showed high homology (ranging from 90.4% to 94.4%) and similar physical and chemical properties to SAD from other higher plants, indicating that it encodes a putative stearoyl-ACP desaturase. Analysis of cis-acting elements found several endosperm tissue-specific motifs; i.e., one Prolamin box, thirteen DOFCOREs and one RY repeat in its promoter. The results of the qRT-PCR experiments verified that PoSAD was most highly expressed in developing endosperm at 59 days after pollination (53.7 times that in shoots) compared with that in roots (1.4 times), stems (2.5 times), leaves (3.1 times), petals (13.1 times) and stamens (46.0 times). Meanwhile, the fatty acid contents in P. ostii var. lishizhenii endosperm at seven growth stages were compared with variation in PoSAD expression. Heterologous expression of PoSAD significantly decreased SA and increased OA content, which effectively reduced the ratios of SA to OA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana. However, contents and ratios of palmitic acid (C16:0) and palmitoleic acid (C16:1) were stable in transgenic yeast, and palmitoleic acid remained absent in transgenic A. thaliana seeds. These results illustrate that PoSAD plays an essential role in endosperm development of P. ostii var. lishizhenii, strictly in catalysis of SA desaturation and OA biosynthesis but without functioning in PA desaturation. The results contribute to our understanding of the characterization of PoSAD in OA biosynthesis in P. ostii var. lishizhenii.

WUS and PIN1-related genes undergo dynamic expressional change during organ regeneration in response to wounding in Zoysia japonica.

Zoysia japonica is a grass specie used for golf courses and stadium lawns because of its eminent organ regeneration ability after cutting. However, the molecular mechanisms of the organ regeneration remain elusive. In plants, the shoot apical meristem (SAM) plays a critical role in organ regeneration process. Studies on shoot apical meristem (SAM) in Arabidopsis revealed PIN-FORMED 1 (PIN1) and WUSCHEL (WUS) as crucial components regulating the maintenance and proliferation of SAM via modulating the phytohormones auxin (IAA) and cytokinin (CTK), respectively. In this study, transcriptome analysis of the early wounding stage of Z. japonica cultivar "Zenith" was performed, and global expression pattern of genes related to the PIN1 and WUS network was analyzed. According to the Gene Ontology (GO) database classification, genes related to cell proliferation were identified in differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) with dramatic changes. Meanwhile, there were 18 IAA and CTK-related GO terms. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database classification showed that "plant hormone signal transduction" was gradually become the most abundant enrichment pathways within 6 h. Twenty-four Z. japonica genes with homology to Arabidopsis genes that are involved in PIN1 and WUS network were examined for expression. Among them, 21 genes showed dynamic changes whereas three genes did not. Those results suggesting that the key genes involved in the regeneration exhibited difference in both plants. Finally, we proposed a simple molecular mechanism of the Z. japonica organ regeneration regulated by PIN1 and WUS after wounding.