Manual acupuncture ameliorates inflammatory pain by upregulating adenosine A3 receptor in complete Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis rats.

BACKGROUND: Adenosine A3 receptor (A3R) exerts analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-nociceptive effects. In this study, we determined the analgesic mechanism of manual acupuncture (MA) in rats with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis and explored whether MA ameliorates inflammation in these rats by upregulating A3R. METHODS: Sixty Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into the following groups: Control, CFA, CFA + MA, CFA + sham MA, CFA + MA + DMSO, CFA + MA + IB-MECA, and CFA + MA + Reversine groups. The arthritis rat model was induced by injecting CFA into the left ankle joints. Thereafter, the rats were subjected to MA (ST36 acupoint) for 3 days. The clinical indicators paw withdrawal latency (PWL), paw withdrawal threshold (PWT), and open field test (OFT) were used to determine the analgesic effect of MA. In addition, to explore the effect of A3R on inflammation after subjecting arthritis rats to MA, IB-MECA (A3R agonist) and Reversine (A3R antagonist) were injected into ST36 before MA. RESULTS: MA ameliorated the pathological symptoms of CFA-induced arthritis, including the pain indicators PWL and PWT, number of rearing, total ambulatory distance, and activity trajectory. Furthermore, after MA, the mRNA and protein expression of A3R was upregulated in CFA-induced arthritis rats. In contrast, the protein levels of TNF-α, IL-1ß, Rap1, and p-p65 were downregulated after MA. Interestingly, the A3R agonist and antagonist further downregulated and upregulated inflammatory cytokine expression, respectively, after MA. Furthermore, the A3R antagonist increased the degree of ankle swelling after MA. CONCLUSION: MA can alleviate inflammatory pain by inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway via upregulating A3R expression of the superficial fascia of the ST36 acupoint site in CFA-induced arthritis rats.

lncRNA MT1JP Suppresses Biological Activities of Breast Cancer Cells in vitro and in vivo by Regulating the miRNA-214/RUNX3 Axis.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of our research was to evaluate MT1JP in breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: For clinical purpose, tissues were collected, and a correlation analysis ofMT1JP and miRNA-214 gene expressions was conducted. Using an in vitro study, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines were used as research objects in our research. Colony, flow cytometry, TUNEL, transwell, adhesion and wound healing assay were used to discuss the biological activities of the cells. In an in vivo study, tumor weight and volume were measured, and cell apoptosis was measured by TUNEL assay. The relative mechanism's proteins were evaluated by Western blotting or immunohistochemistry assay. RESULTS: Compared with adjacent tissues, MT1JP and miRNA-214 gene expressions were significantly different (P<0.001, respectively). By in vitro and in vivo studies, the biological activities of the cells were significantly decreased in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines with MT1JP overexpression. The relative mechanism was correlated with miRNA-214/RUNX3 axis. CONCLUSION: The overexpression of MT1JP suppresses the biological activities of breast cancer cells by regulation miRNA-214/RUNX3 axis in vitro and vivo study.

Overexpression of MTA1 inhibits the metastatic ability of ZR-75-30 cells in vitro by promoting MTA2 degradation.

BACKGROUND: As the first member of the metastasis-associated protein (MTA) family, MTA1 and another MTA family member, MTA2, have both been reported to promote breast cancer progression and metastasis. However, the difference and relationship between MTA1 and MTA2 have not been fully elucidated. METHODS: Transwell assays were used to assess the roles of MTA1 and MTA2 in the metastasis of ZR-75-30 luminal B breast cancer cells in vitro. Immunoblotting and qRT-PCR were used to evaluate the effect of MTA1 overexpression on MTA2. Proteases that cleave MTA2 were predicted using an online web server. The role of neutrophil elastase (NE) in MTA1 overexpression-induced MTA2 downregulation was confirmed by specific inhibitor treatment, knockdown, overexpression and immunocytochemistry, and NE cleavage sites in MTA2 were confirmed by MTA2 truncation and mutation. The effect of MTA1 overexpression on the intrinsic inhibitor of NE, elafin, was detected by qRT-PCR, immunoblotting and treatment with inhibitors. RESULTS: MTA1 overexpression inhibited, while MTA2 promoted the metastasis of ZR-75-30 cells in vitro. MTA1 overexpression downregulated MTA2 expression at the protein level rather than the mRNA level. NE was predicted to cleave MTA2 and was responsible for MTA1 overexpression-induced MTA2 degradation. NE was found to cleave MTA2 in the C-terminus at the 486, 497, 542, 583 and 621 sites. MTA1 overexpression activated NE by downregulating elafin in a histone deacetylase- and DNA methyltransferase-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: MTA1 and MTA2 play opposing roles in the metastasis of ZR-75-30 luminal B breast cancer cells in vitro. MTA1 downregulates MTA2 at the protein level by epigenetically repressing the expression of elafin and releasing the inhibition of neutrophil elastase, which cleaves MTA2 in the C-terminus at multiple specific sites.

FAT10 promotes the invasion and migration of breast cancer cell through stabilization of ZEB2.

FAT10, an ubiquitin-like protein, functions as a potential tumor promoter in several caners. However, the function and clinical significance of FAT10 in breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. Here, we found that high FAT10 expression was detected frequently in primary BC tissues, and was closely associated with malignant phenotype and shorter survival among the BC patients. Multivariate analyses also revealed that FAT10 overexpression was independent prognostic factors for poor outcome of patients with BC. Function assay demonstrated that FAT10 knockdown significantly inhibited the metastasis abilities and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of breast cancer cell. Further investigation revealed that FAT10 directly bound ZEB2 and decreased its ubiquitination to enhance the protein stability of ZEB2 in BC cells. Moreover, our data shown that the pro-metastasis effect of FAT10 in BC is partially dependent on ZEB2 enhancement. Collectively, our data suggest that FAT10 plays a crucial oncogenic role in BC metastasis, and we provide a novel evidence that FAT10 may be serve as a prognostic and therapeutic target for BC patients.

The membrane complement regulatory protein CD59 promotes tumor growth and predicts poor prognosis in breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer among women. CD59, a membrane complement regulatory protein, has been demonstrated to be overexpressed in most solid tumors, where it facilitates tumor cell escape from complement surveillance. However, the role of CD59 in breast cancer growth and clinical prognosis is not fully revealed. To investigate the role of CD59 in breast cancer growth and prognostic significance, we knocked down CD59 in a breast cancer cell line that is highly metastatic to the lungs, MDA-MB­231-HM. Cell growth was measured in vitro and in vivo using a xenograft model. In addition, clinical data on a cohort of 120 patients with or without lung metastasis was analyzed based on CD59 expression, which was detected by immunohistochemistry. Knockdown of CD59 significantly inhibited MDA-MB­231-HM cell growth both in vitro and in vivo. An analysis of clinical data on 120 patients revealed that patients with CD59 overexpression may have a worse prognosis. CD59 may therefore be a prognostic biomarker for poor outcome in breast cancer patients.

Differences in breast cancer characteristics and outcomes between Caucasian and Chinese women in the US.

Chinese breast cancer patients living in the United States (US) can experience different disease patterns than Caucasians, which might allow for predicting the future epidemiology of breast cancer in China. We aimed to compare the clinicopathologic characteristics and outcomes of Caucasian and Chinese female breast cancer patients residing in the US. The study cohort consisted of 3868 Chinese and 208621 Caucasian women (diagnosed from 1990 to 2009) in the US Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Compared with the Caucasian patients, the US-residing Chinese patients had a younger age at diagnosis and a higher family income, remained married longer, and more frequently lived in metropolitan areas. Other tumor characteristics were similarly distributed between the two races. Compared with the Caucasians, the Chinese patients had a significantly improved overall survival (OS) but similar breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS). Our analysis suggested that US-residing Chinese patients had significant differences in age, family income, marital status and area of residence, compared with their Caucasian counterparts. No significant disparities were noted in BCSS between the two races, whereas the Chinese patients had a significantly better OS. These findings warrant further investigation and should be considered in the screening and treatment of breast cancer.

Clinical and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy based on primary tumor reduction is correlated to survival in hormone receptor-positive but not hormone receptor-negative locally advanced breast cancer.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the relationship between different methodologies for response evaluation and long-term survival estimation in patients underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) for breast cancer. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 569 patients who were diagnosed with LABC and received NCT followed by breast and axilla surgery. The RECIST 1.1 criteria and Miller-Payne (MP) grading scale were used to evaluate patient responses to NCT. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed to investigate the correlation between treatment response and long-term patient survival. RESULTS: Clinical response (RFS [P < 0.001]; OS [P = 0.003]), pathological response evaluated by pCR (RFS [P < 0.001]; OS [P < 0.001]), and MP grade (RFS [P < 0.001]; OS [P < 0.001]) were significant predictors of risks of relapse and survival. However, in hormone receptor-positive (ER and/or PR+) subtypes, the clinical response (P = 0.004 for Luminal-A and P = 0.038 for Luminal-B) and MP grade (P = 0.002 for Luminal-A and P < 0.001 for Luminal-B) significantly predicted RFS independently according to multivariate Cox regression model. MP grade (P = 0.015 for Luminal-A and P = 0.009 for Luminal-B) also was an independent predictor of patients' OS. However, these two methods failed to predict patient survival in hormone receptor-negative (ER and PR-) subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the value of response evaluation methods varies for different breast cancer subtypes. Conceiving of further prospective approaches for new individualized response-evaluation models are needed in the neoadjuvant setting.

Silencing MAP3K1 expression through RNA interference enhances paclitaxel-induced cell cycle arrest in human breast cancer cells.

The objective of this study is to compare the expression level of MAP3K1 between normal mammary gland cells and breast cancer cells, and to analyze the effects of silencing MAP3K1 on breast cancer cells with paclitaxel treatment. Western blotting analysis was used to detect the expression level of MAP3K1 in MCF-7 and MCF-12F cells. The effect of gene silencing through different siRNAs was determined by realtime-PCR. MTT assay was used to test the cell proliferation. Cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. MAP3K1 protein expression level in breast cancer cells was higher than that in normal mammary gland cells. MAP3K1 siRNA transfection significantly reduced the expression level of MAP3K1, and enhanced paclitaxel-induced cell proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest in breast cancer cells. Targeting MAP3K1 expression through small RNA interference can promote the therapeutic effects of paclitaxel in breast cancer.