HMGB1-mediated autophagy confers resistance to gemcitabine in hormone-independent prostate cancer cells.

As a main treatment of prostate cancer, castration therapy has been widely applied in the clinic. However, the therapeutic strategy for hormone-independent prostate cancer (HIPC) was not satisfied. Gemcitabine is an important chemotherapeutic agent that has been approved for the treatment of numerous human solid tumors, including HIPC, whereas the gemcitabine resistance has become a serious problem in clinical chemotherapy. In the present study, the mechanisms of resistance to gemcitabine were investigated in HIPC cell lines. The results demonstrated that the autophagy markers were induced significantly in HIPC cells subsequent to gemcitabine treatment. Meanwhile, administration of gemcitabine to HIPC cells increased the expression of high mobility group box1 (HMGB1). Furthermore, the gemcitabine-induced autophagy response was attenuated in stable HIPC cells harboring HMGB1 shRNA. Notably, the HIPC cells stably transfected with HMGB1 shRNA or treated with autophagy inhibitors were more sensitive to gemcitabine compared with the control group. These data suggested that inhibition of HMGB1 increased the sensitivity to gemcitabine by decreasing autophagy response in HIPC cells. Overall, the present findings demonstrate a new mechanism for the resistance to gemcitabine in HIPC cell lines.

[Prokaryotic expression, purification and identification of NY-ESO-1/GST fusion protein in E.coli].

AIM: To construct an expression plasmid for NY-ESO-1 gene and identify the expression of recombinant protein NY-ESO-1/GST in E.coli. METHODS: NY-ESO-1 segment was amplified from the testis cDNA library by RT-PCR and cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pGEX4T-1 downstream tagged by GST to construct the expression plasmid pGEX-4T1-NY-ESO-1. The recombinant vector was transformed to BL21 (DE3) and NY-ESO-1/GST fusion protein was induced expression by IPTG. The protein was purified by urea elution and identified by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. RESULTS: The NY-ESO-1 segment was successfully amplified and its sequence was identical with that published in GenBank. The BL21 (DE3) pLysS containing the pGEX-4T1-NY-ESO-1 expressed a M(r); 44 000 fusion protein under the induction of IPTG. The purity of the protein was 90%. Western blotting proved that NY-ESO-1/GST had a specific reaction with anti-GST mAb. CONCLUSION: The prokaryotic expression vector of NY-ESO-1 has been constructed and the fusion protein NY-ESO-1/GST of high purity is successfully expressed.

[The study of changes on NKT cells of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice].

AIM: To observe the changes of the number of NKT cells in spleens and livers of induced model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), and to study the role NKT cells play in the immunoregulation of EAE. METHODS: C57BL/6 mice were immunized with MOG (35-55) peptide and received clinical evaluation daily. The mice were sacrificed at the fastigium and the splenic and hepatic lymphocytes were isolated. The changes of NKT cells in normal and EAE C57BL/6 mice were detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The percent of NKT cells in lymphocytes of different organs of EAE model were greater decreased than in that of normal mice. The percent of NKT cells in splenic lymphocytes of normal mice was 2.22+/-0.14, while that in EAE mice was 1.94+/-0.07 (P<0.05). The percent of NKT cells in hepatic lymphocytes of normal mice was 5.52+/-2.17, while that in EAE mice was 2.67+/-1.41 (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The proliferation of splenic and hepatic NKT cells in C57BL/6 mice are inhibited in EAE model, which may indicate that the immune function conducted by NKT cell is down regulated in EAE mice.

[Prokaryotic expression, purification and identification of VEGFR2 D3.4/GST fusion protein in E.coli].

AIM: To construct a prokaryotic expression vector for the expression of VEGFR2 D3.4/GST fusion protein, Express and purify the fusion protein. METHODS: The coding sequence of the third and fourth extracellular domain of human VEGFR2 gene fragment was synthesized and subcloned into pGEX4T-1 vector downstream of the GST fragment, an E.coli expression vector, to construct a recombinant plasmid pGEX4T-VEGFR D3.4. Then the plasmid was transformed into E.coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS and induced to express fusion protein VEGFR2 D3.4/GST with IPTG. The expressed protein was purified by washing in urea and detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blot. RESULTS: SDS-PAGE analysis showed that a novel protein with the expected molecular mass (M(r);) about 46 000 was expressed with the inducement of IPTG. And it existed mostly in the form of inclusion body. Grayscale scanning showed that the expressed VEGFR2 D3.4/GST fusion protein accounted for 38.6% of the total bacterium protein. After the purified product was washed by urea, its purity reached 87.1%. Western blot confirmed the recombinant protein was VEGFR2 D3.4/GST fusion protein. CONCLUSION: High purification VEGFR2 D3.4/GST fusion protein is obtained through the E.coli expression system.