Quantum conductivity in the topological surface state in the SbV3S5 kagome lattice.

We have successfully predicted the local topological bands in the frustrated kagome lattice SbV3S5. An important future research direction is to raise the kagome band with novel co-existing strong nonlinear dispersion and strong cohesion due to the anisotropic inner field of kagome SbV3S5 to the Fermi level. The Z2 topological index of T-invariant systems provides evidence for a σyz near the Fermi level that determines the quantum anomalous Hall state. This shows that the quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE) phase of the kagome lattice SbV3S5 has a weak topological stability that is sensitive to weak disorder and field interactions. Neighbouring van Hove singularities near the Fermi level induced a quantum anomalous Hall conductivity and charge density wave platform.

Loss of Fingerprints as a Side Effect of Capecitabine Therapy: Case Report and Literature Review.

Hand-foot syndrome (HFS) is the main side effect of capecitabine and affects the compression zones of the body such as the palms and soles, causing numbness, paresthesias, skin swelling or erythema, scaling, chapping, hard nodule-like blisters, and severe pain. Loss of fingerprints is also observed in some cases. Severe cases of HFS are common in the review of clinical reports. However, loss of fingerprints has not received significant attention. Two reported cases of loss of fingerprints in The New England Journal of Medicine and The BMJ have drawn attention to this side effect of capecitabine. Loss of fingerprints has a serious impact on patients' daily life, especially on personal identification. This report describes a patient who lost her fingerprints during the early stage of chemotherapy. Our aim is to draw the medical profession's attention to this problem.

hnRNPA2/B1 activates cyclooxygenase-2 and promotes tumor growth in human lung cancers.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is highly expressed in tumor cells and has been regarded as a hallmarker for cancers, but the excise regulatory mechanism of COX-2 in tumorigenesis remains largely unknown. Here, we pulled down and identified a novel COX-2 regulator, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNPA2/B1), which could specifically bind to COX-2 core promoter and regulate tumor growth in non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Knockdown of hnRNPA2/B1 by shRNA or siRNA downregulated COX-2 expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production, and suppressed tumor cell growth in NSCLC cells in vitro and in vivo. Conversely, overexpression of hnRNPA2/B1 up-regulated the levels of COX-2 and PGE2 and promoted tumor cell growth. We also showed that hnRNPA2/B1 expression was positively correlated with COX-2 expression in NSCLC cell lines and tumor tissues, and the up-regulated expression of hnRNPA2/B1 and COX-2 predicted worse prognosis in NSCLC patients. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the activation of COX-2 expression by hnRNPA2/B1 was mediated through the cooperation with p300, a transcriptional co-activator, in NSCLC cells. The hnRNPA2/B1 could interact with p300 directly and be acetylated by p300. Exogenous overexpression of p300, but not its histone acetyltransferase (HAT) domain deletion mutation, augmented the acetylation of hnRNPA2/B1 and enhanced its binding on COX-2 promoter, thereby promoted COX-2 expression and lung cancer cell growth. Collectively, our results demonstrate that hnRNPA2/B1 promotes tumor cell growth by activating COX-2 signaling in NSCLC cells and imply that the hnRNPA2/B1/COX-2 pathway may be a potential therapeutic target for human lung cancers.

Anti-cancer effects of 2-oxoquinoline derivatives on the HCT116 and LoVo human colon cancer cell lines.

The present study demonstrated the anti-tumor effects of the quinoline derivative [5-(3-chloro-oxo-4-phenyl-cyclobutyl)-quinoli-8-yl-oxy] acetic acid hydrazide (CQAH) against colorectal carcinoma. Substantial apoptotic effects of CQAH on HCT116 and LoVo human colon cancer cell lines were observed. Apoptosis was identified based on cell morphological characteristics, including cell shrinkage and chromatin condensation as well as Annexin V/propidium iodide double staining followed by flow cytometric analysis and detection of apoptosis-associated proteins by western blot analysis. CQAH induced caspase-3 and PARP cleavage, reduced the expression of the anti-apoptotic proteins myeloid cell leukemia-1 and B-cell lymphoma (Bcl) extra large protein and elevated the expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 homologous antagonist killer. In addition, pharmacological inhibition of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), but not extracellular signal-regulated kinase or p38, significantly reduced CQAH-mediated cell death as well as cleavage of caspase-3 and PARP. Co-treatment of CQAH with the commercial chemotherapeutics 5-fluorouracil and camptothecin-11 significantly improved their efficacies. Comparison of the apoptotic effects of CQAH with those of two illustrated structure-activity associations for this compound type, indicating that substitution at position-4 of the azetidine phenyl ring is pivotal for inducing apoptosis. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicated CQAH and its analogues are potent candidate drugs for the treatment of colon carcinoma.

Effects of cinobufacini injection on cell proliferation and the expression of topoisomerases in human HepG-2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of cinobufacini injection on the proliferation and expression of topoisomerases in human HepG-2 hepatocarcinoma cells. The cells were divided into a control group and an experimental group, in which 0.105, 0.21, 0.42 mg/l cinobufacini was injected. Cell proliferation was assessed using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, levels of apoptosis were detected using annexin V/propidium iodide staining and cell cycles were analyzed using flow cytometric analysis. The mRNA and protein expression levels of topoisomerase (TOPO) I and TOPO II were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. Cinobufacini injection significantly inhibited the proliferation of the HepG-2 cells (P<0.05), induced apoptosis (P<0.05) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, induced tumor cell arrest at the S phase in a dose-dependent manner, and downregulated the mRNA and protein expression levels of TOPO I and TOPO II (P<0.05) in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, cinobufacini was found to inhibit human HepG-2 hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation, and downregulation of the expression levels of TOPO I and TOPO II may contribute to the effect on proliferation observed in the Hep­G2 cells following cinobbufacini injection.

Rapid detection of genetic mutations in individual breast cancer patients by next-generation DNA sequencing.

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Breast cancers are heterogenous and exist in many different subtypes (luminal A, luminal B, triple negative, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressing), and each subtype displays distinct characteristics, responses to treatment, and patient outcomes. In addition to varying immunohistochemical properties, each subtype contains a distinct gene mutation profile which has yet to be fully defined. Patient treatment is currently guided by hormone receptor status and HER2 expression, but accumulating evidence suggests that genetic mutations also influence drug responses and patient survival. Thus, identifying the unique gene mutation pattern in each breast cancer subtype will further improve personalized treatment and outcomes for breast cancer patients. In this study, we used the Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM) and Ion Torrent AmpliSeq Cancer Panel to sequence 737 mutational hotspot regions from 45 cancer-related genes to identify genetic mutations in 80 breast cancer samples of various subtypes from Chinese patients. Analysis revealed frequent missense and combination mutations in PIK3CA and TP53, infrequent mutations in PTEN, and uncommon combination mutations in luminal-type cancers in other genes including BRAF, GNAS, IDH1, and KRAS. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using Ion Torrent sequencing technology to reliably detect gene mutations in a clinical setting in order to guide personalized drug treatments or combination therapies to ultimately target individual, breast cancer-specific mutations.

Identification of differentially expressed genes in mouse hepatocarcinoma ascites cell line with low potential of lymphogenous metastasis.

AIM: To identify genes differentially expressed in mouse hepatocarcinoma ascites cell line with low potential of lymphogenous metastasis. METHODS: A subtracted cDNA library of mouse hepatocarcinoma cell line with low potential of lympho-genous metastasis Hca-P and its synogenetic cell line Hca-F with high metastatic potential was constructed by suppression subtracted hybridization (SSH) method. The screened clones of the subtracted library were sequenced and GenBank homology search was performed. RESULTS: Fifteen differentially expressed cDNA fragments of Hca-P were obtained which revealed 8 known genes, 4 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and 3 cDNAs showed no homology. CONCLUSION: Tumor metastasis is an incident involving multiple genes. SSH is a useful technique to detect differentially expressed genes and an effective method to clone novel genes.