Identifying the optimal gene and gene set in hepatocellular carcinoma based on differential expression and differential co-expression algorithm.

The objective of this study was to identify the optimal gene and gene set for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) utilizing differential expression and differential co-expression (DEDC) algorithm. The DEDC algorithm consisted of four parts: calculating differential expression (DE) by absolute t-value in t-statistics; computing differential co-expression (DC) based on Z-test; determining optimal thresholds on the basis of Chi-squared (χ2) maximization and the corresponding gene was the optimal gene; and evaluating functional relevance of genes categorized into different partitions to determine the optimal gene set with highest mean minimum functional information (FI) gain (Δ*G). The optimal thresholds divided genes into four partitions, high DE and high DC (HDE-HDC), high DE and low DC (HDE-LDC), low DE and high DC (LDE­HDC), and low DE and low DC (LDE-LDC). In addition, the optimal gene was validated by conducting reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The optimal threshold for DC and DE were 1.032 and 1.911, respectively. Using the optimal gene, the genes were divided into four partitions including: HDE-HDC (2,053 genes), HED-LDC (2,822 genes), LDE-HDC (2,622 genes), and LDE-LDC (6,169 genes). The optimal gene was microtubule­associated protein RP/EB family member 1 (MAPRE1), and RT-PCR assay validated the significant difference between the HCC and normal state. The optimal gene set was nucleoside metabolic process (GO\GO:0009116) with Δ*G = 18.681 and 24 HDE-HDC partitions in total. In conclusion, we successfully investigated the optimal gene, MAPRE1, and gene set, nucleoside metabolic process, which may be potential biomarkers for targeted therapy and provide significant insight for revealing the pathological mechanism underlying HCC.

C5a receptor enhances hepatocellular carcinoma cell invasiveness via activating ERK1/2-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

C5a and its receptor, C5a receptor (C5aR), play critical roles in tumor progression. However, mechanisms of C5a-C5aR axis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell invasiveness are not fully elucidated. In this study, we found that C5aR expression was highly expressed in HCC cell lines and tumor tissues, and associated with capsular invasion, tumor stage and some epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers. Activation of C5aR by C5a promoted HCC cell invasion and migration, whereas depletion of C5aR expression significantly impaired C5a-stimulated invasion and migration. Furthermore, we found that C5aR induced EMT in HCC cells, through downregulation of E-cadherin and Claudin-1 expression, and upregulation of Snail expression. Finally, we demonstrated that C5aR stimulated activation of ERK1/2, and ERK1/2 pathway was involved in C5aR-mediated EMT, cell invasion and migration of HCC cells. Thus, our data suggest that C5aR stimulates cell invasion and migration via ERK1/2-mediated EMT in HCC cells, and implicate that blocking C5aR expression has therapeutic promise to inhibit HCC invasiveness.

IL-33 Promotes Gastric Cancer Cell Invasion and Migration Via ST2-ERK1/2 Pathway.

BACKGROUND: As a pro-inflammatory cytokine, IL-33 has been demonstrated to play an important role in tumor progression. It is reported that IL-33 is highly expressed in the serum and tumor tissues of patients with gastric cancer. However, the function of IL-33 in gastric cancer remains elusive. We here tried to elucidate the effects of IL-33 on gastric cancer cell invasion and migration. METHODS: Invasion assay and migration assay were performed to assess the effects of IL-33 on gastric cancer cell invasion and migration. ST2 receptor was silenced by siRNA, and ERK1/2 pathway was inhibited by U0126. Protein levels of MMP-3 and IL-6 in cell supernatant were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: IL-33 promoted the invasion and migration of gastric cancer cells, in a dose-dependent manner. Knockdown of the IL-33 receptor ST2 attenuated the IL-33-mediated invasion and migration. Furthermore, via ST2 receptor, IL-33 induced the activation of ERK1/2 and increased the secretion of MMP-3 and IL-6. In addition, blockage of ERK1/2 pathway resulted in inhibition of invasion and migration induced by IL-33, and downregulation of MMP-3 and IL-6 production. CONCLUSIONS: IL-33 promotes gastric cancer cell invasion and migration by stimulating the secretion of MMP-3 and IL-6 via ST2-ERK1/2 pathway. Thus, IL-33 may be a useful marker for the diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer.

Evaluation of the pathogenicity of a field isolate of Marek's disease virus integrated with retroviral long terminal repeat sequence / 病毒学报

The pathogenicity of a field isolate of Marek's disease virus (MDV) named GXY2 integrated with retroviral long terminal repeat (LTR) sequence from a chicken with MD tumors was evaluated. Experimental chickens were divided into group A, B, C, D and E. The later four groups were vaccinated on one-day-old with CVI988/Rispens for group B and D, with HVT for group C and E, while group A was taken as no-vaccinated control. On 8-day-old, group A, B and C were challenged with GXY2 by intra-abdominal injection, group D and E were kept as un-challenged control. All the birds were raised routinely until 82 days post-challenge (PC), died birds during the experiment and the slaughtered birds at the end of the experiment were necropsied and examined for gross lesions of MD and further confirmed by a developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based differential diagnosis technique for avian neoplastic diseases. The results showed that time of onset of MD death of group A, B and C were PC 25, 77 and 29 days with the incidences of visible MD visceral tumors. On PC 82 days, tumor incidences and mortalities of group A, B and C were 72%, 34.8% and 50%, 84%, 21.7% and 20%, respectively. The vaccination protection of CVI988/Rispense and HVT were 51.67% and 30.56% respectively. Among all the visceral organs, heart had the highest tumor incidences (23.5%), and then followed by liver (14.7%) and gizzard (10.3%). The weight-gain of unvaccinated birds was significantly depressed and severe dystrophy of thymus and bursa of Fabricius were also found. The results of the study demonstrated that isolate GXY2 possessed the ability of causing acute tumors and overcoming the protection of the vaccinations of either CVI988/Rispense or HVT.

Pharmacodynamics of compound danshen pH-dependent delayed release pellets in dogs / 药学学报

<p><b>AIM</b>To prepare the compound danshen pH-dependent delayed release pellets and filled them in capsules and then study thier pharmacodynamics.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The pH-dependent delayed release pellets were prepared by coating with HPMC, Eudragit L-30D-55 and Eudragit L100-Eudragit S100 (1:6), separately, and mixed in proper proportion to prepare the two pH-dependent delayed release systems T1 and T2. The release of delayed release pellets was determined according to the method of China Pharmacopoeia (2000) in the simulated gastrointestinal pH conditions. The pharmacodynamic,parameters were evaluated by serum pharmacology method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The compound danshen pH-dependent delayed release pellets were prepared with the characteristics of pH dependent delayed release profile in vitro. In single oral dose, the pharmacodynamic parameters of rapid release tablets R Emax (%) and Tmax (h) were 34.63% and 0.58 h, respectively. Tmax S of delayed-release pellets T1 and T2 were extended to 2.42, 3.17 h and Emax S (%) were declined to 13.57%, 14.52%. The relative bioavailabilities of T1 and T2 were 99.3%, 133.6% , respectively. In multiple oral doses of R the pharmacodynamic parameter of DF was 7.32 and those T1, T2 DF were 3.40, 3.03, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The compound danshen pH-dependent delayed release capsules have characteristics of pH dependent releasing in vitro and characteristics of delayed release in vivo. In multiple oral (loses the DF of delayed release capsules was lower than that of rapid release tablet at steady state.</p>