CENPE promotes glioblastomas proliferation by directly binding to WEE1.

BACKGROUND: Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most lethal tumors. Even though radiotherapy and chemotherapy have been greatly developed, the survival of patients with GBM is still only about 16 months. METHODS: In this assay, centromere protein E (CENPE) expression levels were measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot (WB) assays. 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EDU) assay was used to assess the effect of CENPE on cell proliferation. The propidium iodide (PI) method was used to detect the cell cycle. RESULTS: CENPE expression was increased in GBM tissues and was associated with clinical stage and unfavorable overall survival in glioma patients. Inhibition of CENPE expression resulted in proliferation inhibition of U251 and U87 cell. Cell cycle assay showed that CENPE mainly regulates the G0-G1 and G2/M phase transitions. Then, we found that CENPE regulated the proliferation of GBM mainly through WEE1 G2 checkpoint kinase (WEE1) pathway and can bind to WEE1. CONCLUSIONS: CENPE promotes GBM proliferation through WEE1 pathway and binding to WEE1.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of carbapenemase-producing gram-negative bacteria from a university hospital in China.

BACKGROUND: The increasing emergence of carbapenem resistance in gram-negative bacteria associated with carbapenemase prompted the initiation of this study. METHODS: A total of 3139 gram-negative bacteria were recovered from a 3380-bed university hospital in Wenzhou during 2008 and 2012. Antimicrobial susceptibility was determined using the VITEK2 Compact System and agar dilution method. The phenotype and genotype of carbapenemase were demonstrated using the modified Hodge test, PCR and sequencing. A conjugation experiment was performed to reveal the transferability of resistant genes. The location of the carbapenemase gene was studied by plasmid analysis and southern blot hybridization. Clonal relatedness of the isolates was investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). RESULTS: Overall, 751 of 3139 isolates (71/2055 Enterobacteriaceae, 510/620 Acinetobacter baumannii and 170/464 Pseudomonas aeruginosa) exhibited resistance to carbapenem. Carbapenemase-encoding genes were detected in 70.4% (50/71) of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, including blaKPC (80%) and blaIMP (20%). All A. baumannii subjected to genotype analysis were positive for blaOXA-51-like and co-harboured blaOXA-23-like (80.4%) and blaIMP (7.8%). ISAba1 was found upstream of blaOXA-23-like and blaOXA-51-like. Eight and seven strains of 170 P. aeruginosa carried blaIMP and blaVIM, respectively. PFGE analysis identified at least one dominant genotype in certain species. Four KPC-2-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae belonged to the same sequence type ST11. The plasmids carrying blaKPC were successfully transferred into recipient strains. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the challenge of increasing prevalence of carbapenem resistance associated with carbapenemase genes and dissemination of epidemic clones in Wenzhou, China.

Investigation of mechanisms and molecular epidemiology of linezolid nonsusceptible Enterococcus faecalis isolated from a teaching hospital in China.

The epidemiological and molecular characteristics of eight linezolid nonsusceptible Enterococcus faecalis isolated from a teaching hospital in China (January to July 2014) were investigated. The target site modifications and cfr gene associated with linezolid resistance were not found. Results of the epidemiological investigation indicated that linezolid resistance possibly occurred on several independent occasions and was often not related to linezolid administration.