The expression profiles of chemokines, innate immune and apoptotic genes in tumors caused by Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV-A) in chickens.

Innate immune genes play an important role in the immune responses to Rous sarcoma virus (RSV)-induced tumor formation and metastasis. Here, we determined in vivo expression of chemokines, innate immune and apoptotic genes in Synthetic Broiler Dam Line (SDL) chickens following RSV-A infection. The mRNA expression of genes was determined at the primary site of infection and in different organs of progressor, regressor and non-responder chicks, using RT-qPCR. Our results indicated a significant upregulation of: (1) chemokines, such as MIP1ß and RANTES, (2) the innate immune gene TLR4, and (3) p53, a tumor-suppressor gene, at the site of primary infection in progressor chickens. In contrast, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression was significantly downregulated in progressor chicks compared to uninfected, control chicks. All of the innate immune genes were significantly upregulated in the lungs and liver of the progressor and regressor chicks compared to control chicks. In the spleen of progressor chicks, RANTES, iNOS and p53 gene expression were significantly increased, whereas MIP1ß and TLR4 gene expression was significantly downregulated, compared to control chicks. The lungs and livers of non-responder chicks expressed a low level of iNOS and MIP1ß, whereas RANTES, TLR4, and p53 gene expression were significantly upregulated compared to uninfected control chicks. In addition, there was a significant downregulation of RANTES, MIP1ß, and TLR4 gene expression in non-responder chicks. These results suggest the different response to infection of chicks with RSV-A is due to differential changes in the expression of innate immune genes in different organs.

Cytokine gene expression following RSV-A infection.

The present study determines the cytokine gene expression in chickens following RSV-A infection, using RT-qPCR. In susceptible chickens tumors progressed to  fulminating metastatic tumors while it regressed in  regressors  chickens and some resistant non-responder chickens did not respond to RSV-A infection and thus did not develop tumors at all. The in vivo expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, Th1 cytokines and Th2 cytokines was determined at the primary site of infection, as well as in different organs of progressor, regressor and non-responder chicks at different time intervals. Our results indicated a significant upregulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-6 and IL-8, in all the organs of progressor chicks, while they were significantly lower in regressor and non-responder chicks. The expression of the Th1 cytokines IFN-γ and TNF-α was low in all of the organs of the progressor group, except that in  spleen. In contrast, regressor and non-responder groups showed high expression of IFN-γ and TNF-α. Further, there was an early upregulation of the expression of the Th2 cytokine, IL-10, TGF-ß and GM-CSF, in all of the organs of progressors as compared to uninfected control.

Cariprazine, A Dopamine D2/D3 Receptor Partial Agonist, Modulates ABCG2-Mediated Multidrug Resistance in Cancer.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a continuing clinical problem that limits the efficacy of chemotherapy in cancer. The over expression of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) family G2 (ABCG2) transporter is one of the main mechanisms that mediates MDR in cancer. Molecular modeling data indicated that cariprazine, a dopamine D2/D3 receptor partial agonist, had a significant binding affinity for ABCG2 transporter with a Glide XP score of -6.515. Therefore, in this in vitro study, we determined the effect of cariprazine on MDR resulting from the overexpression of ABCG2 transporters. Alone, cariprazine, at concentrations up to 20 µM, did not significantly decrease cell viability. Cariprazine, at concentrations ranging from 1 to 10 µM, did not significantly alter the cytotoxicity of mitoxantrone (MX) in the parental non-small cell cancer cell line, H460 and colon cancer cell S1. However, cariprazine (1⁻20 µM) significantly enhanced the efficacy of ABCG2 substrate antineoplastic drug MX in the ABCG2-overexpressing MDR cell line, H460-MX20 and S1M1-80, by reducing the resistance fold from 28 to 1 and from 93 to 1.33, respectively. Cariprazine, in a concentration-dependent (1⁻20 µM), significantly increased the intracellular accumulation of Rhodamine 123 in S1M1-80. Interestingly, 10 or 20 µM of cariprazine significantly decreased the expression levels of the ABCG2 protein in the colon and lung cancer cell lines, suggesting that cariprazine inhibits both the function and expression of ABCG2 transporters at nontoxic concentrations. Overall, our results suggest that cariprazine, via several distinct mechanisms, can resensitize resistant cancer cells to mitoxantrone.

Enhanced expression of PD L1 in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and cervical cancers.

Programmed death ligand 1 (PD L1) expression can reduce the immune response in both infectious diseases and cancers. We thus examined PD L1 expression in cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINs) and cancers since they each reflect infection by human papillomavirus (HPV). PD L1 protein was not evident by immunohistochemistry in histologically normal cervical epithelia (0/55) even when adjacent to CIN or cancer. PD L1 expression was much increased in CINs (20/21=95%) and cervical squamous cell cancer (56/70=80%) and localized to the dysplastic/neoplastic squamous cells and mononuclear cells, respectively. There was also a significant increase (each P<0.001) in PD L1 detection in mononuclear cells when comparing cervical squamous cell cancers to endometrial (22/115=19%) and ovarian adenocarcinomas (5/40=13%). Co-expression analyses showed that the primary inflammatory cell that contained PD L1 was the CD8+ lymphocyte that strongly concentrated around the dysplastic CIN cells and nests of invasive squamous cancer cells. These data show that PD L1 is a solid biomarker of productive HPV infection of the cervix and that it is significantly upregulated in both the carcinoma and surrounding inflammatory cells in cervical cancer when compared with other gynecologic malignancies. This suggests that anti-PD L1 therapy may have a role in the treatment of cervical cancer.