Establishment of esophageal squamous carcinoma cell lines with different invasive metastatic potential and differential gene screening.

The present study aimed to establish esophageal squamous carcinoma cell (ESCC) sublines with different invasive and metastatic potentials. Gene microarrays were used for differential gene screening with the establishment of ESCC invasive metastatic gene expression profiles. Some differential gene expressions were validated. Parent line Eca109-T0 was screened in a Transwell chamber to establish Eca109-T4 with high invasion and metastasis. The migrative and proliferative capacities of ESCCs were compared. The Eca109-T0 and Eca109-T4 cell lines were taken as the research objects and were hybridized with gene chips to obtain cell sublines for the screening of differential genes of ESCCs with varying invasive and metastatic potentials. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) clustering analyses were conducted. Some differential genes (HSP90AA1, ANXA1, YWHAB, CXCR7, SDC2, and TNFRSF10D messenger ribonucleic acid) were validated by qualitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis. As a result, some Eca109-T4 ESCC sublines with high invasive and metastatic potential were screened in a Transwell chamber. The gene chip analysis screened out 326 differential genes, of which 123 were upregulated and 203 were downregulated by Eca109-T4. The GO cluster analysis indicated that the genes were in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and cytosol. The molecular functions of these genes involved the binding of proteins and metal ions and participation in biological processes, including cell signal transduction, transcription, and apoptosis. The KEGG clustering showed that these genes were mainly involved in signaling pathways, such as actin cytoskeleton regulation, the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, and the cancer pathway. The validation results were basically consistent with the gene microarray screening results. In Eca109-T4 and CE81T-4, HSP90AA1, YWHAB, and CXCR7 were highly expressed, while the expression of ANXA1 was low. In conclusion esophageal squamous carcinoma cell models with different invasive and metastatic potentials were established. The establishment of differential gene expression profiles for invasion and metastasis together with a bioinformatics analysis provided rich information for studies related to ESCC invasion and metastasis. HSP90α, 14-3-3ß, and CXCR7 were highly expressed in ESCCs with high invasion and metastasis, while Annexin A1 was highly expressed in ESCCs with low metastasis.

Suppression of PPN/MG61 attenuates Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway and induces apoptosis in human lung cancer.

Wingless and int homologue (Wnt) family proteins have been shown to have important roles in the decision of cell fate and behavior at multiple stages during the development and tumorigenesis. One of the Drosophila segment polarity genes, porcupine (porc) gene, encodes an evolutionarily conserved endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein involving in the post-translational processing of the Wnt family proteins. Here, we report that human homologue of Drosophila porc gene, PPN/MG61, was abundantly expressed in human cancer cell lines, but not in normal cells. We also found that PPN/MG61 was overexpressed in primary lung cancer tissue samples, compared to their matched normal tissue samples. Furthermore, when we used small interfering RNA to knock down PPN/MG61 mRNA in lung cancer cells expressing the gene, we observed apoptosis induction, along with decreased activity of Wnt pathway in those lung cancer cells. These data suggest that PPN/MG61 may be a novel marker for human lung cancer and that post-translational modification of the Wnt signal molecules by PPN/MG61 may be important for the function of Wnt pathway in lung cancer.

[Dot-ELISA in the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis].

The dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect Cysticercus cellulosae antibodies in sera of patients with neurocysticercosis. Among 108 confirmed cases of neurocysticercosis 81.6-96.1% showed positive reactions. Two out of 54 normal control sera reacted at a serum dilution of 1:20, but none at a 1:40 (range 40-640). No cross reactions were observed with sera from cases of paragonimiasis and clonorchiasis, but it did occur to some extent with sera from cases of echinococcosis and cerebrovascular diseases. The results indicated that the dot-ELISA was sensitive, specific and economic for the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis.