Multi-Omics of Pine Wood Nematode Pathogenicity Associated With Culturable Associated Microbiota Through an Artificial Assembly Approach.

Pinewood nematode (PWN), the causal agent of pine wilt disease (PWD), causes massive global losses of Pinus species each year. Bacteria and fungi existing in symbiosis with PWN are closely linked with the pathogenesis of PWD, but the relationship between PWN pathogenicity and the associated microbiota is still ambiguous. This study explored the relationship between microbes and the pathogenicity of PWN by establishing a PWN-associated microbe library, and used this library to generate five artificial PWN-microbe symbiont (APMS) assemblies with gnotobiotic PWNs. The fungal and bacterial communities of different APMSs (the microbiome) were explored by next-generation sequencing. Furthermore, different APMSs were used to inoculate the same Masson pine (Pinus massoniana) cultivar, and multi-omics (metabolome, phenomics, and transcriptome) data were obtained to represent the pathogenicity of different APMSs at 14 days post-inoculation (dpi). Significant positive correlations were observed between microbiome and transcriptome or metabolome data, but microbiome data were negatively correlated with the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in the host. Five response genes, four fungal genera, four bacterial genera, and nineteen induced metabolites were positively correlated with the ROS level, while seven induced metabolites were negatively correlated. To further explore the function of PWN-associated microbes, single genera of functional microbes (Mb1-Mb8) were reloaded onto gnotobiotic PWNs and used to inoculate pine tree seedlings. Three of the genera (Cladophialophora, Ochroconis, and Flavobacterium) decreased the ROS level of the host pine trees, while only one genus (Penicillium) significantly increased the ROS level of the host pine tree seedlings. These results demonstrate a clear relationship between associated microbes and the pathogenicity of PWN, and expand the knowledge on the interaction between PWD-induced forest decline and the PWN-associated microbiome.

The Predictive Value of Circulating Tumor Cells in Ovarian Cancer: A Meta Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Studies have confirmed that patients with circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in their peripheral blood (PB) or disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in bone marrow (BM) might have bad prognosis. In this paper, we discuss whether CTCs/DTCs would be an appropriate biomarker to predict the prognosis of ovarian cancer. METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure to collect relevant studies published from the time the database were created to February 2014. Studies quality was assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The effect size was estimated by hazard ratio (HR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Meta-analysis was conducted with STATA Version 12.0. RESULTS: Eight studies of 1184 patients were included in the final analysis. In the PB group, it showed that patients with positive CTCs had significantly shorter overall survival and disease-free survival than patients with negative CTCs (HR, 2.09; CI, 1.13-3.88 and HR, 1.72; CI, 1.32-2.25, respectively). The same result was shown with DTCs in the BM group (HR, 1.61; CI, 1.27-2.04 and HR, 1.44; CI, 1.15-1.80, respectively). We also discussed the influence of CTCs/DTCs on International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, pathological grade with odds ratio and 95% CI. However, it did not show any statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: The CTCs/DTCs might be a new biomarker to predict the prognosis of ovarian cancer. Future studies are needed to confirm this consequence.

miR-101 inhibits the G1-to-S phase transition of cervical cancer cells by targeting Fos.

OBJECTIVES: The chief objective of this study was to identify the miRNAs targeting Fos, a well-recognized proto-oncogene that is commonly overexpressed in cervical cancer, and its biological significance on the cellular behaviors of HeLa, a cervical cancer cell. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We initially analyzed the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of Fos and screened the potential miRNAs targeting Fos using 3 bioinformatical Web sites. Luciferase reporter assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting were used to validate the binding of chosen miRNA (miR-101) on the 3'UTR of Fos and the downstream regulation on its mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, flow cytometry along with the Fos rescue strategy was applied to analyze the modulation of cell cycle of HeLa cells by miR-101. RESULTS: Among these predicted candidate miRNAs, miR-101 was the miRNAs preferred by all the 3 used Web sites. The results of luciferase reporter assay, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting demonstrated that miR-101 directly targeted on the 3'UTR of Fos and down-regulated the expression of Fos at mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis showed that miR-101 arrests G1-to-S phase transition of HeLa cells, at least partially by targeting Fos. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that by targeting the proto-oncogene Fos, miR-101 is involved in G1-to-S phase transition in cervical cancer cells in vitro and might provide a new approach for the pharmacological interference node in cervical cancer treatment.