Effects of PKCαantisense RNA on human breast cancer cell proliferation and expression of cyclinDl and CDK4

The role of PKCα in human breast cancer cell proliferation and expression of cyclinD1 and CDK4 has been investigated using inhibition of PKCα expression by its antisense RNA. When PKCα expression was inhibited the rate of cell proliferation decreased apparently and the levels of cyclinD1 and CDK4 mRNA were lower than the control. The results showed that PKCα, a key member of signal transduction system, played an important role in human breast cancer cell proliferation and had a close relationship with expression of cyclinD1 and CDK4 which control start of cell cycle.     

Myofibrillogenesis regulator-1 promotes cell adhesion and migration in human hepatoma cells

Myofibrillogenesis regulator-1 (MR-1) is a gene overexpressed usually in many human cancers. However, the effects of MR-1 on cell proliferation, adhesion, migration and genome-wide gene regulation are still unclear. In this study, a human hepatoma cell line that highly overexpresses MR-1, BEL-7402/MR-1 cells was established. While the high expression of MR-1 did not promote cell proliferation, it significantly increased cell spreading, adhesion and migration compared with control cells. A total of 147 genes were regulated by MR-1 expression, 46 genes were down-regulated and 101 genes were up-regulated by MR-1 overexpression. Many of these genes were related to cell adhesion, cytoskeletal regulation, MAPK signaling, and cell cycle related pathways. Western blot analysis further confirmed the regulation of pathways associated with migration by MR-1. These results suggest that MR-1 is involved in the regulation of cancer cell adhesion, migration and related gene expression.     

The molecular mechanism of different sensitivity of breast cancer cell lines to TRAIL

Although Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces apoptosis of various cancer cells, some caner cell lines are resistant to TRAIL-induced cell death. To investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying TRAIL-resistance, two human breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 (resistant to TRAIL) and MDA-MB-231 (sensitive to TRAIL), were used as a model system to analyze the different sensitivities to TRAIL cytotoxicity. PKCδ inhibitor rottlerin, but not MEK and ERK1/2 inhibitor U0126 nor PI3K inhibitor LY294002, was shown to enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells significantly, suggesting that PKCδ might play an important role in the resistance of MCF-7 cells to TRAIL. In contrast, rottlerin, U0126, and Ly294002 had no effect on MDA-MB-231 apoptosis induced by TRAIL under the same conditions. Further experiment showed that the combination of rottlerin and TRAIL cleaved PARP in the MCF-7 cells synergistically, but not in the MDA-MB-231 cells. The role of PKCδ in TRAIL-resistant MCF-7 cells was confirmed by knocking down the endogenous PKCδ expression using RNAi technology. Furthermore, caspase-3 reconstitution in MCF-7 cells was unable to alter PKCδ expression, suggesting that innate caspase-3 deficient in the cells does not cause PKCδ high expression. These data provide evidence for the first time that PKCδ plays a critical role in breast cancer cell lines to TRAIL cytotoxicity.     

Homoharringtonine induces apoptosis of endothelium and down－regulates VEGF expression of K562 cells

Homoharringtonine (HHT) has currently been used successfully in the treatment of acute and chronic myeloid leukemias and has been shown to induce apoptosis of different types of leukemic cells in vitro. Emerging evidence suggests that angiogenesis may play an important role in hematological malignancies, such as leukemia. However, whether HHT can relieve leukemia by anti-angiogenesis is still unknown. We investigated the anti-angiogenesis potential of HHT with the human umbilical vein endothelial cell line (ECV304) and leukemic cell line (K562) in vitro. Cellular proliferation was determined by MTT assay and apoptosis was analyzed by flow cytometry, The mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was assessed by RT-PCR and VEGF protein production was detected by Western blot. Inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis by HHT were discovered in ECV304 cells, and appeared in a dose- and time-dependent manner, Also, treatment with HHT caused down-regulation of VEGF mRNA expression in K562 cells in similar dose- and time-dependent manner and inhibition of VEGF protein production in K562 cells in response to the enhancing concentration of HHT. The results demonstrated that HHT could also induce apoptosis in endothelium and down-regulate VEGF expression in K562 cells. In conclusion, we believe HHT has anti-angiogenesis potential and speculate that HHT might exert its anti-leukemia effects via reduction of angiogenesis.     

Upregulation of annexin A5 affects the biological behaviors of lung squamous carcinoma cells in vitro

Annexin A5 is a Ca2＋-dependent phospholipid- binding protein and protein kinase C inhibitory protein. It has a potential role in cellular signal transduction, inflam- mation, growth and differentiation. In this study, we evaluated the expression of this protein in lung tumor tis- sues and subsequently established a NCI-H520 cell line that stably expresses the wild-type ANXA5 gene to deter- mine the effects of annexin A5 upregulation on the cell morphology, proliferation and metastasis potential in vitro. The effects of annexin A5 on NCI-H520 cells were tested by crystal violet staining, CCK-8 assay, scratch wound assay, and Transwell assay. The expressions of Akt, PCNA, vimentin, and E-cadherin were examined by Western blot assay. In this study, we demonstrated that annexin A5 is expressed at lower levels in tumor tissues compared with normal tissues. Additionally, the upregu- lation of this protein may inhibit the proliferation, migra- tion, and invasion abilities of NCI-H520 cells in vitro. Thetransfected cells were arrested in the G1/S phase of the cell cycle, and the expression levels of Akt, PCNA and Vimentin were downregulated, while E-cadherin was upregulated.     

Role of VEGF in the growth and metastasis of a murine bladder carcinoma

Bladder transitional cell carcinoma is the most common form of carcinoma in the urinary system. Although overexpression of VEGF has been identified in tissue, serum,and urine of patients with bladder cancer, the role of VEGF in transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder has not been clearly elucidated. Here, we dissected the effect of VEGF during bladder tumor growth and progression by modifying a BBN (N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine) induced mouse bladder transitional cell carcinoma cell line BTT-T739 by stable transfection of antisense VEGF121 cDNA. The transfection resulted in-more than 80% reduction in VEGF production. The growth of the transduced tumor cells in vitro was not affected, however, these cells formed small or no tumors in vivo. Even in the tumors formed, there were minimal vascularization, extensive necrosis and longer latency compared to those formed by parental cells. The permeability of tumor vasrulatuce and metastatic tumor growth were also significantly suppressed in antisense VEGF cDNA transfected cells. In addition, the transfer of anti-angiogenic gene in a rumbination of sFlk-I and ExTek with electroporation can suppress the tumor growth efficiently. Taken together,these results demonstrated that VEGF plays an important role in bladder tumor angiogenesis and angiogenesis plays an important role in bladder tumor growth and metastasis.     

Molecular structure and biological function of proliferating cell nuclear antigen

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is the core component of replication complex in eukaryote. As a processive factor of DNA polymerase delta, PCNA coordinates the replication process by interacting with various replication proteins. PCNA appears to play an essential role in many cell events, such as DNA damage repair, cell cycle regulation, and apoptosis, through the coordination or organization of different partners. PCNA is an essential factor in cell proliferation, and has clinical significance in tumor research. In this article we review the functional structure of PCNA, which acts as a function switch in different cell events.     

A Solow-Swan Model with Technological Overflow and Catch-up

By introducing the logistic-like technology, the classical Solow-Swan model is extended to inquire the technological overflow and catch-up of the developing economy in this paper. The improved model is described by a two-dimensional dynamical system. It is proved that the model has a unique equilibrium which is a sink and the solution of the equation is globally asymptotically stable. And the classical Solow-Swan model is a special case of the model given here. The economic growth patterns are discussed by phase portrait analysis at the end of this paper.     

MSH2 is required for cell proliferation, cell cycle control and cell invasiveness in colorectal cancer cells

We have investigated the role of MSH2,a mismatch repair gene in cell proliferation,cell cycle control and cell invasiveness in the SW480 human colorectal cancer cell line.RNAi-mediated inhibition of MSH2 expression was achieved using MSH2 shRNA lentiviral expression vectors.Effective knockdown of endogenous MSH2 expression was determined by real-time PCR analysis.The most efficient MSH2 knockdown vector was selected for subsequent studies using SW480 cells.Endogenous MSH2 mRNA levels decreased after lentiviral delivery of the MSH2-RNAi,indicating efficient silencing of MSH2 expression in SW480 cells.Cell proliferation,cell cycle progression and cell invasiveness were quantified by MTT assays,flow cytometry and transwell assays,respectively.RNAi-mediated inhibition of MSH2 expression in SW480 cells resulted in decreased cell proliferation,cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase and decreased cell invasiveness.Taken together,these results provide evidence that MSH2 stimulates cell proliferation,promotes cell cycle progression and positively regulates cell invasiveness.     

Effects of surface tension on bubble growth in an extensive uniformly superheated liquid

The study of bubble growth in an extensive pool of liquid provides considerable insight into the mechanisms that play a role in bubble growth near a heated surface and in the cavitation phenomenon. This work focuses on analyzing the effects of surface tension on the growth rate for the thermally controlled stage of a single bubble in such a liquid. The conservation of energy equations, including the internal energy term for the bubble and that within boundary layer around it, are numerically solved. The complete temporal variations of the bubble in water and liquid nitrogen are investigated based on the assumption that the bubble growth is controlled only in sequence by inertia and heat. Thus, the two stages are subject to the continuity of the bubble growth, while the inertia-controlled stage is only formulated by the well-known Rayleigh solution. The thickness of the boundary layer around the bubble is also determined. The results are comparable with the Plesset-Zwick models and Forster-Zuber models, as well as available experimental data. It is found that the influence of internal energy on the rate of bubble growth is small enough to be ignored; however, the accumulative effects of the surface tension are significant and increase with a decrease in the degree of superheat.     

P15——a new tumor suppressor gene

In addition to the tumor suppressor genes such as Rb and p53, it has been found that some molecules of the same class named CKI (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor) also play an important role in the inhibition of tumorigenesis and the tumor progression. In the KIP and INK4 families of CKIs, p15 shares extensive homology with p16. Findings in many tumors and their cell lines show that the inactivation of p15 (deletion, mutation, rearrangement, etc.) is very frequent, and inactive p15 is involved in the progress of some tumors. These studies provide evidence that the p15 is a new tumor suppressor gene. Furthermore, the research on the molecular mechanism of p15 in regulation of cell proliferation shows that p15 can inhibit the growth of some kinds of tumor cells, and p15 is the mediator of TGF-β-induced cell arrest. Investigations on p15 in cell differentiation suggest that increased p15 is related to the change of malignant phenotype. These results supply clues for further interpretation about the molecular mechnism of cell cycle control and cell tumorigenesis. And they may provide theoretical and experimental basis for application of p15 to clinical therapy of tumors.     

T=S Model to Simulate Regional Economic Development

This paper proposes a mechanism theory on regional development by using a modified Logistic model. It reveals regional evolution is an integration of fluctuation in temporal dimension and disparity in spatial dimension. T=S model is established by using Logistic model to simulate the growth of per capita GDP in China from 1990 to 1999. The result shows that T=S model accurately simulates the tracks of economic growth.     

Effects of STAT3 antisense RNA on IL-6-induced differentiation and growth arrest of Ml leukemia cells

To investigate the biological roles of STAT3 in the regulation of growth and differentiation of leukemia cells, we modified a murine myeloid leukemia cell line Ml with STAT3 antisense RNA. The effects of STAT3 antisense RNA on the growth arrest and terminal differentiation of Ml cells induced by interleukin 6 (IL-6) were determined. It was found that STAT3 antisense RNA blocked the activation of STAT3, and reduced the growth arrest and terminal differentiation of IL-6-induced Ml leukemia cells. These results indicate that STAT3 activation is a necessary process for IL-6-induced growth arrest of Ml cells and for the differentiation of Ml cells into macrophage.     

Influenza A （HIN1） transmission by road traffic between cities and towns

Influenza A (H1N1) was spread widely between cities and towns by road traffic and had a major impact on public health in China in 2009. Understanding regulation of its transmission is of great significance with urbanization ongoing and for mitigation of damage by the epidemic. We analyzed influenza A (H1N1) spatiotemporal transmission and risk factors along roads in Changsha, and combined diffusion velocity and floating population size to construct an epidemic diffusion model to simulate its transmission between cities and towns. The results showed that areas along the highways and road intersections had a higher incidence rate than other areas. Expressways and county roads played an important role in the rapid development stage and the epidemic peak, respectively, and intercity bus stations showed a high risk of disease transmission. The model simulates the intensity and center of disease outbreaks in cities and towns, and provides a more complete simulation of the disease spatiotemporal process than other models.     

Hybrid Dynamic Modeling and Control of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Stack Shutdown

A hybrid automaton modeling approach that incorporates state space partitioning, phase dynamic modeling and control law synthesis by control strategy is utilized to develop a hybrid automaton model of molten carbonate fuel cell （MCFC） stack shutdown. The shutdown operation is divided into several phases and their boundaries are decided according to a control strategy, which is a set of specifications about the dynamics of MCFC stack during shutdown. According to the control strategy, the specification of increasing stack temperature is satisfied in a phase that can be modeled accurately. The model for phase that has complex dynamic is approximated. The duration of this kind of phase is decreased to minimize the error caused by model approximation.     

Human embryonic stem cells-derived endothelial cell therapy facilitates kidney regeneration by stimulating renal resident stem cell proliferation in acute kidney injury

Endothelial cell therapy has been implicated to enhance tissue regeneration and vascularization in ischemic kidney. However, no published study has yet examined direct effects of endothelial cell treatment in kidney recovery. This study investigated the therapeutic efficacy of endothelial cells in a mouse model with acute kidney injury (AKI). Thus, human embryonic stem cells-derived endothelial cells (hESC-ECs) labeled with a reporter system encoding a double fusion reporter gene for firefly luciferase (Fluc) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) were characterized by Fluc imaging and immunofluoresence staining. Cultured hESC-ECs (1×106) were injected into ischemic kidney shortly after AKI. Survival of the transplanted hESC-ECs was monitored in vivo from day 1 to 14 after endothelial cell transplantation and potential impact of hESC-EC treatment on renal regeneration was assessed by histological analyses. We report that a substantial level of bioluminescence activity was detected 24 h after hESC-EC injection followed by a gradual decline from 1 to 14 d. Human ESC-ECs markedly accelerated kidney cell proliferation in response to ischaemia-induced damage, indicated by an elevated number of BrdU+ cells. Co-expression of Sca-1, a kidney stem cell proliferation marker, and BrdU further suggested that the observed stimulation in renal cell regeneration was, at least in part, due to increased proliferation of renal resident stem cells especially within the medullary cords and arteriole. Differentiation of hESC-ECs to smooth muscle cells was also observed at an early stage of kidney recovery. In summary, our results suggest that endothelial cell therapy facilitates kidney recovery by promoting vascularization, trans-differentiation and endogenous renal stem cell proliferation in AKI.     

Notch signaling stimulates osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

Notch signaling is one of the most important pathways mediating cell determination and differentiation.In this study, the roles of Notch signal in the regulation of osteogenic differentiation of human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were investigated. The expression of Notch1, Jaggedl and DTXI detected by reverse transcrip-tion polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) suggested that Notch signal might exhibit a physiological regulatory role in the differentiation of MSCs. Constitutive expression of the intracellular domain of Notchl (ICN), the active form of Notchl protein, can activate Notch signal in cells without ligands‘ binding, hMSCs were isolated, expanded, and infected with retrovirus carrying green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene or ICN. Overexpression of ICN in hMSCs resulted in enhanced osteogenic differentiation induced by dexamethasone (Dex), which was characterized by an increase of cellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and calcium deposition. These results indicate that Notch stimulates differentiation of MSCs into osteoblasts.     

Boron-based Drug Design for Cancer Therapy

1 Results Selective inhibition of protein tyrosine kinases is gaining importance as an effective therapeutic approach for the treatment of a wide range of human cancers.The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) protein tyrosine kinase is one of the important kinases that play a fundamental role in cell growth signal pathways.We focused on the 4-anilinoquinazoline framework,which is observed in both compounds as a common structure.A boron atom has a vacant orbital and interconverts with ease between the neutral sp2 and the anionic sp3 hybridization states.This generates a new stable interaction between the boron atom and a donor molecule through a covalent bond.Therefore,it is expected that the boron atoms introduced into quinazoline framework would interact with a target protein not only through hydrogen bonds but also through covalent bonds,which would produce potent biological activity We introduced a boronic acid moiety into R1 and R3 groups as shown in Scheme 1.