剪切改性对长链支化聚丙烯流变性能的影响

利用密炼机对长链支化聚丙烯（LCB-PP）施加剪切,通过改变密炼机转子转速、物料在密炼机中的停留时间,得到了具有不同剪切历程的样品。采用熔体流动速率（MFR）、挤出胀大比（SR）以及动态流变特性等表征方法,研究了剪切改性对于LCB-PP流变性能的影响规律。结果表明,施加剪切历程会使LCB-PP的MFR变大,SR变小,造成低频下的储能模量和复数黏度减小;并且剪切历程越长,流变性能下降越明显。另外,末端效应和Cole-Cole图等的分析结果也证明了剪切改性过程中长支链发生解缠结和取向现象。     

Human CMTM2/CKLFSF2 enhances the ligand-induced transactivation of the androgen receptor

CKLF (chemokine-like factor)-like MARVEL (MAL and related proteins for vesicle trafficking and membrane link domain) transmembrane domain containing (CMTM) is a novel gene family. One member of this family, CMTM2, also named chemokine-like factor superfamily 2 (CKLFSF2), is expressed highly in the testis and moderately in the prostate, marrow and peripheral blood cells. However, the function of human CMTM2 remains unknown. Here, we found that CMTM2 was upregulated in 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-treated LNCaP cells. We investigated the relationship between CMTM2 and the androgen receptor. Our results showed that CMTM2 enhanced DHT-mediated androgen receptor (AR) transactivation and the expression of prostate specific antigen (PSA). We also observed that CMTM2 enhanced the AR protein level, which was reversed by silencing endogenous CMTM2 expression, which suggested that CMTM2 might play an important role in maintaining the AR protein level. We also found that CMTM2 suppressed Akt activation. A previous study showed that Akt could phosphorylate AR at Ser210 and Ser790 and lead to AR ubiquitylation and degradation as well as suppression of AR activity. Taken together, suppressing Akt activation and increasing the AR protein level might be one of the mechanisms for the CMTM2-mediated enhancement of AR transactivation. Supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2006AA02A305 and 2002BA711A01) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30271203 and 30671907)     

Recombinant human PDCD5 protein enhances chemo-sensitivities of hematologic malignancies

PDCD5 is a novel apoptosis-related gene. Overexpression of PDCD5 facilitates apoptosis in various tumor cells. Here, we investigated the roles of recombinant human PDCD5 （rhPDCD5） protein in chemosensitivities of hematologic malignancies. The rhPDCD5 increased the in vitro cytotoxicity of daunorubicin （DNR）, adriamycin （ADM） and As203 in three hematologic tumor cell lines. In vivo studies showed that DNR combined with rhPDCD5 significantly suppressed tumor growth of U937 xenograft nude mice compared with DNR alone. In conclusion, rhPDCD5 combined with the chemotherapeutic drug has greater efficacy than chemotherapy alone, and rhPDCD5 is a very promising chemosensitizer.     

Rat CC chemokine receptor 4 is the functional homologue of human CC chemokine receptor 4 and can interact with human CCL17 and CCL22

Human CCL17/TARC (hCCL17) and CCL22/MDC (hCCL22) interact with their receptor CCR4, playing pivotal roles in various Th2 cell-dominant diseases. Rat Ccl17, Ccl22 and Ccr4 share 63.4%, 65.2% and 87.5% homology at the amino acid level, respectively, compared with their human homologues. Rat Ccl22 has been demonstrated to interact with rat Ccr4. However, it is not known whether rat Ccl17 is a functional ligand for rat Ccr4 and whether rat Ccr4 can interact with hCCL17 and hCCL22. In this study, we cloned rat C...