Glycol Chitosan-Based Fluorescent Theranostic Nanoagents for Cancer Therapy

Theranostics is an integrated nanosystem that combines therapeutics with diagnostics in attempt to develop new personalized treatments with enhanced therapeutic efficacy and safety. As a promising therapeutic paradigm with cutting-edge technologies, theranostic agents are able to simultaneously deliver therapeutic drugs and diagnostic imaging agents and also monitor the response to therapy. Polymeric nanosystems have been intensively explored for biomedical applications to diagnose and treat various cancers. In recent years, glycol chitosan-based nanoagents have been developed as dual-purpose materials for simultaneous diagnosis and therapy. They have shown great potential in cancer therapies, such as chemotherapeutics and nucleic acid and photodynamic therapies. In this review, we summarize the recent progress and potential applications of glycol chitosan-based fluorescent theranostic nanoagents for cancer treatments and discuss their possible underlying mechanisms.     

Marine Low Molecular Weight Natural Products as Potential Cancer Preventive Compounds

Due to taxonomic positions and special living environments, marine organisms produce secondary metabolites that possess unique structures and biological activities. This review is devoted to recently isolated and/or earlier described marine compounds with potential or established cancer preventive activities, their biological sources, molecular mechanisms of their action, and their associations with human health and nutrition. The review covers literature published in 2003–2013 years and focuses on findings of the last 2 years.     

Lamellarin O,a Pyrrole Alkaloid from an Australian Marine Sponge,Ianthella sp., Reverses BCRP Mediated Drug Resistance in Cancer Cells

ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters, such as P-gp, BCRP and MRP1, can increase efflux of clinical chemotherapeutic agents and lead to multi-drug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells. While the discovery and development of clinically useful inhibitors has proved elusive to date, this molecular target nevertheless remains a promising strategy for addressing and potentially overcoming MDR. In a search for new classes of inhibitor, we used fluorescent accumulation and efflux assays supported by cell flow cytometry and MDR reversal assays, against a panel of sensitive and MDR human cancer cell lines, to evaluate the marine sponge co-metabolites 1–12 as inhibitors of P-gp, BCRP or MRP1 initiated MDR. These studies identified and characterized lamellarin O (11) as a selective inhibitor of BCRP mediated drug efflux. A structure–activity relationship analysis inclusive of the natural products 1–12 and the synthetic analogues 13–19, supported by in silico docking studies, revealed key structural requirements for the lamellarin O (11) BCRP inhibitory pharmacophore.     

Diazaquinomycins E–G,Novel Diaza-Anthracene Analogs from a Marine-Derived Streptomyces sp.

As part of our program to identify novel secondary metabolites that target drug-resistant ovarian cancers, a screening of our aquatic-derived actinomycete fraction library against a cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cell line (OVCAR5) led to the isolation of novel diaza-anthracene antibiotic diazaquinomycin E (DAQE; 1), the isomeric mixture of diazaquinomycin F (DAQF; 2) and diazaquinomycin G (DAQG; 3), and known analog diazaquinomycin A (DAQA; 4). The structures of DAQF and DAQG were solved through deconvolution of X-Ray diffraction data of their corresponding co-crystal. DAQE and DAQA exhibited moderate LC₅₀ values against OVCAR5 of 9.0 and 8.8 μM, respectively. At lethal concentrations of DAQA, evidence of DNA damage was observed via induction of apoptosis through cleaved-PARP. Herein, we will discuss the isolation, structure elucidation, and biological activity of these secondary metabolites.     

研究不同氨基酸模式对奶牛乳腺上皮细胞生长的影响

本试验以泌乳奶牛乳腺组织为原料,采用组织块培养技术,研究培养基内不同氨基酸模式对奶牛乳腺上皮细胞增殖的影响。结果表明,随着培养天数的增加,细胞数量逐渐增加,第10天各组细胞数量分别达到最高,乳腺上皮细胞生长曲线呈"S"形。不同氨基酸模式对乳腺细胞生长有显著影响,与氨基酸不平衡组相比,氨基酸平衡组、理想组更能促进细胞生长,各组间差异显著(P0.05)。     

乳腺特异表达载体缺失片段的鉴定与修复

通过对pBC1中的乳腺特异表达启动子成分进行分析,鉴定了位于β酪蛋白启动子上游两个EcoRⅠ位点(-89~-94和-120~-125)之间的缺失片段,31bp的缺失使得该载体中的一个乳控盒元件(-112~-141)和一个乳腺因子识别序列(-92~-102)遭到破坏,并使得位于TATA框上游的所有启动子成分发生了位置改变。通过与山羊β酪蛋白启动子序列进行比较,设计并合成了缺失片段,经一系列的酶切和连接处理,使得该缺失得到了修复,修复后的载体具有所有乳蛋白表达需要的启动子调控原件。本试验结果为利用修复后的乳腺特异高效表达载体进行乳腺生物反应器的研究奠定了分子生物学基础。     

林芝松口蘑抗肿瘤组分的筛选

为筛选林芝松口蘑(Tricholoma matsutake)子实体中具抗肿瘤作用的组分,采用MTT法测定林芝松口蘑乙醇提取物的不同有机溶剂萃取分部对乳腺癌细胞(MCF-7)、胃癌细胞(SGC-7901)和肺癌细胞(A549)的体外抑制率。结果表明:林芝松口蘑乙醇提取物的抑癌活性物质主要集中在氯仿分部,100μg/mL作用48h,对MCF-7和SGC-7901的抑制率分别达到了64%和55%;乙醇提取物的各萃取分部对A549抑制效果较差,在实验浓度范围内抑制率均未超过25%。     

The detection of subclinical mastitis in the bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) by somatic cell count and California mastitis test

Milk samples (n=160) from 7 clinically healthy bactrian camels were cultured to detect subclinical udder infection. The samples were assessed by the Californian mastitis test (CMT) and somatic cell count (SCC). Bacteria were recovered from 36 (22.5%) of the milk samples. Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were the main organisms found.Infected quarters had significantly higher mean values for the SCC (p<0.01) and CMT (p<0.001) than non-infected quarters. All 7 camels were infected with CNS but only 4 with S. aureus. CMT values for S. aureus-infected camels were significantly higher than for those only infected with CNS. The values for SCC and CMT were significantly influenced by the stage of lactation (p<0.05). No significant difference was found from the effect of the quarters. Both SCC and CMT were of value in predicting the infection status of the udder.Abbreviations CMT California mastitis test - SCC somatic cell count - CNS coagulase-negative staphylococci     

In vitro development of bovine nuclear transfer embryos reconstructed with mammary gland epithelial cells at different passages

In the present study, the effect of passage of nuclear donor cells on the in vitro development of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos was investigated using colostrum‐derived mammary gland epithelial (MGE) cells at different passages (3–30 passages) to find reliable passages for the efficiency of cloning. Development of NT embryos to the blastocyst stage was affected by the number of passages of MGE cells (P < 0.05). Nuclear transfer embryos reconstructed with MGE cells at 3–7 passages showed a significantly higher blastocyst development (31.3–48.5%) than those with the cells at 10–30 passages (2.5–12.5%, P < 0.05). No difference in the proportion of the MGE cells with normal diploid was observed among passage of 3, 15 and 30 (P > 0.05). The use of MGE cells at early passages for nuclear donor cells may be advantageous for the production of NT embryos.     

Expression and clinical significance of PAK4 in non-small cell lung cancer

AIM: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of PAK4 in the cell lines and tissues of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: PAK4 expression in human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells, NSCLC cell lines, NSCLC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues were assessed by immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR and Western blot. Prognostic value of PAK4 expression was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression. RESULTS: PAK4 was over-expressed in the NSCLC cell lines at both mRNA and protein levels compared with HBE cells (P<0.05). PAK4 was over-expressed in the NSCLC tissues at both mRNA and protein levels compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues (P<0.05). PAK4 was over-expressed in the metastatic NSCLC tissues compared with the primary NSCLC tissues (P<0.05). Higher PAK4 staining scores were positively correlated with differentiation, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, and clinical stage. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test showed that overall survival was significantly different between the patients with up-regulated PAK4 and the patients with down-regulated PAK4(P<0.05). PAK4 over-expression was associated with NSCLC progression.CONCLUSION: Increased PAK4 expression was associated with tumor invasion, metastasis and prognosis in the patients with NSCLC. PAK4 is an important prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target in NSCLC.