Flavonoids from the bark and stems of Cassia fistula and their anti-tobacco mosaic virus activities

Two new flavonoids, fistulaflavonoids B and C (1–2), together with five known flavonoids (3–7) were isolated from the bark and stems of Cassia fistula. Their structures were determined by means of HRESIMS, extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic studies and chemical evidences. The anti-tobacco mosaic virus (anti-TMV) activity of the isolated flavonoids was also evaluated. The results showed that compounds 1 and 2 showed high anti-TMV activity with inhibition rate of 28.5% and 31.3%, which is higher than that of Ningnanmycin (24.7%). Compounds 4–7 showed modest anti-TMV activity with inhibition rate of 18.5%, 22.7%, 16.4%, and 15.3%, respectively.     

The Leptin Gene Family and Colorectal Cancer: Interaction with Smoking Behavior and Family History of Cancer

Background

Pathologic condition associated with metabolic syndrome traits seems to increase the risk of colorectal cancer. One mechanism underlying this relationship may involve the growth-promoting effects of the circulation hormones associated with obesity and insulin resistance, such as leptin.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A two-stage case-control study was used to explore the role of polymorphisms of Leptin (LEP) and Leptin receptor (LEPR), either alone or in combination with environmental factors in colorectal carcinogenesis. In stage 1, 20 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that tag common SNPs in these two genes were genotyped among 470 cases and 458 controls. In stage 2, another population with 314 cases and 355 controls were genotyped for the two most promising SNPs from stage 1. LEPR rs12037879 only presented modestly increased colorectal cancer risk, with odds ratios of 1.41 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13–1.76) and 1.74 (95%CI 1.08–2.81) for GA and AA genotype when compared with GG genotype in combined population. Smokers carrying LEPR rs12037879 A allele presented 1.67-fold (95%CI 1.39-fold to 2.01-fold) increased colorectal cancer risk when compared with non-smokers carrying GG genotype in combined analysis. Individuals with family history of cancer harboring LEPR rs12037879 A allele showed 1.52-fold (95%CI: 1.24-fold to 1.86-fold) increased colorectal cancer risk, compared with individuals without family history of cancer harboring GG genotype. Multifactor gene-environment interaction analysis revealed significant interactions among LEPR rs12037879, LEPR rs6690625, smoking status and family history of cancer, exhibiting a gradient of increased colorectal cancer risk along with the increasing number of risk factors (P = 9.82×10⁻¹⁰).

Conclusions/Significance

Our research supports that polymorphisms in LEPR may be associated with marginal increase in the risk for colorectal cancer. Moreover, this association could be strengthened by cigarette smoking and family history of cancer.     

The Joint Effect of hOGG1, APE1, and ADPRT Polymorphisms and Cooking Oil Fumes on the Risk of Lung Adenocarcinoma in Chinese Non-Smoking Females

Background

The human 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (hOGG1), apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1), and adenosine diphosphate ribosyl transferase (ADPRT) genes play an important role in the DNA base excision repair pathway. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in critical genes are suspected to be associated with the risk of lung cancer. This study aimed to identify the association between the polymorphisms of hOGG1 Ser326Cys, APE1 Asp148Glu, and ADPRT Val762Ala, and the risk of lung adenocarcinoma in the non-smoking female population, and investigated the interaction between genetic polymorphisms and environmental exposure in lung adenocarcinoma.

Methods

We performed a hospital-based case-control study, including 410 lung adenocarcinoma patients and 410 cancer-free hospital control subjects who were matched for age. Each case and control was interviewed to collect information by well-trained interviewers. A total of 10 ml of venous blood was collected for genotype testing. Three polymorphisms were analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique.

Results

We found that individuals who were homozygous for the variant hOGG1 326Cys/Cys showed a significantly increased risk of lung adenocarcinoma (OR = 1.54; 95% CI: 1.01–2.36; P = 0.045). When the combined effect of variant alleles was analyzed, we found an increased OR of 1.89 (95% CI: 1.24–2.88, P = 0.003) for lung adenocarcinoma individuals with more than one homozygous variant allele. In stratified analyses, we found that the OR for the gene-environment interaction between Ser/Cys and Cys/Cys genotypes of hOGG1 codon 326 and cooking oil fumes for the risk of lung adenocarcinoma was 1.37 (95% CI: 0.77–2.44; P = 0.279) and 2.79 (95% CI: 1.50–5.18; P = 0.001), respectively.

Conclusions

The hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism might be associated with the risk of lung adenocarcinoma in Chinese non-smoking females. Furthermore, there is a significant gene-environment association between cooking oil fumes and hOGG1 326 Cys/Cys genotype in lung adenocarcinoma among female non-smokers.     

Localization and Expression of Hsp27 and αB-Crystallin in Rat Primary Myocardial Cells during Heat Stress In Vitro

Neonatal rat primary myocardial cells were subjected to heat stress in vitro, as a model for investigating the distribution and expression of Hsp27 and αB-crystallin. After exposure to heat stress at 42°C for different durations, the activities of enzymes expressed during cell damage increased in the supernatant of the heat-stressed myocardial cells from 10 min, and the pathological lesions were characterized by karyopyknosis and acute degeneration. Thus, cell damage was induced at the onset of heat stress. Immunofluorescence analysis showed stronger positive signals for both Hsp27 and αB-crystallin from 10 min to 240 min of exposure compared to the control cells. According to the Western blotting results, during the 480 min of heat stress, no significant variation was found in Hsp27 and αB-crystallin expression; however, significant differences were found in the induction of their corresponding mRNAs. The expression of these small heat shock proteins (sHsps) was probably delayed or overtaxed due to the rapid consumption of sHsps in myocardial cells at the onset of heat stress. Our findings indicate that Hsp27 and αB-crystallin do play a role in the response of cardiac cells to heat stress, but the details of their function remain to be investigated.     

Implicit Trust between the Uyghur and the Han in Xinjiang,China

Trust is a vital lubricant that increases the sense of security in social interactions. In this study, we investigated the intergroup trust between the Uyghur and the Han, the two largest ethnic groups in Xinjiang, China, with a Go/No-Go Association Task. Specifically, we instructed Uyghur and Han participants to respond to ethnic faces (Uyghur vs. Han) and trust/distrust words and measured the strength of the automatic associations between the faces and words for both in-group and out-group pairs. As expected, both ethnic groups showed implicit in-group trust and out-group distrust, but the Han group demonstrated stronger in-group trust and out-group distrust toward the Uyghur than the Uyghur group toward the Han. However, the magnitude of distrust of the Han toward the Uyghur was small to medium as compared with that reported by other intergroup relationship research. In addition, participant geographic location was associated with out-group distrust. These findings offer implications for developing effective strategies to encourage trust between conflicting groups.     

Tumor-Suppressive Function of miR-139-5p in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Recent studies have demonstrated the possible function of miR-139-5p in tumorigenesis. However, the exact mechanism of miR-139-5p in cancer remains unclear. In this study, the association of miR-139-5p expression with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) was evaluated in 106 pairs of esophageal cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissue from ESCC patients. The tumor suppressive features of miR-139-5p were measured by evaluating cell proliferation and cell cycle state, migratory activity and invasion capability, as well as apoptosis. Luciferase reporter assay and Western blot analysis were performed to determine the target gene regulated by miR-139-5p. The mRNA level of NR5A2, the target gene of miR-139-5p, was determined in ESCC patients. Results showed that reduced miR-139-5p level was associated with lymph node metastases of ESCC. MiR-139-5p was investigated to induce cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase and to suppress the invasive capability of esophageal carcinoma cells by targeting the 3′UTR of oncogenic NR5A2. Cyclin E1 and MMP9 were confirmed to participate in cell cycle arrest and invasive suppression induced by NR5A2, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis further confirmed the significantly negative correlation between miR-139-5p and NR5A2 expression. The results suggest that miR-139-5p exerts a growth- and invasiveness-suppressing function in human ESCCs, which demonstrates that miR-139-5p is a potential biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis and is a therapeutic target for ESCC.     

木聚糖酶与XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白相互作用分子机制的研究进展

Xylanase inhibitor protein (XIP)型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白对大部分GH10、GH11家族的真菌木聚糖酶具有抑制作用,但是却不能抑制细菌来源和植物自身所产生的木聚糖酶。XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白对木聚糖酶的抑制作用主要是通过模拟底物接触酶的活性位点,迅速阻塞底物进入活性位点区域的通道。然而,在对XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白具有抗性的GH10和GH11木聚糖酶晶体结构中,连接二级结构的Loop构象严重阻碍了XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白的抑制功能。与对XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白敏感的木聚糖酶相比,氨基酸残基的插入突变导致抗性木聚糖酶的Loop具有明显的凸出构象;而在GH11家族抗性木聚糖酶中,"拇指"结构中部分氨基酸的替换致使XIP型木聚糖酶抑制蛋白与"拇指"结构无法形成稳固的氢键和疏水建,从而削弱XIP的抑制作用。     

海洋沉积物中铁还原细菌组成及异化铁还原与产氢性质分析

【背景】一些铁还原细菌具有异化铁还原与产氢的能力,该类细菌在环境污染修复的同时能够解决能源问题。【目的】从海洋沉积物中富集获得异化铁还原菌群,明确混合菌群组成、异化铁还原及产氢性质。获得海洋沉积物中异化铁还原混合菌群组成,分析菌群异化铁还原和产氢性质。【方法】利用高通量测序技术分析异化铁还原菌群的优势菌组成,在此基础上,分析异化铁还原混合菌群在不同电子供体培养条件下异化铁还原能力和产氢性质。【结果】高通量数据表明,在不溶性氢氧化铁为电子受体和葡萄糖为电子供体厌氧培养条件下,混合菌群的优势菌属主要是梭菌(Clostridium),属于发酵型异化铁还原细菌。混合菌群能够利用电子供体蔗糖、葡萄糖以及丙酮酸钠进行异化铁还原及发酵产氢。葡萄糖为电子供体时,菌群累积产生Fe(Ⅱ)浓度和产氢量最高,分别是59.34±6.73 mg/L和629.70±11.42 mL/L。【结论】异化铁还原混合菌群同时具有异化铁还原和产氢能力,拓宽了发酵型异化铁还原细菌的种质资源,探索异化铁还原细菌在生物能源方面的应用。