Oleanolic acid increases the anticancer potency of doxorubicin in pancreatic cancer cells

Combination therapy is a novel cancer therapy approach that combines two or more chemotherapy drugs. This treatment modality enhances the efficacy of chemotherapy by targeting key pathways in an additive or synergistic manner. Therefore, we investigated the efficacy of combination therapy by widely used chemotherapy drug doxorubicin (DOX) and oleanolic acid (OA) to induction of apoptosis for pancreatic cancer (PC) therapy. The effects of DOX, OA, and their combination (DOX-OA) were investigated on proliferation and viability of PC cell line (PANC-1) by MTT assay. Moreover, migration and invasion of the cancer cells were evaluated by trans-well migration assay and wound healing assay. Flow cytometry and DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) staining were employed to investigate apoptosis quantification and qualification of the treated cancer cells. Finally, mRNA expression of apoptosis-related genes was assessed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our results demonstrated that the proliferation and metastasis potential of PC cells significantly decreased after treatment by DOX, OA, and DOX-OA. Moreover, we observed an increase in apoptosis percentage in the treated cancer cells. The apoptosis-related gene expression was modified to increase the apoptosis rate in all of the treatment groups. However, the anticancer potency of DOX-OA combination was significantly more than that of DOX and OA treatments alone. Our study suggested that DOX-OA combination exerts more profound anticancer effects against PC cell lines than DOX or OA monotherapy. This approach may increase the efficiency of chemotherapy and reduce unintended side effects by lowering the prescribed dose of DOX.     

The Gray Toad-headed Agama,Phrynocephalus scutellatus,on the Iranian Plateau: The degree of niche overlap depends on the phylogenetic distance

The Gray Toad-headed Agama (Phrynocephalus scutellatus) occurs in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan and is represented in Iran by four distinctive genetic clades. We built distribution models for three of these clades (one clade was not included due to a low number of distribution records) using Maximum Entropy Algorithm in order to determine the contribution of ecological factors to the distribution pattern. The degree of spatial niche overlap between every pair of clades were measured using Schoener's D niche overlap metric. The results showed that at species-level climate variables (annual precipitation, annual mean temperature) were the most influential parameters determining the boundaries of the distribution in Iran. Temperature seasonality was found to be the most influential factor in the distribution of both Clade I and Clade II. However, this variable was replaced by the annual mean temperature for Clade VI. Based on the results of Schoener's D metric, Clades I and II had the lowest, and Clades II and VI the highest level of ecological niche overlap. Comparing the result of niche overlap with genetic distance between the clades, it was found that the ecologically least similar clades were those with the longer history of genetic segregation.     

Conflicting phylogenetic signals in the SlX1/Y1 gene in Silene

Background  

Increasing evidence from DNA sequence data has revealed that phylogenies based on different genes may drastically differ from each other. This may be due to either inter- or intralineage processes, or to methodological or stochastic errors. Here we investigate a spectacular case where two parts of the same gene (SlX1/Y1) show conflicting phylogenies within Silene (Caryophyllaceae). SlX1 and SlY1 are sex-linked genes on the sex chromosomes of dioecious members of Silene sect. Elisanthe.     

Host finding byCryptolaemus montrouzieri (Col., Coccinellidae) a predator of mealybusgs (Hom., Pseudococcidae)

AdultC. montrouzieri were able to detect their prey by visual and chemical stimuli. Presence of mealybug caused a significant increase in the number of turns and a sharp decrease in flight attempts suggesting detection by olfaction. In the light, adult predators found polystyrene dummies significantly faster than under dark (red light) conditions, but light had no effect on the time taken for adults to pass across an invisible test point. Fourth instar larvae could only perceive the prey by physical contact.