Galectin-1-Induced Autophagy Facilitates Cisplatin Resistance of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in Taiwan. Although chemotherapy is the primary treatment for HCC patients, drug resistance often leads to clinical failure. Galectin-1 is a beta-galactoside binding lectin which is up-regulated in HCC patients and promotes tumor growth by mediating cancer cell adhesion, migration and proliferation, but its role in chemoresistance of HCC is poorly understood. In this study we found that galectin-1 is able to lead to chemoresistance against cisplatin treatment, and subsequent inhibition has reversed the effect of cell death in HCC cells. Moreover, galectin-1 was found to induce autophagic flux in HCC cells. Inhibition of autophagy by inhibitors or knockdown of Atg5 cancels galectin-1-induced cisplatin resistance in HCC cells. Increase of mitophagy triggered by galectin-1 was found to reduce the mitochondrial potential loss and apoptosis induced by cisplatin treatment. Finally, using an in situ hepatoma mouse model, we clearly demonstrated that inhibition of galectin-1 by thiodigalactoside could significantly augment the anti-HCC effect of cisplatin. Taken together, our findings offer a new insight into the chemoresistance galectin-1 causes against cisplatin treatment, and points to a potential approach to improve the efficacy of cisplatin in the treatment of HCC patients.     

Prenatal diagnosis of Pallister-Killian syndrome and literature review

Pallister-Killian syndrome (PKS) is a rare sporadic genetic disorder usually caused by mosaicism of an extra isochromosome of 12p (i(12p)). This retrospective study analysed the prenatal ultrasound manifestations and molecular and cytogenetic results of five PKS foetuses. Samples of amniotic fluid and/or cord blood, skin biopsy and placenta were collected. Conventional karyotyping and single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP array) were performed on all the amniotic fluid or cord blood samples. Copy number variants sequencing (CNV-seq) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were also used for the validation for one foetus. All the five foetuses were from pregnancies with advanced parental age. Two foetuses involved structural abnormalities and one foetus had only soft markers, all of which included increased nuchal translucency. The rest two foetuses had normal ultrasounds in the second trimester, which has rarely been reported before. The karyotype revealed typical i(12p) in four cases and a small supernumerary marker chromosome consisting of 12p and 20p in the remaining one case. The proportion of cells with i(12p) ranged from 0 to 100% in cultural cells, while SNP array results suggested 2−4 copies of 12p. For one foetus, metaphase FISH showed normal results, but the interphase FISH suggested cell lines with two, three and four copies of 12p in the amniotic fluid. Advanced parental age may be an important risk factor for PKS, and there were no typical ultrasound manifestations related to PKS. A combination of karyotype analysis and molecular diagnosis is an effective method for the diagnosis of PKS.     

Natural occurrence of zearalenone in rice and soybean produced in Korea

88 rice and 75 soybean samples were collected from 8 provinces of Korea from March through September in 1988. The Fusarium mycotoxins, zearalenone was analyzed by direct competitive enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. 10.2% of rice and 9.3 % of soybean samples contained detectable zearalenone. The average levels of zearalenone of rice and soybean samples were 11.78μg/kg and 7.70μ/kg, respectively.     

The value of decreasing the duration of the infectious period of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection

Finding medications or vaccines that may decrease the infectious period of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could potentially reduce transmission in the broader population. We developed a computational model of the U.S. simulating the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the potential clinical and economic impact of reducing the infectious period duration. Simulation experiments found that reducing the average infectious period duration could avert a median of 442,852 [treating 25% of symptomatic cases, reducing by 0.5 days, reproductive number (R₀) 3.5, and starting treatment when 15% of the population has been exposed] to 44.4 million SARS-CoV-2 cases (treating 75% of all infected cases, reducing by 3.5 days, R₀ 2.0). With R₀ 2.5, reducing the average infectious period duration by 0.5 days for 25% of symptomatic cases averted 1.4 million cases and 99,398 hospitalizations; increasing to 75% of symptomatic cases averted 2.8 million cases. At $500/person, treating 25% of symptomatic cases saved $209.5 billion (societal perspective). Further reducing the average infectious period duration by 3.5 days averted 7.4 million cases (treating 25% of symptomatic cases). Expanding treatment to 75% of all infected cases, including asymptomatic infections (R₀ 2.5), averted 35.9 million cases and 4 million hospitalizations, saving $48.8 billion (societal perspective and starting treatment after 5% of the population has been exposed). Our study quantifies the potential effects of reducing the SARS-CoV-2 infectious period duration.