Down-regulated LINC00115 inhibits prostate cancer cell proliferation and invasion via targeting miR-212-5p/FZD5/Wnt/β-catenin axis

Prostate cancer is the second most frequent malignancy in men worldwide, and its incidence is increasing. Therefore, it is urgently required to clarify the underlying mechanisms of prostate cancer. Although the long non-coding RNA LINC00115 was identified as an oncogene in several cancers, the expression and function of LINC00115 in prostate cancer have not been explored. Our results showed that LINC00115 was significantly up-regulated in prostate cancer tissues, which was significantly associated with a poor prognosis for prostate cancer patients. Functional studies showed that knockdown LINC00115 inhibited cell proliferation and invasion. In addition, LINC00115 served as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) through sponging miR-212-5p to release Frizzled Family Receptor 5 (FZD5) expression. The expression of miR-212-5p was noticeably low in tumour tissues, and FZD5 expression level was down-regulated with the knockdown of LINC00115. Knockdown LINC00115 inhibited the Wnt/β‑catenin signalling pathway by inhibiting the expression of FZD5. Rescue experiments further showed that LINC00115 inhibits prostate cancer cell proliferation and invasion via targeting miR-212-5p/ FZD5/ Wnt/β-catenin axis. The present study provided clues that LINC00115 may be a promising novel therapeutic target for prostate cancer patients.     

PRPF6 promotes androgen receptor/androgen receptor-variant 7 actions in castration-resistant prostate cancer cells

Androgen receptor (AR) and its variants play vital roles in development and progression of prostate cancer. To clarify the mechanisms involved in the enhancement of their actions would be crucial for understanding the process in prostate cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancer transformation. Here, we provided the evidence to show that pre-mRNA processing factor 6 (PRPF6) acts as a key regulator for action of both AR full length (AR-FL) and AR variant 7 (AR-V7), thereby participating in the enhancement of AR-FL and AR-V7-induced transactivation in prostate cancer. In addition, PRPF6 is recruited to cis-regulatory elements in AR target genes and associates with JMJD1A to enhance AR-induced transactivation. PRPF6 also promotes expression of AR-FL and AR-V7. Moreover, PRPF6 depletion reduces tumor growth in prostate cancer-derived cell lines and results in significant suppression of xenograft tumors even under castration condition in mouse model. Furthermore, PRPF6 is obviously highly expressed in human prostate cancer samples. Collectively, our results suggest PRPF6 is involved in enhancement of oncogenic AR signaling, which support a previously unknown role of PRPF6 during progression of prostate cancer and castration-resistant prostate cancers.     

Advancement and properties of circular RNAs in prostate cancer: An emerging and compelling frontier for discovering

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common carcinoma among men worldwide which results in 26% of leading causes of cancer-related death. However, the ideal and effective molecular marker remains elusive. CircRNA, initially observed in plant-infected viruses and Sendai virus in 1979, is generated from pre-mRNA back-splicing and comes in to play by adequate expression. The differential expression in prostate tissues compared with the control reveals the promising capacity in modulating processes including carcinogenesis and metastasis. However, the biological mechanisms of regulatory network in PC needs to systemically concluded. In this review, we enlightened the comprehensive studies on the definite mechanisms of circRNAs affecting tumor progression and metastasis. What''s more, we validated the potential clinical application of circRNAs serving as diagnostic and prognostic biomarker. The discussion and analysis in circRNAs will broaden our knowledge of the pathogenesis of PC and further optimize the current therapies against different condition.     

The involvement of α-proteobacteria Phenylobacterium in maintaining the dominance of toxic Microcystis blooms in Lake Taihu,China

Lake Taihu in China has suffered serious harmful cyanobacterial blooms for decades. The algal blooms threaten the ecological sustainability, drinking water safety, and human health. Although the roles of abiotic factors (such as water temperature and nutrient loading) in promoting Microcystis blooms have been well studied, the importance of biotic factors (e.g. bacterial community) in promoting and meditating Microcystis blooms remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the ecological dynamics of bacterial community, the ratio of toxic Microcystis, as well as microcystin in Lake Taihu. High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing and principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the bacteria community compositions (BCCs) clustered into three groups, the partitioning of which corresponded to that of groups according to the toxic profiles (the ratio of toxic Microcystis to total Microcystis, and the microcystin concentrations) of the samples. Further Spearman's correlation network showed that the α-proteobacteria Phenylobacterium strongly positively correlated with the toxic profiles. Subsequent laboratory chemostats experiments demonstrated that three Phenylobacterium strains promoted the dominance of the toxic Microcystis aeruginosa PCC7806 when co-culturing with the non-toxic PCC7806 mcyB⁻ mutant. Taken together, our data suggested that the α-proteobacteria Phenylobacterium may play a vital role in the maintenance of toxic Microcystis dominance in Lake Taihu.     

Nuclear-localized eukaryotic translation initiation factor 1A is involved in mouse preimplantation embryo development

Journal of Molecular Histology - Preimplantation embryo development is characterized by drastic nuclear reprogramming and dynamic stage-specific gene expression. Key regulators of this earliest...     

Loss of longitudinal superiority marks the microarchitecture deterioration of osteoporotic cancellous bones

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Osteoporosis (OP), a skeletal disease making bone mechanically deteriorate and easily fracture, is a global public health issue due to its high...     

人为干扰对溪流鱼类功能多样性及其纵向梯度格局的影响

溪流鱼类多样性沿着河流纵向梯度的空间分布规律已得到大量报道, 但这些研究大多聚焦基于物种组成的分类α多样性, 而有关分类β多样性和功能多样性的纵向梯度分布规律及其对人类干扰的响应研究较少。本文以青弋江上游3条人为干扰程度不同的河源溪流为研究区域, 比较研究了人为干扰对溪流鱼类功能α和β多样性及其纵向梯度分布格局的影响。结果显示, 人类干扰改变了河源溪流鱼类功能多样性的纵向梯度格局——由线性变化变为二项式分布。此外, 我们发现, 人为干扰导致土著种被本地入侵种取代, 且较强的土地利用和水污染排放可能增大环境的不连续性, 而群落周转和嵌套变化往往取决于环境的变化。尽管功能β多样性由嵌套成分主导, 但周转成分占比相对于人为干扰较小的溪流而言明显增加。人为干扰显著改变了受干扰溪流鱼类的物种组成和功能多样性, 且功能多样性的纵向梯度格局在不同的多样性指标上存在差异。本研究强调, 在评估人为干扰下多样性的变化时, 需要从多方面考虑, 包括空间尺度和多样性指标等。     

国家公园陆地自然生态系统完整性与原真性评价方法探索: 以钱江源国家公园体制试点为例

中国建立国家公园的目的是保护自然生态系统的完整性和原真性, 促进生物多样性保护。国家公园的完整性和原真性评价是国家公园的布局规划、边界范围确定以及功能区划等研究的前提条件。为了评估国家公园自然生态系统完整性和原真性状态, 本文基于陆地自然生态系统的结构和功能, 通过指标筛选、专家咨询、指标量化和建立综合评价模型, 构建了陆地自然生态系统完整性与原真性的评价指标体系及其量化评价方法。该评价方法包括5个自然生态系统完整性指标、5个自然生态系统原真性指标和2个综合评价指标。以浙江省钱江源国家公园体制试点为例, 本文初步评估了其生态系统完整性与原真性状态, 并对评价结果进行了分级。按照本研究的评价方法, 钱江源国家公园体制试点的自然生态系统完整性评价结果为52.83%, 评价等级为较差; 自然生态系统原真性评价结果为87.06%, 评价等级为好。钱江源国家公园体制试点有待关注和提升的指标有保护区域完整性指数(27.00%)和旗舰种适宜生境完整性指数(53.04%)。最后, 本文结合研究区域评价结果对生态系统完整性和原真性领域应关注的问题进行了讨论。该自然生态系统完整性和原真性评价方法可提供一种评价指标覆盖较全面、数据易获取, 且评价结果易被决策者和管理者理解的评价思路。     

隆水蚤科多样性与生态学研究进展

隆水蚤科以其丰富的个体数和多样性成为海洋水体生态系统中极为重要的小型桡足类, 但其分类学和多样性研究仍有较大不足, 其生态功能及在生态系统中的地位存在被低估的可能。为了提升对隆水蚤科的认识, 本文对国际隆水蚤科分类学和物种多样性研究进展、隆水蚤科的物种多样性研究难点和技术发展趋势、隆水蚤科的分布和生态等方面研究进行概述。19世纪末Giesbrecht创建隆水蚤科, 随后该科的新物种不断被发现和描述, 目前已描述115种。中国海仅记录到隆水蚤科物种11种, 相关生态学研究较薄弱。隆水蚤科由于个体小, 许多物种间具有高度的形态相似性, 并且包含很多姐妹种及种内分型, 因此许多研究将传统分类鉴定手段与分子生物学技术相结合, 以提高物种的发现和描述效率。随着研究的不断深入, 有关隆水蚤科物种的分布特征、食性特征、种群特征和行为学特征等均得到不同程度的关注, 这都将提高隆水蚤科研究的广度和深度。随着研究技术的迅速发展以及许多设备先进的科学考察船和载人潜水器被用于海洋研究, 从近海、边缘海到深远海研究的协同发展, 海洋生物样品资源不断丰富, 这将带动我国分类和多样性研究快速发展, 使隆水蚤科的分类学研究不断深入。     

传染性单核细胞增多症患者外周血T细胞亚群检测及临床意义

目的检测传染性单核细胞增多症(IM)患者及非本病的发热患者外周血T淋巴细胞亚群,探讨EB病毒感染导致的传染性单核细胞增多症的免疫反应机制及与非本病发热患者的鉴别诊断价值,同时通过检测患者血液中的EBV-DNA载量加以确证。方法选取确诊为传染性单核细胞增多症的患者30例(IM组),非传染性单核细胞增多症的发热患者30例(对照组)。应用流式细胞技术检测患者外周血中淋巴细胞亚群,同时应用荧光定量PCR技术检测血清EBV-DNA载量,采用卡方检验及Mann-Whitney检验进行组间差异分析。结果 IM组与对照组患者T淋巴细胞亚群相比,CD8~+T淋巴细胞所占比例显著升高(Z=1.776,P0.001),CD4~+T淋巴细胞所占比例降低(F=4.008,P0.050),同时CD4~+/CD8~+比例明显下降(Z=6.653,P0.001)。IM组EBV-DNA病毒载量显著高于对照组,差异具有统计学意义(P0.050)。结论传染性单核细胞增多症患者外周血T淋巴细胞亚群主要以CD4~+T淋巴细胞及CD8~+T淋巴细胞的变化为主,T淋巴细胞亚群结合血清EBV-DNA病毒载量的联合检测对IM及非本病的发热患者具有鉴别诊断价值。