LncRNA GAS6‐AS2 promotes bladder cancer proliferation and metastasis via GAS6‐AS2/miR‐298/CDK9 axis

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proved to play important roles in carcinogenesis and development of numerous cancers, but their biological functions in bladder cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, a novel lncRNA termed GAS6‐AS2 were primary identified, and its roles as well as mechanisms in regulating proliferation and metastasis of bladder cancer cells were investigated. Clinically, GAS6‐AS2 was significantly up‐regulated in bladder cancer tissues and positively correlated with tumour stages and poor prognosis. Moreover, expression of GAS6‐AS2 was also increased in bladder cancer cells compared with normal bladder cells. Further investigating the roles of GAS6‐AS2, we found GAS6‐AS2 regulated proliferation and proliferative activity of bladder cancer cells via inducing G1 phase arrest. What's more, we found that GAS6‐AS2 contributed to metastatic abilities of cells. In mechanism, GAS6‐AS2 could function as a competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) via direct sponging miR‐298, which further regulating the expression of CDK9. Finally, we also proved that GAS6‐AS2 knockdown suppressed tumour growth and metastasis in vivo. In conclusion, our study proved that GAS6‐AS2 could function as a ceRNA and promote the proliferation and metastasis of bladder cancer cells, which provided a novel prognostic marker for bladder cancer patients in clinic.     

Up‐regulation of ZFAS1 indicates dismal prognosis for cholangiocarcinoma and promotes proliferation and metastasis by modulating USF1 via miR‐296‐5p

LncRNAs has been demonstrated to modulate neoplastic development by modulating downstream miRNAs and functional genes. In this study, we aimed to detect the interaction among lncRNA ZFAS1 miR‐296‐5p and USF1. We explored the proliferation, migration and invasion of cholangiocarcinoma. The differentially expressed ZFAS1 was discovered in both tissues and cell lines by qRT‐PCR. The targeting relationship between miR‐296‐5p and ZFAS1 or USF1 was validated by dual‐luciferase assay. The impact of ZFAS1 on CCA cell proliferation was observed by CCK‐8 assay. The protein expression of USF1 was determined by Western blot. The effects of ZFAS1, miR‐296‐5p and USF1 on tumour growth were further confirmed using xenograft model. LncRNA ZFAS1 expression was relatively up‐regulated in tumour tissues and cells while miR‐296‐5p was significantly down‐regulated. Knockdown of ZFAS1 significantly suppressed tumour proliferation, migration, invasion and USF1 expression. Overexpressed miR‐296‐5p suppressed cell proliferation and metastasis. Knockdown of USF1 inhibited cell proliferation and metastasis and xenograft tumour growth. In conclusion, ZFAS1 might promote cholangiocarcinoma proliferation and metastasis by modulating USF1 via miR‐296‐5p.     

Interactions between invasive plants and heavy metal stresses: a review

入侵植物与重金属胁迫的相互作用研究进展 全球变化改变了植物群落的分布格局,包括入侵植物,而人为污染可能降低本地植物对入侵植物的抗性。因此,本文总结了近几十年本地植物、入侵植物和植物-土壤生态系统中重金属生物地球化学行为的研究,以加深我们对入侵植物与环境胁迫因子相互作用的认识。我们的研究结合已有文献报道表明：(i)入侵物种对环境胁迫的影响具有异质性, (ii)影响的大小是多变的, (iii)即使在同一影响类型内,影响类型也具有多向性。然而,入侵植物暴露在重金属环境中表现出更强的自我保护机制,对重金属的生物可利用性和毒性有正向或负向的影响。另一方面,由于入侵植物普遍具有较高的耐受性,加之本地植物暴露于有毒重金属污染时具有“逃逸行为”,重金属胁迫环境更有利于植物的成功入侵。但是,对于入侵植物的重金属等元素组成是否与污染地区的本地植物不同,目前尚无共识。因此,在全球范围内对外来入侵植物与本土植物的植物体内、凋落物和土壤污染物含量进行定量比较是今后研究的一个重要方向。     

Membrane subproteomic analysis of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been known for a long time to prevent tuberculosis (TB) worldwide since 1921. Nonetheless, we know little about BCG membrane proteome. In the present study, we utilized alkaline incubation and Triton X-114-based methods to enrich BCG membrane proteins and subsequently digested them using proteolytic enzyme. The recovered peptides were further separated by 2-D LC and identified by ESI-MS/MS. As a result, total 474 proteins were identified, including 78 integral membrane proteins (IMPs). Notably, 18 BCG IMPs were described for the first time in mycobacterium. Further analysis of the 78 IMPs indicated that the theoretical molecular mass distribution of them ranged from 8.06 to 167.86 kDa and pI scores ranged from 4.40 to 11.60. Functional classification revealed that a large proportion of the identified IMPs (67.9%, 53 out of 78) were involved in cell wall and cell processes functional group. In conclusion, here we reported a comprehensive profile of the BCG membrane subproteome. The present investigation may allow the identification of some valuable vaccine and drug target candidates and thus provide basement for future designing of preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies against TB.     

Mixed-dimensional multi-scale poroelastic modeling of adipose tissue for subcutaneous injection

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Subcutaneous injection of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has gained increasing interest in the pharmaceutical industry. The transport,...     

Apoptosis in HepaRG and HL-7702 cells inducted by polyphyllin II through caspases activation and cell-cycle arrest

Rhizoma Paridis, a traditional Chinese medicine, has shown promise in cancer prevention and therapy. Polyphyllin II is one of the most significant saponins in Rhizoma Paridis and it has toxic effects on kinds of cancer cells. However, our results in this study proved that the polyphyllin II has hepatotoxicity in vitro through caspases activation and cell-cycle arrest. 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide results indicated polyphyllin II inhibited proliferation, induced apoptosis in HepaRG cells and HL-7702 cells and showed a concentration and time-dependent. Then, we selected the innovative cell model-HepaRG cells to explore the mechanism of hepatotoxicity. Our data showed the reactive oxygen species (ROS) increased and the mitochondrial membrane potential decreased in HepaRG cells after administration of polyphyllin II. Besides, with the increase of concentration, the release of lactate dehydrogenase increased and the S phase of the cell cycle was arrested. Nevertheless, when pretreatment with antioxidant N-acetylcysteine, apoptotic cells decreased significantly, inhibited the production of ROS and improved the decrease of membrane potential in HepaRG cells. Moreover, polyphyllin II treatment increased levels of Fas, Bax, cytochrome c, activated caspase-3, -8, -9, cleaved poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and decreased Bcl-2 expression levels. Finally, we identified two signal pathways of apoptosis induced by polyphyllin II including the death receptor pathway and the mitochondria pathway. This study confirmed the hepatotoxicity of the polyphyllin II in vitro, which has never been discovered and gave a wake-up call for the clinical application of Rhizoma Paridis.     

Characterisation of the complete mitochondrial genome of the black-footed abalone Haliotis iris

The complete mitogenome of Haliotis iris, an economically important shellfish endemic to New Zealand, was sequenced for the first time. The mitogenome was 17,131?base pairs (bp) in length and contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes and a control region. All 13 genes were initiated by the start codon ATG, except for nad5 (ATA). Two typical stop codons, TAA and TAG, were present. All of the tRNAs could be folded into typical cloverleaf secondary structures except tRNA^Ser1 and tRNA^Lys, which lacked a DHU stem and complete amino acid acceptor stem, respectively. The control region was 1132?bp in length and contained six AT tandem repeats. According to the gene order of the mitogenome, the 30 analysed Vetigastropoda species could be classified into three types—type I: over half of the studied species were very similar to the gastropod ancestral gene order, and the rearrangements occurred in five tRNAs; type II: eight species were found to be missing several tRNA genes; type III: Fissurellidae, Lepetodrilidae showed a large inverted fragment.