Adhesion of lymphoid cell lines to fibronectin-coated substratum: Biochemical and physiological characterization and the identification of a 140-kDa fibronectin receptor

Little information is available on the interaction between lymphocytes and fibronectin (fn). To gain a better understanding on this issue we examined the adhesion of 12 lymphoid cell lines, each exhibiting different phenotypic characteristics, to fn-coated substratum. Of the cell lines tested, five that adhered to fn possessed B-cell characteristics, while neither the T-cell lines nor the pre-B-cell line adhered. The physiology and biochemistry of adhesion of a B-cell line, MOPC 315, were examined in detail. Our results indicated that (1) the adhesion was a specific and time-dependent process, (2) the adhesion was temperature-dependent and inhibited by metabolic inhibitors, such as KCN and 2-deoxyglucose, (3) the presence of cycloheximide and pretreatment of cells with trypsin inhibited adhesion, (4) a 140-kDa surface protein was immunoprecipitated by anti-fn receptor antibodies, (5) the presence of divalent cations was essential for adhesion, (6) the presence of colchicine had no effect on adhesion, while cytochalasin B partially inhibited adhesion, and (7) the treatment of cells by both phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and calcium ionophore A23187 enhanced adhesion. In this study, we have established the interaction between lymphoid cell lines and fn. Such an interaction might play an important role in the behavior of lymphocytes in tissues.     

沉香叶提取工艺及其抗氧化活性实验研究

采用单因素分析方法和正交试验法研究沉香叶提取工艺并评价沉香叶的体外抗氧化活性.沉香叶的最佳提取工艺为:以15倍量的60％乙醇为溶剂,超声提取40 min,提取1次.野生沉香叶和栽培沉香叶的氧化时间分别为(11.53±0.08)s和(9.98±0.16)s;超氧阴离子的清除率分别为(36.26±0.96)％和(35.67±1.25)％,总还原力的吸光度分别为0.188±0.008和0.129±0.011.该提取工艺简单、重复性好、提取液抗氧化活性强、工艺稳定、无污染;野生沉香叶和栽培沉香叶均具有较好的体外抗氧化活性.     

Proteomics analysis of kojic acid treated A375 human malignant melanoma cells

Although the toxicogenomics of kojic acid treated A375 human malignant melanoma cells has been elucidated, the proteomics of cellular response is still poorly understood. We performed proteomic analysis to investigate the anticancer effect of kojic acid on protein expression profile in A375 cells. A375 cells were treated with kojic acid at 8 microg/mL for 24, 48, and 72 h. With the use of 2-D PAGE and MALDI-Q-TOF MS and MS/MS analyses, proteomic profiles of A375 cells between control and kojic acid treatment were compared, and 30 differentially expressed proteins, containing 2 up-regulated proteins and 28 down-regulated proteins, were identified. Among these proteins, 17 isoforms of 5 identical proteins were observed and 11 chaperone proteins showed the high proportion of protein spots with 36.7% of total proteins. Bioinformatic tools were used to search for protein function and prediction of protein interaction. Sixteen differentially expressed proteins exhibited interaction network linked to the downstream regulations of p53 tumor suppressor and cell apoptosis, which may lead to suppress the melanogenesis and tumorigenesis of kojic acid treated A375 cells. In addition, GRP75, VIME and 2AAA were validated by Western blot analysis, whereas GRP75, 2AAA, HS90B, ENPL and KPYM were validated by RT-PCR. Therefore, these proteins play the important roles in cancer progression and may be potential biomarkers that are useful for diagnostic and therapeutic applications of malignant melanoma cancer.     

Targeting to overexpressed glucose-regulated protein 78 in gastric cancer discovered by 2D DIGE improves the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy of micelles-mediated system

The survivals of gastric cancer (GC) patients are associated with early diagnosis and effective treatments. Therefore, it is urgent for the discovery of early GC biomarkers and tumor-targeting therapeutics. The aim of this study was to uncover putative tissue biomarkers of GC using 2D DIGE and then apply one of these specific markers in GC treatment. We found three putative biomarkers of GC with significant differences in expression level compared to adjacent normal tissue, including glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) and glutathione s-transferase pi (GSTpi) with increased expression level, and alpha-1 antitrypsin (A1AT) with reduced expression level. The overexpressed GRP78 was used as a targeted protein for guiding the drugs to tumor cells, leading to more effective treatment for GC xenografts. Our results demonstrated that the designated GRP78-binding peptide based on the sequence, WIFPWIQL, was selectively prone to recognize and bind to GC MKN45 cells in vitro, and also improve the delivery efficiency of polymeric micelles-encapsulated drugs into tumor cells and displayed better therapeutic outcome in experimental animals. This strategy of GRP78-mediated drug targeting system may bring chemotherapeutic drugs with more precise targeting to tumor cells, leading to minimize side effects on patients after chemotherapy.     

Disentangling the effects of isolation-by-distance and isolation-by-environment on genetic differentiation among <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhododendron</Emphasis> lineages in the subgenus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tsutsusi</Emphasis>

Ecological speciation has long been noted as a central topic in the field of evolutionary biology, and investigation into the relative importance of ecological and geographical factors is becoming increasingly emphasized. We surveyed genetic variation of 277 samples from 25 populations of nine Rhododendron species within Tsutsusi subgenus in Taiwan using simple sequence repeats of expressed sequence tags. Bayesian clustering revealed four genetic lineages: (1) the Rhododendron simsii, Rhododendron kanehirai, and Rhododendron nakaharae lineage (lineage 1); (2) the Rhododendron longiperulatum, Rhododendron breviperulatum, and Rhododendron noriakianum lineage (lineage 2); (3) the Rhododendron rubropilosum lineage (lineage 3); and (4) the Rhododendron oldhamii lineage (lineage 4). Asymmetric introgressions were found from lineage 3 into lineages 1 and 2 (introgressed lineages). Genetic admixture of non-R. oldhamii species was also revealed by a neighbor-joining tree. Variation partitioning showed that environment explained much larger portions of genetic variation than geography between non-introgressed lineages (i.e., between R. oldhamii and other lineages). However, the Mantel and partial Mantel tests and the multiple matrix regression with randomization found that isolation-by-distance played a more important role than isolation-by-environment (IBE) in contributing to genetic variation in most between lineage comparisons. Nevertheless, strong IBE was found when compared between non-introgressed lineages of R. oldhamii and R. rubropilosum, suggesting post-speciation ecological divergence. Several environmental variables, including annual mean temperature, aspect, isothermality, seasonal precipitation, slope, and soil pH, could be important ecological drivers involved in reproductive isolation between R. oldhamii and non-R. oldhamii species within the Tsutsusi subgenus.     

基于23S／5SrDNA序列的柑橘黄龙病病原菌亚洲种系统发育研究

根据柑橘黄龙病亚洲种23S/5S的DNA序列设计一对引物对不同地理来源的6个柑橘黄龙病样品DNA进行扩增,扩增片段大小均为1 654 bp包括一个假定细胞壁水解酶假基因(putative cell wall hydrolase pseudogene)和5S rRNA 基因.序列同源性分析结果表明;6个柑橘黄龙病病原菌样品与柑橘黄龙病病原菌亚洲种Sihui样品的同源性为99%,然而与土壤杆菌,布鲁氏菌,根瘤菌,中华根瘤菌,巴通体菌和中慢生根瘤菌的同源性只有89%～95%,说明在23S/5S rDNA序列上黄龙病病原菌亚洲种与α变形菌纲根瘤菌目的其他病原菌相差较大.对黄龙病病原菌亚洲种种内的23S/5S rDNA序列进行比较分析,结果发现黄龙病病原菌亚洲种种内之间putative cell wall hydrolase pseudogene和5S rRNA的基因序列非常保守,但不同地理来源的柑橘黄龙病样品碱基序列间确实存在差异,差异的大小与地理的远近无关.利用简约法对黄龙病病原菌亚洲种及α变形菌纲其它病原菌的23S/5S rDNA序列构建的系统发育树显示黄龙病病原菌亚洲种单独聚为一类,其他细菌聚为另一类,该结果与基于rplJ基因及16S rRNA基因的DNA序列构建的分子系统进化树结果一致.     

Synthesis and Activity Evaluation of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Inhibitors Based on 6‐(Pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole

Human nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a common head and neck malignancy with high incidence in Southeast Asia and Southern China. It is necessary to develop safe, effective and inexpensive anticancer agents to improve the therapeutics of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. A series of small molecular compounds based on 6‐(pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole were synthesized and evaluated for antiproliferative activities against human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell lines SUNE1. Compounds 6b , 6c , 6e and 6l showed potent antiproliferative activities similar to positive control drug cisplatin in vitro with lower nephrotoxicity than it. N‐[4‐(1H‐Indazol‐6‐yl)pyrimidin‐2‐yl]benzene‐1,3‐diamine ( 6l ) was selected for further study. It was found that 6l induced mitochondria‐mediated apoptosis and G₂/M phase arrest in SUNE1 cells. Furthermore, compound 6l at 10 mg/kg can suppress the growth of an implanted SUNE1 xenograft with a TGI% (tumor growth inhibition) value of 50 % and did not cause serious side effects in BALB/c nude mice. This study suggests that 6‐(pyrimidin‐4‐yl)‐1H‐indazole derivatives are a series of small molecule compounds with anti‐nasopharyngeal carcinoma activities.     

Nicotinate-Curcumin Impedes Foam Cell Formation from THP-1 Cells through Restoring Autophagy Flux

Our previous studies have indicated that a novel curcumin derivate nicotinate-curcumin (NC) has beneficial effects on the prevention of atherosclerosis, but the precise mechanisms are not fully understood. Given that autophagy regulates lipid metabolism, the present study was designed to investigate whether NC decreases foam cell formation through restoring autophagy flux in oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-treated THP-1 cells. Our results showed that ox-LDL (100 μg/ml) was accumulated in THP-1 cells and impaired autophagy flux. Ox-LDL-induced impairment of autophagy was enhanced by treatment with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) and rescued by the autophagy inducer rapamycin. The aggregation of ox-LDL was increased by CQ, but decreased by rapamycin. In addition, colocalization of lipid droplets with LC3-II was remarkably reduced in ox-LDL group. In contrast, NC (10 μM) rescued the impaired autophagy flux by significantly increasing level of LC3-II, the number of autophagolysosomes, and the degradation of p62 in ox-LDL-treated THP-1 cells. Inhibition of the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling was required for NC-rescued autophagy flux. Notably, our results showed that NC remarkably promoted the colocalization of lipid droplets with autophagolysosomes, increased efflux of cholesterol, and reduced ox-LDL accumulation in THP-1 cells. However, treatment with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) or CQ reduced the protective effects of NC on lipid accumulation. Collectively, the findings suggest that NC decreases lipid accumulation in THP-1 cells through restoring autophagy flux, and further implicate that NC may be a potential therapeutic reagent to reverse atherosclerosis.