Long non‐coding RNA ELDR enhances oral cancer growth by promoting ILF3‐cyclin E1 signaling

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer with a 5‐year overall survival rate of 50%. Thus, there is a critical need to understand the disease process, and to identify improved therapeutic strategies. Previously, we found the long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) EGFR long non‐coding downstream RNA (ELDR) induced in a mouse tongue cancer model; however, its functional role in human oral cancer remained unknown. Here, we show that ELDR is highly expressed in OSCC patient samples and in cell lines. Overexpression of ELDR in normal non‐tumorigenic oral keratinocytes induces cell proliferation, colony formation, and PCNA expression. We also show that ELDR depletion reduces OSCC cell proliferation and PCNA expression. Proteomics data identifies the RNA binding protein ILF3 as an interacting partner of ELDR. We further show that the ELDR‐ILF3 axis regulates Cyclin E1 expression and phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma (RB) protein. Intratumoral injection of ELDR‐specific siRNA reduces OSCC and PDX tumor growth in mice. These findings provide molecular insight into the role of ELDR in oral cancer and demonstrate that targeting ELDR has promising therapeutic potential.     

Herbometallic nano-drug inducing metastatic growth inhibition in breast cancer through intracellular energy depletion

Molecular Biology Reports - Cancer cells need extensive energy supply for their uncontrolled cell division and metastasis which is exclusively dependent on neighboring cells, especially adipocytes....     

Relevance of individual and environmental drivers of movement of Golden Eagles

An animal's movement is expected to be governed by an interplay between goals determined by its internal state and energetic costs associated with navigating through the external environment. Understanding this ecological process is challenging when an animal moves in two dimensions and even more difficult for birds that move in a third dimension. To understand the dynamic interaction between the internal state of an animal and the variable external environment, we evaluated hypotheses explaining association of different covariates of movement and the trade-offs birds face as they make behavioural decisions in a fluctuating landscape. We used ~870 000 GPS telemetry data points collected from 68 Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos to test demographic, diel, topographic and meteorological hypotheses to determine (1) the probability that these birds would be in motion and (2), once in motion, their flight speed. A complex and sometimes interacting set of potential internal and external factors determined movement behaviour. There was good evidence that reproductive state, manifested as age, sex and seasonal effects, had a significant influence on the probability of being in motion and, to a lesser extent, on speed of motion. Likewise, movement responses to the external environment were often unexpectedly strong. These responses, to northness of slope, strength of orographic updraft and intensity of solar radiation, were regionally and temporally variable. In contrast to previous work showing the role of a single environmental factor in determining movement decisions, our analyses support the hypothesis that multiple factors simultaneously interact to influence animal movement. In particular they highlighted how movement is influenced by the interaction between the individual's internal reproductive state and the external environment, and that, of the environmental factors, topographic influences are often more relevant than meteorological influences in determining patterns of flight behaviour. Further disentangling of how these internal and externals states jointly affect movement will provide additional insights into the energetic costs of movement and benefits associated with achieving process-driven goals.     

Possible Alteration of Female Specific Protein by Estradiol-17β in Silkworm,Bombyx mori L

In our attempt to understand the biological significance of natural occurrence of estradiol-17β (E₂, a vertebrate female sex steroid) in silkworms effect of exogenous estradiol-17β injection on the appearance of female-specific proteins both in pupal hemolymph and ovarian extracts was undertaken. A single injection of 2 μg of E₂ per g of body weight on the 3rd day in the 5th instar female silkworm (Bombyx mori L. race Nistari) larvae revealed more accumulation of both 170- and 43 kDa proteins from the day 3 to 7 of pupal life with a peak on the day 7 in comparison to the untreated (control) hemolymph. On the contrary, the ovarian extracts revealed highest accumulation of both the proteins in female silkworm pupae on the day 4 and thereafter, declined gradually to level up with the control on the day 8. The fertilized egg extracts irrespective of control and E₂-treated silkworms failed to establish quantitative differences of the proteins in question. Thus the metabolic role of E₂ on the female-specific proteins in silkworm could not be ruled out.