Tackling the tumor microenvironment: what challenge does it pose to anticancer therapies?

Cancer is a highly aggressive and devastating disease, and impediments to a cure arise not just from cancer itself. Targeted therapies are difficult to achieve since the majority of cancers are more intricate than ever imagined. Mainstream methodologies including chemotherapy and radiotherapy as routine clinical regimens frequently fail, eventually leading to pathologies that are refractory and incurable. One major cause is the gradual to rapid repopulation of surviving cancer cells during intervals of multiple-dose administration. Novel stress-responsive molecular pathways are increasingly unmasked and show promise as emerging targets for advanced strategies that aim at both de novo and acquired resistance. We highlight recent data reporting that treatments particularly those genotoxic can induce highly conserved damage responses in non-cancerous constituents of the tumor microenvironment (TMEN). Master regulators, including but not limited to NF-kB and C/EBP-β, are implicated and their signal cascades culminate in a robust, chronic and genome-wide secretory program, forming an activated TMEN that releases a myriad of soluble factors. The damage-elicited but essentially off target and cell non-autonomous secretory phenotype of host stroma causes adverse consequences, among which is acquired resistance of cancer cells. Harnessing signals arising from the TMEN, a pathophysiological niche frequently damaged by medical interventions, has the potential to promote overall efficacy and improve clinical outcomes provided that appropriate actions are ingeniously integrated into contemporary therapies. Thereby, anticancer regimens should be well tuned to establish an innovative clinical avenue, and such advancement will allow future oncological treatments to be more specific, accurate, thorough and personalized.     

基于L5178Y细胞体外Pig-a基因突变试验方法的建立与初步探索

利用小鼠淋巴瘤细胞L5178Y tk+/--3.7.2C和阴性化合物Glc、NaCl及阳性化合物EMS、ENU、4-NQO、B(a)P建立并验证基于哺乳动物细胞的体外Pig-a基因突变检测方法。计算细胞相对倍增速率评价细胞毒性,抗体标记突变型细胞确定流式检测模板,L5178Y细胞经EMS处理后第4、8、12、16、20天检测Pig-a基因突变频率,确定最大突变频率发生时间点,免疫荧光技术检测CD90蛋白在细胞中的定位情况,采用PCR方法进行突变位点分析。结果表明(:1)Glc、NaCl、EMS、ENU、B(a)P、4-NQO所设浓度组RPD均大于50%。(2)Pig-a基因突变频率在给药后第8天出现峰值。Glc和NaCl致Pig-a基因突变频率均小于200×10-6,各浓度组与溶剂对照组间不存在显著性差异(P>0.05),EMS、ENU、B(a)P、4-NQO均可引起Pig-a基因突变频率增加,且与溶剂对照组相比存在显著性差异。(3)免疫荧光成像显示突变型细胞表面无CD90蛋白,野生型细胞正常表达CD45,CD90蛋白。(4)基因突变位点检测显示存在G→C、A→C、C→T三种突变类型。基于小鼠淋巴瘤L5178Y细胞分别在有无S9代谢活化条件下成功建立体外Pig-a基因突变的遗传毒性检测方法,旨为化合物体外遗传毒性评价或药物研发早期遗传毒性筛选提供新方法。     

粘细菌Corallococcus sp. strain EGB及其培养发酵液的安全性评估

【目的】研究粘细菌Corallococcus sp. strain EGB及其细胞培养发酵液的毒理安全性,为菌株EGB作为新型生防微生物菌剂的开发和环境施用安全性提供一定的科学基础。【方法】通过Ames试验、小鼠骨髓嗜多染红细胞微核试验和小鼠睾丸染色体畸变试验测定粘细菌EGB菌体及其细胞培养发酵液的遗传毒性;通过经口灌胃的方式测定粘细菌EGB菌体及其细胞培养发酵液对ICR小鼠的急性毒性和28d亚急性毒性。【结果】Ames试验、微核试验和精母细胞染色体畸变试验结果表明,与对照组相比,EGB菌体及其细胞培养发酵液无基因突变能力,对ICR小鼠无明显的遗传毒性。EGB菌体及其细胞培养发酵液对ICR小鼠的急性经口半致死剂量(LD50)>10g/kg BW (body weight);连续灌胃28 d后,处理组ICR小鼠的体重变化、采食饮水、血液生化指标、血常规、主要脏器指数和主要器官病理切片与对照组相比无显著差异(P<0.05)。【结论】粘细菌EGB菌体及其细胞培养发酵液的毒理安全性属于无毒类别,粘细菌的生物安全性使其在工农业领域的植物病害控制和生物转化等方面具有潜在的应用价值。     

Protective effect of zinc on cadmium-induced micronuclei in V79 cells

The induction of micronuclei (MN) in mitotically active cells has been widely used and promoted as a biological marker of exposure to environmental toxins. In our study the effect of zinc on cadmium genotoxicity was investigated in V 79 cells. The results indicate that cadmium chloride exposure for 24 h increased micronucleus frequency and the percentage of binucleated cells in dose-dependent manner. At the highest concentration of cadmium (50 microM Cd) 23 MN were found in 1000 cells. The protective effect of zinc on cadmium genotoxicity was investigated at lower concentrations (5-25 microM CdCl2). At 50 microM Cd, the number of MN increased significantly (16 MN).     

厨房油烟引起AL细胞遗传损伤和胞内自由基形成

为了解厨房油烟(cooking oil fumes,COF)对细胞的危害及其遗传毒性机制,以A细胞为实验模型,对细胞活力水平、细胞基因突变率、细胞非巯基蛋白化合物水平(NPSH)以及细胞内活性氧(ROS)产生的变化规律进行了研究。实验发现：用厨房油烟(COF)处理后,A细胞的活力下降,细胞CD59基因的突变率随着处理浓度的增加而增加,NPSH水平随着处理浓度的增加而降低,且存在一定的剂量一效应关系。检测胞内产生的ROS,发现400μg／ml COF处理30min后,细胞内ROS含量高于对照3倍多。实验结果表明：COF可引起细胞氧化胁迫,诱导哺乳动物细胞基因突变。     

Evaluation of soil toxicity using different biotests on Pisum sativum: a case study

In this study we used Pisum sativum as model plant, to perform a battery of plant biotests, based on the analysis of biological endpoints, ranging from the macroscopical to the microscopical level, in order to evaluate the toxicity of soils sampled from three different polluted areas (two industrial and one exposed to heavy vehicular traffic). In addition to the conventional germination tests and early root growth analyses, the mitotic index and the percentages of mitotic phases and of aberrations in the root apices were calculated. Moreover, DNA loss and damage were evaluated by flow cytometry and COMET assay, respectively. Root samples from polluted soils showed lower mitotic indices and a higher mitotic aberration percentage and DNA loss in comparison to the controls. Data obtained by COMET tests highlighted the soil genotoxicity, especially in the two industrial areas. All together, our results showed that the three studied sites were characterised by different levels of toxicity: in particular, one of the two industrial sites was the most harmful.     

Genotoxicity investigation of ELF-magnetic fields in Salmonella typhimurium with the sensitive SOS-based VITOTOX test

We performed a genotoxicity investigation of extremely low-frequency (ELF) magnetic fields (MFs, 50 Hz, 100 and 500 μT, 1 and 2 h exposure) alone and in combination with known chemical mutagens using the VITOTOX test. This test is a very sensitive reporter assay of Salmonella typhimurium bacteria based on the SOS response. Our study showed that ELF-MFs do not induce SOS-based mutagenicity in S. typhimurium bacteria and do not show any synergetic effect when combined with chemical mutagens.