肿瘤放化综合治疗中的靶向研究

放化疗综合应用是癌症治疗中的常用方法。研究表明,放化疗综合应用可以有效地控制杀伤肿瘤,但过程中对正常细胞的毒副作用严重制约着放化疗的剂量和疗效。如何在有效杀伤肿瘤细胞的同时减轻放化疗综合应用中对正常细胞的毒副作用已经成为探索更好的治疗策略的关键。随着研究的不断深入,各种相关的新药和新治疗思路层出不穷,比如针对肿瘤发生及代谢过程的靶向类新药、用于辐射增敏的新的基因靶点等都已进入研究者的视线。另外,近年来关于肿瘤细胞中药物转运蛋白的研究也为综合治疗靶点寻找提供了一定依据。本文根据当前研究现状,着重总结近年来放化疗综合治疗靶向研究在上述几方面的一些新进展。     

Prd29A及DREB1A的克隆和干旱诱导型植物表达载体的构建与鉴定

从拟南芥中克隆了RD29A基因的启动子(Prd29A)及DREB1M基因的DNA片段,构建Prd29A:DREB1A融合基因,采用合成的接头将该融合基因插入到植物表达载体pBI121中,经鉴定,确认正确.     

Isozyme analysis and relationships among three species in Malaysian Trichoderma isolates

Isozyme and protein electrophoresis data from mycelial extracts of 27 isolates of Trichoderma harzianum, 10 isolates of T. aureoviride and 10 isolates of T. longibrachiatum from Southern Peninsular Malaysia were investigated. The eight enzyme and a single protein pattern systems were analyzed. Three isozyme and total protein patterns were shown to be useful for the detection of three Trichoderma species. The isozyme and protein data were analyzed using the Nei and Li Dice similarity coefficient for pairwise comparison between individual isolates, species isolate group, and for generating a distance matrix. The UPGMA cluster analysis showed a higher degree of relationship between T. harzianum and T. aureoviride than to T. longibrachiatum. These results suggested that the T. harzianum isolates had high levels of genetic variation compared to the other isolates of Trichoderma species.     

THE EFFECTS OF INJURY PREVENTION WARM-UP PROGRAMMES ON KNEE STRENGTH IN MALE SOCCER PLAYERS

The study investigates the effects of the 11+ and HarmoKnee injury prevention programmes on knee strength in male soccer players. Under-21-year-old players (n=36) were divided equally into: the 11+, HarmoKnee and control groups. The programmes were performed for 24 sessions (20-25 min each). The hamstrings and quadriceps strength were measured bilaterally at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1. The concentric quadriceps peak torque (PT) of the 11+ increased by 27.7% at 300°·s^-1 in the dominant leg (p<0.05). The concentric quadriceps PT of HarmoKnee increased by 36.6%, 36.2% and 28% in the dominant leg, and by 31.3%, 31.7% and 20.05% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1 in the non-dominant leg respectively. In the 11+ group the concentric hamstring PT increased by 22%, 21.4% and 22.1% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1, respectively in the dominant leg, and by 22.3%, and 15.7% at 60°·s^-1 and 180°·s^-1, in the non-dominant leg. In the HarmoKnee group the hamstrings in the dominant leg showed an increase in PT by 32.5%, 31.3% and 14.3% at 60°·s^-1, 180°·s^-1 and 300°·s^-1, and in the non-dominant leg hamstrings PT increased by 21.1% and 19.3% at 60°·s^-1 and 180°·s^-1 respectively. The concentric hamstrings strength was significantly different between the 11+ and control groups in the dominant (p=0.01) and non-dominant legs (p=0.02). The HarmoKnee programme enhanced the concentric strength of quadriceps. The 11+ and HarmoKnee programmes are useful warm-up protocols for improving concentric hamstring strength in young professional male soccer players. The 11+ programme is more advantageous for its greater concentric hamstring strength improvement compared to the HarmoKnee programme.     

Isolation and functional analysis of a Brassica juncea gene encoding a com-ponent of auxin efflux carrier

Polar auxin transport plays a divergent role in plant growth and developmental processes including root and embryo development, vascular pattern formation and cell elongation. Recently isolated Arabidopsis pin gene family was believed to encode a component of auxin efflux carrier (G(?)lweiler et al, 1998). Based on the Arabidopsis pin1 sequence we have isolated a Brassica juncea cDNA (designated Bjpin1), which encoded a 70-kDa putative auxin efflux carrier. Deduced BjPIN1 shared 65% identities at protein level with AtPINl and was highly homologous to other putative PIN proteins of Arabidopsis (with highest homology to AtPIN3). Hydrophobic analysis showed similar structures between BjPINl and AtPIN proteins. Presence of 6 exons (varying in size between 65 bp and 1229 bp) and 5 introns (sizes between 89 bp and 463 bp) in the genomic fragment was revealed by comparing the genomic and cDNA sequences. Northern blot analysis indicated that Bjpin1 was expressed in most of the tissues tested, with a relatively h     

In Vitro Characterization of Novel Protegrin-1 Analogues Against Neoplastic Cells

Even with the great advances in cancer therapies, cancer remains the major cause of death worldwide. The use of high doses of anti-cancer chemotherapeutic drugs eventually causes the inevitable damage in non-neoplastic cells. New, selective, and more effective drugs are therefore urgently required to fight cancer. In this study, the anticancer activity of new peptide analogues (P1 and P2) derived from natural peptide, protegrin-1 (PG-1) were evaluated against human breast carcinoma cell lines (MCF-7) and human non-neoplastic mammary epithelial cell lines (MCF-10A), human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) and Vero cells. The CC₅₀ values of cancer cells were significantly lower (P < 0.01) compared to non-neo-plastic cells after treating with P1 and P2 analogues. The analogues of PG-1 showed lower percentage of Lactate Dehydrogenase release (P < 0.001) from non-neoplastic cells compared to cancer cells and low haemolytic potential (P < 0.001) compared to PG-1. The P1 and P2 analogues were shown to be able to induce cancer cell senescence and apoptosis in a p53-dependent pathway which in turn, induced caspase activities and subsequent cell death. Overall, these results suggested that designing shorter peptides, as well as altering the number and position of positive charged residues in P1 and P2 analogues resulted in reduction of their toxicity to non-neoplastic cells and increased selectivity towards cancer cells. Increased selectivity also suggests its potential use to be developed as delivery vectors in the design of chemotherapeutic anticancer drugs.     

Identification of Cryptosporidium from Dairy Cattle in Pahang,Malaysia

Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite, can cause cryptosporidiosis which is a gastrointestinal disease that can infect humans and livestock. Cattle are the most common livestock that can be infected with this protozoan. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in cattle in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia and to find out the association between the occurrence of infection and 3 different ages of cattle (calves less than 1 year, yearling, and adult cattle). The samples were processed by using formol-ether concentration technique and stained by modified Ziehl Neelsen. The results showed that 15.9% (24/151) of cattle were positive for Cryptosporidium oocysts. The occurrence of Cryptosporidium in calves less than 1 year was the highest with the percentage of 20.0% (11/55) followed by yearling and adult cattle, with the percentage occurrence of 15.6 % (7/45) and 11.8% (6/51), respectively. There was no significant association between the occurrence and age of cattle and presence of diarrhea. Good management practices and proper hygiene management must be taken in order to reduce the infection. It is highly important to control the infection since infected cattle may serve as potential reservoirs of the infection to other animals and humans, especially animal handlers.