methionine-functionalized-biocompatible-block-copolymers-for-targeted

Methionine Functionalized Biocompatible Block Copolymers for Targeted Plasmid DNA Delivery

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization integrates the advantages of radical polymerization and living polymerization. This ...

biosynthesis-flavonol-from-flavanone-establishing-one-pot-bienzymatic

Biosynthesis of a Flavonol from a Flavanone by Establishing a One-pot Bienzymatic Cascade

Flavonols are a major subclass of flavonoids with a variety of biological and pharmacological activities. Here, we provide a method for the in vitro ...

Metastasis is the leading cause of death among breast cancer (BCa) patients and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) as one of BCa subtypes exhibits the worst survival rate due to its highly aggressive and metastatic behavior. A growing body of research has shown that the dynamic expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) was intimately associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. Recent studies have demonstrated miR-31 as a metastasis-suppressor in breast cancer, but it is still known little about the mechanism of it suppresses metastasis. The special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-2 (SATB2) has been reported to involve in tumor proliferation and invasion, but its function and relationship with miR-31 in breast cancer is still unknown. Here we found that the expression of miR-31 was downregulated in TNBC tissue and cell line. MiR-31 expression was increased after MDA-MB-231 cell was treated by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-AZA-CdR), enhance the expression of miR-31 significantly inhibited MDA-MB-231 cell migration and invasion, downregulation of miR-31 expression could promoted MCF-7 cell migration and invasion. The expression of SATB2 was negatively correlated with miR-31 and was upregulated in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231. Silencing SATB2 expression significantly inhibited MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Luciferase reporter assays indicated SATB2 is a direct target of miR-31. Taken together, these results suggest miR-31 inhibited TNBC cells migration and invasion through suppressing SATB2 expression.

MiR-31 inhibits migration and invasion by targeting SATB2 in triple negative breast cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of highly conserved small noncoding RNAs that play pivotal roles at the post-transcriptional level in the biological function of various cancers, including breast cancer. In our study, miR-346 mimic, inhibitor, negative control or si-SRCIN1 were transfected into MCF-7 and MCF-7/Doc cells, respectively. Quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to measure miR-346 and SRCIN1 mRNA expressions and western blot was used to detect the expression of SRCIN1 in protein level. CCK-8 and colony formation were employed to verify cell viability and proliferation. Flow cytometry showed the apoptosis. Transwell was performed to detect migration and invasion. The luciferase reporter assay data showed the target correlation of miR-346 and SRCIN1. Firstly, we found that the expression of miR-346 was higher in breast cancer tissues than in their paired corresponding non-cancerous tissues and there was significant inversed correlation between miR-346 and SRCIN1. Overexpression of miR-346 promoted cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, and reduced apoptosis, sensitivity to Docetaxel (Doc). SRCIN1 was identified as a direct target of miR-346, whose silencing promoted cell proliferation and the IC50 of Doc. Moreover, SRCIN1 silencing reduced the effect of miR-346 down-expression. Taken together, miR-346 may function as an oncogenic miRNA and mediate chemosensitivity to docetaxel through targeting SRCIN1 in breast cancer, targeted modulation of miR-346 expression may became a potential strategy for the treatment.

MiR-346 promotes the biological function of breast cancer cells by targeting SRCIN1 and reduces chemosensitivity to docetaxel.

MicroRNAs are small nonprotein-encoding RNAs ranging from 18 to 25 nucleotides in size and regulate multiple biological pathways via directly targeting a variety of associated genes in cancers. MicroRNA-27b is a highly conserved MicroRNA throughout vertebrates and there are two homologs (hsa-miR-27a and hsa-miR-27b) in humans. MicroRNA-27b is an intragenic microRNA located on chromosome 9q22.1 within the C9orf3 gene, clustering with miR-23b and miR-24-1 in human. As a frequently dysregulated microRNA in human cancers, microRNA-27b could function as a tumor suppressor or an oncogenic microRNA. More and more studies indicate that microRNA-27b is involved in affecting various biological processes, such as angiogenesis, proliferation, metastasis, and drug resistance, and thus may act as a promising therapeutic target in human cancers. In this review, we discuss the role of microRNA-27b in detail and offer novel insights into molecular targeting therapy for cancers.

Promising therapeutic role of miR-27b in tumor.

Rap2b is a novel p53 target we have identified recently. Knockdown of Rap2b sensitizes HCT116 cells to adriamycin-induced apoptosis, indicating that Rap2b promotes adriamycin resistance in cancer cells. In the present study, we designed a nanostructure-based drug/gene delivery system to evaluate the potential of Rap2b siRNA as a therapeutic agent against human cancers. Specifically, after co-incubated with HCT116 cells, adriamycin- and Rap2b siRNA-loaded gold nanoshells were internalized. Subsequent laser irradiation promoted release of adriamycin and Rap2b siRNA from the nanoparticles. The laser-induced release of Rap2b siRNA decreased cellular expression of Rap2b and significantly enhanced the anticancer therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin in vitro and in vivo. In addition, laser irradiation of the nanoparticles might exert an additional thermal killing effect on cancer cells and further improved the anticancer efficacy of adriamycin. In summary, Rap2b siRNA is a potential enhancing agent for adriamycin-based anticancer therapeutics and the gold nanoshell-based drug/gene delivery system carrying both adriamycin and Rap2b siRNA provides a promising anticancer therapeutic strategy.

Rap2b siRNA significantly enhances the anticancer therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin in a gold nanoshell-based drug/gene co-delivery system.

This present study was designed to investigate the pharmacokinetic profiles and tissue distribution characteristics of clevidipine and its primary metabolite H152/81 in rats following a single intravenous administration of clevidipine butyrate injectable emulsion. For this study, a sensitive and selective liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was established and validated for the simultaneous quantitation of clevidipine and H152/81 in rat whole blood and various tissues. A Hedera ODS-2 column with two gradient elution programs was employed for the troubleshooting of matrix effect on the detection of analytes among different biological samples. The experimental data showed that clevidipine represented quick elimination from blood with a half-life of about 4.3 min and rapid distribution in all of the investigated tissues after administration; the highest concentration of clevidipine was found in the heart whereas the lowest concentration was detected in the liver. In addition, clevidipine was almost undetectable in most tissues except for heart and brain at 90 min post-dosing, suggesting that there was no apparent long-term accumulation in rat tissues. For H152/81, the peak concentration of 3714 ± 319 ng/mL occurred at 0.129 ± 0.048 h, the half-life was 10.08 ± 1.45 h and area under the concentration-time curve was 42091 ± 3812 ng h/mL after drug administration. In addition, H152/81 was found at significant concentration levels in all tissues, in descending order of lung, kidney, heart, liver, spleen and brain at each time point. The results of current study offer useful clues for better understanding the distribution and metabolism of clevidipine butyrate injectable emulsion in vivo.

Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study of clevidipine and its primary metabolite H152/81 in rats.

Development of acquired resistance to EGFR-TKI therapy continues to be a serious clinical problem in Lung adenocarcinoma management. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists demonstrate anti-tumor activity likely via transactivating genes that regulate cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Efatutazone, a novel later generation PPARγ agonist, selectively activates PPARγ target genes and has antiproliferative effects in a range of malignancies. However, the exact function and molecular mechanism of PPARγ agonists efatutazone in EGFR-TKI gefitinib-resistance of Lung adenocarcinoma has not been determined. In this study, we studied the development of acquired resistance to an EGFR-TKI gefitinib in lung adenocarcinoma cells and investigated the antiproliferative effects of efatutazone in the acquired resistant cells. The treatment of gefitinib-resistant cells with efatutazone reduced the growth of gefitinib-resistant cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and facilitated the anti-proliferative effects of gefitinib. Mechanistic investigations suggested that efatutazone acted by upregulating protein expression of PPARγ, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), inactivating the Akt pathway, followed by dephosphorylation of p21Cip1 at Thr145 without affecting the transcriptional levels. Our results suggested that efatutazone, alone or in combination with gefitinib, might offer therapeutic effects in lung adenocarcinoma.

PPARγ agonist efatutazone and gefitinib synergistically inhibit the proliferation of EGFR-TKI-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells via the PPARγ/PTEN/Akt pathway.

The relationships between transcription and methylation were revealed in Arabidopsis thaliana NB-LRR-encoding genes in wild type (Col-0) and different mutants. Plant nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) proteins constitute a large family that plays predominant roles in disease resistance. However, the regulation of NB-LRR-encoding genes at the transcriptional level is still poorly understood. Recently, DNA cytosine methylation in eukaryotes has been described as serving an important function in regulating gene expression. Here, we analysed the DNA methylation patterns of NB-LRR-encoding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana in samples from a wild type (Col-0) and ago4, met1, cmt3, drm1/2, and ddm1 mutants. Our results revealed that the vast majority of the NB-LRR-encoding genes in Col-0 were methylated, and the DNA methylation occurred predominantly in the CG sequence context. Moreover, DNA methylation was widely distributed in both the promoters and the bodies of most NB-LRR-encoding genes. Our results also showed that the loss of AGO4, MET1, CMT3, DRM1/2 or DDM1 functions generally led to decreased cytosine methylation in the NB-LRR-encoding genes. Analysis of the available transcriptome data from the wild type and the met1, cmt3, drm1/2 and ddm1 mutants revealed that differences in the transcription levels between the wild type and mutants were statistically significant for 63 of the NB-LRR-encoding genes. Of these genes, 38 were significantly upregulated, and the other 25 were significantly downregulated. Some NB-LRR-encoding genes with differential expression levels, which were revealed by the mRNA-Seq data, were confirmed to be significantly upregulated or downregulated in the mutants compared to the wild type by using quantitative RT-PCR. These data suggest that some Arabidopsis NB-LRR-encoding genes are likely to be regulated by altered DNA methylation patterns.

Analysis of the DNA methylation patterns and transcriptional regulation of the NB-LRR-encoding gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The development of acquired EGFR-TKI therapeutic resistance is still a serious clinical problem in the management of lung adenocarcinoma. Peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists may exhibit anti-tumor activity by transactivating genes which are closely associated with cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. However, it remains not clear whether efatutazone has similar roles in lung adenocarcinoma cells of gefitinib resistant such as HCC827-GR and PC9-GR. It has been demonstrated by us that efatutazone prominently increased the mRNA and protein expression of PPARγ, liver X receptor alpha (LXRα),as well as ATP binding cassette subfamily A member 1 (ABCA1). In the presence of GW9662 (a specific antagonist of PPARγ) or GGPP (a specific antagonist of LXRα), efatutazone (40 μmol/L) restored the proliferation of both HCC827-GR and PC9-GR cells and obviously inhibited the increased protein and mRNA expression of PPAR-gamma, LXR-alpha, and ABCA1 induced by efatutazone. LXRα knockdown by siRNA (si-LXRα) significantly promoted the HCC827-GR and PC9-GR cells proliferation, whereas incubation efatutazone with si-LXRα restored the proliferation ability compared with the control group. In addition, combination of efatutazone and LXRα agonist T0901317 showed a synergistic therapeutic effect on lung adenocarcinoma cell proliferation and PPAR gamma, LXR A and ABCA1 protein expression. These results indicate that efatutazone could inhibit the cells proliferation of HCC827-GR and PC9-GR through PPARγ/LXRα/ABCA1 pathway, and synergistic therapeutic effect is achieved when combined with T0901317.

Efatutazone and T0901317 exert synergistically therapeutic effects in acquired gefitinib-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells.

In this work, a novel photothermal agent based on methionine (Met) was synthesized, which shows strong absorbance in the near infrared ray (NIR) region and is available for NIR imaging and in vivo photothermal therapy in a mouse model. Comparing to free IR-782, the obtained Met modified fluorescent dye (Met-IR-782) exhibited excellent fluorescence stability, preferable photothermal conversion efficiency under 780 nm laser irradiation and specific targeting to MCF7 (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) cells. The fluorescence imaging ability enabled in situ monitoring of the tumor accumulation of Met-IR-782. The photothermal cytotoxicity assays in vitro and photothermal therapy treatments in vivo indicated that Met-IR-782 could efficiently target and suppress the growth of MCF7 xenograft tumors. Hence, Met-IR-782 is a potential fluorescent agent for NIR imaging-guided cancer photothermal therapy in clinical application. This work highlights the prospect of using light absorbing agents for NIR imaging-guided photothermal therapy.

A novel Met-IR-782 near-infrared probe for fluorescent imaging-guided photothermal therapy in breast cancer.

An in vitro multienzyme synthetic system was developed and optimized to efficiently produce kaempferol in a single reaction tube. Two key genes, Atf3h and Atfls1, in the biosynthetic pathway of kaempferol were cloned into a prokaryotic expression vector and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. The recombinant proteins were purified through affinity chromatography and showed activities of flavanone 3-hydroxylase and flavonol synthase, respectively, followed by development of an in vitro synthetic system for producing kaempferol. The system contains 8.2 mM α-ketoglutaric acid, 0.01 mM ferrous ion, 0.4% sodium ascorbate, 25 μg/mL of each recombinant enzyme, and 10% glycerol in 100 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.2). When the reaction was carried out at 40 °C for 40-50 min, the yield of kaempferol was 37.55 ± 1.62 mg/L and the conversion rate from NRN to KMF was 55.89% ± 2.74%. Overall, this system provides a promising and efficient approach to produce kaempferol economically.

Development and Optimization of an In Vitro Multienzyme Synthetic System for Production of Kaempferol from Naringenin.

Complex co-regulatory networks in plants may elicit responses during pathogen infections. A number of genes are activated when these responses take place. Identification of these genes would shed new light on understanding the mechanisms of rice response to pathogen infections and the elucidation of crosstalk among diverse signaling networks in rice disease resistance/susceptibility.

Identification and expression analysis of genes with pathogen-inducible cis-regulatory elements in the promoter regions in Oryza sativa.

In plants, the final step of monolignols polymerization is catalyzed by laccase, a key enzyme in lignin biosynthesis. Laccase has been shown a multifunctional enzyme that plays many important roles. As information is not available on the laccase gene family in Citrus sinensis, genome-wide analysis has been carried out in this study using C. sinensis genome. Using bioinformatics approaches, 24 laccase genes (CsLAC1~CsLAC24) were identified from C. sinensis. Most CsLACs were found in C. sinensis chromosome 6, 7 and 8, while no CsLACs were found in chromosome 4, 5 and 9. In most CsLACs, four conserved signature sequences and three typical Cu-oxidase domains were observed. However, the CsLAC-encoding genes displayed distinct intron-exon patterns and relatively low sequence similarity. Phylogenetic clustering analysis indicated that the CsLACs were divided into seven groups, suggesting potential distinct functions and evolution. Putative signal sequences, subcellular location and glycosylation sites were predicted in the CsLACs. Moreover, sixteen CsLAC transcripts, which coding genes were clustering in chromosomes, were found to be potential targets of csi-miR397. Cis-regulatory elements and expression analyses indicated the possible involvement of some CsLAC members in diverse stresses and growth/development processes, respectively. These results may provide valuable clues for further studies on the functions of the CsLACs in citrus growth and adaptation to stress.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of laccase gene family in Citrus sinensis.

The study aimed to investigate the role of circular RNA circASS1 in breast cancer cells.

Circular RNA circASS1 is downregulated in breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and suppressed invasion and migration.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that could regulate gene expressions transcriptionally or post-transcriptionally through binding to 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of target messenger RNAs (mRNAs), which were identified to be associated with tumorigenesis in various neoplasms. Among them, miR-101, encoded by two precursor transcripts (miR-101-1 and miR-101-2), was recognized to serve as a tumor suppressor via targeting critical oncogenes or anti-oncogenes. Additionally, studies have shown that miR-101 was participated in multiple cancer-related biological processes, including proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, drug resistance, invasion and metastasis. In this review, we aim to summarize the function of miR-101 in different biological processes by figuring out the underlying target gene networks and explore its potential role as a biomarker in diverse neoplasms, which will provide a brand-new insight in molecular targeting cancer treatment.

MiR-101: a potential therapeutic target of cancers.

 Capecitabine is an antimetabolic fluoropyrimidine deoxynucleoside carbamate drug that can be converted to 5-FU . Currently, the role of capecitabine in the treatment of advanced breast cancer has been recognized. Also, Several meta-analyses have elucidated the role of capecitabine in the treatment of breast cancer, indicating that taxane-based regimen with capecitabine may be an effective, convenient, and well tolerated regimen in patients with early breast cancer. However, the correlation between capecitabine-based combination first-line chemotherapy and breast cancer survival remains unclear. Here, we present a meta-analysis to systematically evaluate the safety and effectiveness of capecitabine-based combination with first-line chemotherapy treatment in breast cancer.  We searched Pubmed, Embase, and Medline for relevant studies evaluating pooled estimated hazard ratios of capecitabine in breast cancer patients with the eligible criteria up to June 2018. Fixed and random-effect meta-analyses were conducted based on heterogeneity of included studies.  Overall, 10 articles with 12,872 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Capecitabine-based combination first-line chemotherapy compared with non-combination had significant impacts on disease-free survival (HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.76-0.93; P = 0.000) and overall survival (HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.74-0.94; P = 0.001). Also, according to the 3 articles concerning neoadjuvant chemotherapy which included 2534 participants, we found that the addition of capecitabine significantly improved OS (HR = 0.89, 95% CI: 0.63-0.86; P = 0.011). In the subgroup analysis, TNBC patients got significant benefits with the addition of capecitabine in DFS (HR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.65-0.92; P = 0.004) and OS (HR = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.51-0.81; P = 0.000). ER negative patients got significant benefits in OS (HR = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.57-0.93; P = 0.012). The association of DFS with the addition of capecitabine in Her- patients (HR = 0.84, 95% CI: 0.71-0.99; P = 0.005) was significant, as was OS (HR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.70-0.95; P = 0.009),. Meanwhile, patients receiving capecitabine-based combination first-line chemotherapy underwent less adverse effects especially the grade 3/4 leucopenia than patients with non-combination therapy (RR=0.72 95% CI: 0.59-0.86; P = 0.000).  Capecitabine combined with first-line chemotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer is an effective and safe treatment option and is worthy of clinical application to improve survival of breast cancer patients. In the future, we can continue to carry out relevant researches to explore the upmost appropriate dose of capecitabine for breast cancer.

ArticleTotal : 2	Year
Publication title Cited by 1	2019
Publication title Cited by 2	2019

Article	Year
MiR-31 inhibits migration and invasion by targeting SATB2 in triple negative breast cancer. Gene\| PubMed ID: 27593563	2016
MiR-346 promotes the biological function of breast cancer cells by targeting SRCIN1 and reduces chemosensitivity to docetaxel. Gene\| PubMed ID: 27913185	2017
Promising therapeutic role of miR-27b in tumor. Tumour biology : the journal of the International Society for Oncodevelopmental Biology and Medicine\| PubMed ID: 28351320	2017
Rap2b siRNA significantly enhances the anticancer therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin in a gold nanoshell-based drug/gene co-delivery system. Oncotarget\| PubMed ID: 28423503	2017
Pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution study of clevidipine and its primary metabolite H152/81 in rats. Biomedical chromatography : BMC\| PubMed ID: 28707762	2018
PPARγ agonist efatutazone and gefitinib synergistically inhibit the proliferation of EGFR-TKI-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells via the PPARγ/PTEN/Akt pathway. Experimental cell research\| PubMed ID: 29080795	2017
Analysis of the DNA methylation patterns and transcriptional regulation of the NB-LRR-encoding gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant molecular biology\| PubMed ID: 29525832	2018
Efatutazone and T0901317 exert synergistically therapeutic effects in acquired gefitinib-resistant lung adenocarcinoma cells. Cancer medicine\| PubMed ID: 29573196	2018
A novel Met-IR-782 near-infrared probe for fluorescent imaging-guided photothermal therapy in breast cancer. Lasers in medical science\| PubMed ID: 29948451	2018
Development and Optimization of an In Vitro Multienzyme Synthetic System for Production of Kaempferol from Naringenin. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry\| PubMed ID: 30019587	2018
Identification and expression analysis of genes with pathogen-inducible cis-regulatory elements in the promoter regions in Oryza sativa. Rice (New York, N.Y.)\| PubMed ID: 30209707	2018
Genome-wide identification and characterization of laccase gene family in Citrus sinensis. Gene\| PubMed ID: 30576804	2019
Circular RNA circASS1 is downregulated in breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and suppressed invasion and migration. Epigenomics\| PubMed ID: 30657346	2019
MiR-101: a potential therapeutic target of cancers. American journal of translational research\| PubMed ID: 30662588	2018
Addition of Capecitabine in Breast Cancer First-line Chemotherapy Improves Survival of Breast Cancer Patients. Journal of Cancer\| PubMed ID: 30719136	2019

Li Ding

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