Osthole inhibits proliferation of human breast cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis

Recent studies have revealed that osthole,an active constituent isolated from the fruit of Cnidium monnieri（L.） Cusson,a traditional Chinese medicine,possesses anticancer activity.However,its effect on breast cancer cells so far has not been elucidated clearly.In the present study,we evaluated the effects of osthole on the proliferation,cell cycle and apoptosis of human breast cancer cells MDA-MB 435.We demonstrated that osthole is effective in inhibiting the proliferation of MDA-MB 435 cells,The mitochondrion-mediated apoptotic pathway was involved in apoptosis induced by osthole,as indicated by activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 followed by PARP degradation.The mechanism underlying its effect on the induction of G1 phase arrest was due to the up-regulation of p53 and p21 and down-regulation of Cdk2 and cyclin D1 expression.Were observed taken together,these findings suggest that the anticancer efficacy of osthole is mediated via induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast cancer cells and osthole may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent against human breast cancer.

Differential mRNA expression profiling of oral squamous cell carcinoma by high-throughput RNA sequencing

Differentially expressed genes are thought to regulate the development and progression of oral squamous cell carcinomas （OSCC）. The purpose of this study was to screen differentially expressed mRNAs in OSCC and matched paraneoplastic normal tissues, and to explore the intrinsic mechanism of OSCC development and progres- sion. We obtained the differentially expressed mRNA expression profiles in 10 pairs of fresh-frozen OSCC tissue specimens and matched paraneoplastic normal tissue specimens by high-throughput RNA sequencing. By using Gene Ontology enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes （KEGG） pathway enrichment analyses, the functional significance of the differentially expressed genes were analyzed. We identified 1,120 sig- nificantly up-regulated mRNAs and 178 significantly down-regulated mRNAs in OSCC, compared to normal tissue. The differentially expressed mRNAs were involved in 20 biological processes and 68 signal pathways. Compared to adjacent normal tissue, the expression of MAGEAll was up-regulated; TCHH was down-regulated. These find- ings were verified by real-time PCR. These differentially expressed mRNAs may function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in the development and progression of OSCC. This study provides novel insights into OSCC. However, further work is needed to determine if these differentially expressed mRNAs have potential roles as diagnostic bio- markers and candidate therapeutic targets for OSCC.

Insulin receptor is implicated in triple-negative breast cancer by decreasing cell mobility

Triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)has a poor prognosis and typically earlier onset of metastasis in comparison with other breast cancer subtypes.It has been reported that insulin receptor(INSR)is downregulated in TNBC,however,its clinical significance and functions in TNBC remain to be elucidated.In this study,we found that INSR expression was significantly downregulated in TNBC,and overexpression of INSR suppressed cell migration and invasion in TNBC.In addition,the survival rate of breast cancer patients with low INSR expression was lower than that of patients with high INSR expression.INSR expression was significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis,clinical tumor stages,ER status,PR status,and the proliferation index Ki-67 expression.In summary,our study suggests that INSR may serve as a biomarker for breast cancer prognosis and it may be a potential target for TNBC treatment.