Comparison Test on Adaptability of Six Medicago sativa (Alfalfa) Varieties in Guangxi

In order to screen the Medicago sativa(alfalfa)varieties suitable for planting in Guangxi,six domestic and foreign heat-resistant alfalfa varieties,namely WL903,WL712,WL525HQ,59N59,Elite 9 and Longwei 6010,were selected and tested for growth performance,nutritional value and over-summer rate by the random block method.The results showed that the alfalfa varieties with better plant height and fresh grass yield were 59N59 and WL903,which showed the plant heights reaching 62.01 and 62.53 cm,respectively,and the fresh grass yields up to 40.93 and 38.38 t/hm 2,respectively,exhibiting extremely significant differences from the poorly performing Longwei 6010(P<0.01).The nutritional value of each tested variety was good,and the crude protein content was more than 20%.Among them,Elite 9 had a crude protein content as high as 28.43%.The over-summer rates of the six alfalfa varieties were all higher than 75%.It showed that the alfalfa varieties with fast growth,high yield,high nutritional value and high over-summer rate in this experimental area were 59N59 and WL903,which are suitable as the first varieties for planting in Guangxi.

Combination of Human Fas （CD95/Apo-1） Ligand with Adriamycin Significantly Enhances the Efficacy of Antitumor Response

The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） is poor, even with the combined treatment of curative resection and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. To solve this problem, many biologic therapies have been investigated. Fas ligand （FasL, CD95L） is mainly expressed in activated T lymphocytes and natural killer （NK） cells, and plays a central role in both cell-mediated immunity and immune downregulation. Several studies have shown that FasL is expressed in HCC. In the present report, we prepared recombinant human pET-22b（＋）/FasL protein and investigated the effect of FasL on HCC cells in vitro and on tumor growth in a murine HCC tumor model. The well-known cytotoxic chemotherapeutic reagent adriamycin （ADM） served as a control. We found that FasL effectively suppressed the viability of H22 tumor cells and significantly induced the apoptosis of H22 cells. The apoptotic levels of cells treated with FasL-ADM were significantly higher than those treated with FasL or ADM alone, and the FasL-ADM combination resulted in a more than additive effect on tumor growth delay in this model. The results suggested that combined treatment of FasL and other chemotherapeutic agents may be a new approach to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for HCC.

RGD-FasL Induces Apoptosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Despite impressive results obtained in animal models, the clinical use of Fas ligand （FasL） as an anticancer drug is limited by severe toxicity. Systemic toxicity of death ligands may be prevented by using genes encoding membrane-bound death ligands and by targeted transgene expression through either targeted transduction or targeted transcription. Selective induction of tumor cell death is a promising anticancer strategy. A fusion protein is created by fusing the extracellular domain of Fas ligand （FasL） to the peptide arginine-glycine-aspartic acid （RGD） that selectively targets avβ-integrins on tumor endothelial cells. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of RGD-FasL on tumor growth and survival in a murine hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） tumor model. Treatment with RGD-FasL displaying an obvious suppressive effect on the HCC tumor model as compared to that with FasL （p 〈 0.05） and resulted in a more additive effect on tumor growth delay in this model. RGD-FasL treatment significantly enhanced mouse survival and caused no toxic effect, such as weight loss, organ failure, or other treatment-related toxicities. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometric analysis and TUNEL assays; those results also showed that RGD-FasL is a more potent inducer of cell apoptosis for H22 and H9101 cell lines than FasL （p 〈 0.05）. In conclusion, RGD-FasL appears to be a low-toxicity selective inducer of tumor cell death, which merits further investigation in preclinical and clinical studies. Furthermore, this approach offers a versatile technology for complexing target ligands with therapeutic recombinant proteins. To distinguish the anti-tumor effects of FasL in vivo, tumor and liver tissues were harvested to examine for evidence of necrotic cells, tumor cells, or apoptotic cells by Hematoxylin and eosin （H＆E） staining.

TIPE-mediated up-regulation of MMP-9 promotes colorectal cancer invasion and metastasis through MKK-3/p38/NF-κB pro-oncogenic signaling pathway

Dear Editor,Colorectal cancer(CRC)is the third most common malignant tumor in human,ranking third in cancer-related mortality.1 Most colon cancer patients die of metastasis.2 Intriguingly,the deregulation of tumor necrosis factorα‑induced protein 8(TIPE)has been shown to play a vital regulatory role in tumor cell growth,proliferation,invasion,and metastasis.3 TIPE is a kind of cytoplasmic protein of 23 kDa.A large number of studies have shown that TIPE is closely related to the development of colon cancer.4 In addition,decreased expression of TIPE was linked to down-regulation of matrix metallopeptidase-1(MMP-1),MMP-9,and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 in breast cancer.