Influence of Bushenhuoxue on podocytes of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis mice

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects and mechanisms of Bushenhuoxue on desmin and nephrin expression in mice podocytes, and to investigate its effects on wt1 expression in Wilms' tumor.METHODS: Adriamycin(ADR) was used to induce focal segmental glomerulous sclerosis(FSGS) in mice. Bushenhuoxue was used to treat FSGS for 6 weeks. We measured body mass and right renal mass, and determined serum albumin(ALB) levels,protein content in urine, and urinary protein and albumin creatinine ratio(UACR). Changes in renal tissue morphology were evaluated by microscopy.wt1 and nephrin expression in podocytes were detected using immunofluorescence. Expression levels of desmin, wt1 and nephrin m RNAs in renal tissue were determined using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays.RESULTS: Protein levels in urine and UACR were significantly increased in FSGS model mice compared with Bushenhuoxue-treated and control mice.Body mass and ALB levels were decreased in FSGS mice compared with control and Bushenhuoxue-treated mice. Expression of the wt1 protein was observed in control mice. Compared with controls,wt1 expression levels were reduced in Bushenhuoxue-treated mice, and to a greater extent in FSGS mice. Nephrin protein expression was widespread in FSGS mice, and significantly reduced in control and Bushenhuoxue mice. Expression levels of wt1 and nephrin m RNAs in FSGS mice were lower compared with those in control and Bushenhuoxue-treated mice. Desmin m RNA levels in FSGS mice were reduced compared with those in control and Bushenhuoxue-treated mice.CONCLUSION: Bushenhuoxue ameliorated albuminuria in FSGS mice; this was possibly related to the up-regulation of wt1 and nephrin, and down-regulation of desmin.

SOX2 promotes tumorigenesis and increases the anti-apoptotic property of human prostate cancer cell

SRY-related HMG-box gene 2(SOX2)is one of the key regulatory genes that maintain the pluripotency and self-renewal properties in embryonic stem cells.Here we used immunohistochemistry to analyze the expression of SOX2 in human prostate tissues and found it contributed to tumorigenesis and correlated with histologic grade and Gleason score.We further investigated SOX2’s function in cell growth and apoptosis process by using a human prostate cancer cell line DU145 with SOX2 overexpression or down-regulation.Cell cycle assay revealed that SOX2 promoted cell growth and increased the percentage of cells in S phase.In vitro and in vivo xenograft experiments in NOD/SCID mice further demonstrated that SOX2 increased the apoptosis-resistant properties of DU145 cells with decreased function of store-operated Ca21 entry and reduced expression of Orai1 at both mRNA and protein levels,suggesting a potential mechanism that contributes to the anti-apoptotic property of SOX2.To our knowledge,this study is the first to investigate SOX2’s function in tumorigenesis and apoptosis of human prostate cancer and to elucidate its regulatory effect on the activity of store-operated Ca21 channels.Our results support the concept that SOX2 has the potential to be a significant marker to evaluate the progression of prostate cancer and serve as a potentially useful target for prostate cancer therapy.

Argon-seeded plasma exposure and oxidation performance of tungsten-chromium-yttrium smart alloys

Tungsten-chromium-yttrium(WCrY)smart alloys are foreseen as the first wall material for future fusion devices such as Demonstration Power Plant(DEMO).While suppressing W oxidation during accidental conditions,they should behave like pure W during plasma operation due to preferential sputtering of the lighter alloying elements Cr,Y,and W enrichment of the surface.In this paper,the erosion performance of WCrY and W samples simultaneously exposed to deuterium(D)plasma with the addition of 1%of the projectile ions being argon(Ar)ions at an ion energy of 120 eV is compared.With reference to the previous experiments at 120 eV in pure D plasma,the erosion for both WCrY and W is enhanced by a factor of~7.Adding Ar to the D plasma suppresses significant W enrichment previously found for pure D plasma.To investigate the impact of the plasma exposure onto the oxidation performance,plasma-exposed and non-exposed reference samples were oxidised in a dry atmosphere.Results show,on the one hand,that the oxida-tion suppression of WCrY in comparison to pure W is preserved during the plasma performance.On the other hand,it becomes evident that edge effects imposed by the geometry of the samples used in plasma experiments play a significant role for the oxidation behaviour.