Science Letters:IGFBP7 plays a potential tumor suppressor role against colorectal carcinogenesis with its expression associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon 1

Insulin-like growth factor binding-protein-7 （IGFBP7） was obtained from our previous colonic adenocarcinoma （CRC） and normal mucosa suppression subtraction hybridization （SSH） cDNA libraries. By RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, we found that IGFBP7 was overexpressed in CRC tissue compared to normal tissue. However, our in vitro experiments performed in 10 CRC cell lines showed that IGFBP7 expressed only in SW480 and Caco2 cell lines, which implied an underlying reversible regulatory mechanism. Using methylation-specific PCR （MSP） and bisulfite sodium PCR （BSP）, we found that its expression was associated with DNA hypomethylation of exonl. This was further supported by the in vitro study which showed restored IGFBP7 expression after demethylation agent 5-aza-2＇-deoxycytidine treatment. Correlation analysis between IGFBP7 expression and prognosis indicated that overexpression of IGFBP7 in CRC tissue correlated with favourable survival. Investigation of the functional role of IGFBP7 through transfection studies showed that IGFBP7 protein could inhibit growth rate, decrease colony formation activity, and induce apoptosis in RKO and SW620 cells, suggesting it a potential tumor suppressor protein in colorectal carcinogenesis. In conclusion, our study clearly demonstrated that IGFBP7 plays a potential tumor suppressor role against colorectal carcinogenesis and its expression is associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon 1.

Altered expression of nuclear matrix proteins in etoposide induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells

The events of cell death and the expression of nuclear matrix protein (NMP) have been investigated in a promyelocytic leukemic cell line HL-60 induced with etoposide. By means of TUNEL assay, the nuclei displayed a characteristic morphology change, and the amount of apoptotic cells increased early and reached maximun about 39% after treatment with etoposide for 2 h. Nucleosomal DNA fragmentation was observed after treatment for 4 h. The morphological change of HL-60 cells, thus, occurred earlier than the appearance of DNA ladder. Total nuclear matrix proteins were analyzed by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Differential expression of 59 nuclear matrix proteins was found in 4 h etoposide treated cells. Western blotting was then performed on three nuclear matrix acssociated proteins, PML, HSC70 and NuMA. The expression of the suppressor PML protein and heat shock protein HSC70 were significantly upregulated after etoposide treatment, while NuMA, a nuclear mitotic apparatus protein, was down regulated. These results demonstrate that significant biochemical alterations in nuclear matrix proteins take place during the apoptotic process.

Function of apoptosis and expression of the proteins Bcl-2,p53 and C-myc in the development of gastric cancer

INTRODUCTIONIn China ,the incidence and mortality of gastric cancer rank the second among all cancers. Recent development of cancer [1-20].The aim of this study was investigat the insight of apoptosis and bcl-2, p53 and C-myc protein expression in the development of gastric cancer .

Differential control of growth,apoptotic activity and gene expression in human colon cancer cells by extracts derived from medicinal herbs,Rhazya stricta and Zingiber officinale and their combination

AIM: To investigate the effects of extracts from Rhazya stricta (R. stricta) and Zingiber officinale (Z. officinale) on human colorectal cancer cells.

Changes of NF-kB,p53,Bcl-2 and caspase in apoptosis induced by JTE-522 in human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line AGS cells:role of reactive oxygen species

AIM: To identify whether JTE-522 can induce apoptosis in AGS cells and ROS also involved in the process, and to investigate the changes in NF-kB, p53, bcl-2 and caspase in the apoptosis process. METHODS: Cell culture, MTT, Electromicroscopy, agarose gel electrophoresis, lucigenin, Western blot and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis were employed to investigate the effect of JTE-522 on cell proliferation and apoptosis in AGS cells and related molecular mechanisms. RESULTS: JTE-522 inhibited the growth of AGS cells and induced the apoptosis. Lucigenin assay showed the generation of ROS in cells under incubation with JTE-522. The increased ROS generation might contribute to the induction of AGS cells to apoptosis. EMSA and Western blot revealed that NF-kB activity was almost completely inhibited by preventing the degradation of IkBalpha. Additionally, by using Western blot we confirmed that the level of bcl-2 was decreased, whereas p53 showed a great increase following JTE-522 treatment. Their changes were in a dose-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that reactive oxygen species, NF-kB, p53, bcl-2 and caspase-3 may play an important role in the induction of apoptosis in AGS cells after treatment with JTE-522.

P53 immunohistochemical scoring:an independent prognostic marker for patients after hepatocellular carcinoma resection

AIM: To confirm if p53 mutation could be a routine predictive marker for the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. METHODS: Two hundreds and forty-four formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor samples of the patients with HCC receiving liver resection were detected for nuclear accumulation of p53. The percent of P53 immunoreactive tumor cells was scored as 0 to 3+ in P53 positive region (【10% -, 10-30% +, 31-50% ++, 】50% +++). Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and some clinicopathological characteristics, including patients' sex, preoperative serum AFP level, tumor size, capsule, vascular invasion (both visual and microscopic), and Edmondson grade were also evaluated. RESULTS: In univariate COX harzard regression model analysis, tumor size, capsule status, vascular invasion, and p53 expression were independent factors that were closely related to the overall survival (OS) rates of HCC patients. The survival rates of patients with 3+ for P53 expression were much lower than those with 2+ or + for P53 expression. Only vascular invasion (P【0.05) and capsule (P【0.01) were closely related to the disease-free survival (DFS) of HCC patients. In multivariate analysis, p53 overexpression (RI 0.5456, P【0.01) was the most significant factor associated with the OS rates of patients after HCC resection, while tumor size (RI 0.5209, P【0.01), vascular invasion (RI 0.5271, P【0.01) and capsule (RI-0.8691, P【0.01) were also related to the OS. However, only tumor capsular status was an independent predictive factor (P【0.05) for the DFS. No significant prognostic value was found in PCNA-LI, Edmondson's grade, patients' sex and preoperative serum AFP level. CONCLUSION: Accumulation of p53 expression, as well as tumor size, capsule and vascular invasion, could be valuable markers for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients after resection. The quantitative immunohistochemical scoring for P53 nuclear accumulation might be more valuable for predicting prognosis of patients after HCC resection than the common qualitative analysis.

The effect of adenovirus expressing wild-type p53 on 5-fluorouracil chemosensitivity is related to p53 status in pancreatic cancer cell lines

AIM:There are conflicting data about p53 function on cellular sensitivity to the cytotoxic action of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Therefore the objective of this study was to determine the combined effects of adenovirus-mediated wild-type (wt) p53 gene transfer and 5-FU chemotherapy on pancreatic cancer cells with different p53 gene status. METHODS:Human pancreatic cancer cell lines Capan-1^(p53mut), Capan-2^(p53wt),FAMPAC^(p53mut),PANC1^(p53mut),and rat pancreatic cancer cell lines AS^(p53wt) and DSL6A^(p53null) were used for in vitro studies.Following infection with different ratios of Ad- p53-particles (MOI) in combination with 5-FU,proliferation of tumor cells and apoptosis were quantified by cell proliferation assay (WST-1) and FACS (PI-staining).In addition,DSL6A syngeneic pancreatic tumor cells were inoculated subcutaneously in to Lewis rats for in vivo studies. Tumor size,apoptosis (TUNEL) and survival were determined. RESULTS:Ad-p53 gene transfer combined with 5-FU significantly inhibited tumor cell proliferation and substantially enhanced apoptosis in all four cell lines with an alteration in the p53 gene compared to those two cell lines containing wt-p53.In vivo experiments showed the most effective tumor regression in animals treated with Ad-p53 plus 5-FU.Both in vitro and in vivo analyses revealed that a sublethal dose of Ad-p53 augmented the apoptotic response induced by 5-FU. CONCLUSION:Our results suggest that Ad-p53 may synergistically enhance 5-FU-chemosensitivity most strikingly in pancreatic cancer cells lacking p53 function.These findings illustrate that the anticancer efficacy of this combination treatment is dependent on the p53 gene status of the target tumor cells.

Neutron-induced apoptosis of HR8348 cells in vitro

INTRODUCTIONTo date ,the major therapy for rectal carcinoma is extensive abdomino-perineal resection[1]. Unfortunately ,after resection of rectal carcinoma ,many patients still die of blood-borne metastases ,usually in the liver or lungs ,or local prlvic recurrence[2,3],which is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with rectal carcinoma .Pre-or postoperative radiotherapy can reduce the incidence of local rdcurrence[4-7].

Association between MDM2-SNP309 and hepatocellular carcinoma in Taiwan Residents population

AIM:To investigate the risk association and compare the onset age of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) patients in Taiwan with different genotypes of MDM2- SNP309. METHODS:We analyzed MDM2-SNP309 genotypes from 58 patients with HCC and 138 cancer-free healthy controls consecutively.Genotyping of MDM2-SNP309 was conducted by restriction fragment length polymor- phism assay. RESULTS:The proportion of homozygous MDM2- SNP309 genotype(G/G)in cases and cancer-free healthy controls was similar(17.2%vs 16.7%).Multi-variate analysis showed that the risk of G/G genotypeof MDM2-SNP309 vs wild-type T/T genotype in patients with HCC was not significant(OR=1.265,95% CI=0.074-21.77)after adjustment for sex,hepatitis B or C virus infection,age,and cardiovascular disease/ diabetes.Nevertheless,there was a trend that GG genotype of MDM2-SNP309 might increase the risk in HCC patients infected with hepatitis virus(OR=2.568, 95%CI=0.054-121.69).Besides,the homozygous MDM2-SNP309 genotype did not exhibit a significantly earlier age of onset for HCC. CONCLUSION:Current data suggest that the asso- ciation between MDM2-SNP309 GG genotype and HCC is not significant,while the risk may be enhanced in patients infected by hepatitis virus in Taiwan.

Relationship between tumor suppressor gene p53 and tumors of adipose tissue

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between p53 gene and tumors of adipose tissue at the level of protein and gene. METHODS: Immunohistochemical LSAB, PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing were used in 82 cases. RESULTS: p53 protein is expressed only in liposarcomas, in which the positive staining rate was 48.08% (25/52). In different subtypes of liposarcomas, the positive staining rate in well differentiated liposarcomas was 30.00% (9/30), which is much lower than that of the poorly differentiated liposarcomas (P ATC) were detected by DNA sequencing. Another heterozygotic cosense mutation may exist at exon 6 codon 221 of p53 gene (GAG-->GAA). CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the p53 protein has a relationship with development, differentiation and malignancy of liposarcoma. Detecting the level of p53 protein expression may be valuable in evaluating the level of differentiation and malignancy of liposarcoma. There appear point mutation on exon 8, 6 of p53 gene.

Lack of correlation between p53 codon 72 polymorphism and anal cancer risk

AIM:To investigate the potential role of p53 codon 72 polymorphism as a risk factor for development of anal cancer. METHODS:Thirty-two patients with invasive anal carcinoma and 103 healthy blood donors were included in the study.p53 codon 72 polymorphism was analyzed in blood samples through polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism and DNA sequencing. RESULTS:The relative frequency of each allele was 0.60 for Arg and 0.40 for Pro in patients with anal cancer, and 0.61 for Arg and 0.39 for Pro in normal controls. No significant differences in distribution of the codon 72 genotypes between patients and controls were found. CONCLUSION:These results do not support a role for the p53 codon 72 polymorphism in anal carcinogenesis.

Transcriptomic Landscape Analysis Reveals a Persistent DNA Damage Response in Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatohepatitis Post-dietary Intervention

Background and Aims:Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease(MASLD)and its more advanced form,metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis,have emerged as the most prevalent liver diseases worldwide.Currently,lifestyle modification is the foremost guidelinerecommended management strategy for MASLD.However,it remains unclear which detrimental signals persist in MASLD even after disease remission.Thus,we aimed to examine the persistent changes in liver transcriptomic profiles following this reversal.Methods:Male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups:Western diet(WD)feeding,chow diet(CD)feeding,or diet reversal from WD to CD.After 16 weeks of feeding,RNA sequencing was performed on the mice’s livers to identify persistent alterations characteristic of MASLD.Additionally,RNA sequencing databases containing high-fat diet-fed P53-knockout mice and human MASLD samples were utilized.Results:WD-induced MASLD triggered persistent activation of the DNA damage response(DDR)and its primary transcription factor,P53,long after the resolution of the hepatic phenotype through dietary reversal.Elevated levels of P53 might promote apoptosis,thereby exacerbating metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis,as they strongly correlated with hepatocyte ballooning,an indicator of apoptosis activation.Moreover,P53 knockout in mice led to downregulated expression of apoptosis signaling in the liver.Mechanistically,P53 may regulate apoptosis by transcriptionally activating the expression of apoptosis-enhancing nuclease(AEN).Consistently,P53,AEN,and the apoptosis process all exhibited persistently elevated expression and showed a strong inter-correlation in the liver following dietary reversal.Conclusions:The liver demonstrated upregulation of DDR signaling and the P53-AEN-apoptosis axis both during and after exposure to WD.Our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of MASLD relapse,highlighting DDR signaling as a promising target to prevent MASLD recurrence.

Expression of positive and negative regulators of cell cycle during wound healing

OBJECTIVE: To detect the expression of cell cycle positive regulators cyclin D(1), cyclin E, CDK(2), CDK(4) and negative regulators p21(cip1), p27(kip1), p16(ink4a) and p15(ink4b) during wound healing in rats. METHODS: Open wounds of full-thickness skin, diameter 1.8 cm, on rat backs were used as the wound model. Wound tissues were harvested on postwounding days 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, 21 and 30. Ki67 expression in granulation tissue was detected by immunohistochemical assay. The patterns of the expression of cyclin D(1), cyclin E, CDK(2), CDK(4) and p21(cip1), p27(kip1), p16(ink4a), p15(ink4b) were detected by Western blot. RESULTS: Cell proliferation in granulation tissue took place predominantly within the first week after injury, with the proliferation peak occurring at postwounding day 5. There were no dramatic variations in the expression of cyclin D(1), CDK(2) and CDK(4) during wound healing. Up-regulated cyclin E was maintained from day 3 to 11 after injury, and then was down-regulated. No expression of p16(ink4a) and p15(ink4b) was found. p21(cip1) was expressed only from day 7 to 14, with peak expression observed on day 9. Constitutive p27(kip1) was expressed throughout wound healing with low levels in the proliferating period of day 3 to 5 and with increased levels in the post-mitotic and remodeling stage. The expression of p21(cip1) and p27(kip1) showed an inverse gradient to that of Ki67. CONCLUSION: p21(cip1) and p27(kip1) play a supervising role in preventing the hyperproliferative tendency in tissue repair.

The Effect of calmodulin antagonist berbaminederivative-EBB on hepatoma in vitro and in vivo

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the anti-hepatoma effect of Calmodulin antagonist 0 - 4-ethoxyl-butyl-Berbamine (EBB), one of the berbamine derivatives. METHODS: Monotetrazolium (MTT) method was used to analyze the effect of EBB on the proliferation and growth inhibition effect. Of a hepatoma cell line in vitro. A mouse hepatoma model was induced by injection of hepatoma cells (H22) in the abdominal cavity. The effect of EBB on survival at different concentrations as well as in combination with 5-FU were investigated in vivo. Flow cytometry analysis, dot blot hybridization, western blot, immunochemistry, enzyme-linked lectin assay (ELISA), trifluoperazine (TFP) and electron microscopic observation were used to study the effect of EBB on cell cycle process, P53 mRNA and protein levels, calmodulin content and ultrastractural changes of hepatoma cells. RESULTS: EBB exerts a very strong inhibitory effect on human hepatoma cell line 7402 and mouse hepatoma cell line H22 in vitro. The IC(50) value of EBB for the two cell lines are 3.312 microg/ml and 1.167 microg/ml, respectively. The sensitivity of H22 cells to 5-FU can be markedly enhanced: The IC(50) dosage of 5-Fu can be decreased from 0.75 microg/ml down to 0.15 microg/ml, when jointly administered with nontoxic dosages of EBB (IC(10)). In vivo, EBB can prolong the lifespan of mice with ascites H22 to more than three months. 64% of mice survived, while all animals in the control group died by the 18th day. When EBB (5 mg x kg(-1) x d(-1)) is jointly used with 5-FU (25 mg x ml(-1) x d(-1)), 73% of mice with ascites H22 survived, much higher than 27% in the 5-FU treated group. EBB can enhance the anti-hepatoma ability of 5-Fu treatment. EBB mechanism against hepatoma: P53 expression in the EBB treated group is substantially higher than that in the control group. EBB increased the translation of P53. As a calmodulin antagonist, EBB decreases amount of the CaM in hepatoma cells and blocked the hepatoma cell proliferation cycle at the G(2)M phase. Before the G(0)/G(1) phase, a diploid peak and apoptic cells in the treated groups were observed. CONCLUSIONS: The CaM antagonist, EBB, has a strong anti-hepatoma effect and enhances the effect of 5-FU, induces hepatoma cell to apoptosis, promotes the P53 protein expression and decreases the amount of CaM in the cytoplasm. All these results demonstrate that EBB is a new and potentially useful drug against hepatoma and should be researched further.

Overexpression of Bcl-2 partly inhibits apoptosis of human cervical cancer SiHa cells induced by arsenic trioxide

OBJECTIVE: To study the biological effect of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on human cervical cancer SiHa cells and SiHa cells overexpressing bcl-2 gene. METHODS: SiHa cells with overexpression of Bcl-2 (SiHa-Bcl2 cells) were established by transfecting SiHa cells with Bcl-2 expression vector. The sensitivities of SiHa and SiHa-Bcl2 cells to As2O3 were determined using MTT (Thiazolyl blue) reduction and colony forming ability assay, morphological analysis, flow cytometric analysis, DNA agarose gel electrophoresis, in situ cell death detection (TUNEL), Northern blot, RT-PCR and Western blot. RESULTS: As2O3 inhibited the growth of SiHa cells and induced G2/M arrest and apoptosis of the cells. RT-PCR and Western blot analysis revealed that As2O3 induced SiHa cell apoptosis possibly via inhibiting the expression of HPV16 E7 and decreasing the expression of c-myc. However, we found that SiHa-Bcl2 cells partly resisted As2O3 induced apoptosis, which might be related to the prevention of the down-regulation of HPV16 E7 and c-myc gene expression. Nevertheless, As2O3 at a high concentration could still induce apoptosis of SiHa-Bcl2 cells mainly via decreasing Bcl-2 expression and slightly inhibiting viral gene expression. CONCLUSION: As2O3 is an inducer of the apoptosis of human cervical carcinoma cells and the cells overexpressing Bcl-2 can partly resist As2O3 induced apoptosis, but the exact mechanism is unclear.

Effects of HBV X gene and arsenic trioxide on the expression of p53 in cultured HepG2 cells

Background Hepatitis B virus （HBV） X protein （HBx） and p53 could mutually down-regulate at transcriptional level and HBx could bind with p53 protein within its transactivation domain and inhibit the function of p53 protein. In recent years, effects of arsenic trioxide （As2O3） on the expression of p53 protein have been widely studied, while little is known about the activity of p53 protein. This study was undertaken to delineate the effect of HBV X gene and AS203 on p53 protein expression （level and activity） in HepG2 cells by small hairpin RNA （shRNA）-mediated RNA interference （RNAi） technique. Methods Cell line HepG2 and cells with stable expression of HBV X gene （HepG2-X） were treated with 2 pmol/L AS203, with corresponding untreated cells serving as controls. Cell lysates and nuclear extracts were extracted. Total level and the relative activity of p53 protein were detected by modified enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. HBV X gene sequence-specific shRNA expression vector （pXi-1 and pXi-2） and sequence-unrelated control （pXi-3） were transfected into HepG2-X. Single cell clone with stable expression of shRNA was selected and exposed to propagating culture. The effect of As2O3 on p53 protein expression and activity was re-observed. Results Total p53 protein level was up-regulated and its relative activity ratio was enhanced by As2O3 in HepG2 and HepG2-X cells. The total p53 protein level induced by As2O3 was up-regulated by HBV X gene expression, while its relative activity was significantly suppressed. The suppression was removed after HBV X gene expression was repressed by shRNA. Conclusions As2O3 up-regulates p53 protein expression and enhance its activity. HBV X up-regulates As2O3 induced-p53 protein expression while suppresses its activity.

Expression of Syk in non-small cell lung cancer and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters

This study aims to research the expression of spleen tyrosine kinase(Syk)in non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC)and the relationship between Syk and clinico-pathologic factors and p53.Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expression of Syk and p53 protein in 39 cases of NSCLC(23 cases of lung squamous cell can-cer,16 cases of lung adenocarcinoma)and tumor-sur-rounding normal lung tissues.The positive rate of Syk was 46.15%(18/39)and 100%(39/39)in NSCLC and tumor-surrounding normal lung tissues,respectively.The expres-sion level of Syk in NSCLC was significantly lower than that in tumor-surrounding normal lung tissues(P=0.000).The Syk expression was positively correlated with the p53 expression in NSCLC specimens(P=0.025).There was no significant association between Syk expression and lymph node metastasis,differentiation degree,tumor size and tumor node metastasis(TNM).The present study demonstrated that Syk was aberrantly expressed in the NSCLC and might have a significant impact on tumor growth and progression.