Effects of Mitofusin-2 Gene on Cell Proliferation and Chemotherapy Sensitivity of MCF-7

In order to evaluate the effect of mitofusin-2 gene （mfn2） on proliferation and chemotherapy sensitivity of human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 in vitro, pEGFPmfn2 plasmid carrying full length of mitofusin-2 gene was transfected, by using sofast, into MCF-7 cells. Mitofusin-2 gene expression in MCF-7 cells transfected by sofast after 48 h was detected by PCR and Western blotting, and the stable expression of GFP protein in MCF-7 cells by Western blot analysis. The proliferation of MCF-7 cells was assayed by MTT and cell counting. By using PI method, the effects of mfn2 on the cell cycle distribution of MCF-7 were measured. Annexin-Ⅴ/PI double labeling method was employed to detect the changes in apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutics before and after transfection. The results showed that the MCF-7 cells transfected with mfn2 gene could stably and highly express GFP protein. MTT assay revealed that after transfection of mfn2 cDNA, the proliferation of MCF-7 cells was significantly inhibited. DNA histogram showed that cells arrested in S phase, and the percentage of S phase cells was 42.7, 17.2 and 19.6 in mfn2 cDNA transfection group, blank plasmid transfection group and blank control group, respectively （P〈0.05）. The apoptosis ratio of the cells transfected with mfn2 gene was increased from 3.56% to 15.95%, that of the cells treated with camptothecin （CAMP） followed by mfn2 gene transfection was 69.6%, and that in blank plasmid transfection group and blank control group was 31.0% and 23.4% respectively （P〈0.05）. It was suggested that transfection of mfn2 gene could significantly inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and promote their sensitivity to CAMP with a synergic effect.

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy of serum predicts sensitivity to docetaxel-based chemotherapy in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer

Docetaxel-based chemotherapy,as the first-line treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer(mCRPC),has succeeded in helping quite a number of patients to improve quality of life and prolong survival time.However,almost half of mCRPC patients are not sensitive to docetaxel chemotherapy initially.This study aimed to establish models to predict sensitivity to docetaxel chemotherapy in patients with mCRPC by using serum surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy(SERS).A total of 32 mCPRC patients who underwent docetaxel chemo-therapy at our center from July 2016 to March 2018 were included in this study.Patients were dichotomized in prostate-specific antigen(PSA)response group(n=17)versus PSA failure group(n=15)according to the response to docetaxel.In total 64 matched spectra from 32 mCRPC patients were obtained by using SERS of serum at baseline(q0)and after 1 cycle of docetaxel chemotherapy(ql).Comparing Raman peaks of serum samples at baseline(q0)be-tween two groups,significant differences revealed at the peaks of 638,810,890(p<0.05)and 1136cm^(-1)(p<0.01).The prediction models of peak 1363 cm^(-1)and principal component anal-ysis and linear discriminant analysis(PCA-LDA)based on Raman data were established,re-spectively.The sensitivity and specificity of the prediction models were 71%,80%and 69%,78%through the way of leave-one-out cross-validation.According to the results of five-cross-valida-tion,the PCA-LDA model revealed an accuracy of 0.73 and AUC of 0.83.

Targeting BCRP/ABCG2 by RNA Interference Enhances the Chemotherapy Sensitivity of Human Colon Cancer Side Population Cells

Relapse and metastasis are frequent in colon cancer and may be linked to stem cell characteristics.This study isolated side population（SP） cells from a colon cancer cell line（Colo-320） and examined their self-renewal and differentiation abilities.Compared to non-SP（NSP） cells,SP colon cancer cells were more tumorigenic in vivo and exhibited more invasive characteristics and a greater ability to form colonies.Additionally,more cells were in G0/G1 phase and more highly expressed the multidrug resistance protein BCRP/ABCG2.We achieved enhanced chemotherapy sensitivity by transfecting SP cells with a hairpin-like,small interfering RNA（si RNA） eukaryotic expression plasmid targeting BCRP/ABCG2.

Insulin in Endometrial Carcinoma Chemotherapy:A Beneficial Addition and not a Problem

The effects of insulin or insulin in combination with chemotherapeutic drugs on the proliferation and apoptosis of endometrial carcinoma cells were examined with an aim to determine the efficacy and safety of insulin in endometrial cancer therapy.Ishikawa and Hec-1A cells were treated with insulin and/or paclitaxel.Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay.Cell cycle and cell apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry (FCM).Survivin gene expression was detected by RT-PCR.Our results showed that in a certain range of working concentrations and action time, insulin could mildly augment cell proliferation and the percentage of S phase cells in endometrial cancer (Ishikawa/Hec-1A) cells.Insulin plus paclitaxel (combination group) could significantly inhibit cell proliferation (69.38%±2.32% vs 40.31%±4.52% with Ishikawa; 64.11%±6.33% vs 45.89%±3.27% with Hec-1A) and increase cell apoptosis compared with treatment with paclitaxel alone (paclitaxel group).Survivin gene expression was also significantly decreased in combination group as compared with paclitaxel group.We are led to conclude that insulin can mildly augment cell proliferation and present chemotherapy sensitivity in endometrial cancer cells.Insulin can be to used safely and efficiently in endometrial cancer therapy.

Raltitrexed as a synergistic hyperthermia chemotherapy drug screened in patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids

Objective:Organoids have recently been used as in vitro models to screen chemotherapy drugs in combination with hyperthermia treatment in colorectal cancer.Our research aimed to establish a library of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids to evaluate synergism between chemotherapy drugs and hyperthermia;validate an index of the hyperthermia chemotherapy sensitization enhancement ratio(HCSER)to identify the chemotherapeutics most enhanced by hyperthermia;and recommend chemotherapy drugs for hyperthermic intraperitoneal treatment.Methods:Organoids were grown from cells extracted from colorectal cancer patient samples or colorectal cancer cell lines.Cells from both sources were encapsulated in 3 D Matrigel droplets,which were formulated in microfluidics and phase-transferred into identical cell-laden Matrigel microspheres.The microspheres were seeded in 96-well plates,with each well containing a single microsphere that developed into an organoid after 7 days.The organoids were used to evaluate the efficacy of chemotherapy drugs at both 37℃ as a control and 43℃ for 90 min to examine hyperthermia synergism.Cell viability was counted with 10%CCK8.Results:We successfully established a library of colorectal cancer organoids from 22 patient parental tumors.We examined the hyperthermia synergism of 7 commonly used hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy drugs.In 11 of the 22 patient organoids,raltitrexed had significant hyperthermia synergism,which was indexed as the highest HCSER score within each patient group.Conclusions:Our results primarily demonstrated the use of patient-derived colorectal cancer organoids as in vitro models to evaluate hyperthermia synergistic chemotherapeutics.We found that hyperthermia enhanced the effect of raltitrexed the most among the common anti-colorectal cancer drugs.

Study on the Correlation between the Detection of Tumor Markers in Abdominal Effusion and Chemotherapy Sensitivity

Since most patients with ovarian cancer are in the advanced stage when they are prone to recurrence,it is difficult to detect and treat ovarian cancer.There are tumor serum markers in the ascites.Therefore,the study explored the correlation between the serum marker levels of the ascites and chemotherapy sensitivity in patients with ovarian malignant tumors.First,50 patients with nested cancer were selected as research subjects and received treatment,and then immediately 200 mg carboplatin+100 mL normal saline was placed in the abdominal cavity of all patients,which was equivalent to an intraperitoneal chemotherapy.Carboplatin+docetaxel combined with intravenous chemotherapy was started 3 weeks after surgery,and chemotherapy was given every 3 weeks for a total of 5 to 6 courses.The serum levels of CA125,CA199,CEA and AFP in peripheral blood and peripheral blood were determined by ELISA.The results showed that the levels of CA125,CA199,CEA and AFP in serum and ascites after chemotherapy were lower than before chemotherapy(P<0.05).The short-term effective rate of 50 ovarian cancer patients(8 CR,28 PR,12 SD,2 PD)was 72.00%.Therefore,patients with ovarian malignant tumors had a good short-term curative effect after chemotherapy,which can reduce the ascites and serum levels of CA125,CA199,CEA,AFP for clinical reference value dual-mode MRI nanoparticle-mediated photothermal therapy showed good application potential in tumor treatment and diagnosis.

Insulin enhances apoptosis induced by cisplatin in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma EC9706 cells related to inhibition of autophagy

Background Chemoresistance is common among patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma （ESCC）.We investigated the effect and mechanism of insulin on enhancing anticancer functions of cisplatin in human esophageal cancer cell line EC9706.Methods The viability of EC9706 cells exposed to cisplatin was assessed using MTT assay.The times T1,when the number of living cells reached a plateau and T2,when the number of living cells reached a new plateau after the addition of insulin were found.T1 and T2 plateau cells were stained by Annexin V-FITC/PI and monodansylcadaverin （MDC）.Fluorescent microscopy was used to observe the expression of apoptosis and autophagy intuitively.Apoptotic ratio and fluorescent intensity were analysed by flow cytometry （FCM） quantitatively.Western blotting analysis was used to estimate the protein expression levels of AKT,mTOR,PI3K,PTEN,autophage related indicator LC3-Ⅱ and autophage related protein Beclin1 changes that occurred in the course of treatment.Results A larger number of typical autophagosomes were detected in EC9706 cells exposed to cisplatin.Insulin can increase the apoptosis induced by cisplatin.Apoptotic ratio of T1 plateau cells （（32.6±4.3）％） is significantly less than T2 plateau （（47.5±5.6）％）.MDC fluorescent intensity at T1 plateau （104.9±13.2） was significantly higher than intensity at T2 plateau （82.6±10.3）.After cotreatment with insulin,the expression level of LC3-Ⅱ,Beclin1 and PTEN in T2 plateau cells were significantly downregulated,but AKT,mTOR and PI3K expressions significantly upregulated compared with T1 plateau.Conclusions Insulin could enhance cisplatin-induced apoptosis in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma EC9706 cells related to inhibition of autophagy.The activation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway induced by insulin resulted in the suppression of autophagy in EC9706 cells,which may be attributed to the anticancer effects of cisplatin.