Effects of alpha fetoprotein on escape of Bel 7402 cells from attack of lymphocytes

BACKGROUND: Involvement of AFP against apoptosis of tumor cell has been implicated in its evasion of immune surveillance. However, the molecular events of immune escape mechanisms are still unknown. The major observations reported here relate to a possible mechanism by which heptoloma Bel 7402 cells escape immune surveillance in vitro. METHODS: Western blotting and a well-characterized cofocal scanning image were performed to analyze the expression of Fas/FasL and caspase-3 in co-cultured Bel 7402 and Jurkat cells. RESULTS: After co-culture with Jurkat cells, up-regulated Fas and reduced FasL expression could be observed. Treatment with AFP could remarkably inhibit the elevated Fas and, whereas, induce the FasL expression in co-cultured Bel 7402 cells. Cells co-culture could induce the expression of caspase-3 in both cells line. The elevated caspase-3 in Bel 7402 cells was abolished following the treatment of AFP. The expression of caspase-3 was elevated in co-cultured Jurkat cells treated with AFP. No detectable change on the expression of survivin was examined in both cells line. Monoclonal antibody against AFP treatment alone did not obviously influence the growth of cells, as well as the expression of Fas/FasL and caspase-3. However, the effect of AFP could be blocked by antibody. CONCLUSIONS: our results provide evidence that AFP could promote the escape of liver cancer cells from immune surveillance through blocking the caspase signal pathway of tumor cells and triggering the Fas/FasL interaction between tumor cells and lymphocytes

International consensus on natural orifice specimen extraction surgery (NOSES) for colorectal cancer

In recent years, natural orifice specimen extraction surgery (NOSES) in the treatment of colorectal cancer has attracted widespread attention. The potential benefits of NOSES including reduction in postoperative pain and wound complications, less use of postoperative analgesic, faster recovery of bowel function, shorter length of hospital stay, better cosmetic and psychological effect have been described in colorectal surgery. Despite significant decrease in surgical trauma of NOSES have been observed, the potential pitfalls of this technique have been demonstrated. Particularly, several issues including bacteriological concerns, oncological outcomes and patient selection are raised with this new technique. Therefore, it is urgent and necessary to reach a consensus as an industry guideline to standardize the implementation of NOSES in colorectal surgery. After three rounds of discussion by all members of the International Alliance of NOSES, the consensus is finally completed, which is also of great significance to the long-term progress of NOSES worldwide.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Accuracy of Survival Time Prediction for Patients with Glioma Is Improved by Measuring Mitotic Spindle Checkpoint Gene Expression

Identification of gene expression changes that improve prediction of survival time across all glioma grades would be clinically useful. Four Affymetrix GeneChip datasets from the literature, containing data from 771 glioma samples representing all WHO grades and eight normal brain samples, were used in an ANOVA model to screen for transcript changes that correlated with grade. Observations were confirmed and extended using qPCR assays on RNA derived from 38 additional glioma samples and eight normal samples for which survival data were available. RNA levels of eight major mitotic spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) genes (BUB1, BUB1B, BUB3, CENPE, MAD1L1, MAD2L1, CDC20, TTK) significantly correlated with glioma grade and six also significantly correlated with survival time. In particular, the level of BUB1B expression was highly correlated with survival time (p<0.0001), and significantly outperformed all other measured parameters, including two standards; WHO grade and MIB-1 (Ki-67) labeling index. Measurement of the expression levels of a small set of SAC genes may complement histological grade and other clinical parameters for predicting survival time

Nonlinear Optical Microscopy for Histology of Fresh Normal and Cancerous Pancreatic Tissues

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic cancer is a lethal disease with a 5-year survival rate of only 1-5%. The acceleration of intraoperative histological examination would be beneficial for better management of pancreatic cancer, suggesting an improved survival. Nonlinear optical methods based on two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) of intrinsic optical biomarkers show the ability to visualize the morphology of fresh tissues associated with histology, which is promising for real-time intraoperative evaluation of pancreatic cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In order to investigate whether the nonlinear optical imaging methods have the ability to characterize pancreatic histology at cellular resolution, we studied different types of pancreatic tissues by using label-free TPEF and SHG. Compared with other routine methods for the preparation of specimens, fresh tissues without processing were found to be most suitable for nonlinear optical imaging of pancreatic tissues. The detailed morphology of the normal rat pancreas was observed and related with the standard histological images. Comparatively speaking, the preliminary images of a small number of chemical-induced pancreatic cancer tissues showed visible neoplastic differences in the morphology of cells and extracellular matrix. The subcutaneous pancreatic tumor xenografts were further observed using the nonlinear optical microscopy, showing that most cells are leucocytes at 5 days after implantation, the tumor cells begin to proliferate at 10 days after implantation, and the extracellular collagen fibers become disordered as the xenografts grow. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In this study, nonlinear optical imaging was used to characterize the morphological details of fresh pancreatic tissues for the first time. We demonstrate that it is possible to provide real-time histological evaluation of pancreatic cancer by the nonlinear optical methods, which present an opportunity for the characterization of the progress of spontaneous pancreatic cancer and further application in a non-invasive manner

Characterization of H5N1 influenza viruses isolated from humans in vitro

Since December 1997, highly pathogenic avian influenza A H5N1viruses have swept through poultry populations across Asian countries and been transmitted into African and European countries. We characterized 6 avian influenza H5N1 viruses isolated from humans in 2004 in Thailand. A highly pathogenic (HP) KAN353 strain showed faster replication and higher virulence in embryonated eggs compared to other strains, especially compared to the low pathogenic (LP) SP83 strain. HP KAN353 also showed strong cytopathogenicity compared to SP83 in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Interestingly, LP SP83 induced smaller plaques compared to other strains, especially HP KAN353. PB2 amino acid 627E may contribute to low virulence, whereas either PB2 amino acid 627 K or the combination of 627E/701N seems to be associated with high virulence. The in vitro assays used in this study may provide the basis for assessing the pathogenesis of influenza H5N1 viruses in vivo

FUS Transgenic Rats Develop the Phenotypes of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration

Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) proteinopathy is a feature of frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD), and mutation of the fus gene segregates with FTLD and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). To study the consequences of mutation in the fus gene, we created transgenic rats expressing the human fus gene with or without mutation. Overexpression of a mutant (R521C substitution), but not normal, human FUS induced progressive paralysis resembling ALS. Mutant FUS transgenic rats developed progressive paralysis secondary to degeneration of motor axons and displayed a substantial loss of neurons in the cortex and hippocampus. This neuronal loss was accompanied by ubiquitin aggregation and glial reaction. While transgenic rats that overexpressed the wild-type human FUS were asymptomatic at young ages, they showed a deficit in spatial learning and memory and a significant loss of cortical and hippocampal neurons at advanced ages. These results suggest that mutant FUS is more toxic to neurons than normal FUS and that increased expression of normal FUS is sufficient to induce neuron death. Our FUS transgenic rats reproduced some phenotypes of ALS and FTLD and will provide a useful model for mechanistic studies of FUS–related diseases

Wettability Modification of Nanomaterials by Low-Energy Electron Flux

Controllable modification of surface free energy and related properties (wettability, hygroscopicity, agglomeration, etc.) of powders allows both understanding of fine physical mechanism acting on nanoparticle surfaces and improvement of their key characteristics in a number of nanotechnology applications. In this work, we report on the method we developed for electron-induced surface energy and modification of basic, related properties of powders of quite different physical origins such as diamond and ZnO. The applied technique has afforded gradual tuning of the surface free energy, resulting in a wide range of wettability modulation. In ZnO nanomaterial, the wettability has been strongly modified, while for the diamond particles identical electron treatment leads to a weak variation of the same property. Detailed investigation into electron-modified wettability properties has been performed by the use of capillary rise method using a few probing liquids. Basic thermodynamic approaches have been applied to calculations of components of solid–liquid interaction energy. We show that defect-free, low-energy electron treatment technique strongly varies elementary interface interactions and may be used for the development of new technology in the field of nanomaterials