Complementary expression patterns of pSTAT5 and pSTAT3 in human ADH.

<p>A. Representative IHC staining for pSTAT5 (top panel) and pSTAT3 (bottom panel) in consecutive ADH lesions. B-C. Inverse correlation between percentage of pSTAT5+ and pSTAT3+ cells in ADH (B) or normal TDLU (C). Each dot represents an individual ADH lesion (B) or TDLU (C).</p

Cell proliferation rates in human ADH and their relationships with pSTAT5 and pSTAT3.

<p>A. Quantification of Ki67 staining in normal TDLU, ADH, and UDH. B-C. No association between percentage of pSTAT5+ (B) and Ki67+ cells or between pSTAT3+ (C) and Ki67+ cells in ADH. Each dot represents an individual ADH lesion.</p

pSTAT5 and pSTAT3 status in human ADH.

<p>A. H&E staining (top panel), pSTAT5 (mid panel), and pSTAT3 IHC staining (bottom panel) of normal TDLU, ADH, UDH, and ADH-adjacent ducts. B. Quantification of pSTAT5 staining in normal TDLU, pure ADH, tumor-adjacent ADH (TA-ADH), and UDH, and pairwise comparisons shown by horizontal lines. C. Paired comparison for percentage of pSTAT5 positive cells in ADH and corresponding ADH-adjacent normal ducts. D. Quantification of pSTAT3 staining in normal TDLU, pure ADH, tumor-adjacent ADH (TA-ADH), and UDH, and pairwise comparisons shown by horizontal lines. E. Paired comparison for percentage of pSTAT3-positive cells in ADH and corresponding ADH-adjacent normal ducts.</p

Cell apoptosis rates in human ADH and their relationships with pSTAT5 and pSTAT3.

<p><b>A</b>. Quantification of TUNEL assay in normal ducts, ADH, and UDH. B-C. B-C. No association between percentages of pSTAT5+ (B) and TUNEL+ cells or between pSTAT3+ (C) and TUNEL+ cells in ADH. Each dot represents an individual ADH lesion.</p

Fabrication and Characterization of a Novel Anticancer Drug Delivery System: Salecan/Poly(methacrylic acid) Semi-interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogel

Salecan is a novel linear extracellular polysaccharide with a linear backbone of 1–3-linked glucopyranosyl units. Salecan is suitable for preparing hydrogels for biomedical applications due to its prominent physicochemical and biological profiles. In this contribution, a variety of innovative semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels consisting of Salecan and poly­(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) were developed via free radical polymerization for controlled drug delivery. The successful fabrication of the semi-IPNs was verified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetric (TGA) measurements. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and rheology analyses demonstrated that the morphological and mechanical behaviors of the resultant hydrogels were strongly affected by the contents of Salecan and cross-linker <i>N</i>,<i>N</i>′-methylenebis­(acrylamide) (BIS). Moreover, the swelling properties of these hydrogels were systematically investigated, and the results indicated that they exhibited pH sensitivity. The drug delivery applications of such fabricated hydrogels were further evaluated from which doxorubicin (Dox) was chosen as a model drug for in vitro release and cell viability studies. It was found that the Dox release from the Dox-loaded hydrogels was significantly accelerated when the pH of the release media decreased from 7.4 to 5.0. Toxicity assays confirmed that the blank hydrogels had negligible toxicity to normal cells, whereas the Dox-loaded hydrogels remained high in cytotoxicity for A549 and HepG2 cancer cells. All of these attributes implied that the new proposed semi-IPNs serve as potential drug delivery platforms for cancer therapy