Aspisol inhibits tumor growth and induces apoptosis in breast cancer

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines, which is considered to be an important mechanism for their anti-tumor activity and cancer prevention. However, the molecular mechanisms through which these compounds induce apoptosis are not well understood. Aim: to determine the effects of nonselective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, aspisol on breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Methods: The cytotoxic activity of aspisol was evaluated by MTT assay. The apoptosis index of cells was measured by flow cytometry. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect expressions of COX-2 and caspase-3 in MDA-MB-231 cells. The expression of bcl-2 and bax was analyzed by Western blot analysis. The content of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in MDA-MB-231 cells was estimated by ELISA. In vivo apoptosis of the tumor cells was detected by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). Results: Our results showed that aspisol reduced viability of MDA-MB-231 cells in time- and dose- dependent fashions and induced apoptosis by increase of caspase-3 and bax expressions while decrease of COX-2 and bcl-2 expression in vitro. In addition, exposure to aspisol decreased the basal release of PGE2. In vivo, aspisol also inhibited the proliferation of breast cancer cells and induced their apoptosis. Conclusions: Our in vitro and in vivo data indicated that the antitumor effects of aspisol on breast cancer cells was probably mediated by the induction of apoptosis, and it could be linked to the downregulation of the COX-2 or bcl-2 expression and up-regulation of caspase-3 or bax expression.Нестероидные противовоспалительные препараты ингибируют пролиферацию клеток и вызывают апоптоз во многих опухолевых клеточных линиях, что считается важным механизмом их противоопухолевой активности и профилактики развития рака. Тем не менее молекулярные механизмы апоптотического действия этих препаратов изучены недостаточно. Цель: изучить действие неспецифического ингибитора циклогексиназы-2 (COX-2) — аспизола — на злокачественные клетки рака молочной железы in vitro и in vivo. Методы: выживаемоть клеток MDA-MB-231 определяли с помощью MTT-теста. Апоптотический индекс измеряли с помощью проточной цитометрии и иммуногистохимическим окрашиванием с антителами против COX-2 и каспазы-3. Экспрессию bcl-2 и bax изучали с помощью Вестерн-блот-анализа. Содержание простагландина E2 (PGE2 ) в клетках MDA-MB-231 оценивали методом ELISA. In vivo апоптоз опухолевых клеток определяли путем выявления разрывов ДНК с помощью концевой дезоксинуклеот-идилтранферазы (метод TUNEL). Результаты: показано, что в зависимости от времени инкубации и дозы аспизол угнетал рост клеток MDA-MB-231 in vitro и вызывал их апоптоз на фоне повышения экспрессии каспазы-3 и bax, а также снижения экспрессии COX-2 и bcl-2. В условиях in vivo аспизол также ингибировал пролиферацию злокачественных клеток рака молочной железы и вызывал их апоптоз. Выводы: данные, полученные in vitro и in vivo, свидетельствуют о противоопухолевом эффекте аспизола на клетки рака молочной железы, что скорее всего опосредовано его проапоптотическим действием и может быть связано со снижением экспрессии COX-2 и bcl-2, а также повышением экспрессии каспазы-3 и bax

Transverse and longitudinal components of the propagating and evanescent waves associated to radially-polarized nonparaxial fields

A comparison is established between the contributions of transverse and longitudinal components of both the propagating and the evanescent waves associated to freely propagating radially polarized nonparaxial beams. Attention is focused on those fields that remain radially polarized upon propagation. In terms of the plane-wave angular spectrum of these fields, analytical expressions are given for determining both the spatial shape of the above components and their relative weight integrated over the whole transverse plane. The results are applied to two kinds of doughnut-like beams with radial polarization, and we compare the behavior of such fields at two transverse planes

Results from the Analysis of data collected with a 50m2 RPC carpet at Yangbajing

An RPC carpet covering View the MathML source (ARGO-YBJ experiment) will be installed in the YangBaJing Laboratory (Tibet, People's Republic of China) at an altitude of 4300 m a.s.l. A test-module of View the MathML source has been put in operation in this laboratory and about 106 air shower events have been collected. The RPC performance at high altitude and the carpet capability of reconstructing the shower features are presented

Performance of the RPCs for the ARGO detector operated at the YangBaJing Laboratory (4300 m a.s.l.)

Bakelite RPCs, assembled according to the ARGO design, have been operated in the high altitude Laboratory of YBJ using dedicated electronics to pick-up the streamer signal. Here we report on the results concerning absorbed current, single counting rate, efficiency and time resolution. Environmental data concerning the operating temperature inside the ARGO experimental hall are also reported

Results of the ARGO-YBJ test experiment

A resistive plate counters (RPCs) carpet of ∼50 m2 has been put in operation in the Yangbajing Laboratory (Tibet, P.R. China) at 4300 m a.s.l., in order to study the RPCs performance at high altitude and the detector capability of imaging the EAS disc. This test has been performed in view of an enlarged use of RPCs for the ARGO-YBJ experiment. This experiment will be devoted to a wide range of fundamental issues in cosmic rays and astroparticle physics, including in particular γ-ray astronomy and γ-ray bursts physics at energies ⩾100 GeV. In this paper we present and discuss the procedures adopted to calibrate the detector and reconstruct the shower direction. Results concerning many shower features as the angular distribution, the density spectrum, the time profile of the shower front, are found well consistent with the expectation