CDC27 Facilitates Gastric Cancer Cell Proliferation, Invasion and Metastasis via Twist-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Background/Aims: Lymph node metastasis is the primary cause of cancer-related death among patients with gastric cancer (GC), and cell division cycle 27 (CDC27) promotes the metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in many cancers. Till now, the mechanisms underlying CDC27-induced the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of GC are still unclear. Methods: We analyzed the expression levels of CDC27 and EMT-related biomarkers using immunohistochemistry and Western blot in 60 cases of GC tissues, and then GC cells with CDC27 shRNAs or plasmids were subjected to in vitro and in vivo assays, including CCK-8, wound healing and transwell assays. Results: The CDC27 expression was obviously increased in GC tissues, and significantly correlates with EMT-related biomarkers, lymph node metastasis and poor 5-year overall survival. Additionally, in vitro and in vivo assays demonstrated that silencing of CDC27 expression effectively inhibited GC cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Conversely, CDC27 overexpression led to the opposite results. Finally, we demonstrated that Twist shRNA inhibited CDC27-meditated invasion and EMT of GC cells. Conclusion: CDC27 facilitates gastric cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis via Twist-induced EMT; thus, this study offered a new therapy method for GC patients

Effects of ligand functionalization on the photocatalytic properties of titanium-based MOF: A density functional theory study

The first principle calculations have been performed to investigate the geometries, band structures and optical absorptions of a series of MIL-125 MOFs, in which the 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate (BDC) linkers are modified by different types and amounts of chemical groups, including NH2, OH, and NO2. Our results indicate that new energy bands will appear in the band gap of pristine MIL-125 after introducing new group into BDC linker, but the components of these band gap states and the valence band edge position are sensitive to the type of functional group as well as the corresponding amount. Especially, only the incorporation of amino group can obviously decrease the band gap of MIL-125, and the further reduction of the band gap can be observed if the amount of NH2 is increased. Although MIL-125 functionalized by NH2 group exhibits relatively weak or no activity for the photocatalytic O2 evolution by splitting water, such ligand modification can effectively improve the efficiency in H2 production because now the optical absorption in the visible light region is significantly enhanced. Furthermore, the adsorption of water molecule becomes more favorable after introducing of amino group, which is also beneficial for the water-splitting reaction. The present study can provide theoretical insights to design new photocatalysts based on MIL-125