Adjuvant chemotherapy of megestrol acetate in advanced breast cancer: A meta-analysis

To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of adjuvant chemotherapy of megestrol acetate (MA) in advanced breast cancer, we searched CBM, CNKI, VIP, Wangfang Data and PubMed, and collected randomized controlled trials (RCT) of adjuvant chemotherapy of MA in advanced breast cancer. MA significantly increased treatment efficiency (p=0.0010); improve weight (p<0.0001), appetite (p=0.001) and KPS (p=0.06); ameliorate leucopenia (p=0.02), thrombocytopenia (p=0.02) and hemoglobin (p=0.01); reduce gastrointestinal reaction (p=0.0005) of the patients of adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer. MA significantly increased treatment efficiency, improve the nutritional situation, reduce bone marrow suppression, and gastrointestinal reaction of the patients of adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced breast cancer. High-quality RCTs are needed to guidance for preliminary studies of the effective treatment of adjuvant chemotherapy of MA in advanced breast cancer.

Anti-cancer drug induced neurotoxicity and identification of Rho pathway signaling modulators as potential neuroprotectants

Many chemotherapy drugs are known to cause significant clinical neurotoxicity, which can result in the early cessation of treatment. To identify and develop more effective means of neuroprotection it is important to understand the toxicity of these drugs at the molecular and cellular levels. In the present study, we examine the effects of paclitaxel (taxol), cisplatin, and methotrexate on primary rat neurons including hippocampal, cortical, and dorsal horn/dorsal root ganglion neuronal cultures. We found that all of these anti-cancer drugs induce substantial neurotoxicity evidenced by neurite degeneration. The neurons are capable of recovering after treatment withdrawal, but taxol exerts a biphasic effect that results in the collapse of processes days after treatment is withdrawn. After cisplatin and methotrexate treatment, we observed the degeneration of neuronal processes including the reduction of dendritic branching, length, and altered growth cone formation, indicating an abnormal arrangement of the actin cytoskeleton consistent with the involvement of Rho family small GTPases. Inhibiting RhoA downstream effector p160ROCK/Rho kinase using Y-27632, or activating p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) using non-peptide mimetic LM11A-31, were able to reverse the degeneration caused by cisplatin and methotrexate. Therefore, the neurotoxicity resulting from exposure to the anti-cancer drugs cisplatin and methotrexate can be alleviated by inhibiting Rho signaling pathway. Originally published Neurotoxicology, Vol. 29, No. 4, July 200

Hydrogen Peroxide-Responsive AIE Probe for Imaging-Guided Organelle Targeting and Photodynamic Cancer Cell Ablation

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), as one kind of key reactive oxygen species (ROS), is mainly produced endogenously primarily in the mitochondria. The selective monitoring of H2O2 in living cells is of great significance for understanding diagnosis and pathogenesis of cancers, the Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. Here, we constructed a versatile AIE probe, TTPy-H2O2, which achieved superb performances in the specifically visualization of H2O2 specifically in various living cells with mitochondria targeting, excellent biocompatibility and photostability, and remarkable ROS generation ability. Red/near-infrared fluorescence firstly located in the mitochondria could light up lipid droplets with bright yellow fluorescence after responding to the H2O2, which can realize both imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer therapy. <br /

Transcriptome Sequencing and Profiling of Expressed Genes in Phloem and Xylem of Ramie (<i>Boehmeria nivea</i> L. Gaud)

<div><p>Ramie (<i>Boehmeria nivea</i> L. Gaud) is a highly versatile herbaceous plant which is widely cropped in southern China. The success of this herbaceous plant relies on wide use in modern industry. Understanding the profiling of expressed genes in phloem and xylem of ramie is crucial for improving its industrial performance. Herein, we uncover the transcriptome profile in phloem and xylem in present study. Using Illumina paired-end sequencing technology, 57 million high quality reads were generated. De novo assembly yielded 87,144 unigenes with an average length of 635 bp. By sequence similarity searching for public databases, a total of 32,541 (41.77%) unigenes were annotated for their function. Among these genes, 57,873 (66.4%) and 28,678 (32.9%) unigenes were assigned to categories of Gene Ontology and Orthologous Groups database, respectively. By searching against the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes Pathway database (KEGG), 18,331 (21.0%) unigenes were mapped to 125 pathways. The metabolic pathways were assigned the most unigene (4,793, 26.2%). Furthermore, Pol II and Pol III subunits as well as the genes of Galactose metabolism pathway had higher expression in phloem compared to xylem. In addition, fatty acid metabolism pathway genes showed more abundant in xylem than phloem. These results suggest that high activities of RNA synthesis and Galactose metabolism pathway promises fiber synthesis in phloem. The present study is the initial exploration to uncover the fiber biosynthesis difference between phloem and xylem in ramie through the analysis of deep sequencing data.</p></div

Gene Ontology classifications of assembled unigenes.

<p>Gene Ontology classifications of assembled unigenes.</p

Exosome-Mimetic Supramolecular Vesicles with Reversible and Controllable Fusion and Fission

The fusion and fission behaviors of exosomes are essential for the cell-to-cell communication. Developing exosome-mimetic vesicles with such behaviors is of vital importance, but still remains a big challenge. Herein, we present an artificial supramolecular vesicle that exhibits redox-modulated reversible fusion-fission functions. These vesicles tend to fuse together and form large-sized vesicles upon oxidation, while undergo a fission process and return to smallsized vesicles through reduction. Noteworthy, the aggregationinduced emission (AIE) characteristics of the supramolecular building blocks enable the molecular configuration during vesicular transformation to be monitored by fluorescence technology. Moreover, the presented vesicles are excellent nanocarrier candidates to transfer siRNA into cancer cells. </p

Characteristics of similarity search of unigenes against Nr databases.

<p>A. E-value distribution of BLAST hits for each unigene with a cutoff E-value of 1.0E-5. B. Similarity distribution of the top BLAST hits for each unigene. C. Species distribution of the top BLAST hits for each unigenes in Nr dababase.</p

Confirmation of differential expression between phloem and xylem by real-time PCR.

<p>A. Different expression of Pol II Core subunits B2, Pol II specific subunits B7, Pol II specific subunits B9, Pol common subunits ABC3, Pol common subunits ABC5, Pol III Core subunits C1, Pol III Core subunits C2, ACOX1, ACOX3, ACADM, paaF, and ECHS1 by transcriptome sequencing using RPKM method. B. Different expression of Pol II Core subunits B2, Pol II specific subunits B7, Pol II specific subunits B9, Pol common subunits ABC3, Pol common subunits ABC5, Pol III Core subunits C1, Pol III Core subunits C2, ACOX1, ACOX3, ACADM, paaF, and ECHS1 by real-time PCR.</p

Pathways of ramie differentially regulated in phloem and xylem.

<p>A. Graphic representation of the global changes in RNA polymerase pathway. B. Graphic representation of the global changes in galactose metabolism pathway. C. Graphic representation of the global changes fatty acid metabolism pathway. Red and green boxes indicate the up-regulated and down-regulated genes when phloem compared to xylem tissues.</p