Andrographolide Suppresses the Growth and Metastasis of Luminal-Like Breast Cancer by Inhibiting the NF-κB/miR-21-5p/PDCD4 Signaling Pathway.

Tumor growth and metastasis are responsible for breast cancer-related mortality. Andrographolide (Andro) is a traditional anti-inflammatory drug used in the clinic that inhibits NF-κB activation. Recently, Andro has been found in the treatment of various cancers. Andro inhibits breast cell proliferation and invasion and induces apoptosis via activating various signaling pathways. Therefore, the underlying mechanisms with regard to the antitumor effects of Andro still need to be further confirmed. Herein, a MMTV-PyMT spontaneous luminal-like breast cancer lung metastatic transgenic tumor model was employed to estimate the antitumor effects of Andro on breast cancer in vivo. Andro significantly inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in MMTV-PyMT mice and suppressed the cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro. Meanwhile, Andro significantly inhibited the expression of NF-κB, and the downregulated NF-κB reduced miR-21-5p expression. In addition, miR-21-5p dramatically inhibited the target gene expression of programmed cell death protein 4 (PDCD4). In the current study, we demonstrated the potential anticancer effects of Andro on luminal-like breast cancer and indicated that Andro inhibits the expression of miR-21-5p and further promotes PDCD4 via NF-κB suppression. Therefore, Andro could be an antitumor agent for the treatment of luminal-like breast cancer in the clinic.

Simultaneous retrieval of particle size and refractive index by extended interferometric particle imaging technique.

A method is presented for simultaneously inferring both the refractive index and the size of a particle with extended interferometric particle imaging technique. The optical system of extended IPI with opposite two-sheet illumination at dual scattering angles is laid out for the experiment. The size of a particle is evaluated by the interference fringe recorded at the scattering angle of 90°, which is from the two reflected lights with two counter-propagating sheet illuminations. And then the refractive index is calculated by the fringe pattern recorded in the side scattering angle region with one of two-sheet illumination when combined with droplet size determined. Experiments on the polystyrene microsphere and water droplet suggest that the method presented herein is promising for many relevant applications, such as fuel combustion and environmental monitoring, in accurately measuring both the particle size and its refractive index.