SLC27A2 regulates miR-411 to affect chemo-resistance in ovarian cancer.

Although platinum-based chemotherapies have long been used as standard treatment in ovarian cancer, cisplatin resistance is a major problem that restricts its use. Herein, we investigate the biological function of SLC27A2 and its underlying mechanisms in regulating chemo-resistance in ovarian cancer. The findings show that SLC27A2 down-regulation in primary ovarian cancer tissues correlates with chemo-resistance and poor patient survival in our patient cohort. Significantly, we demonstrate that up-regulation of SLC27A2 by lentivirus-mediated p-SLC27A2 sensitizes ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin in vitro and in vivo via apoptosis. Mechanistic investigation reveals that miR-411 is the most strikingly over-expressed gene in response to ectopic expression of SLC27A2, but under-expressed in recurrent ovarian cancer tissues. Lower miR-411 expression contributes to ovarian cancer chemo-resistance in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, SLC27A2 directly binds specific sites in the miR-411 promoter region and promoter activity decreases after mutation of putative SLC27A2-binding sites. This indicates that SLC27A2 is required for the transcriptional induction of miR-411. The luciferase assays also confirm that miR-411 directly targets ABCG2 in ovarian cancer, and overall findings establish the SLC27A2-miR-411-ABCG2 pathway in the regulation of ovarian cancer chemo-resistance with potential therapeutic applications.

Spin-spin interaction in ethanolamine deaminase.

The adenosylcobalamin coenzyme-dependent ethanolamine deaminase from Salmonella typhimurium catalyzes the deamination of aminoethanol to acetaldehyde and ammonia. The radical intermediate observed during steady state turnover of substrate aminoethanol has been characterized by continuous wave electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121 (1999) 10522]. This study presents simulations of EPR spectra of this radical intermediate. Quantitative fits to the EPR spectra are achieved with a model of isotropic exchange and magnetic dipolar interaction between the substrate-derived radical and the Co(II) in the corrin ring. The simulated parameters are compared with those of substrate analog 2-aminopropanol-derived radical in the same enzyme. The comparison confirms that the aminoethanol-derived product radical interacts more weakly with the Co(II) than the 2-aminopropanol-derived radical and suggests that the reduction of isotropic exchange between the aminoethanol-derived product radical and the Co(II) is probably due to orientational-dependent wave function overlap. Successful fits to the radical line shapes of different isotope substitutions unequivocally establish that the observed radical intermediate is an pi-electron-based product radical. The derived principal hyperfine values for the 13C(alpha) and 1H(alpha) nucleus are consistent with previous electron nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) studies on similar radicals, thus providing reliable experimental hyperfine coupling constants for comparison with quantum mechanical-based calculations to gain further insight into the molecular structure of the observed radical.

Fatty acids and breast cancer cell proliferation.

We and others have shown that fatty acids are important regulators of breast cancer cell proliferation. In particular individual fatty acids specifically alter EGF-induced cell proliferation in very different ways. This regulation is mediated by an EGFR/G-protein signaling pathway. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of how this signaling pathway functions and how fatty acids regulate it will provide important information on the cellular and molecular basis for the association of dietary fat and cancer. Furthermore these in vitro studies may explain data previously obtained from in vivo animal studies and identify "good" as well as "bad" fatty acids with respect to the development of cancer.

Use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to investigate a pseudo-outbreak of Bacillus cereus in a pediatric unit.

Bacillus cereus is a well-known cause of food poisoning. It also causes rare systemic infections, usually in immunocompromised patients. Dissemination of this species in hospitals had been reported. Most of these episodes were pseudo-outbreaks and were usually secondary to equipment or environmental contamination. We report here on the use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) to analyze a pseudo-outbreak of B. cereus in a pediatric unit. Different restriction endonucleases had been tested, and SmaI was found to give the best result for PFGE. Among the 26 clinical isolates of B. cereus and the type strain of the species, 15 distinct PFGE patterns were distinguished. PFGE after DNA macrorestriction with SmaI could clearly differentiate between the epidemiologically related isolates and the unrelated isolates. Because the same epidemic strain of B. cereus was isolated from the settle plates which were exposed near the outlet of the ventilation system, the source of this pseudo-outbreak was suspected to be the unit's air filtration system. This is one of the first reports of the application of PFGE to the study of B. cereus, and this method is useful for epidemiological investigation.

Identification of dimethylbenzimidazole axial coordination and characterization of (14)N superhyperfine and nuclear quadrupole coupling in Cob(II)alamin bound to ethanolamine deaminase in a catalytically-engaged substrate radical-Cobalt(II) biradical state.

Cobalt(II)-(14)N superhyperfine and (14)N nuclear quadrupole couplings in cryotrapped free and ethanolamine deaminase-bound cob(II)alamin have been characterized in the disordered solid state by using X-band electron spin-echo envelope modulation (ESEEM) spectroscopy. Enzyme-bound cob(II)alamin was cryotrapped after formation by substrate-initiated, thermally activated cleavage of the cobalt-carbon bond of adenosylcobalamin. Free dimethylbenzimidazole axial base-on cob(II)alamin was formed by photolysis of the corresponding adenosylcobalamin and cryotrapped in glycerol-aqueous glass. Three-pulse ESEEM experiments were performed by using microwave pulse excitation at the g( perpendicular) value of Co(II) at magnetic field values of 287.0 and 345.0 mT and over a range of tau values from 227 to 1316 ns. Two common sets of (14)N features are distinguished in the ESEEM spectra. One set is assigned to the remote (N1) nitrogen in the dimethylbenzimidazole alpha-axial ligand by using two independent approaches: (a) comparison of ESEEM from cob(II)alamin with ESEEM from cob(II)inamide-ligand model compounds and (b) from the correspondence between the N1 (14)N nuclear quadrupole parameters derived from ESEEM simulations and those computed by using density functional theory. The second set is assigned to the corrin ring (14)N nuclei. The results identify the coenzyme's on-board dimethylbenzimidazole moiety as the alpha-axial ligand to cob(II)alamin in ethanolamine deaminase in the substrate radical-Co(II) biradical catalytic intermediate state. Thus, Co(II) is a pentacoordinate, alpha-axial liganded complex during turnover. We infer that dimethylbenzimidazole is also the alpha-axial ligand to the intact coenzyme in the resting enzyme. A 14% increase in the isotropic hyperfine coupling of the remote dimethylbenzimidazole (14)N nucleus in enzyme-bound versus free base-on cob(II)alamin shows an enhanced delocalization of unpaired spin density from Co(II) onto the axial ligand, which would contribute to the acceleration of the cobalt-carbon bond cleavage rate in situ.

Molecular epidemiology of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates in a district hospital in Taiwan.

Thirty-one of 104 clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae collected over a period of 8 months were found to be putative extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producers. Isoelectric focusing and an iodine overlay agar method were used for preliminary identification of the ESBLs. They were further identified by DNA sequencing. Seventy-one percent of the isolates were found to produce SHV-5. The variation in the ESBL patterns of these isolates was slight, with only five patterns being identified. The strains were typed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and 16 different genotypes were identified. When the PFGE patterns were analyzed by the algorithmic clustering method called the unweighted-pair group method using arithmetic averages, five clusters were found. However, significant genetic variations were found among 11 isolates and between each cluster. A plasmid of 36 kb was found in all clinical isolates and in the transconjugants. Our results indicate that the increase in the number of ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae isolates in this hospital is due mainly to the dissemination of a resistance plasmid rather than to the clonal spread of a few epidemic strains.