LIM Homeobox 2 Increases Adhesion-Regulating Molecule 1 Transcription to Facilitate the Pathological Progression of Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein-Stimulated Atherosclerotic Cell Models.

Endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) and endothelial cell apoptosis have been documented to have a role in atherosclerosis (AS) progression. To deepen knowledge in this aspect, our study investigated the effect of LIM homeobox 2 (LHX2) and adhesion-regulating molecule 1 (ADRM1) on EndMT and endothelial cell apoptosis in the oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) -stimulated AS cell model.Ox-LDL was utilized to treat human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) for constructing an AS model in vitro, followed by measurement of LHX2 and ADRM1 expressions. Afterward, gain- and loss-of-function assays were performed in HUVECs, followed by detection of cell viability, invasion, migration, and apoptosis and the expression of inflammatory factors [tumor necrosis factor (TNF) -α, interleukin (IL) -1ß, and IL-6], EndMT-related proteins [CD31, vascular epithelium (VE) -cadherin, vimentin, α-smooth muscle actin (SMA), Snai1, Snai2, and Twist1], and the apoptotic protein cleaved caspase-3. Interactions between LHX2 and ADRM1 were analyzed with dual-luciferase reporter gene and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays.High levels of LHX2 and ADRM1 were observed in ox-LDL-induced HUVECs. In ox-LDL-treated HUVECs, LHX2, or ADRM1 knockdown promoted CD31 and VE-cadherin levels, viability, invasion, and migration and reduced apoptosis and the expressions of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, vimentin, α-SMA, Snai1, Snai2, Twist1, and cleaved caspase-3. Mechanistically, LHX2 bound to the ADRM1 promoter to promote ADRM1 transcription. Overexpression of ADRM1 annulled the aforementioned effects of LHX2 knockdown on ox-LDL-induced HUVECs.LHX2 facilitates the pathological progression of ox-LDL-stimulated AS cell models by increasing ADRM1 transcription.

Hepatic portal venous gas complication associated with the thoracic endovascular aortic repair for aortic dissection: a case report and literature review.

Aortic dissection (AD) is a serious disease with a higher mortality. The thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is a first line regimen for aortic dissection. Hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG) is a rare disease, and its definite mechanism is unknown. This is a rare association between the aortic and HPVG. In the present report, we present a case of thoracic aortic dissection, which was the type of Standford B by the computer tomography (CT) angiography, which implicated acute abdominal pain and abdominal distention after TEVAR and immediate abdominal CT shown hepatic portal venous gas (HPVG). The patient, who was treated with conservative treatment of gastrointestinal decompressing, fluid resuscitation, electrolyte replacement, anti-infection, anti-inflammation and anticoagulation, was recovered and discharged without abnormalities. This patient has been followed up for 5 years and has not experienced any physical discomfort related to HPVG. This is the first report that the aortic dissection patient implication with HPVG after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

MicroRNA-125a-5p inhibits invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells by targeting BRMS1 expression.

Accumulating studies have demonstrated microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) have an important role in multiple processes of human malignant tumor development and progression. Decreased expression of miR-125a-5p has been observed in several types of cancer, including gastric cancer (GC). However, the mechanism and exact function of miR-125a-5p in GC have not been largely elucidated. In the present study, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction indicated that the expression of miR-125a-5p was downregulated in GC tissues and cell lines compared with matched normal tissues (P<0.01) and normal gastric mucosa cell lines (P<0.01), respectively. Moreover, clinical pathological characteristics and Kaplan-Meier analysis indicated that a low expression of miR-125a-5p was not only associated with lymph metastasis, peritoneal dissemination and advanced tumor-node metastasis stage but also affected the prognosis of GC patients. Compared with miR-control-transfected GC cells, markedly decreased migration and invasion was observed in GC cells that overexpress miR-125a-5p. By contrast, increased metastasis and invasion were observed in miR-125a-5p-knocked down cells compared with the control. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assays indicated that breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) was a direct target of miR-125a-5p. Notably, a positive correlation between the levels of BRMS1 and miR-125a-5p in GC tissues was observed, and BRMS1 expression was indicated to be regulated by miR-125a-5p in GC cells. In conclusion, miR-125a-5p may act as a tumor suppressor by targeting the metastasis-inhibitory gene, BRMS1. The data suggesting that BRMS1 is a potential target gene of miR-125a-5p, may provide novel insight into miRNA regulation of human gene expression, and a useful target for gene therapy of GC.

PRL-3 promotes the peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway by regulating PTEN.

Peritoneal metastasis is the most frequent cause of death in patients with advanced gastric carcinoma (GC). The phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) is recognized as an oncogene and plays an important role in GC peritoneal metastasis. However, the mechanism of how PRL-3 regulates GC invasion and metastasis is unknown. In the present study, we found that PRL-3 presented with high expression in GC with peritoneal metastasis, but phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN) was weakly expressed. The p-PTEN/PTEN ratio was also higher in GC with peritoneal metastasis than that in the normal gastric tissues. We also found the same phenomenon when comparing the gastric mucosa cell line with the GC cell lines. After constructing a wild-type and a mutant-type plasmid without enzyme activity and transfecting them into GC SGC7901 cells, we showed that only PRL-3 had enzyme activity to downregulate PTEN and cause PTEN phosphorylation. The results also showed that PRL-3 increased the expression levels of MMP-2/MMP-9 and promoted the migration and invasion of the SGC7901 cells. Knockdown of PRL-3 decreased the expression levels of MMP-2/MMP-9 significantly, which further inhibited the migration and invasion of the GC cells. PRL-3 also increased the expression ratio of p-Akt/Akt, which indicated that PRL-3 may mediate the PI3K/Akt pathway to promote GC metastasis. When we transfected the PTEN siRNA plasmid into the PRL-3 stable low expression GC cells, the expression of p-Akt, MMP-2 and MMP-9 was reversed. In conclusion, our results provide a bridge between PRL-3 and PTEN; PRL-3 decreased the expression of PTEN as well as increased the level of PTEN phosphorylation and inactivated it, consequently activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and upregulating MMP-2/MMP-9 expression to promote GC cell peritoneal metastasis.

Methylation-associated silencing of miR-495 inhibit the migration and invasion of human gastric cancer cells by directly targeting PRL-3.

Phosphatase of regenerating liver-3 (PRL-3) is believed to be associated with cell motility, invasion, and metastasis. Our previous work found that PRL-3 is highly overexpressed in gastric cancer (GC) tissue with peritoneal metastasis and directly involved in the pathogenesis of GC peritoneal metastasis. Moreover, we further found that the down-regulation of endogenous miR-495 expression plays a causative role in over expression of PRL-3 in GC peritoneal metastasis. However, the molecular regulation mechanisms by which endogenous miR-495 expression is down-regulated and PRL-3 promotes GC peritoneal metastasis remain to be clearly elucidated. Some studies have shown that the promoter methylation is closely related to the miRNA gene expression. Therefore, in present study, based on our previous findings, we will analysis whether DNA methylation is a major cause of the down-expression of endogenous miR-495, which results in PRL-3 overexpression in GC peritoneal metastasis. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) and sodium bisulfite sequencing method (BSP) detected miR-495 gene promoter methylation status. We treated GC cell lines with 5-Aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC) to make the gene promoter methylation inactivation. By treating with 5-Aza-dC the migration and invasion of GC cells were significantly inhibited. And the miR-495 was overexpressing, corresponds to the mRNA and protein levels of PRL-3 were reduced, the ability of invasion and metastasis was inhibited. This study suggest that miR-495 have tumor suppressor properties and are partially silenced by DNA hypermethylation in GC, will provide new strategies for prevention and treatment of GC peritoneal metastasis.

Methylation-associated silencing of MicroRNA-335 contributes tumor cell invasion and migration by interacting with RASA1 in gastric cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that function as endogenous silencers of target genes, previous studies have shown that miR-335 play an important role in suppressing metastasis and migration in human cancer including gastric cancer (GC). However, the mechanisms which result in aberrant expression of miR-335 in GC are still unknown. Recent studies have shown that the silencing of some miRNAs is associated with DNA hypermethylation. In this study, we find the promoter of miR-335 we embedded in CpG island by accessing to bioinformatics data and the low expression of miR-335 in 5 gastric cell lines can be restored by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC) treatment. So we postulated that the miR-335 genes undergo epigenetic inactivation in GC. Subsequently, in GC cells and tissues, we performed quantitative real-time PCR (RTQ-PCR) to assess the expression of miR-335, and methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfite sequence-PCR (BSP) to evaluate the DNA methylation status in the CpG islands upstream of MiR-335. The result showed that the expression of miR-335 was significantly reduce in gastric cancer cell lines and tumor tissues compared to matched normal gastric tissues, and cell lines, and which is inverse correlation with DNA hypermethylation of miR-335 both in GC cells lines and tissues, but not in normal tissues. In addition, we found that the lower miR-335 expression induced by abnormal methylation may be mainly involved in gastric cell invasion and metastasis in GC tissues. No statistical significance was found about miR-335 expression and methylation level between healthy individuals with and without H. pylori (HP) infection. Finally, we carry out miRNA transfection, RTQ-PCR and western blot assay to find the RAS p21 protein activator (GTPase activating protein) 1 (RASA1) may be the possible target genes which lead to the gastric cell invasion and metastasis, furthermore, the re-expression of endogenous miR-335 by 5-Aza-dC treatment can exert effects similar to exogenous miRNAs transfection. Taken together, our results suggest that miR-335 may be silenced by promoter hypermethylation and play important roles in gastric cell invasion and metastasis through its target genes, such as RASA1. Its methylation level might be a predictive epigenetic marker of GC and remodeling on the expression by demethylation can provided a potential therapeutic strategy.