The bound polyphenols of foxtail millet (Setaria italica) inner shell inhibit breast cancer by promoting lipid accumulation-induced autophagic death.

Foxtail millet is a traditional excellent crop with high nutritional value in the world, belong to cereals. The bran of foxtail millet is rich in polyphenol that has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumorigenic effects. Previously, we extracted bound polyphenols from the inner shell of foxtail millet bran (BPIS). Here, we report that BPIS specifically induced breast cancer cell death and elevated the autophagy level simultaneously. The addition of an autophagy inhibitor blocked BPIS-induced breast cancer cell death, indicating that excessive autophagy induced cell death. Furthermore, oil red O and BODIPY staining also confirmed that lipids, which are important inducers of autophagy, accumulated in breast cancer cells treated with BPIS. Lipidomics research revealed that glycerophospholipids were the main accumulated lipids induced by BPIS. Further study showed that elevated PCYT1A expression was responsible for glycerophospholipid accumulation, and BPIS contained ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid, which induced PCYT1A expression and breast cancer cell death. Collectively, our results revealed that BPIS resulted in autophagic death by enhancing lipid accumulation in breast cancer cells, and BPIS contains ferulic acid and p-coumaric acid, which provided new insights into developing nutraceuticals and drugs for breast cancer patients.

Supramolecular structure, in vivo biological activities and molecular-docking-based potential cardiotoxic exploration of aconine hydrochloride monohydrate as a novel salt form.

Despite the high profile of aconine in WuTou injection, there has been no preparative technology or structural studies of its salt as the pharmaceutical product. The lack of any halide salt forms is surprising as aconine contains a tertiary nitrogen atom. In this work, aconine was prepared from the degradation of aconitine in Aconiti kusnezoffii radix (CaoWu). A green chemistry technique was applied to enrich the lipophilic-poor aconine. Reaction of aconine with hydrochloride acid resulted in protonation of the nitrogen atom and gave a novel salt form (C25H42NO9+·Cl-·H2O; aconine hydrochloride monohydrate, AHM), whose cation in the crystal structure was elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic analyses. The AHM crystal had a Z' = 3 structure with three independent cation-anion pairs, with profound conformational differences among the aconine cations. The central framework of each aconine cation was compared with that of previously reported aconitine, proving that protonation of the nitrogen atom induced the structure rearrangement. In the crystal of AHM, aconine cations, chloride anions and water molecules interacted through inter-species O-H...Cl and O-H...O hydrogen bonds; this complex hydrogen-bonding network stabilizes the supramolecular structure. The seriously disordered solvent molecules were treated using the PLATON SQUEEZE procedure [Spek (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 9-18] and their atoms were therefore omitted from the refinement. Bioactivity studies indicated that AHM promoted in vitro proliferative activities of RAW264.7 cells. Molecular docking suggested AHM could target cardiotoxic protein through the hydrogen-bonding interactions. The structural confirmation of AHM offers a rational approach for improving the pharmaceutical technology of WuTou injection.

[Effect and Clinical Significance of Bortezomib and Thalidomide on the Memory T Cells Subsets and Regulatory T Cells in Peripheral Blood of Patients with Multiple Myeloma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of bortezomib(BTZ) and thalidomide(TM) on peripheral blood memory T-cells (Tm) and regulatory T cells(Tregs) in patients with multiple myeloma(MM). METHODS: Eighty-six MM patients received 2 courses of chemotherapy were divided into effective (partial response at least) group (63 cases) and ineffective (no partial response) group (17 cases) according to therapeutic efficacy; these 80 patients were divided into BTZ group (38 cases) and TM group (42 cases) yet according to therapeutic regimens, 20 newly diagnosed MM patients were used as baseline group, 30 healthy volunteers were used as healthy control group. The Tm subsets and Treg in peripheral blood of each groups were detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The CD4+ central memory T cells (CD4+ TCM) percentage of CD4+ Tm, the CD18+ TCM percentage of CD18+Tm and ratio of CD8+ TCM and CD8+ effector memory T cells (TEM) (CD8+ TCM/TEM) in baseline group were all significantly lower than those in healthy control group (P<0.05). After treatment with BTZ regimen or TM regimen, the CD8+TCM percentage of CD8+ Tm in effective group significantly increased to level of healthy control group (P<0.05); the Treg cell level in effective and in effective groups was not significantly different from that in baseline group(P>0.05), but the Treg percentage of CD4+ cells ineffective group was significantly higher than that in baseline group and ineffective group (P<0.05). According to ROC curve, the critical value of CD8+TCM/TEM for predicting chemotherapeutic response was 0.27 with sensitivity of 57.1% and specificity of 94.1%. CONCLUSION: When MM patients are in an immuno-exhanstive status, the treatment with BTZ or TM both can reverse the immuno-inhibitory status of MM patients, moreover, does not affect the Treg cell count; the Treg percentage in BTZ and TM effective groups both are significantly higher than that in baseline group and ineffective group. The ratio of CD8+TCM/TEM contributes to evaluating the chemotherapeutic efficacy.

[Establishment and Management of Multiple Myeloma Specimen Bank Applied for Molecular Biological Researches].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a multiple myeloma specimen bank applied for molecular biological researches and to explore the methods of specimen collection, transportation, storage, quality control and the management of specimen bank. METHODS: Bone marrow and blood samples were collected from multiple myeloma patients, plasma cell sorting were operated after the separation of mononuclear cells from bone marrow specimens. The plasma cells were divided into 2 parts, one was added with proper amount of TRIzol and then kept in -80 °C refrigerator for subsequent RNA extraction, the other was added with proper amount of calf serum cell frozen liquid and then kept in -80 °C refrigerator for subsequent cryopreservation of DNA extraction after numbered respectively. Serum and plasma were separated from peripheral blood, specimens of serum and plasma were then stored at -80 °C refrigerator after registration. Meantime, the myeloma specimen information management system was established, managed and maintained by specially-assigned persons and continuous modification and improvement in the process of use as to facilitate the rapid collection, management, query of the effective samples and clinical data. RESULTS: A total of 244 portions plasma cells, 564 portions of serum, and 1005 portions of plasma were collected, clinical characters were documented. CONCLUSION: A multiple myeloma specimen bank have been established initially, which can provide quality samples and related clinical information for molecular biological research on multiple myeloma.

Activity of fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors TKI258, ponatinib and AZD4547 against TPR­FGFR1 fusion.

8p11 myeloproliferative syndrome (EMS) is a rare disease characterized by the constitutive activation of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1). To date, four cases of EMS with the chromosomal translocation, t(1;8)(q25;p11.2), have been reported. In the present study, TPR­FGFR1­expressing Baf3 cells were established and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. To identify the most promising drug for EMS, the activities and associated mechanism of three tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), TKI258, ponatinib and AZD4547, against TPR­FGFR1 were tested by MTT assay, flow cytometry and western blot. The data demonstrated that TPR­FGFR1 was localized in the cytoplasm, and was able to transform interleukin-3-dependent hematopoietic Baf3 cells into growth factor­independent cells. All of the three TKIs markedly inhibited the proliferation of TPR­FGFR1­expressing Baf3 cells, and the activation of FGFR1 and the downstream signaling molecules, extracellular signal­regulated kinase 1/2, phospholipiase Cγ and signal transducer and activator of transcription 5. AZD4547 was the most efficient drug, and TKI258 was the least. By contrast, no significant difference was found among the three drugs on their effect on cell apoptosis. Taken together, the data obtained in the present study suggested that AZD4547 had increased potency, compared with TKI258 and ponatinib, for the treatment of EMS.

[Application Value of CD138 MACS-FISH in the Genetic Diagnosis of Plasma Cell Dyscrasia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cytogenetic characteristics of the various plasma cell dyscrasia using the CD138 MACS-FISH, to elucidate the application value of MACS-FISH in the genetic diagnosis of plasma cell dyscrasia, and to explore the standardization of FISH detection for plasma cell dyscrasia. METHODS: A total of 232 patients with newly diagnosed plasma cell dyscrasia were collected, including 203 cases of MM, 24 cases of AL amyloidosis and 5 cases of MGUS, whose cytogenetic abnormalities were detected by MACS-FISH, and the differences of the positive detection rates of chromosome karyotype analysis, C-FISH and MACS-FISH in MM cytogenetic abnormality were compared. The sensitivity of C-FISH and MACS-FISH were analyzed and compared according to the proportion of bone marrow plasma cells. The correlation between the positive cell rates of C-FISH and MACS-FISH and the proportion of plasma cells were analyzed respectively. The differences in the clone size detected by C-FISH and MACS-FISH were compared. RESULTS: The incidence of cytogenetic abnormality of MM, AL amyloidosis and MGUS detected by MACS-FISH were 85.9%, 62.5%, 60%, respectively. The incidence rate of MM cytogenetic abnormality detected by Chromosome karyotype analysis and C-FISH were 20.0% and 64.7%, respectively, which were significantly lower than that of MACS-FISH(P<0.001). The positive rate of 14q32 translocation, del(14q32), t(11;14), +17p13 and the coexistence of 2 and ≥3 kinds of cytogenetic abnormalities detected by MACS-FISH were significantly higher than that detected by C-FISH(P<0.05). When the plasma cell ratio was less than or equal to 5%, the positive detection rate of MACS-FISH was significantly higher than that of C-FISH (P=0.001), and there was no significant difference in different plasma cell proportion group of MACS-FISH. However, when the plasma cell ratio was less than or equal to 5%, the positive detection rate of C-FISH detection was significantly lower than that of the other 3 groups (P=0.013,P=0.001,P<0.001). The positive cell rates of all cytogenetic abnormalities in C-FISH group and +1q21 and 14q32 translocation in MACS-FISH group were significantly positively correlated with the proportion of plasma cells(P<0.05). The clone size of various cytogenetic abnormalities in MACS-FISH group were significantly higher than that in C-FISH group(P<0.001). CONCLUSION: MACS-FISH may significantly enhance the detection rate of cytogenetic abnormalities in various plasma cell dyscrasia, and it can better reflect the cytogenetic abnormality of plasma cell dyscrasia and its clone size. MACS-FISH may be recommended as a standard method for the genetic diagnosis of plasma cell dyscrasia, the risk stratification of MM and SMM, as well as the genetic diagnosis and research of MGUS and AL amyloidosis.

Clarithromycin Synergistically Enhances Thalidomide Cytotoxicity in Myeloma Cells.

Clarithromycin (CAM) is a macrolide antibiotic that is widely used in the treatment of respiratory tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and infections caused by the Helicobacter pylori and Mycobacterium avium complex. Recent studies showed that CAM was highly effective against multiple myeloma (MM) when used in combination with immunomodulatory drugs and dexamethasone. However, the related mechanism is still unknown. As 3 immunomodulatory agents are all effective in the respective regimen, we postulated that CAM might enhance the effect of immunomodulatory drugs. We evaluated the interaction effects of CAM and thalidomide on myeloma cells. Taking into consideration that thalidomide did not affect the proliferation of myeloma cells in vitro, we cocultured myeloma cells with peripheral blood monocytes and evaluated the effects of CAM and thalidomide on the cocultured cell model. Data showed that thalidomide and CAM synergistically inhibited the proliferation of the cells. On this same model, we also found that thalidomide and CAM synergistically decreased the secretion of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. This might be caused by the effect of the 2 drugs on inhibiting the activation of ERK1/2 and AKT. These data suggest that the efficacy of CAM against MM was partly due to its synergistic action with the immunomodulatory agents.

The efficacy of placebo-adjusted taspoglutide on body weight reduction in clinical trials.

Taspoglutide has elicited a long-lasting glycemic control effect with favorable body weight loss. The objective of this study was to develop a quantitative model to delineate the net efficacy of taspoglutide on body weight (WT) loss from the response of placebo in type 2 diabetes patients, and further find pharmacodynamic potency of taspoglutide for half of maximum reduction response of WT. Several PD data about taspoglutide treatments for type 2 diabetes patients were digitalized from the published papers. The model based metaanalysis (MBMA) study for WT loss was performed with Monolix 4.3 software. The MBMA successfully described the effects of placebo and taspoglutide on the pharmacological index of WT loss in clinical trials. The pharmacodynamic potency (41.7 pmol/l) produced 50% of maximum response of WT (-1.85 kg) from the responses of placebo (-1.33 kg). The longitudinal MBMA could be utilized to quantitatively describe the efficacy of taspoglutide on body weight loss and may lead to a clinical guideline for treatment of type 2 diabetes patients in the future.

[Research progress on multiple myeloma immunophenotyping and minimal residual disease detected by flow cytometry].

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a haematological malignancy characterized by the accumulation of monoclonal plasma cells in the bone marrow and remained incurable. Flow cytometry has been widely used in the detection of immunophenotype and minimal residual disease, diagnosis, monitoring and prognosis of MM. Normal plasma cells and malignant plasma cells can be distinguished according to different cell surface antigen expression. The clinical significane of many immune markes has been elucidated. However, the clinical significance of some phenotype remains controversial, the detection scheme and gating strategy are not unified. This review discusses the recent research progress on detection of MM immunophenotype and minimal residual disease by flow cytovetry.

Potential Roles of Protease Inhibitors in Cancer Progression.

Proteases are important molecules that are involved in many key physiological processes. Protease signaling pathways are strictly controlled, and disorders in protease activity can result in pathological changes such as cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases, cancer and neurological disorders. Many proteases have been associated with increasing tumor metastasis in various human cancers, suggesting important functional roles in the metastatic process because of their ability to degrade the extracellular matrix barrier. Proteases are also capable of cleaving non-extracellular matrix molecules. Inhibitors of proteases to some extent can reduce invasion and metastasis of cancer cells, and slow down cancer progression. In this review, we focus on the role of a few proteases and their inhibitors in tumors as a basis for cancer prognostication and therapy.

[Mongolian medicine cha gan beng ga regulated activity of biomarker PGC-1α].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulation of Cha Gan Beng Ga on the activity of biomarker PGC-1α in vivo and in vitro, and lay the foundation for studying the efficacy result of Cha Gan Beng Ga on xenograft tumor model and extracting active constituents. METHOD: (1) The coarse powder of Cha Gan Beng Ga was extracted with 70% ethanol solution through heating and refluxing, and finally was used to freeze dry powder. (2) 50 mg x kg(-1) of freeze-dried power was orally administrated to KM and C57BL/6J mice once daily, lasting for 5 consecutive days; different concentrations of extracted materials was given to non-small cell lung cells A549. (3) The expression level of PGC-1α mRNA was quantitatively determined in lung tissue of mice and non-small cell lung cells A549. RESULT: The expression levels of PGC-1α in lung tissue of different mice strains had an increasing tendency. Furthermore, the expression levels of PGC-1α in non-small cell lung cells A549 also had an increasing tendency, showing dose and time-dependent relationships. CONCLUSION: Mongolian Medicine Cha Gan Beng Ga could induce the over-expression of PGC-1α mRNA in lung tissue of mice and in non-small cell lung cells A549. The present results will lay foundation for studying the efficacy result of antitumor and active constitutes in future.

Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of the anticancer effect of erlotinib in a human non-small cell lung cancer xenograft mouse model.

AIM: Erlotinib is used to treat non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between erlotinib plasma concentrations and phosphorylated EGFR (pEGFR) levels, as well as the relationship between pEGFR levels and tumor growth inhibition in a human non-small-cell lung cancer xenograft mouse model. METHODS: Female BALB/c nude mice were implanted with the human NSCLC cell line SPC-A-1. The animals were given via gavage a single dose of erlotinib (4, 12.5, or 50 mg/kg). Pharmacokinetics of erlotinib was determined using LC-MS/MS. Tumor volume and pEGFR levels in tumor tissues were measured at different time points after erlotinib administration. The levels of pEGFR in tumor tissues was detected using Western blotting and ELISA assays. RESULTS: The pharmacokinetics of erlotinib was described by a two-compartment model with first order extravascular absorption kinetics. There was a time delay of approximately 2 h between erlotinib plasma concentrations and pEGFR degradation. The time course of pEGFR degradation was reasonably fit by the indirect response model with a calculated IC50 value of 1.80 µg/mL. The relationship between pEGFR levels and tumor volume was characterized by the integrated model with a Kbio value of 0.507 cm(3)/week, which described the impact of pEGFR degradation on tumor growth. CONCLUSION: The pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic properties of erlotinib in a human tumor xenograft model were described by the indirect response model and integrated model, which will be helpful in understanding the detailed processes of erlotinib activity and determining an appropriate dosing regimen in clinical studies.

[Study of oral precancerous lesion and oral cancer by using micro PET/CT].

PURPOSE: To study oral precancerous lesion and oral cancer by using micro PET/CT. METHODS: Thirty-nine SD rats were divided into experimental group and control group. 33 of them were raised with a 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) solution with the concentration of 0.002% during the first 13 weeks, and then changed to normal water. The other 6 rats drank normal water all the time. During 25th to 30th week of the experiment, 2-Deoxy-2-[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG)-PET/CT was performed for these rats. One day after imaging, pathological examination was performed. SUVmax and T/NT were investigated according to pathological results. SAS6.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in SUVmax among the normal group, precancerous group and cancerous group (P>0.05). There was significant difference in T/NT(muscle, brain) between the normal group and the cancerous group (P<0.05). But there was no significant difference between the normal group and the precancerous group (P>0.05); and no significant difference between the precancerous group and the cancerous group (P>0.05). The T/NT (muscle, brain) ratios increased along with the increase of the pathologic grade of the lesions. There was no significant difference in T/NT(thyroid) among the three groups and no correlation between the T/NT(thyroid) ratios and the pathologic grade. CONCLUSIONS: Micro PET/CT, as a non-invasive technology, may contribute to the dynamic studies of the process of carcinogenesis. T/NT(muscle, brain) ratios could show the degree of lesions of rat's tongue during carcinogenesis.