Antibacterial activity and mechanism of ginger extract against Ralstonia solanacearum.

AIMS: The current study aimed to determine the chemical compositions of ginger extract (GE) and to assess the antibacterial activities of GE against the ginger bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum and to screen their mechanisms of action. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 393 compounds were identified by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and tandem-mass spectrometry. The antibacterial test indicated that GE had strong antibacterial activity against R. solanacearum and that the bactericidal effect exhibited a dose-dependent manner. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration of R. solanacearum were 3.91 and 125 mg/ml, respectively. The cell membrane permeability and integrity of R. solanacearum were destroyed by GE, resulting in cell content leakage, such as electrolytes, nucleic acids, proteins, extracellular adenosine triphosphate and exopoly saccharides. In addition, the activity of cellular succinate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase of R. solanacearum decreased gradually with an increase in the GE concentration. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that GE treatment changed the morphology of the R. solanacearum cells. Further experiments demonstrated that GE delayed or slowed the occurrence of bacterial wilt on ginger. CONCLUSIONS: GE has a significant antibacterial effect on R. solanacearum, and the antibacterial effect is concentration dependent. The GE treatments changed the morphology, destroyed membrane permeability and integrity, reduced key enzyme activity and inhibit the synthesis of the virulence factor EPS of R. solanacearum. GE significantly controlled the bacterial wilt of ginger during infection. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This research provides insight into the antimicrobial mechanism of GE against R. solanacearum, which will open a new application field for GE.

The association between rs1800872 polymorphism in interleukin-10 and risk of cervical cancer: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, several reports have tried to prove this connection between rs1800872 polymorphism in interleukin-10 and cervical cancer among different populations, but the results are debatable. Thus, we collected all the published literature and conducted an integrated meta-analysis, which provided better evidence-based medicine for the relationship between rs1800872 polymorphism in interleukin-10 and risk of cervical cancer. METHODS: We systematically performed our search on PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, WanFang database, and CNKI for all papers related to this research, published up to August 1, 2020. Summary odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated in allelic, homozygous, heterozygous, dominant, and recessive model to appraise the association. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 8 studies containing 1393 cervical cancer cases and 1307 controls. The aggregate data under heterozygous model and dominant inheritance model (OR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.55--0.80) indicated a significant association between rs1800872 and the low risk of cervical cancer in the entire population. And the aggregated data under the dominant inheritance model shows that rs1800872 is significantly associated with the reduction in the risk of cervical tumors in the entire population. CONCLUSION: Our conclusion is that the AC/AA + AC variant of Rs1800872 indicates a protective effect in the development of cervical cancer.

Epstein-Barr Virus encoded LMP1 regulates cyclin D1 promoter activity by nuclear EGFR and STAT3 in CNE1 cells.

The principal Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) oncoprotein, latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) is strongly associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a prevalent cancer in China. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is important in carcinogenesis, as it is a ubiquitously expressed receptor tyrosine kinase. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is a master transcriptional regulator in proliferation and apoptosis. Our previous study demonstrated that the nuclear EGFR could bind to the cyclin D1 promoter directly in the presence of LMP1, and the correlation between EGFR and STAT3 in NPC remains to be further explored. Here, we have shown that the interaction of EGFR and STAT3 increased in the nucleus in the presence of LMP1. LMP1 promoted both EGFR and STAT3 binding to the promoter region of cyclin D1, in turn, enhancing the promoter activity of cyclin D1. Furthermore, we demonstrated that both transcriptional activity and mRNA levels of cyclin D1 were decreased by small molecule interference of EGFR and STAT3 activity. These findings may provide a novel linkage between the EGFR and STAT3 signaling pathways and the activation of cyclin D1 by LMP1 in the carcinogenesis of NPC.

Effects of glucocorticoid on BMD, micro-architecture and biomechanics of cancellous and cortical bone mass in OVX rabbits.

The incidence of osteoporosis continues to increase with progressively aging populations. The purpose of this study was to detect the effects of glucocorticoid (GC) treatment on bone mineral density (BMD), biomechanical strength and micro-architecture in cancellous and cortical bone in ovariectomized (OVX) rabbits. Twenty adult female New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into three groups. The OVX-GC group (n=8) received a bilateral ovariectomy first and then daily GC treatment (methylprednisolone sodium succinate, 1mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks beginning 2 weeks after ovariectomy treatment. The OVX group (n=4) received a bilateral ovariectomy without GC treatment. The sham group (n=8) only received the sham operation. BMD was determined prior to and 6 weeks after the operation in the spine. Six weeks after the operation, the animals were sacrificed, and cancellous bone specimens were harvested from the femoral condyle and lumbar vertebrae. Cortical bone specimens were obtained from the femoral midshaft. The femoral specimens were scanned for apparent BMD. All specimens were tested mechanically and analyzed by microcompute tomography (micro-CT). In cancellous bone, GC treatment resulted in significant decreases in BMD, bone biomechanical strength and micro-architecture parameters in lumbar vertebrae. Similar trends in BMD and micro-architectural changes were also observed in the femoral condyle in the OVX-GC group compared with the sham group. However, there was no significant decline in any parameter in either lumbar vertebrae or femoral condyle in the OVX group. Similarly, no significant difference was found in any parameter in cortical bone among the three groups. Thus, the 4-week GC treatment in OVX rabbits could result in a significant bone loss in cancellous bone but not in cortical bone. This model is comparable to the osteoporosis-related changes in humans. OVX alone was not sufficient to induce osteoporosis.