Benzethonium chloride suppresses lung cancer tumorigenesis through inducing p38-mediated cyclin D1 degradation.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, but effective therapeutics is limited. This study aims to identify novel anticancer strategy from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug library consisting of 528 compounds. Benzethonium Chloride (BZN), a FDA-approved drug for anti-infective, was found to markedly induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation and colony formation ability of lung cancer cells in dose- and time-dependent manners. BZN also enhanced the sensitivity of lung cancer cells to gefitinib, the first-line treatment strategy for selected lung cancer patients. Furthermore, BZN significantly delayed the growth of tumor xenografts in nude mice by increasing apoptosis and decreasing Ki-67 proliferation index, without obvious toxic effects to the vital organs of animals. Mechanistically, quantitative proteomics coupled with bioinformatics analyses and a series of functional assays demonstrated that BZN induced cell cycle arrest at G1 phase, and this was associated with an increase in p38-mediated phosphorylation at threonine 286 (T286) and accelerated degradation of cyclin D1. Our findings provide the first evidence that BZN could be a promising therapeutic agent in lung cancer treatment.

Overexpression of mircoRNA-137 inhibits cervical cancer cell invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition by suppressing the TGF-ß/smad pathway via binding to GREM1.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence has highlighted the tumor suppressive roles of microRNA (miRNAs) in cervical cancer (CC). In the present study, we aim to delineate the functional relevance of microRNA-137 (miR-137) in influencing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and other CC cell biological activities via the TGF-ß/smad pathway by binding to GREM1. METHODS: Microarray analysis was initially adopted to predict the differentially expressed genes and the miRNAs related to CC, followed by the measurement of the expression patterns of GREM1, EMT-related factors in the CC tissues and the adjacent tissues. Dual luciferase reporter gene assay was conducted to determine the relationship between miR-137 and GREM1. Gain-of- and loss-of-function experiments were conducted to characterize the effects of miR-137 and GREM1 on the colony formation, proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion of CC cells in vitro, and the tumorigenicity of the CC cells in nude mice. The TGF-ß/smad pathway was subsequently blocked with si-TGF-ß to investigate its involvement. RESULTS: Reduced miR-137 expression and increased GREM1 expression were predicted in CC, which was subsequently observed in the CC tissues and cells. Notably, GREM1 was a target gene of miR-137. The overexpressed miR-137 was found to inhibit EMT, cell proliferation, colony formation, invasion, migration and tumorigenesis in nude mice. In addition, miR-137 was noted to inhibit the activation of the TGF-ß/smad pathway by binding to GREM1. The silencing of TGF-ß1 was shown to reverse the effects induced by downregulated expression of miR-137. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that upregulated miR-137 suppresses the tumor progression in CC via blocking the TGF-ß/smad pathway by binding to and negatively regulating GREM1.

PinX1: structure, regulation and its functions in cancer.

PIN2/TRF1-interacting telomerase inhibitor 1 (PinX1) is a novel cloned gene located at human chromosome 8p23, playing a vital role in maintaining telomeres length and chromosome stability. It has been demonstrated to be involved in tumor genesis and progression in most malignancies. However, some researches showed opposing molecular status of PinX1 gene and its expression patterns in several other types of tumors. The pathogenic mechanism of PinX1 expression in human malignancy is not yet clear. Moreover, emerging evidence suggest that PinX1 (especially its TID domain) might be a potential new target cancer treatment. Therefore, PinX1 may be a new potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for human cancers, and may play different roles in different human cancers. The functions and the mechanisms of PinX1 in various human cancers remain unclear, suggesting the necessity of further extensive works of its role in tumor genesis and progression.

RUNX3 is a prognostic marker and potential therapeutic target in human breast cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of RUNX3 in breast cancer pathogenesis, we examined the RUNX3 expression in breast cancer tissues and analyzed the correlation between RUNX3 expression and clinicopathologic variables and patients survival. METHODS: We evaluated the RUNX3 expression by immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray containing 256 specimens of breast cancer patients. We also studied the role of RUNX3 in cell migration and invasion by performing cell migration and invasion assay. Differential expression of metastasis-related genes after RUNX3 restoration was analyzed using the Human Tumor Metastasis PCR Array. RESULTS: The RUNX3 expression was significantly correlated with breast cancer histology grade (P = 0.000), and low RUNX3 expression strongly correlated with worse 5-year overall and disease-specific survival rates (P = 0.000 and P = 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, we found that RUNX3 restoration suppressed breast cancer metastasis by controlling cell migration and invasion capacity. Finally, gene expression profiles of RUNX3-549 and Ctrl-549 cells showed matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) was the most significant gene among the 84 metastasis-related genes influenced by RUNX3 reintroduction. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced RUNX3 expression is significantly correlated with breast cancer progression and predicts worse survival. RUNX3 regulates breast cancer cell migration and invasion through the MMP-2 pathway.

[Measurement of properties of polypropylene copolymers by Raman spectrum].

Fourier-transform (FT) Raman spectra were measured for 7 kinds of different polypropylene copolymers and the assignments of all Raman bands were made through a detailed analysis. Ultimately, by choosing 2 700-3 100 cm(-1) as the characteristic spectral, partial least squares (PLS) regression models were set up for xylene solubles content, ethylene content and ethylene content of xylene solubles in polypropylene copolymers. The values of correlation coefficient (r) between predicted results and actual values were all greater than 0.94, and the values of average relative error (ARE) were all less than 5%. The second PLS factor was also analyzed in this paper, and it was concluded that the original information of the sample was accurately extracted by using PLS regression. This paper offered a kind of possibility for on-line measurement of xylene solubles content, ethylene content and ethylene content of xylene solubles in polypropylene copolymers.

Synthesis and characterization of binuclear molybdenum-polycarboxylate complexes with sulfur bridges.

A group of four binuclear sulfur-bridged molybdenum-polycarboxylato complexes with homocitrate, citrate, cysteine, ethylenediaminetetraacetate ligands, respectively, have been synthesized and characterized. These complexes were prepared in order to study the interaction of Mo and homocitrate in the FeMo-co of nitrogenases. In the structures of K4(NH4)2[Mo2O2S2(C6H4O7)2].10H2O (2), (NH4)2[Mo2O2S2(C3H5SNO2)2].5H2O (3) and (NH4)2[Mo2O2S2(C10H12N2O8)].3.5H2O (4), molybdenum (V) atom adopts a distorted octahedral arrangement through a terminal oxygen atom, two bridging sulfur atoms and three atoms from the ligand (hydroxyl, alpha-, beta-carboxylates, sulfide or amine). The coordination mode of homocitrate ligand in K5(NH4)[Mo2O2S2(C7H5O7)2].3H2O.CH3OH (1) has been proposed in a tridentate fashion via its hydroxyl and a pair of carboxylate groups (alpha-, beta-carboxylates). The electrochemical properties of these complexes have been discussed.