Expression of YY1 correlates with progression and metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinomas.

OBJECTIVE: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. Yin Yang 1 (YY1) is a ubiquitous and multifunctional zinc-finger transcription factor that plays important biological functions in cell homeostasis and tumorigenesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of YY1 in different ESCC tissues and the potential relationship with clinicopathological features. METHODS: One hundred and four ESCC tissues were collected in this study. The protein levels of YY1 were measured by immunohistochemistry. TE-1 cell invasion in vitro was assessed using the Transwell assay. RESULTS: There were no obvious differences between expression levels in patients over age 64 and those younger than 64, and no noticeable distinction was observed between males and females. However, the YY1 protein level was significantly higher in ESCC tissues with lymph node metastasis than those without lymph node metastasis (P=0.042). Furthermore, the expression of the YY1 protein was stronger in stage III-IV patients than in stage I-II patients (P=0.002), but the protein levels between different histological grades (well, moderate, or poor) showed no statistical significance. Similarly, there was no difference in YY1 expression in patients with or without lymphatic invasion. The Transwell assay revealed that the overexpression of YY1 promoted the invasion ability of TE-1 cells and the inhibition of YY1 could reverse this promotion. CONCLUSION: YY1 expression was associated with TNM stage and lymph node metastasis, suggesting that YY1 can influence human esophageal cancer progression and metastasis.

The clinical value of Huangqi injection in the treatment of leucopenia: a meta-analysis of clinical controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: Huangqi injection is derived from Astragalus membranaceus root. In China, recent reports of Huangqi injection for the treatment of leucopenia have emerged. However, a systematic review of these reports has not been performed. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of clinical controlled trials to assess the clinical value of Huangqi injection in the treatment of leucopenia. METHODS: We searched the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Full-text Database (VIP), as well as PubMed and EMBASE to collect the data about trials of Huangqi injection for treating leucopenia. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2 software. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies involving 841 patients were included in this study. The overall study quality was lower according to the Jadad scale. The meta-analysis showed that experimentally treated patients experienced greater therapeutic efficacy and lower white blood cell counts than control groups treated with Western medicine (P < 0.05). No publication bias was evident, according to Egger's test. CONCLUSIONS: The validity of this meta-analysis was limited by the overall poor quality of the included studies. Huangqi injection may have potential clinical value in the treatment of leucopenia, but confirmation with rigorously well-designed multi-center trials is needed.

Meta-analysis of the clinical value of danshen injection and huangqi injection in liver cirrhosis.

Objective. To evaluate the clinical value of Danshen injection and Huangqi injection for the treatment of liver cirrhosis. Methods. The Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese Scientific Journals Full-Text Database (VIP), Wanfang Database, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), PubMed, and EMBASE database were searched to collect the literatures about the randomized controlled trials involving the treatment of liver cirrhosis with Danshen injection combined with Huangqi injection, and the data analyses were performed using RevMan 4.2 software. Results. A total of 11 studies involving 1086 patients (trials group: 554 cases, control group: 532 cases) were included in this study. Compared with those in control group, the meta-analysis showed-that the total effectiveness rate and the level of serum albumin increased, while serum total bilirubin, alanine transmninase, type III procollagen, hyaluronic acid, laminin, and type-IV collagen decreased in trials group. The Jadad score ranged from 1 to 2 and the funnel plot analysis suggests that publication bias may occur. Conclusions. Danshen injection combined with Huangqi injection may promote the curative efficacy of liver cirrhosis, which is a promising novel treatment approach. The exact outcome needs to perform rigorously designed, multicenter, and large randomized controlled trials.

Upregulation of Ying Yang 1 (YY1) suppresses esophageal squamous cell carcinoma development through heme oxygenase-1.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the deadliest malignancies worldwide. Ying Yang 1 (YY1), a ubiquitously expressed GLI-Krüppel zinc finger transcription factor, plays a regulatory role in a variety of fundamental biological processes, such as embryonic development, growth, apoptosis, differentiation and oncogenic transformation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of YY1 in normal and cancerous esophageal tissues and its function in ESCC development. We found that the expression of YY1 mRNA was significantly increased in the tumor tissues, compared with the para-tissues or normal esophageal tissues. The increased expression of YY1 in tumor samples was further confirmed by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the overexpression of YY1 conferred radioresistance to the ESCC TE-1 cells and resulted in markedly reduced cell proliferation. Accordingly, the small interfering RNA-mediated silencing of YY1 expression in TE-1 cells resulted in increased proliferation by enhancing the binding of P21 to Cyclin D1 and CDK4, a protein complex known to mediate cell cycle progression. Moreover, besides P21, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) was identified as a YY1 downstream effector, as YY1 stimulated HO-1 expression in esophageal cancer cells. YY1 mediated biological function through transcription of HO-1. Forced expression of HO-1 could moderately suppress proliferation of TE-1 cells. The expression of YY1 significantly correlated with that of HO-1 in ESCC tissues. Taken together, we demonstrated overexpression of YY1 in esophageal carcinoma and identified HO-1 as its target.