Icaritin inhibits endometrial carcinoma cells by suppressing O-GlcNAcylation of FOXC1.

BACKGROUND: Icaritin has a wide range of pharmacological activities, including significant an-titumor activity. However, the mechanism of action of icaritin in endometrial cancer (UCEC) remains unknown. FOX proteins are a highly conserved transcription factor superfamily that play important roles in epithelial cell differentiation, tumor metastasis, angiogenesis, and cell cycle regulation. FOXC1 is an important member of the FOX protein family. FOXC1 is aberrantly expressed in endometrial cancer and may play a role in the migration and invasion of endometrial cancer; however, its mechanism of action has not yet been reported. O-GlcNAc glycosylation is a common post-translational modification. In endometrial cancer, high levels of O-GlcNAcylation promote cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Cancer development is often accompanied by O-GlcNAc modification of proteins; however, O-GlcNAc modification of the transcription factor FOXC1 has not been reported to date. PURPOSE: To investigate the inhibitory effects of icaritin on RL95-2 and Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells in vitro and in vivo and to elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms. METHODS/STUDY DESIGN: CCK8, colony formation, migration, and invasion assays were used to determine the inhibitory effects of icaritin on endometrial cancer cells in vitro. Cell cycle regulation was assayed by flow cytometry. Protein levels were measured based on western blotting. The level of FOXC1 expression in endometrial cancer tissues was determined by immunohistochemistry. To assess whether icaritin also has activity in vivo, its effect on tumor xenografts was evaluated. RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis of clinical samples revealed that FOXC1 expression was significantly higher in endometrial cancer tissues than in normal tissues. Downregulation of FOXC1 inhibited the proliferative, colony formation, migration, and invasive abilities of RL95-2 and Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells. Icaritin inhibited the proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion of endometrial cancer cells and blocked the cell cycle in S phase. Icaritin affected O-GlcNAc modification of FOXC1 and thus the stability of FOXC1, which subsequently triggered the inhibition of endometrial cancer cell proliferation. CONCLUSION: The anti-endometrial cancer effect of icaritin is related to the inhibition of abnormal O-GlcNAc modification of FOXC1, which may provide an important theoretical foundation for the use of icaritin against endometrial cancer.

Combined use of HPLC-ICP-MS and microwave-assisted extraction for the determination of cobalt compounds in nutritive supplements.

Speciation analysis of cobalt in nutritive supplements has been carried out using HPLC and ICP-MS equipped with a membrane desolvation sample introduction system as detector. In this study, cobalt containing compounds, namely Co(II), cyanocobalamin (CN-Cbl) and hydroxylcobalamin (OH-Cbl), were well separated by reversed phase HPLC with a C8-HPLC column as the stationary phase and 8 mmol L(-1) ammonium acetate in 22%v/v methanol solution (pH 4) as the mobile phase using isocratic elution. Detection limit was in the range of 0.008-0.014 µg CoL(-1) for various Co species. Over 98% of the total cobalt species was extracted in nutritive supplements using a 0.5%v/v HNO3 solution in a microwave field; and the spike recovery was in the range of 92-108% for various species. The HPLC-ICP-MS results showed a satisfactory agreement with the total cobalt concentrations obtained by ICP-MS analysis of completely dissolved samples.