Mechanisms of Virulence Reprogramming in Bacterial Pathogens.

Bacteria are single-celled organisms that carry a comparatively small set of genetic information, typically consisting of a few thousand genes that can be selectively activated or repressed in an energy-efficient manner and transcribed to encode various biological functions in accordance with environmental changes. Research over the last few decades has uncovered various ingenious molecular mechanisms that allow bacterial pathogens to sense and respond to different environmental cues or signals to activate or suppress the expression of specific genes in order to suppress host defenses and establish infections. In the setting of infection, pathogenic bacteria have evolved various intelligent mechanisms to reprogram their virulence to adapt to environmental changes and maintain a dominant advantage over host and microbial competitors in new niches. This review summarizes the bacterial virulence programming mechanisms that enable pathogens to switch from acute to chronic infection, from local to systemic infection, and from infection to colonization. It also discusses the implications of these findings for the development of new strategies to combat bacterial infections.

Construction of a Multifunctional Upconversion Nanoplatform Based on Autophagy Inhibition and Photodynamic Therapy Combined with Chemotherapy for Antitumor Therapy.

Inhibition of autophagy increases the sensitivity of tumor cells to radiotherapy and chemotherapy and improves the therapeutic effect on tumors. Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT) combined with chemotherapy has been proven to further improve the efficiency of cancer treatment. As such, combining autophagy inhibition with PDT and chemotherapy may represent a potentially effective new strategy for cancer treatment. However, currently widely studied autophagy inhibitors inevitably produce various toxic side effects due to their inherent pharmacological activity. To overcome this constraint, in this study, we designed an ideal multifunctional upconversion nanoplatform, UCNP-Ce6-EPI@mPPA + NIR (MUCEN). Control, UCNP-EPI@mPPA (MUE), UCNP-EPI@mPPA + NIR (MUEN), Ce6-EPI@mPPA (MCE), Ce6-EPI@mPPA + NIR (MCEN), and UCNP-Ce6-EPI@mPPA (MUCE) groups were set up separately as controls. Based on a combination of autophagy inhibition and PDT, the average particle size of MUCEN was 197 nm, which can simultaneously achieve the double encapsulation of chlorine e6 (Ce6) and epirubicin (EPI). In vitro tests revealed that MUCE was efficiently endocytosed by 4T1 cells under near-infrared light irradiation. Further, in vivo tests revealed that MUCE dramatically inhibited tumor growth. Immunohistochemistry results indicated that MUCE efficiently increased the expression of autophagy inhibitors p62 and LC3 in tumor tissues. The synergistic effect of autophagy inhibition and PDT with MUCE exhibited superior tumor suppression, providing an innovative approach to cancer treatment.

Behaviors and influencing factors of Chinese oncology nurses towards hospice care: a cross-sectional study based on social cognitive theory in 2022.

BACKGROUND: Although there is growing demand for hospice care in China due to its aging population and increasing cancer rates, the sector remains slow to expand. Oncology nurses are the primary providers of hospice care, but little is known about their behaviors towards hospice care and related factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study conveniently sampled 933 oncology nurses from six grade A tertiary hospitals in Hubei Province between January to March 2022. The questionnaire was composed of seven parts: general information (including sociodemographic and work-related information), hospice care behaviors, hospice care knowledge, hospice care attitudes, hospice care self-efficacy, hospice care outcome expectancy, and hospice care environment. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, multiple linear regression, random forest regression, and BP neural network model analysis. RESULTS: A total of 852 questionnaires were valid. The mean score of hospice care behaviors was 50.47 ± 10.56, with a mean item score of 3.61 ± 0.75. The three highest scoring behaviors were "pain assessment of patients (4.21 ± 0.91)", "satisfying the physical and mental needs of dying patients (4.04 ± 0.92)", and "creating good relationships between the medical staff and family members (4.02 ± 0.87)". The two lowest-scoring behaviors were "proactively recommending medical institutions for hospice care to terminally ill patients and their families (2.55 ± 1.10)" and "proactively talking to patients and families about death-related topics for patients who are critically ill and cannot be reversed (2.87 ± 1.03)." Multiple linear regression, random forest regression, and BP neural network models all showed that the frequency of sharing hospice care experiences with colleagues, hospice care attitudes, hospice care self-efficacy, and hospice care environments were positively associated with hospice care behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of hospice care behaviors among Chinese oncology nurses is generally at a moderate to high level. The results provide a basis for promoting hospice care behaviors among oncology nurses in order to improve the quality of life for terminally ill cancer patients.

Multifunctional 2D hemin-bridged MOF for the efficient removal and dual-mode detection of organophosphorus pesticides.

The high-residual and bioaccumulation property of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) creates enormous risks towards the ecological environment and human health, promoting the research for smart adsorbents and detection methods. Herein, 2D hemin-bridged MOF nanozyme (2D-ZHM) was fabricated and applied to the efficient removal and ultrasensitive dual-mode aptasensing of OPs. On the one hand, the prepared 2D-ZHM contained Zr-OH groups with high affinity for phosphate groups, endowing it with selective recognition and high adsorption capacity for OPs (285.7 mg g-1 for glyphosate). On the other hand, the enhanced peroxidase-mimicking biocatalytic property of 2D-ZHM allowed rapid H2O2-directed transformation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine to oxidic product, producing detectable colorimetric or photothermal signals. Using aptamers of specific recognition capacity, the rapid quantification of two typical OPs, glyphosate and omethoate, was realized with remarkable sensitivity and selectivity. The limit of detections (LODs) of glyphosate were 0.004 nM and 0.02 nM for colorimetric and photothermal methods, respectively, and the LODs of omethoate were 0.005 nM and 0.04 nM for colorimetric and photothermal methods, respectively. The constructed dual-mode aptasensing platform exhibited outstanding performance for monitoring OPs in water and fruit samples. This work provides a novel pathway to develop MOF-based artificial peroxidase and integrated platform for pollutant removal and multi-mode aptasensing.

Electro-Triggered Cascade Cyclization to Access Phosphinyl-Substituted N-Containing Heterocycles.

An electro-triggered cascade cyclization strategy was disclosed with concomitant phosphinylation and N-heterocycle construction. It provides a novel and environmentally friendly approach to access phosphinyl-substituted N-heterocycles with no external metal catalyst, oxidant, or heating. Mechanistic studies have revealed that anodic oxidation of H-phosphorus compounds occurs first to generate the key P-centered radical directly and cathodic reduction leads to the concurrent release of molecular hydrogen or methane. This protocol features simple operation, broad substrate scope, clean and mild conditions, and atom and step economy to form heterocycle-containing organophosphorus scaffolds.

Microbial Community Structure and Metabolic Potential at the Initial Stage of Soil Development of the Glacial Forefields in Svalbard.

Microbial communities have been identified as the primary inhabitants of Arctic forefields. However, the metabolic potential of microbial communities in these newly exposed soils remains underexplored due to limited access. Here, we sampled the very edge of the glacial forefield in Svalbard and performed the 16S rRNA genes and metagenomic analysis to illustrate the ecosystem characteristics. Burkholderiales and Micrococcales were the dominant bacterial groups at the initial stage of soil development of glacial forefields. 214 metagenome-assembled genomes were recovered from glacier forefield microbiome datasets, including only 2 belonging to archaea. Analysis of these metagenome-assembled genomes revealed that 41% of assembled genomes had the genetic potential to use nitrate and nitrite as electron acceptors. Metabolic pathway reconstruction for these microbes suggested versatility for sulfide and thiosulfate oxidation, H2 and CO utilization, and CO2 fixation. Our results indicate the importance of anaerobic processes in elemental cycling in the glacial forefields. Besides, a range of genes related to adaption to low temperature and other stresses were detected, which revealed the presence of diverse mechanisms of adaption to the extreme environment of Svalbard. This research provides ecological insight into the initial stage of the soil developed during the retreating of glaciers.

Development of a blood proteins-based model for bronchopulmonary dysplasia prediction in premature infants.

BACKGROUND: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common chronic pulmonary disease in premature infants. Blood proteins may be early predictors of the development of this disease. METHODS: In this study, protein expression profiles (blood samples during their first week of life) and clinical data of the GSE121097 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and differential protein analysis were carried out for variable dimensionality reduction and feature selection. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) were conducted for BPD prediction model development. The performance of the model was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration curve, and decision curve. RESULTS: The results showed that black module, magenta module and turquoise module, which included 270 proteins, were significantly correlated with the occurrence of BPD. 59 proteins overlapped between differential analysis results and above three modules. These proteins were significantly enriched in 253 GO terms and 11 KEGG signaling pathways. Then, 59 proteins were reduced to 8 proteins by LASSO analysis in the training cohort. The proteins model showed good BPD predictive performance, with an AUC of 1.00 (95% CI 0.99-1.00) and 0.96 (95% CI 0.90-1.00) in training cohort and test cohort, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study established a reliable blood-protein based model for early prediction of BPD in premature infants. This may help elucidate pathways to target in lessening the burden or severity of BPD.

Achieving a wide color gamut based on polarization interference filters in a liquid crystal display.

We propose two polarization interference filters (PIF1 and PIF2) used in the backlight unit of a liquid crystal display (LCD) to achieve a wide color gamut. Both PIF1 and PIF2 consist of two polarizers and two 720° super twisted nematic liquid crystal polymer (LCP) layers, where two polarizers are crossed in PIF1, and two polarizers are parallel in PIF2. The PIFs can eliminate unwanted cyan and yellow parts in the output spectrum, which can improve the color gamut of LCD. In our calculation, when the PIF1 is employed in the LCD with normal color filter and QD-LED backlight, the color gamut increases from 107.3% NTSC to 124.6% NTSC, which is 13.7% NTSC larger than that of the LCD with high-performance color filter. When the PIF2 is employed in the LCD with normal color filter and QD-LED backlight, the color gamut of LCD with a normal color filter is improved by 6.8% NTSC larger than that of LCD with high-performance color film, and the transfer efficiency is close to that of the LCD with high-performance color film. We define the color gamut enhancement ratio (CGER) to compare the influence of PIFs and the high-performance color filter on the color gamut enhancement performance of LCD. Compared with the high-performance color filter, the two kinds of PIFs have a higher CGER. The PIFs have a great potential for achieving a wide color gamut.

Inner helical waveplate with angle-insensitive retardation.

The angle-sensitivity is a serious defect of birefringent waveplate, and it draws lots of interest from researchers. In this paper, an angle-insensitive waveplate with inner helix structure is proposed. The super-twisted nematic liquid crystal polymer is used to fabricate the inner helical waveplate, and the retardation-shift is measured and analyzed. In the measured result, the retardation-shift is in the range from -0.311% to 0.194% at 45° polar angle, which is 2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the conventional waveplate. Theoretically, the retardation-shift is less than 0.5% in the polar angle range from 0° to 60°, and it will be less if the material with high refractive index is used. The analysis of the self-compensation effect explains the principle of angle-insensitivity, and the influence of tilt angle on angle-sensitivity is also investigated to guide the better design. At last, the application of the inner helical waveplate in wide color gamut display is taken as an example to show the broad application prospects.

Wide viewing angle polarization interference filter using double liquid crystal layers with opposite twisted direction.

We demonstrate a wide viewing angle polarization interference filter (PIF), which consists of two crossed polarizers and double liquid crystal layers with opposite twisted direction. The polarization interference effect of the PIF is achieved by the double liquid crystal layers, and an additional compensation layer between the double liquid crystal layers can further improve the optical performance of the PIF. By using the Jones matrix method, we derive the transmittance formula of the PIF with/without compensation layer, which can be used to design any required color filter by selecting the appropriate twist angle and thickness of the liquid crystal layer. We design blue, green and red PIFs and analyze their optical performance. The proposed PIF has a wider viewing angle (±30°), and the color saturation of the PIF is also considerably high.

NF-YA promotes the cell proliferation and tumorigenic properties by transcriptional activation of SOX2 in cervical cancer.

NF-YA is considered as a crucial regulator for the maintenance of cancer stem cell (CSC) and involved in various types of malignant tumours. However, the exact function and molecular mechanisms of NF-YA in the progression of cervical cancer remains poorly understood. Here, the expression of NF-YA detected by immunohistochemistry was gradually increased from normal cervical tissues, to the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, and then to cervical cancer tissues. NF-YA promoted the cell proliferation and tumorigenic properties of cervical cancer cells as well as tumorsphere formation and chemoresistance in vitro. The luciferase reporter assay combined with mutagenesis analyses and Western blotting showed that NF-YA trans-activated the expression of SOX2 in cervical cancer. Furthermore, quantitative chromatin immunoprecipitation (qChIP) and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) confirmed that NF-YA protein directly bound to the CCAAT box region located upstream of the SOX2 promoter. Together, our data demonstrated that NF-YA was highly expressed in cervical cancer and promoted the cell proliferation, tumorigenicity and CSC characteristic by trans-activating the expression of SOX2.

Development and psychometric evaluation of the colostomy disgust scale in patients with colostomy.

OBJECTIVE: To establish and validate the Colostomy Disgust Scale (CDS) for assessing disgust in colostomy patients. DESIGN: Triphasic, cross-sectional psychometric study. SETTING: A total of 423 patients with colostomy (222 first samples and 201 s samples) were recruited from a tertiary hospital between January 2015 and April 2016. METHODS: Three phases were undertaken: (a) item generation, (b) item selection and (c) evaluation and validation. The evaluation and validation of the CDS were performed through feasibility and initial item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency. RESULTS: Following item generation and item selection, a 22-item CDS was generated. Principal axis factoring indicated a two-factor solution for the proposed CDS model, which was also verified by confirmatory factor analysis. Moreover, the proposed CDS had a high internal consistency. CONCLUSION: The CDS is a self-report instrument with initial evidence for its validity and reliability. It is a promising tool to identify the triggers of disgust in colostomy contexts, which can be of great importance for promoting the mental health of colostomy patients.

Self-disgust and stigma both mediate the relationship between stoma acceptance and stoma care self-efficacy.

AIM: This paper is a report of a study exploring the relationship between stoma acceptance and stoma care self-efficacy in patients with colostomy and whether self-disgust and stigma play mediating roles in this relationship. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey design. METHOD: In all, 476 participants were recruited from a tertiary hospital and completed structured, anonymous, self-report measures of stoma acceptance, self-disgust, stigma, and stoma care self-efficacy between January 2016-March 2017. RESULTS: Stoma acceptance was significantly negatively associated with personal disgust (r = -.640, p<.001), behavioural disgust (r = -.384, p<.001), and stigma (r = -.309, p<.001) and significantly positively associated with stoma care self-efficacy (r = .689, p<.001). Furthermore, regression-based mediation modelling showed that personal disgust and stigma had significant mediating effects on stoma acceptance and stoma care self-efficacy. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated, for the first time, that emotional responses (self-disgust and stigma) play important roles in the association between stoma acceptance and stoma care self-efficacy. Addressing concerns about emotional disorder should become part of the routine care for patients with stoma. IMPACT: Patients with colostomy must cope with many challenges and undergo profound changes in daily life. Acceptance of the existence of the stoma and effective management of the stoma can aid patients in the return to a full and active life. Illness acceptance and psychological states have been widely reported to be correlates of the ability to successfully reconstitute a meaning of life, but these have not been specifically explored in patients with colostomy. This study examined the effect of stoma acceptance on stoma care self-efficacy with the mediation role of self-disgust and stigma. Evidence of the relationship between illness acceptance and self-efficacy could offer practitioners to consider emotional factors like self-disgust and stigma when aiming to improve stoma care and management.

Laboratory Study on the Gastroenteritis Outbreak Caused by a Multidrug-Resistant Campylobacter coli in China.

Three severe acute gastroenteritis patients were identified within a 5-h period in a sentinel hospital enrolled in the foodborne pathogen surveillance project in Beijing. All patients had high fever (over 38.5°C), diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and headache. Ten grams of fresh patient stool sample and 25 g of six suspected foods were collected for real-time PCR screening for 10 major pathogens. Bacterial isolation was performed. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and antibiotic susceptibility tests were conducted for all the isolates. Whole-genome sequences of the three Campylobacter coli isolates were compared using whole-genome MLST. All stool samples were positive for C. coli, as revealed by PCR. Eleven of the C. coli isolates had the same PFGE and ST type. All isolates were resistant to nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin, and tetracycline, consistent with the findings of the in silico antibiotic resistance gene profiling. Most coding sequences (99%, 1736/1739) were identical among the three sequenced isolates, except for three frameshift-mutated genes caused by the simple sequence repeats (poly-Gs). This was likely a single-source outbreak caused by a group of highly clonal C. coli. This was the first outbreak of severe gastroenteritis caused by C. coli in China.

CD36 promotes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis in cervical cancer by interacting with TGF-ß.

BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence indicates that CD36 initiates metastasis and correlates with an unfavorable prognosis in cancers. However, there are few reports regarding the roles of CD36 in initiation and metastasis of cervical cancer. METHODS: Using immunohistochemistry, we analyzed 133 cervical cancer samples for CD36 protein expression levels, and then investigated the correlation between changes in its expression and clinicopathologic parameters. The effect of CD36 expression on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in cervical cancer cells was evaluated by Western immunoblotting analysis. In vitro invasion and in vivo metastasis assays were also used to evaluate the role of CD36 in cervical cancer metastasis. RESULTS: In the present study, we confirmed that CD36 was highly expressed in cervical cancer samples relative to normal cervical tissues. Moreover, overexpression of CD36 promoted invasiveness and metastasis of cervical cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, while CD36 knockdown suppressed proliferation, migration, and invasiveness. We demonstrated that TGF-ß treatment attenuated E-cadherin expression and enhanced the expression levels of CD36, vimentin, slug, snail, and twist in si-SiHa, si-HeLa, and C33a-CD36 cells, suggesting that TGF-ß synergized with CD36 on EMT via active CD36 expression. We also observed that the expression levels of TGF-ß in si-SiHa cells and si-HeLa cells were down-regulated, whereas the expression levels of TGF-ß were up-regulated in C33a-CD36 cells. These results imply that CD36 and TGF-ß interact with each other to promote the EMT in cervical cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that CD36 is likely to be an effective target for guiding individualized clinical therapy of cervical cancer.

Influences of nickel plated multi-walled carbon-nanotube on the electro-optical properties of nematic liquid crystal.

Some enhanced performances can be obtained by doping multi-walled carbon-nanotube (MWCNT) into self-organized nematic liquid crystal (NLC). However, the dispersion of MWCNT in NLC is very few, thus the enhancement is restricted. In this work, a nickel plated MWCNT (MWCNT@Ni) is synthesized to obtain a relatively high dispersion. The morphology, element and chemical bond differences between MWCNT and MWCNT@Ni are characterized. For MWCNT@Ni, there is a layer of coaxial nickel coated on the surface of MWCNT, which weakens the interaction energy between the adjacent MWCNTs and further results in a relatively high dispersion. Moreover, MWCNT@Ni has a more orderly arrangement in NLC compared with MWCNT. The results suggest that the dielectric anisotropy of MWCNT@Ni/NLC with mass fraction of 0.01 wt% is increased by ∼3.6%, and the saturation voltage is reduced by ∼7.3%. Besides, the rise time is decreased by ∼9.5% at 5 V and 1 kHz. These performances have been improved compared with MWCNT/NLC under the same mass fraction. The effect of mass fraction of MWCNT@Ni on rise time is further investigated. As a result, the rise time is decreased by ∼16.7% as MWCNT@Ni with mass fraction of 0.10 wt% is added into NLC. In general, the method to increase dispersion of dopant in NLC is proposed, which can serve as a reference to improve the performances of NLC composites.

Application of digital PCR and next generation sequencing in the etiology investigation of a foodborne disease outbreak caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

Globally, V. parahaemolyticus infection is a leading cause of bacterial diarrheal diseases. Pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus strains that produce hemolysins are responsible for these diseases. The composition of pathogenic and non-pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus and the change of the bacterial composition before and after traditional selective enrichment in a single sample associated with disease outbreak remain unclear. We investigated an outbreak by using next generation sequencing and digital PCR to address those questions. NGS showed that the V. parahaemolyticus caused the outbreak belonged to s single clone. In contrast, among the seven non-pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus isolated from the suspected food sample, 4 serotypes and 6 PFGE patterns were identified. And nearly 70,000 SNPs were identified among the non-pathogenic strains. This result confirmed that the outbreak was caused by V. parahaemolyticus. Furthermore, NGS results clearly showed the diversity of non-pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus in a single contaminated food sample. The ratios of non-pathogenic and pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus were 31.41 and 620.11 in the original and enriched food samples respectively showed by digital PCR. Meta-genomic data indicated the top 3 species were Weissella cibaria, Weissella confusa, and Enterobacter cloacae in the original food sample, and Vibrio sp Ex25, Vibrio sp 712i, and V. parahaemolyticus in the enriched sample. Therefore, the combing of NGS and digital PCR results showed that traditional Vibrio selective enrichment media could facilitate the growth of Vibrios, however, it provided no advantages to pathogenic V. parahaemolyticus. Hence, our results indicated that the traditional culture methods alone may lead to wrong conclusions and so improvements in culture methods are needed.

Preliminary investigation of ixodid ticks in Jiangxi Province of Eastern China.

In recent years, a large effort has been made for tick surveys for public health importance around China, especially after outbreaks of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) occurred in humans in 2009. In this paper, the preliminary species composition and population distribution of ticks in Jiangxi Province of Eastern China is reported. Ticks were collected in three habitats (grassland, shrubs and woodland) and from nine host groups in 12 sampling sites throughout Jiangxi Province between 2011 and 2018. Six tick species including Haemaphysalis longicornis, Rhipicephalus sanguineus sensu lato, Haemaphysalis yeni, Haemaphysalis kitaoka, Ixodes sinensis and Dermacentor auratus were collected from the vegetation. Haemaphysalis longicornis was most abundant tick species, accounting for 90.6% of the total ticks. Haemaphysalis yeni and H. kitaoka were newly recorded tick species in Jiangxi Province. Tick presence was remarkably greater in grassland (89.4%) than in woodland (9.4%) and shrubs (1.2%), and nymphs (68.2%) and larvae (19.1%) were more frequently found than adult females (6.6%) and males (6.0%). On hosts, a total of 1513 ticks, from 13 species and four genera, were collected. These were H. longicornis, Haemaphysalis campanulata, Haemaphysalis flava, Haemaphysalis phasiana, H. yeni, H. kitaoka, Haemaphysalis hystricis, R. sanguineus (s.l.), Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Rhipicephalus microplus, Ixodes granulatus, I. sinensis and Amblyomma testudinarium. Amblyomma testudinarium was a newly recorded tick species in Jiangxi Province. Based on this investigation, H. longicornis was the most frequently collected species (30.5%) and widely distributed tick species of the total collection ticks (in 11 sampling sites). Haemaphysalislongicornis had a broad host range and its presence (hosts with at least one tick) was significantly greater on Lepus sinensis (33.3%) than on Canis familiaris (2.3%) (χ2 = 23.68, p = 0.0013). In addition, the number of H. longicornis collected on L. sinensis (64.0%) was higher than on other host groups. Of all ticks collected on hosts, different developmental stages were obtained, which included 347 larvae (22.9%), 249 nymphs (16.5%), 404 adult males (26.7%) and 513 females (33.9%) and sex distribution was relatively uniform. These data indicate that a broad range of tick species is widely distributed throughout Jiangxi Province in Eastern China.

Long non-coding RNA SNHG1 promotes cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in colorectal cancer via Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 1 (SNHG1) is responsible for initiation, progression, and metastasis of various cancers. However, the role and molecular mechanism of SNHG1 is poorly understood in colorectal cancer. Here we discovered that SNHG1 is high-expressed in colorectal cancer cells. We find that SNHG1 knockdown inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in colorectal cancer. Moreover, SNHG1 can promote the expression of target genes, and SNHG1 expression is positively correlated with WNT expression. Thus, SNHG1 regulates colorectal cancer by Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Our study provides strong evidence that SNHG1 may significantly be associated with the development and progression of colorectal cancer.

Upregulation of neuronal zinc finger protein A20 expression is required for electroacupuncture to attenuate the cerebral inflammatory injury mediated by the nuclear factor-kB signaling pathway in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion rats.

BACKGROUND: Zinc finger protein A20 (tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced protein 3) functions as a potent negative feedback inhibitor of the nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) signaling. It exerts these effects by interrupting the activation of IkB kinase beta (IKKß), the most critical kinase in upstream of NF-kB, and thereby controlling inflammatory homeostasis. We reported previously that electroacupuncture (EA) could effectively suppress IKKß activation. However, the mechanism underlying these effects was unclear. Therefore, the current study further explored the effects of EA on A20 expression in rat brain and investigated the possible mechanism of A20 in anti-neuroinflammation mediated by EA using transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rats. METHODS: Rats were treated with EA at the "Baihui (GV20)," "Hegu (L14)," and "Taichong (Liv3)" acupoints once a day starting 2 h after focal cerebral ischemia. The spatiotemporal expression of A20, neurobehavioral scores, infarction volumes, cytokine levels, glial cell activation, and the NF-kB signaling were assessed at the indicated time points. A20 gene interference (overexpression and silencing) was used to investigate the role of A20 in mediating the neuroprotective effects of EA and in regulating the interaction between neuronal and glial cells by suppressing neuronal NF-kB signaling during cerebral ischemia/reperfusion-induced neuroinflammation. RESULTS: EA treatment increased A20 expression with an earlier peak and longer lasting upregulation. The upregulated A20 protein was predominantly located in neurons in the cortical zone of the ischemia/reperfusion. Furthermore, neuronal A20 cell counts were positively correlated with neurobehavioral scores but negatively correlated with infarct volume, the accumulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and glial cell activation. Moreover, the effects of EA on improving the neurological outcome and suppressing neuroinflammation in the brain were reversed by A20 silencing. Finally, A20 silencing also suppressed the ability of EA to inhibit neuronal NF-kB signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Ischemia/reperfusion cortical neurons in MCAO rats are the main cell types that express A20, and there is a correlation between A20 expression and the suppression of neuroinflammation and the resulting neuroprotective effects. EA upregulated neuronal A20 expression, which played an essential role in the anti-inflammatory effects of EA by suppressing the neuronal NF-kB signaling pathway in the brains of MCAO rats.