Increased TCP11 gene expression can inhibit the proliferation, migration and promote apoptosis of cervical cancer cells.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is a common gynecological malignancy. Gene microarray found that TCP11 gene was highly expressed in cervical cancer. However, the effect of TCP11 gene on the proliferation, apoptosis and migration of cervical cancer cells and its underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. METHODS: GEPIA database, tissue microarray, western blot and qRT-PCR were used to analyze the expression of TCP11 gene in cervical cancer tissues and cells and its relationship with patients' survival rate. The cell cycle and apoptosis were detected by flow cytometry, and the expressions of cell cycle and apoptosis related molecules and EMT-related molecules were detected by Western blot and qRT-PCR. RESULTS: The results showed that TCP11 gene was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues and cells compared with normal cervical tissues and cells, and its expression was positively correlated with patients' survival rate. The results of proliferation and migration assays showed that TCP11 overexpression inhibited the proliferation and migration of HeLa and SiHa cells. The results showed that TCP11 overexpression blocked the cell cycle of HeLa and SiHa cells, decreased the expression of CDK1 and Cyclin B1, and increased the apoptosis and the expression of caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-3 and cleaved-PARP. TCP11 overexpression increased the protein and mRNA expression of EMT-related molecules ZO-1 and E-cadherin. Conversely, TCP11 knockdown promoted the proliferation of HeLa and SiHa cells and the migration of HeLa cells. CONCLUSIONS: TCP11 overexpression significantly inhibited the occurrence and development of cervical cancer cells, it may be a potentially beneficial biomarker for cervical cancer.

Analysis of eEF1A2 gene expression and copy number in cervical carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To explore and analyze the expression of eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha 2 (eEF1A2) gene in cervical cancer tissues, its relationship with patient survival, gene mutations, and changes in copy number in cervical cancer and chronic cervicitis tissues. METHODS: The expression of the eEF1A2 gene in cervical cancer and its relationship with patient survival were analyzed using gene expression profile interactive analysis. Changes in eEF1A2 expression in cervical cancer tissues were analyzed using cBioPortal, a portal for cancer genomics analysis. The eEF1A2 copy number in cervical cancer tissues and chronic cervicitis tissues was determined by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The relationship between the expression of eEF1A2 protein and the clinical stage, pathological grade, and patient survival of cervical cancer was analyzed by the database: The Human Protein Atlas, an integrated repository portal for tumor-immune system interactions. RESULTS: Gene expression profile interactive analysis database analysis showed no significant differences in the expression of eEF1A2 between cervical cancer and normal cervical tissues (P > .05). The eEF1A2 gene expression level was not correlated with the survival of cervical cancer patients (P > .05). Analysis of the cBioPortal database showed that 18 of 297 cervical cancer patients had eEF1A2 gene changes, including missense mutation, splice mutation, amplification, and messenger RNA increase. There was no significant difference in eEF1A2 gene copy number between cervical cancer and chronic cervicitis (P > .05). The Human Protein Atlas and an integrated repository portal for tumor-immune system interactions database analysis of immunohistochemical data showed that eEF1A2 protein expression was no significant difference in clinical stage, pathological grade and patient survival of cervical cancer (P > .05). CONCLUSION: The eEF1A2 gene was mutated in cervical cancer tissues. The eEF1A2 gene copy number was not associated with changes in the expression of the eEF1A2 gene in cervical cancer tissues.

Food-derived bioactive oligopeptide iron complexes ameliorate iron deficiency anemia and offspring development in pregnant rats.

This study aimed to investigate anemia treatment and other potential effects of two food-derived bioactive oligopeptide iron complexes on pregnant rats with iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and their offspring. Rats with IDA were established with a low iron diet and then mated. There were one control group and seven randomly assigned groups of pregnant rats with IDA: Control group [Control, 40 ppm ferrous sulfate (FeSO4)]; IDA model group (ID, 4 ppm FeSO4), three high-iron groups (H-FeSO4, 400 ppm FeSO4; MCOP-Fe, 400 ppm marine fish oligopeptide iron complex; WCOP-Fe, 400 ppm whey protein oligopeptide iron complex) and three low-iron groups (L-FeSO4, 40 ppm FeSO4; MOP-Fe, 40 ppm marine fish oligopeptide iron complex; WOP-Fe, 40 ppm whey protein oligopeptide iron complex). Rats in each group were fed the corresponding special diet during pregnancy until the day of delivery. After different doses of iron supplement, serum hemoglobin, iron, and ferritin levels in rats with IDA were significantly increased to normal levels (P < 0.05). Serum iron levels were significantly lower in two food-derived bioactive oligopeptide low-iron complex groups than in the low FeSO4 group (P<0.05). Liver malondialdehyde levels were significantly increased in the three high-iron groups compared with the other five groups (P < 0.05), and hemosiderin deposition was observed in liver tissue, indicating that the iron dose was overloaded and aggravated the peroxidative damage in pregnant rats. Liver inflammation was reduced in the three low-iron groups. Tumor necrosis factor α secretion was significantly decreased in all groups with supplemented oligopeptide (P < 0.05), with the concentration of tumor necrosis factor α declining to normal levels in the two whey protein oligopeptide iron complex groups. In the marine fish oligopeptide iron complex groups, body length, tail length, and weight of offspring were significantly increased (P < 0.05) and reached normal levels. Therefore, food-derived bioactive oligopeptide (derived from marine fish skin and milk) iron complexes may be an effective type of iron supplement for pregnancy to improve anemia, as well as reduce the side effects of iron overload, and improve the growth and nutritional status of offspring.

Unveiling Endophytic Bacterial Community Structures of Different Rice Cultivars Grown in a Cadmium-Contaminated Paddy Field.

Endophytic bacteria play potentially important roles in the processes of plant adaptation to the environment. Understanding the composition and dynamics of endophytic bacterial communities under heavy metal (HM) stress can reveal their impacts on host development and stress tolerance. In this study, we investigated root endophytic bacterial communities of different rice cultivars grown in a cadmium (Cd)-contaminated paddy field. These rice cultivars are classified into low (RBQ, 728B, and NX1B) and high (BB and S95B) levels of Cd-accumulating capacity. Our metagenomic analysis targeting 16S rRNA gene sequence data reveals that Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetes are predominant root endophytic bacterial phyla of the five rice cultivars that we studied. Principal coordinate analysis shows that the developmental stage of rice governs a larger source of variation in the bacterial communities compared to that of any specific rice cultivar or of the root Cd content. Endophytic bacterial communities during the reproductive stage of rice form a more highly interconnected network and exhibit higher operational taxonomic unit numbers, diversities, and abundance than those during the vegetative stage. Forty-five genera are significantly correlated with Cd content in rice root, notably including positive-correlating Geobacter and Haliangium; and negative-correlating Pseudomonas and Streptacidiphilus. Furthermore, Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States analysis shows that functional pathways, such as biosynthesis of siderophore and type II polyketide products, are significantly enhanced during the reproductive stage compared to those during the vegetative stage under Cd stress. The isolated endophytic bacteria from the Cd-contaminated rice roots display high Cd resistance and multiple traits that may promote plant growth, suggesting their potential application in alleviating HM stress on plants. This study describes in detail for the first time the assemblage of the bacterial endophytomes of rice roots under Cd stress and may provide insights into the interactions among endophytes, plants, and HM contamination.

Analysis of genetic variation in human papillomavirus type 16 E1 and E2 in women with cervical infection in Xinjiang, China.

BACKGROUND: Xinjiang is one of the regions with a high incidence of cervical cancer, and the genetic variation of human papillomavirus may increase its ability to infect the human body and enhance virus-mediated immune escape ability. METHODS: Sanger sequencing of the HPV16 genome from 165 samples positive for HPV16 infection and phylogenetic analysis of the E1 and E2 genes revealed the gene polymorphism of HPV16 in Xinjiang. RESULTS: The results showed that there were 109 samples with variations in HPV16 E1, 48 sites with nucleotide variations (19 missense variations and 29 synonymous variations), and 91 samples with variations in HPV16 E2, 25 sites with nucleotide variations (20 missense variations and five synonymous variations). CONCLUSIONS: From the phylogenetic tree results, 149 samples were of the European variant and 16 samples were of the Asian variant. No African or North American/Asian variant types were found.

Multipolar electrostatics for hairpin and pseudoknots in RNA: Improving the accuracy of force field potential energy function.

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations that rely on force field methods has been widely used to explore the structure and function of RNAs. However, the current commonly used force fields are limited by the electrostatic description offered by atomic charge, dipole and at most quadrupole moments, failing to capture the anisotropic picture of electronic features. Actually, the distribution of electrons around atomic nuclei is not spherically symmetric but is geometry dependent. A multipolar electrostatic model based on high rank multipole moments is described in this work, which allows us to combine polarizability and anisotropy of electron density. RNA secondary structure was taken as a research system, and its substructures including stem, loops (hairpin loop, bulge loop, internal loop, and multi-branch loop), and pseudoknots (H-type and K-type) were investigated, respectively, as well as the hairpin. First, the atom-atom electrostatic properties derived from one chain of a duplex RNA 2MVY in our previous work (Ref. 58) were measured by the pilot RNA systems of hairpin, hairpin loop, stem, and H-type pseudoknot, respectively. The prediction results were not satisfactory. Consequently, to obtain a general set of electrostatic parameters for RNA force fields, the convergence behavior of the atom-atom electrostatic interactions in the pilot RNA systems was explored using high rank atomic multipole moments. The pilot RNA systems were cut into four types of different-sized molecular fragments, and the single nucleotide fragment and nucleotide-paired fragment proved to be the most reasonable systems for base-unpairing regions and base-pairing regions to investigate the convergence behavior of all types of atom-atom electrostatic interactions, respectively. Transferability of the electrostatic properties drawn from the pilot RNA systems to the corresponding test systems was also investigated. Furthermore, the convergence behavior of atomic electrostatic interactions in other substructures including bulge loop, internal loop, multi-branch loop, and K-type pseudoknot was expected to be modeled via the hairpin.

The Value and Clinical Significance of ZNF582 Gene Methylation in the Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to determine whether ZNF582 gene methylation and tissue protein expression can be used as a tool with high sensitivity and specificity for cervical cancer screening. We analyzed the correlation between promoter methylation of ZNF582 gene and cervical cancer and high risk HPV16/18 infection. METHODS: Tissue samples of normal cervical or chronic cervicitis (n=51), CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) (n=35), and cervical carcinoma (n=68) were tested for HPV16/18 infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We also detected the methylation status of the ZNF582 gene promoter in the same tissues by methylation-specific PCR (MSP), then analyzed the correlation between ZNF582 promoter methylation and HPV16/18 infection. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze ZNF582 gene expression in 152 cervical tissues. We detected ZNF582 mRNA expression in cervical tissues (including cancer and non-cancer) by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR). RESULTS: Among 93 high-grade cervical lesions (CINII and above) and cervical cancer samples, 57 cases were positive for HPV16/18 infection and 36 cases were negative. ZNF582 gene methylation occurred in 9 out of 51 cases in normal cervical tissues (17.6%), 16 of 35 cases in CIN tissues (45.7%), and 50 of 68 cases in cervical cancer (73.5%). The differences in methylation rate of the three groups were statistically significant (P<0.05). The ZNF582 methylation rate in the positive HPV16/18 infection group was 73.7%, while the negative group was 63.9%. Compared with normal tissues, ZNF582 protein was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues, but mRNA expression was low. CONCLUSION: While ZNF582 protein is highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues, it was not sufficient for use as a standard for cervical cancer staging. On the other hand, ZNF582 promoter methylation had high specificity and sensitivity in detecting CINII and highly diseased cervical lesions and could be used as a diagnostic marker for cervical cancer of women.

Development of an Image Grating Sensor for Position Measurement.

In this research paper, a precision position-measurement system based on the image grating technique is presented. The system offers a better robustness and flexibility for 1D position measurement compared to a conventional optical encoder. It is equipped with an image grating attached to a linear stage as the target feature and a line scan camera as the stationary displacement reader. By measuring the position of the specific feature in the image and applying a subpixel image registration method, the position of the linear stage can be obtained. In order to improve the computational efficiency, the calculations for pattern correlation and subpixel registration are performed in the frequency domain. An error compensation method based on a lens distortion model is investigated and implemented to improve the measurement accuracy of the proposed system. Experimental data confirms the capability of the developed image grating system as ±0.3 µm measurement accuracy within a 50 mm range and ±0.2 µm measurement accuracy within a 25 mm range. By applying different optics, the standoff distance, measurement range, and resolution can be customized to conform to different precision measurement applications.

Genetic variations in E6, E7 and the long control region of human papillomavirus type 16 among patients with cervical lesions in Xinjiang, China.

BACKGROUND: Xinjiang is one of the areas with the highest incidence of cervical cancer in China. Genetic variation in Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) may increase the ability of the virus to mediate carcinogenesis and immune escape, which are risk factors for the progression of cervical cancer. We investigated polymorphism in HPV16 and the distribution of its sub-lineages in the region by analyzing the E6, E7 and long control region (LCR) gene sequences from women with HPV16-positive cervical samples in Xinjiang. METHODS: A total of 138 cases of cervical lesions and squamous cell carcinoma with infection of HPV16 virus were collected. The E6 and E7 genes and LCR of HPV16 virus were sequenced and compared with the HPV16 European prototype reference and other HPV16 mutants for single nucleotide polymorphisms. Neighbor-joining phylogenetic trees were constructed using E6, E7 and LCR sequences. RESULTS: Fourteen missense mutations were found in the E6 gene; the loci with the highest mutation frequency were T350G (36/75, 48%) and T178G (19/75, 25.3%). In the E7 gene, the locus with the highest mutation frequency was A647G (18/75, 24%). A total of 33 polymorphic sites were found in the LCR, of which T7447C (39/95, 40.1%) was the most frequent. CONCLUSION: HPV16 in Xinjiang is mainly of the European variant, followed by the Asian variant type; no Africa 1, 2 or Asia-America variant types were found.

A Non-Contact Measuring System for In-Situ Surface Characterization Based on Laser Confocal Microscopy.

The characterization of surface topographic features on a component is typically quantified using two-dimensional roughness descriptors which are captured by off-line desktop instruments. Ideally any measurement system should be integrated into the manufacturing process to provide in-situ measurement and real-time feedback. A non-contact in-situ surface topography measuring system is proposed in this paper. The proposed system utilizes a laser confocal sensor in both lateral and vertical scanning modes to measure the height of the target features. The roughness parameters are calculated in the developed data processing software according to ISO 4287. To reduce the inherent disadvantage of confocal microscopy, e.g., scattering noise at steep angles and background noise from specular reflection from the optical elements, the developed system has been calibrated and a linear correction factor has been applied in this study. A particular challenge identified for this work is the in-situ measurement of features generated by a robotized surface finishing system. The proposed system was integrated onto a robotic arm with the measuring distance and angle adjusted during measurement based on a CAD model of the component in question. Experimental data confirms the capability of this system to measure the surface roughness within the Ra range of 0.2⁻7 µm (bandwidth λc/λs of 300), with a relative accuracy of 5%.

Low temperature structural anomalies arising from competing exchange interactions in pyrochlore Nd2Ru2O7 probed by XRD and EXAFS.

Quantitative structural parameters of pyrochlore Nd2Ru2O7, with temperature dependence, have been derived upon fitting XRD and EXAFS data. An anomalous expansion of the lattice parameter and the Ru-O bond length indicates a structural instability at low temperatures; in particular, an increase in the non-thermal term of the mean square fluctuation in the bond length is the evidence for a static disorder of Ru atoms. This static disorder is closely correlated with a decrease in the average Ru-O-Ru bond angle with decreasing temperature, favoring the short-range ferromagnetic coupling in the material. This ferromagnetic coupling formed thus triggered the spin frustration at low temperature when the contradictory constraints of antiferromagnetic interaction act upon the same Ru site in the corner-sharing tetrahedrons of pyrochlore Nd2Ru2O7. This study demonstrates that the spin frustration arising from the competition of ferromagnetic/antiferromagnetic interactions in pyrochlore Nd2Ru2O7 will cause structural instability especially on the atomic scale, which provides a new point of view to help understand its particular magnetic state.