MicroRNA-335-5p alleviates inflammatory response, airway fibrosis, and autophagy in childhood asthma through targeted regulation of autophagy related 5.

Childhood asthma is the most universal chronic disease, with significant cases reported. Despite the current progress in treatment, prognosis remains poor and the existing drugs cause serious side effects. This investigation explored the mechanisms and use of miR-335-5p on childhood asthma therapy. MiR-335-5p and ATG5 expression was analyzed in clinical plasma samples through RT-qPCR. Airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) were cultured, and transfected with miR-335-5p mimic, miR-335-5p inhibitor, and pcDNA3.1-ATG5, or co-transfected with miR-335-5p mimic + pcDNA3.1-ATG5. Asthma cell models were constructed through TGF-ß1, and animal models through ovalbumin (OVA). Monocyte-macrophage infiltration in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was determined by May-Grunwald-Giemsa staining, and collagen in lung tissue was assessed via Masson staining. Relationship between miR-335-5p and ATG5 was detected by dual-luciferase assay. Cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay. MiR-335-5p and ATG5 RNA expression was determined by RT-qPCR. Collagen I, collagen III, α-SMA, ATG5, LC3I/II, Beclin-1, and p62 protein expression levels in ASMCs were detected by western blot. MiR-335-5p expression was low, but ATG5 expression was high in childhood asthma. Versus OVA+ mimic NC group, the number of eosinophil and collagen in OVA+ miR-335-5p mimic group were reduced. In contrast to TGF-ß1 + mimic NC group, TGF-ß1 + miR-335-5p mimic group reduced inflammatory, airway fibrosis, and autophagy in ASMCs. ATG5 was miR-335-5p target. Overexpressing ATG5 significantly reversed the inhibitory effects of miR-335-5p on inflammatory response, fibrosis, and autophagy in ASMCs. Overall, the study concludes that MiR-335-5p alleviate inflammatory response, airway fibrosis, and autophagy in childhood asthma through targeted regulation of ATG5.

Curcumin induces apoptosis and autophagy inhuman renal cell carcinoma cells via Akt/mTOR suppression.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a highly aggressive cancer leading to high economic and social burden, and has increasing annual cases. Curcumin is a traditional Chinese medicine widely used as anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and anti-cancer agent, thus can be applicable in RCC therapy. The work assessed the effects of RCC treatment with Curcumin, Curcumin+3-MA, Curcumin+ CQ or curcumin+ Z-VAD in vitro and in vivo, and the mechanisms involved in inhibition of tumor cells proliferation. The study used ACHN tumor cells and C57BL/6 nude mice for results validation. Cell proliferation was determined through MTT assays while apoptosis was investigated using Annexin V-FITC/PI kit and flow cytometry. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α cytokines expressions. AKT/mTOR and autophagy proteins expressions were investigated through western blot and immunofluorescence. The results indicated significantly inhibited cell viability following ACHN tumor cells treatments with curcumin alone, or with the various combinations, as compared to the control. Apoptosis was significantly increased following curcumin treatment, but was significantly reversed after treatment with curcumin+ 3-MA. Likewise, AKT/mTOR proteins expression were significantly reduced while the autophagy-related proteins were significantly elevated following curcumin treatment. The tumor size, weight and volumes were also significantly suppressed following treatment with curcumin. In conclusion, the investigation demonstrated that curcumin suppressed ACHN cell viability, induced apoptosis and autophagy, through the suppression of AKT/mTOR pathway. Use of curcumin to target AKT/mTOR pathway could be an effective treatment alternative for renal cell carcinoma.

[Detection and clinical features of human rhinovirus in hospitalized children with acute respiratory tract infection in eastern areas of Guangdong province].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence and clinical features of human rhinovirus (HRV) infection in hospitalized children with acute respiratory (ARI) in eastern areas of Guangdong province from 2008 to 2010. METHODS: From Oct. 2008 through Sep. 2010, nasopharyngeal aspirates were collected prospectively, from hospitalized children with acute lower respiratory tract infection at the Second Hospital, affiliated to the Shantou University Medical College. Multiplex PCR was applied to detect ten kinds of viruses including HRV, RSV in the hospitalized children with respiratory tract infection. Clinical data on HRV-positive cases or RSV-positive cases were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Among all the 1335 specimens, 124 were confirmed as HRV-positive cases (9.3%), with IVA-positive rate as the highest (25.1%), followed by RSV-positive rate (15.1%). HRV infection occurred sporadically around the year, with the highest HRV-positive rate seen in spring 2009 and autumn in 2010. Symptoms, signs, chest X-ray, leukocyte count and CRP count did not differ between patients with co-infection or single HRV infection. Clinical symptoms or signs were similar between those with single HRV infection or single RSV infection in children, but the single RSV infected children were more frequently seen with wheeze and cough. 28.4% of the single RSV infected children had bronchiolitis while 10.7% of single HRV infected children were seen (χ(2) = 0.281, P = 0.596). CONCLUSION: HRV was a relatively common cause for acute respiratory infections in the eastern areas of Guangdong province. The highest HRV-positive rate was slightly different in different years. Infants and young children were generally susceptible to rhinovirus infection. Bronchiolitis, wheeze and cough associated with HRV infection happened less than those caused by RSV.