Identification of a Novel TAR RNA-Binding Protein 2 Modulator with Potential Therapeutic Activity against Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Imbalance miRNAs contribute to tumor formation; therefore, the development of small-molecule compounds that regulate miRNA biogenesis is an important strategy in oncotherapy. Here, (-)-Gomisin M1 (GM) was found to modulate miRNA biogenesis to inhibit the proliferation, migration, and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. GM modulated expression profiles of miRNA and protein in HCC cells and suppressed tumor growth in a mouse model. Mechanistically, GM affected miRNA maturation by targeting TAR RNA-binding protein 2 (TRBP), with an efficacy higher than that of enoxacin, and promoted the binding of TRBP with Dicer. Structural simplification and a preliminary structure-activity relationship study via the synthesis of 20 GM derivatives showed that compound 9 exhibited more potent inhibitory activity in HCC cell proliferation and affinity for TRBP than did GM. These results suggest that TRBP may be a novel potential therapeutic target in HCC and compound 9 may be a potential drug candidate for the treatment of HCC.

Development of a highly sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of a new ß-agonist, phenylethanolamine A, in food samples.

BACKGROUND: All ß-agonists are banned as feed additives for growth promotion in animals due to toxic effects on humans after consuming the ß-agonist contaminated meats. Phenylethanolamine A (PA) is a newly emerged ß-agonist. Thus there is a need to develop highly sensitive and specific analytical methods for the detection of PA in food samples. In this study, the monoclonal antibody (mAb) against PA was produced by hybridoma technology and used for the development of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The IC50 values and limits of detection (LODs) of the ELISA using homogeneous combination of coating antigen/antibody for PA were 0.16 ng mL-1 and 0.011 ng mL-1 , respectively. The cross-reactive (CR) values of the assay with 14 structurally related ß-agonists were lower than 0.59%. Swine liver and meat samples were spiked with PA at different content and analysed by ELISA. Acceptable recovery rates of 91.40-105.51% and intra-assay coefficients of variation of 1.56-9.92% (n = 3) were obtained. The ELISA for seven spiked samples was confirmed by LC-MS/MS with a high correlation coefficient of 0.9881. CONCLUSION: The proposed mAb-based ELISA was highly sensitive and specific for PA and could be used as a quantitative/screening method for PA analysis in food samples. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Development of an immunoaffinity chromatography column for selective extraction of a new agonist phenylethylamine A from feed, meat and liver samples.

Phenylethanolamine A (PA) is a new emerged ß-adrenergic agonist that has been illegally used as an animal feed additive for growth promotion in China. In this study, an immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) column for selective extraction of PA from swine feed, meat and liver samples was developed. The IAC column was constructed by covalently coupling specific polyclonal antibody (Ab) against PA to CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B and packed into a common solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. The extraction conditions including loading, washing and eluting solutions were carefully optimized. Under optimal conditions, the IAC column was characterized in terms of maximum capacity, selectivity, extraction recovery and stability. The maximum capacity of the ICA for PA extraction was found to be 239.4ng. For selectivity testing, 100ng of other three ß-adrenergic agonists (clenbuterol, ractopamine and salbutamol) was separately loaded onto the column, and it was observed that the tested compounds could not be captured on the column, e.g. the column could only selectively recognize PA. The recovery of the IAC for PA extraction was found within 96.47-101.98% when 10, 50 and 100ng PA were separately loaded onto IAC column. The IAC column was also applied to real sample extraction. Swine feed, meat and liver samples were collected and spiked with PA in range of 1.0-20ngg(-1). The spiked and unspiked samples were extracted by IAC column and measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). It was found that there was no detectable PA in the blank samples, and the extraction recoveries of the IAC for PA from the spiked samples were within 89.48-104.89%. The stability of the column was also tested. It was showed that after 35 times repeated usage, 60% of the maximum capacity was still remained. The proposed IAC was proven to be a feasible extraction method for PA from different matrices with the properties of high maximum capacity, selectivity, extraction efficiency and stability.

An immunochromatographic assay for rapid and direct detection of 3-amino-5-morpholino-2-oxazolidone (AMOZ) in meat and feed samples.

BACKGROUND: Furaltadone (FTD) is a type of nitrofuran and has been banned in many countries as a veterinary drug in food-producing animals owing to its potential carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. FTD is unstable in vivo, rapidly metabolizing to 3-amino-5-methylmorpholino-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ); thus AMOZ can be used as an indicator for illegal usage of FTD. Usually, for the determination of nitrofurans, the analyte is often a derivative of the metabolite rather than the metabolite itself. In this study, based on the monoclonal antibody (mAb) against AMOZ, a competitive immunochromatographic assay (ICA) using a colloidal gold-mAb probe for rapid and direct detection of AMOZ without a derivatization step in meat and feed samples was developed. RESULTS: The intensity of red color in the test line is inversely related to the analyte concentration and the visual detection limit was found to be 10 ng mL⁻¹. The performance of this assay was simple and convenient because the tedious and time-consuming derivatization step was avoided. The ICA detection was completed within 10 min. The ICA strips could be used for 7 weeks at room temperature without significant loss of activity. The AMOZ spiked samples were detected by ICA and confirmed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results of the two methods were in good agreement. CONCLUSION: The proposed ICA provides a feasible tool for simple, sensitive, rapid, convenient and semi-quantitative detection of AMOZ in meat and feed samples on site. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the ICA for direct detection of AMOZ.

Sensitivity and specificity enhanced enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay by rational hapten modification and heterogeneous antibody/coating antigen combinations for the detection of melamine in milk, milk powder and feed samples.

The adulteration of food products with melamine has led to an urgent requirement for sensitive, specific, rapid and reliable quantitative/screening methods. To enhance the sensitivity and specificity of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of melamine in milk, milk powder and feed samples, rational hapten modification and heterogeneous antibody/coating antigen combinations were adopted. Three melamine derivatives with different length of carboxylic spacer at the end were synthesized and linked to carrier proteins for the production of immunogens and coating antigens. Monoclonal antibody against melamine was produced by hybridoma technology. Under optimal experimental conditions, the standard curves of the ELISAs for melamine were constructed in range of 0.1-100 ng mL(-1). The sensitivity was 10-300 times enhanced compared to those in the published literatures. The cross-reactivity values of the ELISAs also demonstrated the assays exhibited high specificity. Five samples were spiked with melamine at different concentrations and detected by the ELISA. The recovery rates of 72.8-123.0% and intra-assay coefficients of variation of 0.8-18.9% (n=3) were obtained. The ELISA for milk sample was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography with a high correlation coefficient of 0.9902 (n=6). The proposed ELISA was proven to be a feasible quantitative/screening method for melamine analysis.

Development of a highly sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of phenylethanolamine A in tissue and feed samples and confirmed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).

Phenylethanolamine A (PA) is a new emerged ß-adrenergic agonist illegally used as feed additives for growth promotion. In this study, a highly sensitive and specific indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of PA in tissue and feed samples was developed and confirmed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). By reduction of nitryl group to amino group, the PA derivative was synthesized and coupled to carrier proteins with diazobenzidine method. The antisera obtained from four immunized rabbits were characterized in terms of sensitivity and specificity. All antisera displayed high sensitivity with IC50 values lower than 0.48 ng mL(-1). The most sensitive ELISA was established with IC50 and limit of detection (LOD) values of 0.049 ng mL(-1) and 0.003 ng mL(-1), respectively. The cross-reactivity (CR) values of the antisera with three frequently used ß-adrenergic agonists (clenbuterol, salbutamol and ractopamine) were lesser than 0.39%; there was no CR of the antisera with other six compounds including two structurally related substances (isoproterenol, phenylephrine). To investigate the accuracy and precision of the assay, swine kidney, liver, meat and feed samples were fortified with PA at different content and analyzed by ELISA. Acceptable recovery rates of 92.2-113.7% and intra-assay coefficients of variation of 3.8-10.9% (n=3) were achieved. Seven spiked samples were simultaneously analyzed by ELISA and LC-MS/MS. There was a high correlation coefficient of 0.9956 (n=7) between the two methods. The proposed ELISA proven to be a feasible quantitative/screening method for PA analysis in tissue and feed samples with the properties of high sensitivity and specificity, high sample throughput and low expensive.