Anti-inflammatory activity of resveratrol prevents inflammation by inhibiting NF­κB in animal models of acute pharyngitis.

Recent studies have demonstrated that resveratrol can reduce blood sugar, improve insulin resistance, regulate abnormalities in lipid metabolism, and lower the secretion and expression of inflammatory factors. The present study investigated the anti­inflammatory effects of resveratrol in animal models of acute pharyngitis, and its possible mechanisms. Commercial ELISA kits were used to measure tumor necrosis factor­α, interleukin (IL)­6, macrophage inflammatory protein­2, cyclooxygenase­2 levels and caspase­3/9 activity. Toll­like receptor (TLR)­4, myeloid differentiation primary response protein MyD88, phosphorylated (p)­nuclear factor (NF)­κB and p­IκB were analyzed using western blotting. In a rabbit model of acute pharyngitis, it was demonstrated that resveratrol inhibited tumor necrosis factor­α and interleukin­6 serum levels, macrophage inflammatory protein­2 and cyclooxygenase­2 activity levels, reactive oxygen species production and caspase­3/9 activity. Resveratrol suppressed NACHT, LRR and PYD domains­containing protein 3 and caspase­1 protein expression, and reduced IL­1ß and IL­18 protein expression in animal models of acute pharyngitis. Additionally, resveratrol suppressed TLR4 and myeloid differentiation primary response protein 88 protein expression, and reduced p­NF­κB and increased p­IκB protein expression in animal models of acute pharyngitis. In conclusion, these findings indicated that the anti­inflammatory activity of resveratrol prevents acute pharyngitis­induced inflammation by inhibiting NF­κB in animal models. Therefore, these data suggested an important clinical application of resveratrol in preventing acute pharyngitis.

Up-Regulation of Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Enhances Cell Proliferation and Predicts Poor Prognosis in Laryngeal Cancer.

BACKGROUND The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE, CD143) gene plays a crucial role in the pathology of many cancers. Previous studies mostly focused on the gene polymorphism, but the other functions of ACE have rarely been reported. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of ACE and its biological function, as well as its prognostic value, in laryngeal cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS The expression of ACE was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis in 106 patients with laryngeal cancer and 85 healthy people. Then the cell proliferation was estimated after the cell lines Hep-2 were transfected with pGL3-ACE and empty vector, respectively. In addition, the relationship between ACE expression and clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed. Finally, Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to evaluate the overall survival of patients with different ACE expression, while Cox regression analysis was conducted to reveal the prognostic value of ACE in laryngeal cancer. RESULTS Our results demonstrate that ACE is over-expressed in laryngeal cancer and thus promotes cell proliferation. The up-regulation of ACE was significantly influenced by tumor stage and lymph node metastasis. Patients with high ACE expression had a shorter overall survival compared with those with low ACE expression according to Kaplan-Meier analysis. The ACE gene was also found to be an important factor in the prognosis of laryngeal cancer. CONCLUSIONS Our study shows that the ACE gene was up-regulated, which promoted the cell proliferation, and it could be an independent prognostic marker in laryngeal cancer.