Silver-doped calcium silicate sol-gel glasses with a cotton-wool-like structure for wound healing.

Skin has excellent capacity to regenerate, however, in the event of a large injury or burn skin grafts are required to aid wound healing. The regenerative capacity further declines with increasing age and can be further exacerbated with bacterial infection leading to a chronic wound. Engineered skin substitutes can be used to provide a temporary template for the damaged tissue, to prevent/combat bacterial infection and promote healing. In this study, the sol-gel process and electrospinning were combined to fabricate 3D cotton-wool-like sol-gel bioactive glass fibers that mimic the fibrous architecture of skin extracellular matrix (ECM) and deliver metal ions for antibacterial (silver) and therapeutic (calcium and silica species) actions for successful healing of wounds. This study investigated the effects of synthesis and process parameters, in particular sintering temperature on the fiber morphology, the incorporation and distribution of silver and the degradation rate of fibers. Silver nitrate was found to decompose into silver nanoparticles within the glass fibers upon calcination. Furthermore, with increasing calcination temperature the nanoparticles increased in size from 3 nm at 600 °C to ~25 nm at 800 °C. The antibacterial ability of the Ag-doped glass fibers decreased as a function of the glass calcination temperature. The degradation products from the Ag-doped 3D non-woven sol-gel glass fibers were also found to promote fibroblast proliferation thus demonstrating their potential for use in skin regeneration.

Electrospinning 3D bioactive glasses for wound healing.

An electrospinning technique was used to produce three-dimensional (3D) bioactive glass fibrous scaffolds, in the SiO2-CaO sol-gel system, for wound healing applications. Previously, it was thought that 3D cotton wool-like structures could only be produced from sol-gel when the sol contained calcium nitrate, implying that the Ca2+ and its electronic charge had a significant effect on the structure produced. Here, fibres with a 3D appearance were also electrospun from compositions containing only silica. A polymer binding agent was added to inorganic sol-gel solutions, enabling electrospinning prior to bioactive glass network formation and the polymer was removed by calcination. While the addition of Ca2+ contributes to the 3D morphology, here we show that other factors, such as relative humidity, play an important role in producing the 3D cotton-wool-like macrostructure of the fibres. A human dermal fibroblast cell line (CD-18CO) was exposed to dissolution products of the samples. Cell proliferation and metabolic activity tests were carried out and a VEGF ELISA showed a significant increase in VEGF production in cells exposed to the bioactive glass samples compared to control in DMEM. A novel SiO2-CaO nanofibrous scaffold was created that showed tailorable physical and dissolution properties, the control and composition of these release products are important for directing desirable wound healing interactions.

MicroRNA-127 is a tumor suppressor in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma through the regulation of oncogene FMNL3.

In this study, we investigated the expression patterns and functional roles of microRNA 127 (miR-127) and its target gene Formin-Like 3 (FMNL3) in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to compare miR-127 expression between ESCC cell lines and normal esophageal epithelium cell line, as well as paired ESCC tumors and adjacent normal esophageal tissues in 33 patients. We found miR-127 was aberrantly downregulated in both ESCC cell lines and human ESCC tumors. In ESCC cell lines TE-1 and ECA109 cells, lentiviral-induced miR-127 upregulation markedly inhibited cancer proliferation and migration in vitro, and tumorigenicity in vivo. Through dual-luciferase assay and qRT-PCR, FMNL3 was confirmed to be the downstream target gene of miR-127 in ESCC. Finally, FMNL3 was downregulated by siRNA in TE-1 and ECA109 cells. And we discovered that SiRNA-induced FMNL3 downregulation had tumor suppressive effect in ESCC, inhibiting cancer proliferation, migration in vitro, and tumorigenicity in vivo. These results suggest that miR-127 is downregulated and acting as tumor suppressor in ESCC. Inversely, FMNL3, the target gene of miR-127, is upregulated and acting as an oncogene in ESCC.

Fumigaclavine I, a new alkaloid isolated from endophyte Aspergillus terreus.

The present study was designed to isolate and purify chemical constituents from solid culture of endophyte Aspergillus terreus LQ, using silica gel column chromatography, gel filtration with Sephadex LH-20, and HPLC. Fumigaclavine I (1), a new alkaloid, was obtained, along with seven known compounds, including fumigaclavine C (2), rhizoctonic acid (3), monomethylsulochrin (4), chaetominine (5), spirotryprostatin A (6), asperfumoid (7), and lumichrome (8). The structure of compound 1 was elucidated by various spectroscopic analyses (UV, MS, 1D and 2D NMR). The in vitro cytotoxicity of compound 1 was determined by MTT assay in human hepatocarcinoma cell line SMMC-7721, showing weaker cytotoxicity, compared with cisplatin, a clinically used cancer chemotherapeutic agent.

Fumigaclavine I, a new alkaloid isolated from endophyte Aspergillus terreus / 中国天然药物

The present study was designed to isolate and purify chemical constituents from solid culture of endophyte Aspergillus terreus LQ, using silica gel column chromatography, gel filtration with Sephadex LH-20, and HPLC. Fumigaclavine I (1), a new alkaloid, was obtained, along with seven known compounds, including fumigaclavine C (2), rhizoctonic acid (3), monomethylsulochrin (4), chaetominine (5), spirotryprostatin A (6), asperfumoid (7), and lumichrome (8). The structure of compound 1 was elucidated by various spectroscopic analyses (UV, MS, 1D and 2D NMR). The in vitro cytotoxicity of compound 1 was determined by MTT assay in human hepatocarcinoma cell line SMMC-7721, showing weaker cytotoxicity, compared with cisplatin, a clinically used cancer chemotherapeutic agent.

Radical resection of upper right lung under thoracoscopic guidance.

In recent years, thoracoscopic lobectomy has been rapidly developing and applied in China with an ever growing list of indications as the resectable range has been evolving from the peripheral type to the central type, from a diameter less than 3 cm to greater than 5 cm, and from lobectomy to pneumonectomy and segmental lung resection. This technique has become a routine option in our department. This video shows one case of thoracoscopic lobectomy with lymph node dissection for upper right lung cancer of 6 cm in diameter.

Reduced N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 expression is associated with CD24 upregulation and poor prognosis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

N-Myc downstream-regulated gene 2 (NDRG2) has been demonstrated to influence the metastatic potential of hepatocellular carcinoma and breast cancer cells by regulating CD24 expression. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of NDRG2 and CD24 in the clinical pathology of lung adenocarcinoma and to explore whether the expression of these two markers can be used as independent factors for the prediction of prognosis in patients with this tumor. NDRG2 and CD24 expression in paraffin-embedded specimens gathered from 166 patients with lung adenocarcinoma was detected by immunohistochemical method. The correlation of these two proteins expression with clinicopathological parameters and prognosis was statistically analyzed. NDRG2 and CD24 proteins were highly expressed in 59/166 (35.5 %) and 110/166 (66.3 %) of lung adenocarcinoma patients, respectively. High expression of NDRG2 was frequently found in lung adenocarcinoma tissues in early pTNM stage (p = 0.01) and without pathological metastasis (p = 0.02), whereas the high expression of CD24 was significantly associated with the advanced pTNM stage (p = 0.04) and pathological metastasis (p = 0.01). Univariate analysis indicated that the patients with NDRG2 high expression correlated with favorable prognosis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma (p = 0.001), as opposed to CD24 (p = 0.001). The survival rate of the patients with NDRG2-low/CD24-high expression was the lowest (p < 0.001). Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the conjoined expressions of NDRG2-high/CD24-low and NDRG2-low/CD24-high were independent prognostic indicators of lung adenocarcinoma (p = 0.03 and p = 0.02, respectively). Our results suggest that the decreased expression of NDRG2 or the increased expression of CD24 is an important feature of lung adenocarcinoma. A combined detection of NDRG2/CD24 co-expression may benefit us in prediction of the prognosis of lung adenocarcinoma.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase could be a promising target in lung cancer therapy.

PURPOSE: To investigate the prevalence of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PIK3CA) gene amplification in lung cancer, and to explore its prognostic value. METHODS: A total of 647 lung tumor samples from 290 patients were included in the study. The ratio of PIK3CA signals/centromere 3 signals in cancer cells was estimated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH7rpar; analysis. RESULTS: Both gains and amplifications were significantly more frequent in squamous cell (gains: 19.4%; amplifications: 34.1%; p<0.0001) and large cell carcinoma (gains: 22.4%; amplifications: 20.4%; p<0.0001) compared with adenocarcinomas (gains 3.0%; amplifications: 4.0%). Conversely, adenocarcinomas displayed significantly more frequent deletions of the PIK3CA locus than the other two histologic types (p<0.0001). No clear correlation between PIK-3CA status and the pT stage, pN stage or the degree of tumor differentiation was found. Ki67 significantly increased with increasing of PIK3CA copy number: 47 tumors with a PIK-3CA deletion had a mean Ki67 of 16, while 103 tumors with PIK3CA amplification showed a mean Ki67 of 28 (p=0.004). Significant association between cell proliferation and PIK-3CA was found (p<0.05). However, no significant correlation was seen between patient survival and PIK3CA amplifications, deletions and gains. CONCLUSION: PIK3CA amplifications in large cell and squamous cell carcinomas were significantly higher compared with adenocarcinomas. The results suggest that PIK-3CA could be a promising target for selective lung cancer therapy.