Betulinic acid impairs metastasis and reduces immunosuppressive cells in breast cancer models.

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer with considerable metastatic potential, explaining the need for new candidates that inhibit tumor metastasis. In our study, betulinic acid (BA), a kind of pentacyclic triterpenoid compound derived from birch trees, was evaluated for its anti-metastasis activity in vitro and in vivo. BA decreased the viability of three breast cancer cell lines and markedly impaired cell migration and invasion. In addition, BA could inhibit the activation of stat3 and FAK which resulted in a reduction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and increase of the MMPs inhibitor (TIMP-2) expression. Moreover, in our animal experiment, intraperitoneal administration of 10 mg/kg/day BA suppressed 4T1 tumor growth and blocked formation of pulmonary metastases without obvious side effects. Furthermore, histological and immunohistochemical analyses showed a decrease in MMP-9 positive cells, MMP-2 positive cells and Ki-67 positive cells and an increase in cleaved caspase-3 positive cells upon BA administration. Notably, BA reduced the number of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the lungs and tumors. Interestingly, in our caudal vein model, BA also obviously suppressed 4T1 tumor pulmonary metastases. These findings suggested that BA might be a potential agent for inhibiting the growth and metastasis of breast cancer.

Localized spatially nonlinear matter waves in atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein condensates with space-modulated nonlinearity.

The intrinsic nonlinearity is the most remarkable characteristic of the Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) systems. Many studies have been done on atomic BECs with time- and space- modulated nonlinearities, while there is few work considering the atomic-molecular BECs with space-modulated nonlinearities. Here, we obtain two kinds of Jacobi elliptic solutions and a family of rational solutions of the atomic-molecular BECs with trapping potential and space-modulated nonlinearity and consider the effect of three-body interaction on the localized matter wave solutions. The topological properties of the localized nonlinear matter wave for no coupling are analysed: the parity of nonlinear matter wave functions depends only on the principal quantum number n, and the numbers of the density packets for each quantum state depend on both the principal quantum number n and the secondary quantum number l. When the coupling is not zero, the localized nonlinear matter waves given by the rational function, their topological properties are independent of the principal quantum number n, only depend on the secondary quantum number l. The Raman detuning and the chemical potential can change the number and the shape of the density packets. The stability of the Jacobi elliptic solutions depends on the principal quantum number n, while the stability of the rational solutions depends on the chemical potential and Raman detuning.

Analysis of transcription profile to reveal altered signaling pathways following the overexpression of human desumoylating isopeptidase 2 in pancreatic cancer cells.

Human desumoylating isopeptidase 2 (DESI-2) is a member of the DESI family and contains a conserved PPPDE1 domain. Previous studies have demonstrated that DESI-2 overexpression may induce cell apoptosis. In the present study, differentially expressed genes were analyzed using a transcription microarray in DESI-2 overexpressing PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells. A total of 45,033 genes were examined by microarray, which identified 1,766 upregulated and 1,643 downregulated genes. A series of altered signaling pathways were analyzed, in which certain essential signaling factors, including retinoid X receptor (RXR), BH3 interacting-domain death agonist, Ras homolog gene family member A (RhoA) and Rho-associated protein kinase, were further investigated at the protein level. The release of cytochrome c and the activation of caspase-3 were also detected by western blot analysis. Immunohistochemistry further revealed the expression features of RXR and RhoA in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tissues with various DESI-2 expression levels. The results serve as a valuable reference for the further elucidation of the functions of DESI-2 in pancreatic cancer.

Implications of PPPDE1 expression in the distribution of plakoglobin and ß-catenin in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Human PPPDE peptidase domain-containing protein 1 (PPPDE1) is a recently identified protein; however, its exact functions remain unclear. In our previous study, the PPPDE1 protein was found to be decreased in certain cancer tissues. In the present study, a total of 96 pancreatic ductal carcinoma tissue samples and 31 normal tissues samples were assessed to investigate the distribution of plakoglobin and ß-catenin under the conditions of various PPPDE1 expression levels by means of immunohistochemistry. Generally, the staining of PPPDE1 was strong in normal tissues, but weak in cancer tissues. Plakoglobin was mainly distributed along the membrane and cytoplasm border in normal cells, but was less evident in the membranes of cancer cells. In particular, a greater percentage of cells exhibited low membrane plakoglobin expression in cancer tissue with low PPPDE1 expression (PPPDE1-low cancer) compared with that in cancer tissue with high PPPDE1 expression (PPPDE1-high cancer). The distribution of ß-catenin in normal tissues was similar to that of plakoglobin. However, ß-catenin was peculiarly prone to invade nucleus in PPPDE1-low cancer compared with PPPDE1-high cancer. Our data suggested potential links between PPPDE1 expression and the distribution of plakoglobin and ß-catenin in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, providing insights into the role of PPPDE1 in the progression of pancreatic cancer.

The preparation of VEGFR1/CD3 bispecific antibody and its specific cytotoxicity against VEGFR1-positive breast cancer cells.

Bispecific antibody (BsAb) has been proved to be a very effective antitumor approach because of its distinctive advantages of immune-mediated cytotoxicity. To enhance the ability to recruit and activate T lymphocytes for tumor-specific killing, we constructed and prepared a recombinant human single-chain Fv bispecific antibody (BsAb), named VEGFR1/CD3 BsAb, targeting VEGFR1 and CD3. The VEGFR1/CD3 BsAb was expressed in CHO-K1 cells and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The CD3 and VEGFR1-binding activity of VEGFR1/CD3 BsAb was confirmed by flow cytometry. T lymphocyte activation and proliferation induced by VEGFR1/CD3 BsAb were also demonstrated in vitro. Notably, our VEGFR1/CD3 BsAb presented a powerful and specific killing effect against VEGFR1-positive human breast cancer cell MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435 through activating T lymphocyte at very low concentrations, indicating that it will be a valuable antibody drug for treatment of VEGFR1-positive cancers in the future.

HOCl oxidation-modified CT26 cell vaccine inhibits colon tumor growth in a mouse model.

Despite progress in elucidating mechanisms associated with colorectal cancer and improvement of treatment methods, it remains a frequent cause of death worldwide. New and more effective therapies are therefore urgently needed. Recent studies have shown that immunogenicity of whole ovarian tumor cells and subsequent T cell response were potentiated by oxidation modification with hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in vitro and ex vivo. These results prompted us to investigate the protective antitumor response with an HOCl treated CT26 colorectal cancer cell vaccine in an in vivo mouse model. Administration of HOCl modified vaccine triggered robust antitumor immunity to autologous tumor cells in mice and prolonged survival period significantly. In addition, increased necrosis and apoptosis were found in tumor tissue from the oxidation group. Interestingly, ELISPOT assays showed that specific T cell responses were not elicited in response to the immunizing cellular antigen, in contrast to raising sera antibody titer and antibody binding activity shown by ELISA assay and flow cytometry. Further evaluation of the mechanisms underlying HOCl modified vaccine mediated humoral immunity highlighted the role of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. These results combined with previous studies suggest that HOCl oxidation modified whole cell vaccine has wide applicability as a cancer vaccine because it can target both T cell- and B cell-specific responses. It may thus represent a promising approach for the immunotherapy of colorectal cancer.

A fully human CD19/CD3 bi-specific antibody triggers potent and specific cytotoxicity by unstimulated T lymphocytes against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The use of a bi-specific antibody (BsAb) is an attractive and specific approach to cancer therapy. We have constructed a fully human recombinant single chain Fv BsAb against CD19 and CD3 that was an effective treatment in an animal model of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The CD19/CD3 BsAb was expressed in CHO cells and purified by Ni-column chromatography. Flow cytometry revealed that the CD19/CD3 BsAb specifically bound to both CD19 and CD3-positive cells. In vitro, the CD19/CD3 BsAb could stimulate T cell proliferation and induce the lysis of cultured Raji cells in the presence of unstimulated T lymphocytes. In vivo, the CD19/CD3 BsAb efficiently inhibited tumour growth in SCID mice of NHL, and the survival time of the mice was significantly prolonged. Therefore, our CD19/CD3 BsAb is a useful tool that could be a suitable candidate for treatment of NHL.

The effect of miR-7 on behavior and global protein expression in glioma cell lines.

Malignant glioma is a common cancer of the nervous system. Despite recent research efforts in cancer therapy, the prognosis of patients with malignant glioma has remained dismal. MicroRNAs are noncoding RNAs that inhibit the expression of their targets in a sequence-specific manner, and a few have been shown to act as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Here, we aimed at exploring the precise biological role of microRNA-7 (miR-7) and the global protein changes in glioma cell lines transiently transfected with miR-7. Transfection of miR-7 into glioma cell lines causes inhibition of cell migration and invasion and suppression of tumorigenesis. Moreover, ectopic expression of miR-7 inhibits lung metastases of glioma in vivo. Among 65 protein spots with differential expression separated by 2-DE, 37 proteins were successfully identified by MS/MS analysis. Of those, the 25 downregulated proteins, which include 14-3-3ζ, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (EIF5A), and annexin A4, may be downstream targets of miR-7, a finding that could elucidate some aspects of the behavior of glioma cells at the protein level. In conclusion, the absence of miR-7 function could cause downstream molecules to switch on or off, resulting in glioma development, invasion, and metastases. MiR-7-based gene treatment may be a novel anti-invasion therapeutic strategy for malignant glioma.

Polyclonal rabbit anti-murine plasmacytoma cell globulins induce myeloma cells apoptosis and inhibit tumour growth in mice.

Multiple myelomas (MMs) are etiologically heterogeneous and there are limited treatment options; indeed, current monoclonal antibody therapies have had limited success, so more effective antibodies are urgently needed. Polyclonal antibodies are a possible alternative because they target multiple antigens simultaneously. In this study, we produced polyclonal rabbit anti-murine plasmacytoma cell immunoglobulin (PAb) by immunizing rabbits with the murine plasmacytoma cell line MPC-11. The isolated PAb bound to plasma surface antigens in several MM cell lines, inhibited their proliferation as revealed by MTT assay, and induce apoptosis as indicated by flow cytometry, microscopic observation of apoptotic changes in morphology, and DNA fragmentation on agarose gels. The cytotoxicity of PAb on MPC-11 cell lines was both dose-dependent and time-dependent; PAb exerted a 50% inhibitory effect on MPC-11 cell viability at a concentration of 200 µg/ml in 48 h. Flow cytometry demonstrated that PAb treatment significantly increased the number of apoptotic cells (48.1%) compared with control IgG (8.3%). Apoptosis triggered by PAb was confirmed by activation of caspase-3, -8, and -9. Serial intravenous or intraperitoneal injections of PAb inhibited tumour growth and prolonged survival in mice bearing murine plasmacytoma, while TUNEL assay demonstrated that PAb induced statistically significant apoptosis (P < 0.05) compared to control treatments. We conclude that PAb is an effective agent for in vitro and in vivo induction of apoptosis in multiple myeloma and that exploratory clinical trials may be warranted.