Non-Coding RNAs of Extracellular Vesicles: Key Players in Organ-Specific Metastasis and Clinical Implications.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are heterogeneous membrane-encapsulated vesicles released by most cells. They act as multifunctional regulators of intercellular communication by delivering bioactive molecules, including non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Metastasis is a major cause of cancer-related death. Most cancer cells disseminate and colonize a specific target organ via EVs, a process known as "organ-specific metastasis". Mounting evidence has shown that EVs are enriched with ncRNAs, and various EV-ncRNAs derived from tumor cells influence organ-specific metastasis via different mechanisms. Due to the tissue-specific expression of EV-ncRNAs, they could be used as potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for the treatment of tumor metastasis in various types of cancer. In this review, we have discussed the underlying mechanisms of EV-delivered ncRNAs in the most common organ-specific metastases of liver, bone, lung, brain, and lymph nodes. Moreover, we summarize the potential clinical applications of EV-ncRNAs in organ-specific metastasis to fill the gap between benches and bedsides.

Debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention for periprosthetic knee infections: a pooling analysis of 1266 cases.

BACKGROUND: The debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR) procedure is an established therapeutic option for periprosthetic knee infections (PKI). However, the efficacy and the indication for this procedure are still controversial. METHODS: All the relevant literatures were systematically reviewed and analyzed. The present study aimed to assess the success rate of DAIR in the management of PKI, identify the factors associated with prognosis of DAIR, and establish a simple algorithm for predicting a high success rate of DAIR. RESULTS: Totally, 33 studies with 1266 cases were included. The overall success rate following DAIR in the management of PKI was 57.11%. In the subgroup analyses, the factors of "the time from symptoms to debridement was < 3 weeks" and "the bacterial species other than methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus" significantly improved the success rate of DAIR and thus were defined as the major criteria. The statistically insignificant factors of "the open debridement and liner exchange" and "the comorbidity of rheumatoid arthritis" were set as the minor criteria. The success rate of DAIR for PKI meeting all the major criteria and no less than one minor criterion was 80.98%, which was significantly higher than the overall success rate of DAIR (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: PKI cases meeting two major criteria and no less than one minor criterion may confer a high success rate of DAIR. This simple algorithm may contribute to identifying the appropriate PKI patient for DAIR treatment and predicting the prognosis of DAIR.

[Relationship between vegetation C, N, P stoichiometry and species diversity in sand land.] / æ²™åœ°æ¤è¢«ç¢³æ°®ç£·åŒ–å­¦è®¡é‡ç‰¹å¾ä¸Žç‰©ç§å¤šæ ·æ€§çš„å ³ç³».

Vegetation stoichiometry represents plant nutrition limitation status. Whether it can affect the species diversity of plant community remains to be explored. In this study, we examined plant carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) concentrations and stoichiometry, and further analyzed the relationship between stoichiometry and species diversity in Artemisia ordosica community and Salix psammophila community in sand land of the Ningxia Habahu National Nature Reserve. The results showed that, for the S. psammophila community growing in mobile and semi-fixed sand dunes, there was a significant negative correlation between Simpson index and vegetation C/N ratio, but no significant correlation between Simpson index and vegetation N/P ratio. For A. ordosica community distributed in semi-fixed and fixed dunes, the Shannon index had a significant positive correlation with vegetation N/P ratio and a significant negative correlation with vegetation C/N ratio. Combined the vegetation stoichiometry with the results of regression analysis (RDA), P concentration and thus N/P ratio had different influences on the species diversity for A. ordosica community and S. psammophila community. Our results showed that vegetation stoichiometry has an important influence on species diversity of plant community in sand land.

Correlation between the methylation of APC gene promoter and colon cancer.

The present study was planned to explore the correlation between the methylation of APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) and colon carcinogenesis. Colon cancer tissues and tumor-adjacent normal tissues of 60 colon cancer patients (who received surgical operation in our hospital from January 2012 to December 2014) were collected. SW1116 cells in human colon cancer tissues were selected for culturing. 5-aza-2c-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) was utilized as an inhibitor of the methylation for APC gene. Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was utilized for detection of APC methylation in SW1116 cells. The MTT and Transwell assays were performed to detect the effect of the methylation of APC gene on the proliferation and invasive abilities of SW1116 cells. The correlation between the methylation of APC gene and pathological parameters of colon cancer patients was analyzed. MSP results revealed that 41 cases (68.33%) showed methylation of APC gene in colon cancer tissues. No methylation of APC gene was found in tumor-adjacent normal tissues. 5-aza-dC was able to inhibit the methylation of APC gene in SW1116 cells. APC gene methylation was correlated with tumor size, differentiation degree, lymph node metastasis and Dukes staging. In conclusion, the levels of the methylation of APC in colon cancer tissues and SW1116 cells are relatively high. The methylation of APC promoted the proliferation and invasion abilities of SW1116 cells. Furthermore, methylation is correlated with a variety of clinicopathological features of colon cancer patients.

Identification of 4CL Genes in Desert Poplars and Their Changes in Expression in Response to Salt Stress.

4-Coumarate:CoA ligase (4CL) genes are critical for the biosynthesis of plant phenylpropanoids. Here we identified 20 4CL genes in the genomes of two desert poplars (Populus euphratica and P. pruinosa) and salt-sensitive congener (P. trichocarpa), but 12 in Salix suchowensis (Salix willow). Phylogenetic analyses clustered all Salicaceae 4CL genes into two clades, and one of them (corresponding to the 4CL-like clade from Arabidopsis) showed signals of adaptive evolution, with more genes retained in Populus than Salix and Arabidopsis. We also found that 4CL12 (in 4CL-like clade) showed positive selection along the two desert poplar lineages. Transcriptional profiling analyses indicated that the expression of 4CL2, 4CL11, and 4CL12 changed significantly in one or both desert poplars in response to salt stress compared to that of in P. trichocarpa. Our results suggest that the evolution of the 4CL genes may have contributed to the development of salt tolerance in the two desert poplars.

Effects of Ganfukang on expression of connective tissue growth factor and focal adhesion kinase/protein kinase B signal pathway in hepatic fibrosis rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Ganfukang (GFK) on connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK)/protein kinase B (PKB or Akt) signal pathway in a hepatic fibrosis rat model and to explore the underlying therapeutic molecular mechanisms of GFK. METHODS: Fifty SD rats were randomly divided into five groups as follows: the control group, the model group (repeated subcutaneous injection of CCl4), and the three GFK treatment groups (31.25, 312.5, and 3125 mg/kg, intragastric administration). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were used to examine the expression of CTGF, integrin α5, integrin ß1, FAK/Akt signal pathway, cyclinD1, and collagen in the different-treated rats. RESULTS: GFK attenuated the up-regulation of CTGF, integrin α5, and integrin ß1 in hepatic fibrosis rats and suppressed both the phosphorylation of FAK and the phosphorylation of Akt simultaneously (P<0.01). At the same time, the expression of cyclinD1, collagen I, and collagen III was decreased by GFK significantly (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: CTGF and FAK/Akt signal pathway were activated in the CCl4-induced hepatic fibrosis rats, which contribute to increased expression of cyclinD1 and collagen genes. The mechanisms of the anti-fibrosis activity of GFK may be due to its effects against CTGF and FAk/Akt signal pathway.

[Influence of Lipoplus fat emulsion on postoperative nutritional status and early inflammatory response in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Lipoplus on postoperative nutritional status and inflammatory response in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. METHODS: Sixty-four patients with gastrointestinal malignancies were randomized using random digit table to receive isonitrogenous, isocaloric total parenteral nutrition for 5 days including either Lipoplus or Lipofundin with 32 patients in each group. Blood samples were obtained before the surgery, postoperative days 1, 2, 3, and 6 to evaluate the nutritional status(prealbumin, retinol binding protein, and nitrogen balance) and inflammatory response [C-reaction protein(CRP), and leukotriene(LTB) 5, LTB4]. The incidence of postoperative systemic inflammatory response syndrome(SIRS), infection, postoperative complications, mortality, APACHEII score, length of hospital stay and other clinical indicators were recorded. RESULTS: On postoperative day 1, prealbumin and retinol binding protein were significantly lower as compared to preoperative levels. These parameters increased significantly(P<0.05) on postoperative day 6 and the nitrogen balance was positive. On postoperative day 6, CRP was significantly lower in both groups as compared to postoperative day 3 (P<0.05), and the decrease was more prominent in Lipoplus than Lipofundin(P<0.05). There was a significant increase in LTB5/LTB4 as compared to postoperative day 1(P<0.05) in the Lipoplus group, however the increase was not statistically significant in the Lipofundin group(P>0.05). The incidence of postoperative infection was significantly lower in the Lipoplus group(3.1% vs. 6.3%, P<0.05), as was that of SIRS(9.4% vs. 15.6%, P<0.05). The APACHEII score was higher in the Lipoplus group but the difference was not statistically significant(3.6±2.0 vs. 3.3±2.1, P>0.05). The length of hospital stay was significantly shorter in Lipoplus group[(6.4±1.1) d vs. (8.2±1.3) d, P<0.05]. CONCLUSION: Lipoplus can improve the postoperative nutritional status and minimize the inflammatory response in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.

[Assay of three kinds of aluminum fractions (Al(a), Al(b) and Al(c)) in polynuclear aluminum solutions by Al-Ferron timed spectrophotometry and demarcation of their time limits].

Al-Ferron timed spectrophotometry assay is a basic method in the study on the formation of polynuclear hydroxyl aluminum species and their transformation laws in aqueous systems. In actual working process, this methodology has some dogmatism and arbitrariness in the time limits demarcation of the three kinds of aluminum fractions (Al(a), Al(b) and Al(c)) in polynuclear aluminum solutions, which makes this kind of classification rougher, and the experimental results non-reproducible. The reason for this difference is that the specific species within Al(a), Al(b) and Al(c) have different reaction mechanism and dynamics, and that specific species of Al(b) having different OH/Al ratios have different reaction rates with ferron. In this paper, the ExpAssoc distribution was applied to quantitatively fit the Al-Ferron reaction dynamics curve, and the extrapolation method was used to survey the 1 min measured value [Al(a)] of monomeric Al, which is hard to obtain in manual manipulation. The time demarcation between Al(b) and Al(c) should reach the point of the experimental data curve up to horizontal platform. The microwave-radiated technology was used to fast assay the total aluminum concentration [Al(T)]. With these methods, the contents of monomeric Al(a), polynuclear Al(b) and gel Al(c) can be conveniently and quantitatively measured. It offers a novel method for surmounting the arbitrariness in the measurement of the three kinds of aluminum fractions and the repetitive calculation of Al(a) and Al(b).