The Efficacy of REG Proteins as a Diagnostic Biomarker for Pancreatic Cancer: a Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Regenerating gene (REG) family proteins play a pivotal role in cell proliferation, tissue regeneration, and tumor metastasis. Recent studies have concentrated on the role of REG proteins in pancreatic cancer, but the results remain controversial. In this study, a meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the precise diagnostic value of REG proteins in pancreatic cancer. METHODS: A search was conducted in PubMed, Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and WANFANG Data up to May 5, 2021. The QUADAS-2 tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. The statistical analysis of the diagnostic tests was conducted using RevMan5 and Meta-Disc 1.4. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio (PLR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated from each eligible study. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 15 articles containing 796 patients and 584 controls. The pooled sensitivity was 0.71 (95% CI: 0.67 - 0.74), the pooled specificity was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.70 - 0.76), and the pooled DOR was 11.35 (95% CI: 5.92 - 21.77), respectively. The overall area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.84. Spearman's correlation coefficient was 0.34 (p = 0.221). For the subgroup analysis, the REG4 protein showed higher diagnostic accuracy compared with the other REG proteins. CONCLUSIONS: REG proteins have moderate diagnostic accuracy in pancreatic cancer. Further well-designed studies with larger sample sizes and clinical application are needed to validate the results of this meta-analysis.

High sensitivity pH sensing by using a ring resonator laser integrated into a microfluidic chip.

We present a chip-scale integrated pH sensor with high sensitivity by using an optofluidic ring resonator (OFRR) laser. An optical fiber with a high refractive index (RI) is employed both as an optical cavity and the sensing reactor along a microchannel, while disodium fluorescein (DSF) aqueous solution with a low RI is served as the cladding gain medium and fluorescent probes. The pump light is introduced along the fiber axis and guided by the total internal reflection at the fiber/cladding interface. The evanescent field of the pump light extends out of the fiber surface and efficiently excites the dye molecules residing in the evanescent field region of the Whispering Gallery Modes (WGMs) of the OFRRs to produce lasing emission. This pumping scheme provides a uniform excitation to the gain medium and significantly increases the signal-to-noise ratio, ensuring a low lasing threshold and highly sensitive sensing. The lasing threshold property under different pH conditions is experimentally and theoretically conducted to evaluate the sensing performance, which shows that the lasing threshold highly depends on the pH value of the cladding solution due to the increasing deprotonation process. We further verify that the intensity of the lasing emission and the pH value shows good linearity in the pH range 6.51-8.13, with a 2-order-of-magnitude sensitivity enhancement compared to fluorescence measurement. The proposed OFRR lasing platform shows excellent robustness and low sample consumption, providing a powerful sensing strategy in medicine, and hazardous/toxic/volatile sensing, which require label-free, real-time, and in situ detection.

α-Glucosidase Inhibitory and Anti-Inflammatory Coumestans from the Roots of Dolichos trilobus.

Four new coumestans dolichosins A - D (1: -4: ) were isolated from the roots of Dolichos trilobus, together with four known compounds: isosojagol (5: ), phaseol (6: ), psoralidin (7: ), and 4″,5″-dehydroisopsoralidin (8: ). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data interpretation, mass spectrometric analyses, and the comparison with literature data of related compounds. The anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds (1: -8: ) was evaluated through the inhibition of nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-activated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells, in which compounds 1: and 6: displayed moderate inhibitory activity and no cytotoxic effects. In a α-glucosidase inhibitory assay, compounds 1: and 5: -8: exhibited appreciable inhibition on α-glucosidase. Especially compounds 1, 7: , and 8: showed IC50 values lower than 20.0 µM.

Chemical constituents from the whole herb of Hemiphragma heterophyllum.

Phytochemical investigation on Hemiphragma heterophyllum led to the isolation of two new compounds, heterophyllumin A (1) and heterophylliol (3), along with nine known compounds, (‒)-sibiricumin A (2), iridolactone (4), jatamanin A (5), dihydrocatalpolgenin (6), 25-hydroperoxycycloart-23-en-3ß-ol (7), 24-methylenecycloartanol (8), (+)-pinoresinol (9), hexadec-(4Z)-enoic acid (10), and 9,12, 15-octadecatrienoic acid (11). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of detailed spectroscopic analyses and by comparison with literature data. Further, the structure of compound 3 was unambiguously confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis. Some of those compounds showed moderate activity in the α-glucosidase inhibition assay.

Polarization characteristics of Whispering-Gallery-Mode fiber lasers based on evanescent-wave-coupled gain.

The polarization characteristics of Whispering-Gallery-Mode (WGM) fiber lasers based on evanescent-wave-coupled gain are investigated. For the laser gain is excited by side-pumping scheme, it is found that the polarization property of lasing emission is simply dependent on the polarized states of the pump beams. The polarization property of lasing emission depends on the propagating situation of the pump beams in an optical fiber if the laser gain is excited by evanescent-wave pumping scheme, that is, if the pump beams within the fiber are meridional beams, the lasing emission is a transverse electric (TE) wave that forms a special radial polarization emission. However, if the pump beams within the fiber are skew beams, both transverse magnetic (TM) and TE waves exist simultaneously in lasing emission that forms a special axially and radially mixed polarization emission. Pumped by skew beams, the wave-number differences between TE and TM waves are also investigated quantitatively, the results demonstrate that the wave-number difference decreases with the increase of the fiber diameter and the refractive index (RI) of the cladding solution. The observed polarization characteristics have been well explained based on lasing radiation mechanism of WGM fiber laser of gain coupled by evanescent wave.

Two new monoterpene esters from Illigera paviflora Dunn roots.

Two new monoterpene esters, illigerates H and I (1 and 2), and six known compounds actinodaphine (3), bulbocupnine (4), stephanine (5), hypserpanine B (6), betulinic acid (7) and gallic acid (8) were obtained from the root of Illigera paviflora Dunn. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis. Anti-inflammatory and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of some isolated compounds were assessed. Two monoterpenes 1 and 2 exhibited weak in vitro anti-inflammatory activity (IC50 64.5 ± 5.3 and 79.2 ± 7.5 µM) while compounds 3-6 showed inhibition of α-glucosidase with IC50 values ranged from 87.17 to 118.74 µM.

Anti-inflammatory monoterpene esters from the stems of Illigera aromatica.

Two new monoterpene esters illigerates F and G (1 and 2) together with 5 know compounds illigerate A (3), illigerate C (4), actinodaphnine (5), N-methylactinodaphnine(6) and N-methyllaurotetanine(7) were isolated from Illigera aromatica S. Z. Huang et S. L. Mo. Their structures were identified by extensive NMR data and by comparing with the known compounds. The anti-inflammatory activity of four monoterpenes (1 - 4) was evaluated by inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide-activated murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells and four monoterpenoids exhibited inhibitory effect with IC50 values of 71.5 ± 7.3, 74.7 ± 5.6, 48.0 ± 7.4 and 65.1 ± 3.7 µM, respectively.

Laxative Metabolites from the Leaves of Moringa oleifera.

Three new flavonoids, quercetin-3-O-6-[methyl-(S)-3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaroyl(1→6]-ß-d-glucopyranoside (1), kaempferol-3-O-[methyl-(S)-3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaroyl(1→6)]-ß-d-glucopyranoside (2), and quercetin-3-O-6-[(E)-4-methoxy-5-methylhexa-2,4-dienoatyl(1→6)]-ß-d-glucopyranoside (3), and two new alkaloids, 5-dehydroxymethyl-pyrrolemarumine 4″-O-α-l-rhamnopyranoside (4) and N1-methyl-N2-((4-O-α-l-rhamnopyranoside)benzyl) oxalamide (5), together with 45 known compounds (6-50) were isolated from the leaves of Moringa oleifera Lam. Among those compounds, 1-octacosanol (50), a straight-chain 28-carbon alcohol, exhibited good activity against diphenoxylate-induced constipation in mice, which is obtained as a laxative constituent from the plant for the first time. In order to have an accurate understanding of the content of compound 50, a quantification with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was carried out. The anti-inflammatory and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of some compounds also was assessed.

Rapid analysis of alpha-fetoprotein by chemiluminescence microfluidic immunoassay system based on super-paramagnetic microbeads.

A rapid and sensitive chemiluminescence microfluidic immunoassay system based on super-paramagnetic microbeads for determination of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is described. In this system we use CO(2) laser to fabricate microfluidic chip, and use super-paramagnetic microbeads as solid carrier of antibody, chemiluminescence as detection signal. With this system we can perform AFP analysis within 20 min, and the linear range of AFP concentration is 1 approximately 800 ng/mL, the detection limit is 0.23 ng/mL. By this method no separation or preconcentration steps are needed. Most of all, the chip can be reused.

[The precise assignment of whispering gallery modes for lasing spectra emitting from cylindrical micro-cavities].

Lasers with spherical or cylindrical dielectric resonators supported by whispering gallery modes (WGM) have attracted much interest due to their microscopic size, high cavity Q factor, and low lasing threshold. Cylindrical microcavity lasers based on the gain only in the evanescent field region of whispering gallery modes have been demonstrated in our recent works. The gain was excited by the evanescent wave of longitudinal optical pumping along the optical fiber. To well understand the obtained lasing spectra, the mode assignment is required. The explicit asymptotic formulas for the position and mode-interval of whispering gallery modes were obtained from the characteristic equation of whispering gallery modes in a cylindrical micro-cavity. The formulas were used to analyze the lasing spectra emitting from cylindrical microcavies which were evanescent-wave-gain pumped. The lasing spectra were found to be transverse magnetic modes(TM), and then the spectra were mode assigned with two integers, i.e., radial quantum numbers (1) and angular momentum numbers (n). Based on the explicit asymptotic formulas, all of the spectra from five optical fibers with a diameter ranging from 215 to 328 mm were well mode assigned. In the match between experimental spectral data and the asymptotic formula, only two matched parameters (l, n) were used, and the wavelength deviation in the match was less than 0.05 nm, which indicated that the mode assignment was reliable and precise. The spectral mode-assignment of cylindrical micro-cavity is important for computing the spatial distribution of mode intensity and is crucial for the applications of frequency-shift biosensor built in cylindrical micro-cavities. The method introduced in this paper can also be used to measure the diameters and refractive indexes of cylindrical micro-cavies precisely.

[Design of a microfluidic immunoassay system based on superparamagnetic microbeads].

We use direct-write laser micromachining technology to fabricate the microfluidic chip, and to establish a microfluidic chemiluminescence immunoassay system based on superparamagnetic microbeads, for detecting alpha- fetoprotein (AFP). The AFP analysis can be completed in 20 minutes with 5 microl sample and 5 microl reagent, and there is a good linear correlation in the range of 1-800 ng/ml.

Assessment of endogenous reference gene suitability for serum exosomal microRNA expression analysis in liver carcinoma resection studies.

Serum exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have received considerable attention as potential biomarkers for tumor diagnosis. Reverse transcription­quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT­qPCR) is commonly used to detect miRNA expression levels in various types of cancer. One prerequisite for valid RT­qPCR data is the correct normalization of miRNAs to stably expressed endogenous reference genes (RGs). The study of liver carcinoma resection requires the use of reliable RGs in order to assess the expression levels of serum exosomal target miRNAs. However, the assessment of RG suitability for optimum serum exosomal miRNA expression analysis has yet to be investigated. The present study investigated the expression stability of 10 candidate RGs. The candidate genes included eight miRNAs (miR­16, miR­103, miR­191, let­7a, miR­26a, miR­221, miR­181a, and miR­451) and two small RNAs (5S and U6). The stability values of the candidate genes were calculated using the following algorithms: geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and the comparative ΔCt method. The overall ranking obtained from these analyses revealed that miR­221, let­7a, and miR­26a were appropriate internal RGs for analysis of serum miRNAs in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, normalization with miR­221 and let­7a combined, as recommended by geNorm, or with miR­26a, as recommended by NormFinder, increased the accuracy of interpretation of the target miRNA expression levels in hepatopathy studies.

[Activity of separase and its regulation].

Sister chromatids separation is under precise regulation during cell cycle. Any turbulence happened in the separation process can cause instability in the transmission of inherited material, and may cause: death or disease of cell or even individual. In eukaryotic cells, one conserved mechanism governs the separation of sister chromatids. Cohesion between sister chromatids is established during DNA replication and depends on a multiprotein complex called cohesin. At the metaphase to anaphase transition, separase is activated by proteolysis of securin. Separase can cleave one of cohesin's subunits, and then promote cohesin dissociation and sister chromatids separation.

Expression of hPOT1 in HeLa cells and the probability of gene variation of hpot1 Exon14 in endometrial cancer are much higher than in other cancers.

To investigate the expression of hPOT1 in the HeLa cell line and screen point mutations of hpot1 in different tumor tissues a two step osmotic method was used to extract nuclear proteins. EMSA was performed to determine the expression of hPOT1 in the HeLa cell line. PCR was also employed to amplify the exon14 sequence of the hpot1 gene in various of cancer tissues. A SV gel and PCR clean-up system was performed to enrich PCR products. DNAStar was used to analyse the exon14 sequence of the hpot1 gene. hPOT1 was expressed in the HeLa cell line and the signal was gradually enhanced as the amount of extracted nuclear proteins increased. The DNA fragment of exon14 of hpot1 was successfully amplified in the HeLa cell line and all cancer tissues, point mutations being observed in 2 out of 3 cases of endometrial cancer (66.7%) despite the hpot1 sequence being highly conserved. However, the sequence of hpot1 exon14 do not demonstrate point mutations in most cancer tissues. Since hPOT1 was expressed in HeLa cell and the probability of gene point variants was obviously higher in endometrial cancer than other cancers, it may be involved in the pathogenesis of gynecological cancers, especially in cervix and endometrium.

[Experimental study on anti-inflammatory effect of adenovirus-mediated sTLR2 in LPS-induced murine inflammation].

AIM: To observe the anti-inflammatory effect of adenovirus-mediated sTLR2 in LPS-induced murine inflammation, and to provide a new thinking and tactics of prevention and treatment for acute inflammatory reaction. METHODS: Murine inflammation model induced by LPS (lethal dose) was established. BALB/c mice were divided into normal control group, inflammation model group and AdTLR2 treatment group. The recombinant adenovirus (Ad)TLR2 acted on test mice respectively before and after inflammation production, the impact of AdTLR2 on murine survival time was observed. Serum samples of different experiment groups were collected, alteration of cytokine TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-13 were tested by ELISA, the influence of AdTLR2 on serum level of cytokines were evaluated. RESULTS: A prolonged survival time by AdTLR2 was observed on lethal dose of LPS animal model; serum level of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-13 were reduced by AdTLR2 on LPS induced murine model, indicating a certain immuno-regulation and anti-inflammatory effect of recombinant AdTLR2. CONCLUSION: Recombinant AdTLR2 resulted a prolong survival time of LPS induced inflammation animal model and reduction of serum level of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-13, which achieved a certain immuno-regulation and anti-inflammatory effect.