Maturation of murine bone marrow dendritic cells induced by acidic Ginseng polysaccharides.

In this study, we report that a acidic polysaccharide (AGP) isolated from a Chinese medicinal herb, named Ginseng (Panax giseng C.A. Meyer), induces maturation of bone marrow dendritic cells (BMDCs) via concrete changes both inside and outside BMDCs. The impacts of AGP on BMDCs were assessed with use of conventional scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) for morphology, flow cytometry (FCM) for key surface molecules, cytochemistry assay, FITC-dextran, bio-assay for phagocytosis and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for production of cytokines. Our results elucidated that PPS promoted maturation of BMDCs via changes as reflected by the down-regulation of acid phosphatase (ACP) activity inside the BMDCs, which occurs when phagocytosis of BMDCs to antigen decreased, while antigen presentation increased upon maturation, higher expression of key surface molecules of MHC II, CD80, CD86, CD83, and CD40, and releasing higher level of cytokines IL-12 and low level of TNF-α. Our study suggest that AGP play marked immunostimulating role on the maturation of murine BMDCs through precise regulation of phagocytosis and enzyme activities inside the BMDCs.

Maturation of morphology, phenotype and functions of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (DCs) induced by polysaccharide Kureha (PSK).

The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of protein-bound polysaccharide Kureha(PSK) on murine dendritic cells (DCs). These impacts of PSK on DCs from bone marrow derived DCs(BMDCs) were assessed with inverted phase contrast microscope, conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for morphology, fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis, cytochemistry assay for key surface molecules, FITC-dextran for phagocytosis, bio-assay and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for cytokine production. We found that under the influence of PSK, immature DCs changed into mature DCs with decrease of antigens up-taking, simultaneously high expression of key surface molecules of the MHC classII,CD40, CD80, CD86 and CD83 as well as more production of IL-12p70 and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α). These data indicate that PSK could markedly promote maturation of DCs and this adjuvant-like activity may have potential therapeutic value in vaccine preparation.

JC virus existence in Chinese gastrointestinal carcinomas.

The John Cunningham virus (JCV) infects a large proportion of the population worldwide and may cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy upon immunodeficiency. Recent reports provided evidence of its oncogenetic role in malignancies. In this study, JCV was examined by targeting T antigen, viral protein and agnoprotein in paraffin-embedded or frozen gastrointestinal carcinomas and paired non-neoplastic mucosa (NNM) samples by nested-PCR followed by Southern blot analysis. In addition, the expression of JCV T antigen, ki-67, caspase-3, p53, Rb and ß-catenin was studied by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. The positive rate of JCV T antigen was higher in paraffin-embedded gastrointestinal carcinomas compared to adjacent NNM by nested-PCR followed by Southern blot analysis (36.9 vs. 16.9%, P<0.05), while there was no difference in other viral oncogenes regardless of whether they were paraffin-embedded or frozen samples. Immunohistochemically, T antigen was detectable in 9.6% (13/135) of carcinoma cases, which was higher than its positive rate in NNM (0.8%, 1/126, P<0.01). However, the genomic JCV DNA existence or its T antigen expression was not correlated with age, gender, tumor size, histological types, lymph node metastasis, expression of ki-67, caspase-3, p53, Rb and ß-catenin of gastric carcinomas (P>0.05). In conlusion, JCV T antigen may be involved in gastrointestinal carcinogenesis as an oncogene in China.

[High expression of DNMT1 was correlated with beta-catenin accumulation and malignant phynotype of lung squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma].

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) is one of the important molecules regulating DNA methylation. The abnormal expression of DNMT1 was associated with the methylation and inactivation of tumor suppressor gene and tumorigenesis. The aim of this study is to clarify the difference of DNMT1 expression between lung cancer tissues and corresponding normal lung tissues, to analyze the relationships between DNMT1 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics of lung squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma, and to investigate the correlation between the expressions of DNMT1 and beta-catenin. METHODS: The expressions of DNMT1 and beta-catenin were examined in 84 lung squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma tissues and corresponding normal lung tissues using tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: The average positive rate of DNMT1 was significantly higher in 84 lung cancer tissues [(58.04+/-35.07)%] than that in corresponding normal lung tissues [(6.88+/-10.26)%](t=12.835, P<0.001). The high expression of DNMT1 was positively correlated with adenocarcinoma histological type (r=0.365, P=0.001), poor differentiation (r=0.253, P=0.021) and lymph node metastasis (r=0.246, P=0.024) in lung cancer. The expression of DNMT1 was significantly correlated with the cytoplasmic expression of beta-catenin (r=0.571, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The high expression of DNMT1 was a common phenomenon in lung squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. The high expression of DNMT1 was correlated with the malignant phynotype of lung cancer. DNMT1 may express coordinately with beta-catenin in lung cancer.