Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are associated with insulin-like growth factor-1 in short-stature children and adolescents: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in childhood have recently been found to be the strongest predictive risk factor for coronary artery disease in adulthood. There is an increased level of LDL-C in children and adolescents with short stature. However, the underlying factors associated with increased LDL-C levels in children and adolescents with short stature are unknown. In addition, the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) level in the short-stature population is usually below the normal reference range. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between IGF-1 standard deviation score (IGF-1 SDS) and LDL-C level in children and adolescents with short stature. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in a single centre of China, 557 short-stature children and adolescents whose height SDS was lower than - 2 SD after adjustment for age and gender were included. The related clinical and laboratory examinations, including anthropometric parameters, lipid profiles, IGF-1 levels and the levels of other cofactors, were assessed in all participants. RESULTS: The univariate analysis results showed a significant negative correlation between IGF-1 SDS and LDL-C levels (P = 0.006). Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship was observed between IGF-1 SDS and LDL-C by smooth curve fitting after adjusting for possible confounders. A multivariate piecewise linear regression model revealed a significant negative correlation between IGF-1 SDS and LDL-C when the IGF-1 level was greater than - 2 SDS (ß - 0.07, 95% CI -0.12, - 0.02; P = 0.006). However, we did not observe a significant relationship between IGF-1 SDS and LDL-C when the IGF-1 level was lower than - 2 SDS (ß 0.08, 95% CI -0.02, 0.17; P = 0.119). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between IGF-1 and LDL-C independent of other potential confounding factors, suggesting that circulating IGF-1 may contribute to the regulation of LDL-C levels, thus meriting further investigation.

Approaches to Optimize Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies: Overcoming the Obstacles.

Gene transfer and oncolytic viruses provide new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of hematologic malignancies. However, it is still too early to introduce gene delivery or oncolytic viruses into standard clinical protocol. It is very important to discuss the obstacles that gene transfer and oncolytic virotherapy face for the further clinical application for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, and updating the advances made to overcome them. The major concerns in this review include the approaches of the development of immuno-stimulatory gene transfer mediated-vaccination for leukemia therapy, RNAi-based therapy for leukemia and enhancement of sensitivity of target malignant cells to virotherapy and alteration of host immune response to favor oncolytic viruses. We conclude with a perspective on the future of the gene therapy and virotherapy for the treatment of hematologic malignancies, emphasizing the problems we should solve and the technological requirements for further clinical applications.

Mesenchymal stem cells derived from multiple myeloma patients protect against chemotherapy through autophagy-dependent activation of NF-κB signaling.

Chemotherapy resistance has been considered as a major problem for multiple myeloma (MM) treatment and bone marrow microenvironment plays a crucial role in the MM progression and chemoresistance. Recent studies reported that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells derived from MM patients (MM-MSCs) revealed various characteristics compared with these from healthy subjects (NM-MSCs). However, the functions and mechanisms by which MM-MSCs mediate the chemotherapy resistance of MM remain unclear. In this study, we show that MM-MSCs decreased melphalan or doxorubicin-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in two MM cell lines (U266 and RPMI-8226). Mechanistically, we demonstrate that MM-MSCs promote the expressions of autophagy related genes to activate autophagy, followed by ultimately NF-κB signaling activation in MM cells. Inhibition of NF-κB signaling reversed the protective effects of MM-MSC on MM cells. Moreover, autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ) or 3-Methyladenine (3MA) treatment significantly suppressed phosphorylation and consequently degradation of NF-κB inhibitor I-κBα, reduced MM-MSCs-mediate activation of NF-κB and prevented MM-MSCs-induced resistance. Taken together, our findings indicate MM-MSCs are involved in the mechanism of the chemotherapy resistance of MM. Therefore, the inhibition of MM-MSCs-induced autophagy may combat chemotherapy resistance and provide a promising therapeutic strategy for MM treatment.

Cytoplasmic calcium increase via fusion with inactivated Sendai virus induces apoptosis in human multiple myeloma cells by downregulation of c-Myc oncogene.

Because the emergence of drug resistance is a major limitation of current treatments for multiple myeloma (MM), it is necessary to continuously develop novel anticancer strategies. Here, using an inactivated Sendai virus (Hemagglutinating Virus of Japan; HVJ) envelope (HVJ-E), we discovered that increase of cytoplasmic Ca2+ by virus-cell fusion significantly induced apoptosis against human MM cells but not peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy donors. Interaction of F protein of HVJ-E with MM cells increased intracellular Ca2+ level of MMs by the induction of Ca2+ efflux from endoplasmic reticulum but not influx from extracellular region. The elevation of the Ca2+ cytoplasmic level induced SMAD1/5/8 phosphorylation and translocation into the nucleus, and SMAD1/5/8 and SMAD4 complex suppressed c-Myc transcription. Meanwhile, HVJ-E decreases S62 phosphorylation of c-Myc and promotes c-Myc protein degradation. Thus, HVJ-E-induced cell death of MM resulted from suppression of c-Myc by both destabilization of c-Myc protein and downregulation of c-Myc transcription. This study indicates that HVJ-E will be a promising tool for MM therapy.