AIM:To study the effcts of caspase recruitment domain membrane-associated guanylate kinase protein 3 (CARMA3) knockdown on the growth, migration and invasion of human colonic carcinoma HCT116 cells and to analyze the mechanism.METHODS:A colonic carcinoma cell line with CARMA3 over-expression was selected.The CARMA3 gene in the HCT116 cells was knocked down by lentivirus technique.After screening by puromycin, the stably-transfected HCT116-shCARMA3 cell line was constructed.CARMA3 expression at mRNA and protein levels was detected by real-time PCR and Western blot,respectively.The cell proliferation was analyzed by WST-1 assay and RTCA S16 system.The colony formation ability was measured by colony-forming assay.The cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry.The cell morphological changes were observed under microscope.The abilities of migration and invasion in vitro were observed by wound healing assay and Transwell assay.The changes of related molecules were determined by Western blot to explore the mechanism.RESULTS:The expression of CARMA3 at mRNA and protein levels in the HCT116 cells was the highest in the 4 colonic carcinoma cell lines.HCT116-shCARMA3 cells with stably-silenced CARMA3 gene were successfully established.Among them, HCT116-shCARMA3-93 cells showed the greatest inhibition of CARMA3 at mRNA and protein levels.Therefore,HCT116-shCARMA3-93 cells were chosen as the cell model.Compared with control group, the morphological changes of the HCT116-shCARMA3-93 cells had epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) reversion.The abilities of proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion in the HCT116-shCARMA3-93 cells were obviously suppressed (P<0.01).G0 /G1 phase proportion was increased and S phase proportion was correspondingly decreased (P<0.05).Bcl10 and NF-κB were down-regulated, and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1 (MALT-1)showed no change.Cyclin D1 was decreased obviously and cyclin A declined slightly.Metastasis-related mar-kers matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were reduced,MMP-7 remained unchanged, while tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase(TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2 were up-regulated.Furthermore, EMT-associated molecule E-cadherin was increased, while N-cadherin, Snail, Slug and Twist were decreased to some extent.CONCLUSION:CARMA3 has an impact on the growth,migration and invasion of colonic carcinoma cell line, which is possibly related to NF-κB signaling pathway to change cell cycle and metastasis-related markers and to regulate EMT.

Objective To investigate the effects of the novel protein,TPds encoded by the 2.2 kb doubly spliced variant of hepatitis B virus(HBV)genome on the regulatory elements of HBV.Methods HBV promoters and enhancers were amplified by PCR and respectively cloned into the plasmid pGL3-basic to construct the recombinant firefly luciferase reporter vectors including pGL3-BCP(harboring basal core promoter),pGL3-CP1601(core promoter with enhancer Ⅱ),pGL3-XP(minimal X gene promoter),pGL3 XP1071(X gene promoter with enhancer Ⅰ),pGL3-SP1(promoter of large surface antigen)and pGL3-SP2 (promoter of middle surface antigen).The recombinant reporter plasmids were respectively co-transfected with either the pcDNA3.1/HisC-TPds(TPd8 expression plasmid)or pcDNA3.1/HisC(empty control)into Huh7 hepatocytes by FuGENE6 transfection reagent.Cells were lysed 48 h post transfection,the intracellulax luciferase activities were monitored and calculated by SPSS11.5 software.Results As compared with the empty control of pcDNA3.1/HisC.the intracellular luciferase activities were elevated when the Huh7 hepatocytes were co-transfected by pcDNA3.1/HisC-TPds with one of the recombinant reporter plasmids as pGL3-CP1601,pGL3-XP1071,pGL3-SP1,or pGL3-SP2,while no changes with pGL3-BCP or pGL3-XP.Conduslon TPds could transactivate the HBV regulatory elements a8 promoter SP1,SP2.and enhancer Ⅰ,Ⅱ,while no influences on basal core promoter and minimal X gene promoter.

Objective To elucidate the genome organization of small deletion mutants of hepatitis B virus(HBV).Methods Amplified the HBV genomes by polymerase chain reaction from the serum of the patients with chronic hepatitis B and cloned the small HBV DNA less than 1 kb,then sequenced and analyzed the gene organization of these small deletion mutants of HBV.Results Totally one hundred and twenty-four small deletion mutants of HBV genomes categorized to sixty-four types were obtained and classified into three groups according to the criteria of the characteristics of gene organization,for example,spliced variants,regular deletion mutants and the deletion mutants with an internal poly (dA).All of these isolated mutants shared some common features as the deletion in coding regions and regulatory elements,66% of the mutants retained the cis elements crucial for the viral replication and encapsidation,while 48% retained the X region.Conclusions Small deletion mutants of HBV are commonly detected in the serum from chronic hepatitis B patients,the characteristic structure of such mutants implies that they might be closely co-related with the pathogenicity of HBV.The exact mechanisms need further study yet.

Objective:To explore the association of microsatellite polymorphism of MICA gene with susceptibility to esophageal cancer.Methods: PCR-STR microsatellite genotyped technique was used to detect the polymorphism of MICA in Exon 5 in 103 cases of esophageal cancer and 84 cases of normal controls.Constructed of eukaryotic expression vector in esophageal carcinoma with high frequency of occurrence of the MICA allele.NK cells killing effect to 293T cells after alleles MICA transfected were assayed by LDH and the effect on target was 20∶1.ELISA was used to test supernatants sMICA of 293T cell after transfected.Results: Identified five allelic genes in MICA Exon 5 with esophageal cancer.Each allele and its frequency respectively were:MICA-A4(9.71%),MICA-A5(22.3%),MICA-A5.1(40.8%),MICA-A6(15.5%),MICA-A9(11.7%).MICA-A5.1 showed significant difference comparison with the control group.After 293T cell line was transfected MICA allele,MICA-A5.1 group was less sensitive to NK cytotoxicity compared to other groups[(30.4±6.3)%,P<0.05].The secretion of soluble MICA increased(135.7±6.2)pg/ml.Conclusion: Esophageal cancer was relevent with the MICA-A5.1 polymorphism of MICA Exon 5 alleles.Its risk is higher than other alleles.

Objective: : To investigate the effects of GBX2 gene on the proliferation, migration and invasion of human cervical carcinoma SiHa cells and to explore the mechanism. Methods: Recombinant plasmid over-expressing GBX2 gene (pCMV6-entry-GBX2, experimental group) and empty vector plasmid (pCMV6-entry, negative control group) were transfected into cervical cancer SiHa cells by plasmid transfection technique. The proliferation, colony formation and cell cycle of transfected cells were detected by WST-1 method, Colony formation assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The cell migration and invasion were detected by wound healing assay and Transwell assay. The expression level of IL-6 in cell culture supernatant was detected by ELISA. WB was used to detect the expression changes of EMT-related proteins and to explore its possible mechanism. Results: Compared with the SiHa/pCMV6 negative control group, after up-regulation of GBX2, (1) the proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of SiHa/GBX2 cells in the experimental group were significantly enhanced (all P<0.01); The proportion of cells in G0/G1 phase decreased while the proportion of cells in S phase and G2/M phase increased (all P<0.01); (2) the expression of E-cadherin decreased, and the expressions of N-cadherin, vimentin and snail increased (all P<0.01); (3) the expression of IL-6 in the culture supernatant of SiHa/GBX2 cells was significantly up-regulated (P<0.01); (4) STAT3 phosphorylation in SiHa/GBX2 cells was enhanced, and could be inhibited by STAT3 inhibitor S31-201 (P<0.01). Conclusion: GBX2 may induce EMT of cervical cancer SiHa cells through IL-6/STAT3 pathway, thereby promoting the proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells.