The aging process of human colonic epithelium involves a slow decline in physiological vigor and an increasing susceptibility to age-related diseases, especially, colon cancer, but the molecular mechanisms of the aging and susceptibility of aged colonic epithelium to carcinogenesis is still unclear. Identification of aging related proteins in colonic epithelium will help to reveal the molecular mechanisms of colonic epithelial aging and age-related colonic diseases. Therefore, the total proteins of human normal colonic epithelial tissues from 10 young and 10 old men were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE), respectively. PDQuest software was applied to analyze 2-DE images, the differentially expressed protein spots of colonic epithelium between young and old groups were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF-MS), and the expression levels of partial identified proteins were determined by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. Well-resolved, reproducible 2-DE maps of human colonic epithelial tissues from young and old men were established, 17 aging related proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF-MS, and the differential expression levels of partial identified proteins were confirmed by real-time quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry. The results indicate that injury of mitochondrial function and decline of antioxidant capability are important reasons for the aging of human colonic epithelium, and four differential proteins (guanine nucleotide-binding protein beta subunit-like protein, stress-70 protein, 40 S ribosomal protein SA and chloride intracellular channel protein1) may be involved in susceptibility of aged colonic epithelium to carcinogenesis.

The mechanism of how stroma plays an important role in tumor carcinogenesis is now a hotspot. To delineate the features of stromal protein between nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and normal nasopharyngeal mucosa(NNM), laser capture microdissection (LCM) was performed to purify stromal cells from the NPC and NNM, respectively. The protein expressed profiles of the stroma of NPC and NNM were compared using fluorescent two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) and 34 differential protein spots between tumor stroma and normal stroma were chosen to be identified by mass spectrometry (MS). A total of 20 differential proteins were identified, and three differential proteins (CapG, L-plastin and S100A9) were selectively further validated by Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis to confirm the results of 2D-DIGE. 2D-DIGE patterns of the stroma of NPC and NNM were established for the first time, the results suggested that differentially expressed proteins in the stroma of NPC and NNM may be useful for understanding the relationship between NPC cells and their surrounding microenvironment. Further studying of these proteins will be helpful to elucidate the mechanisms of NPC carcinogenesis and provide new thoughts on therapy of NPC through stroma.

Objective To explore the composition principles of prescriptions for simple obesity based on the analysis of medical literature issued in recently 30 years about Chinese medicine for simple obesity. Methods We collected literature of Chinese medicine in treating simple obesity from VIP, CNKI, Wanfang, CBM and CMCC/CMCI databases, and screened out the formulas for simple obesity to establish a formula database. And then the medication rules were figured out with the Traditional Chinese medicine Inheritance Support System version 2.5 (TCMISS 2.5) software. Results A total of 57 formulas were screened out. And the top 10 herbs with highest occurrence frequency in the prescriptions were Poria, Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae, Rhizoma Alismatis, Radix et Rhizoma Rhei, Fructus Crataegi, Radix Astragali, Radix Glycyrrhizae, Folium Nelumbinis, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae and Semen Cassiae. After data mining, we got 13 high-frequency herb-pair combinations and 31 core combinations, and 8 new prescriptions were extracted. Conclusion The research has achieved the quantitative description of the relationship between the Chinese medicines, the extraction of the core combinations and the discovery of new Chinese medicine prescriptions for simple obesity. The results will provide references for the development of new Chinese medicines for the treatment of simple obesity .