OBJECTIVETo study the chemical constituents in the total saponin from Trigonellf foenum-graecum.

METHODThe compounds were isolated by column chromatography on macroporous resin and silica gel and elucidated by physical and chemical evidences and spectroscopic analysis.

RESULTTwo compounds were obtained and identifiedas methyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin.

CONCLUSIONMethyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin were isolated from this plant for the first time.

Diosgenin ; analogs & derivatives ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Saponins ; analysis ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Seeds ; chemistry ; Trigonella ; chemistry

Objective: To study the associations between variants of mTORC1 of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and colorectal cancer. Methods: In this hospital-based case-control study, at the First Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University from 2000 to 2013, 665 primary colorectal cancer cases and 695 cancer-free controls were genotyped at 10 potentially functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) loci of mTORC1 (mTOR: rs1034528, rs2295080; Raptor: rs1062935, rs3751934; mLST8: rs3160, rs26865; DEPTOR: rs2271900, rs4871827; AKT1S1: rs2290774, rs2353005) to assess their associations with risk of colorectal cancer by Logistic regression analysis. Results: In single-locus analysis, found a significantly decreased risk of colorectal cancer associated with mLST8 rs26865 by recessive genetic model, especially in populations of ≤68 years of age (OR=0.64; 95%CI=0.43-0.96, P=0.031), female (OR=0.61; 95%CI=0.38-0.99, P=0.046), non-smoking (OR=0.55; 95%CI=0.35-0.87, P=0.010). mTOR rs1034528 CC genotypes were associated with higher risk of colorectal cancer in >68-year-old populations (OR=3.34; 95%CI=1.12-9.91, P=0.030). Raptor rs3751934 CA/AA genotypes were associated with lower colorectal cancer risk in population of body mass index(BMI)>25 kg/m² (OR=0.68; 95%CI=0.47-0.98, P=0.038); and AKT1S1 rs2290774 CC genotypes were associated with lower colorectal cancer risk in non-smoking population (OR=0.67; 95%CI=0.45-0.99, P=0.048). Furthermore, found that populations carrying more than two low-risk genotypes were associated with lower colorectal cancer risk, compared with that of populations carrying less than two low-risk genotypes (OR=0.74, 95%CI=0.58-0.95, P=0.017), especially in population of ≤68 years of age, male and BMI>25 kg/m^2, and non-smoking. Conclusions SNPs of mTORC1-related genes individually or jointly contribute to colorectal cancer susceptibility in Chinese. Further studies of larger cohorts are needed to validate the findings.

Objective To explore the long-term outcomes of endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) of gastric GISTs.Methods Data of 25 patients with gastric stromal tumors,who underwent ESD,were reviewed in terms of clinical characteristics,histopathologic results,complications and long-term outcomes.Results Twenty-five patients underwent one-time complete removal of lesion, with a average tumor size of 3.0 cm (range,0.6 to 7.6 cm).The average time of operation was 65 minutes (range,15 to 154 minutes).one case was observed with intraoperative hemor-rhage of 200 mL blood,which was successfully managed by hemostatic forceps.Perforation with incidence rate of 16%occurred in 4 cases and was closed well with clips.Mucosal mechanical laceration of esophagus occurred in 1 case when the big tumor was taken out.The average length of hospi-talization was 7.3 days (range,4 to 21 days).A follow-up for 30 months (range,13 to 54 months) showed no tumor recurrence or metastasis. Conclusion ESD is an effective and safe endoscopic procedure to remove gastric GISTs for long-term outcomes in patients with no metastasis.

To explore the mechanism of β-carboline alkaloids inhibiting the migration and invasion of SGC-7901 cells and its correlation with FAK gene expression,CCK-8 method was used to determine the inhibitory rate of β-carboline alkaloids on the proliferation of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells under different concentrations.The effect of β-carboline alkaloids on the migration and invasion of SGC-7901 cells was used by Transwell compartment.Detection of mRNA and protein expression of FAK genes were used by qRT-PCR and Western blot.Then si-FAK-1051 recombinant plasmid was transfected into SGC-7901 cells.FAK gene silencing effect was identified by qRT-PCR and Western blot technique again.Finally,the effects of FAK gene silencing on proliferation and migration of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells were detected by CCK-8 kit and Transwell chamber assay respectively.With the increase of the concentration ofβ-carboline alkaloids,the inhibitory rate of SGC-7901 cells in human gastric cancer cells increased gradually,with IC5013.364 mg·L-1.The number of SGC-7901 cells of Transwell compartment in the positive experimental group(5-FU,5 mg·L-1) and the β-carboline alkaloids group decreased significantly(P<0.01) and the number of SGC-7901 cells in the β-carboline alkaloids group was significantly lower than that in the positive experimental group(P<0.01).Compared with the blank control group,the mRNA and protein expression level of FAK genes in the positive experimental group was significantly lower than that in the experimental group of β-carboline alkaloids(P<0.05).After transfection of si-FAK-1051 into gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells,the expression of mRNA and protein of FAK gene was significantly down regulated(P<0.05).SGC-7901 cell proliferation and cell migration ability also decreased significantly(P<0.05).β-carboline alkaloids are more effective than 5-FU in inhibiting migration and invasion of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells,and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of mRNA and protein expression of FAK gene by β-carboline alkaloids.
Alkaloids ; pharmacology ; Carbolines ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; drug effects ; Cell Proliferation ; Focal Adhesion Kinase 1 ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Gene Silencing ; Humans ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Stomach Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; pathology

Intracellular overexpression of cytoglobin (Cygb) has been shown to reduce extracellular matrix deposition and promote liver fibrosis recovery, but its mechanism is not yet clear. This study constructed and expressed a fusion protein (TAT-Cygb) of cell penetrating peptide TAT and Cygb, to investigate the effect of fusion protein TAT-Cygb on regulating hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) ferroptosis. Cultured human hepatic stellate cells line (LX2) were treated with TAT-Cygb and erastin in vitro, respectively. The effects of ferroptosis phenotype in LX2 cells induced by TAT-Cygb, including cell viability, cell morphology, iron ion (Fe²⁺) content, lipid peroxidation product levels, and antioxidant system indicators, were investigated using trypan blue staining, transmission electron microscopy, Prussian blue staining, and reagent kits detection. After co-treatment with TAT-Cygb and ferrostain-1, the levels of Fe²⁺, reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and glutathione (GSH) were measured by reagent kits. The protein expression levels of alpha smooth actin (α-SMA), collagen I and fibronectin were detected by Western blot, and the protein expression level of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and desmin relevant to fibrosis were observed by immunofluorescence. The results showed that TAT-Cygb could significantly reduce the viability of LX2 cells and trigger events relevant to ferroptosis, including promoting intracellular Fe²⁺ accumulation, and inducing mitochondrial morphological changes, and intensifying lipid peroxidation products accumulation, and decreasing the level of antioxidant indexes, which played a similar role as erastin; Fer-1 significantly weakened the increase in Fe²⁺, ROS, MDA, 4-HNE levels induced by TAT-Cygb, as well as the decrease in NADPH and GSH levels, while also weakening the TAT-Cygb-induced over-expression levels of α-SMA, collagen I and fibronectin, and TAT-Cygb-induced under-expression levels of EGFR and desmin. This cellular level study indicated that TAT-Cygb can induce ferroptosis of activated HSCs. This study revealed the potential mechanism of TAT-Cygb anti-liver fibrosis, and provided the experimental basis for further research on the molecular mechanism of TAT-Cygb realizing biological function by regulating the ferroptosis pathway.