OBJECTIVE: To investigate the enhancement of macrophage chemotaxis in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) and its correlation with the disease severity. METHODS: Eighty patients with KOA admitted from July 2019 to June 2022 were enrolled as the observation group and divided into 29 cases of moderate group, 30 cases of severe group and 21 cases of extremely severe group. At the same time, 30 healthy subjects were included as the control group. The gene expressions of NF-κB, CXC chemokine receptor 7 (CXCR7) and CXC chemokine ligand 12 (CXCL12) in macrophages of each group were analyzed. Visual analogue scale(VAS) was used to evaluate the degree of joint pain. Joint function was evaluated by knee Joint Society Scoring system(KSS). Finally, data analysis was carried out. RESULTS: The expression levels of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 in moderate group, severe group and extreme recombination group were higher than those in control group. The VAS, the expression of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 in the severe group and the extreme recombination group were higher than those in the moderate group, whereas KSS was lower than that in the moderate group. The VAS, expression levels of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 in the extremely severe group were higher than those in the severe group, and KSS was lower than that in the severe group (all P<0.01). The expression levels of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 in macrophages were positively correlated with VAS score, but negatively correlated with KSS(all P<0.01). The expression levels of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 in macrophages were positively correlated with the severity of disease. After excluding the influence of traditional factors (gender, age and disease duration), multiple linear regression analysis further showed that the expression levels of NF-κB, CXCR7 and CXCL12 were still positively correlated with the severity of disease(all P<0.01). CONCLUSION The chemotaxis of macrophages in patients with KOA increased with the aggravation of the disease, and was related to the degree of pain and function impairment.
Humans ; Osteoarthritis, Knee/genetics* ; Chemotaxis/genetics* ; NF-kappa B/metabolism* ; Macrophages/metabolism* ; Receptors, CXCR/metabolism* ; Patient Acuity

OBJECTIVETo investigate the expression status of CXCR7 in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines.

METHODSThe expression status of CXCR7 was detected in 35 primary gastric cancer tissues and matched adjacent tissues by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. The correlation of CXCR7 expression with the clinicopathological parameters and risk factors of gastric cancer was analyzed. The expression of CXCR7 in gastric cell lines (HGC-27, MGC-803, BGC-823, SGC-7901 and MKN-28) was also detected by immunofluorescence assay.

RESULTSThe expression of CXCR7 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues (P<0.01). CXCR7 expression was not correlated with age, gender, smoking history, Helicobacter pylori infection, tumor location or the pathological type, but showed a higher expression level in patients with a alcohol-drinking history than in those without (P<0.05). CXCR7 was expressed with variable intensities in the 5 gastric cancer cell lines without correlation with the degrees of cell differentiation; its expression was the highest in SGC-7901 cells, a moderately differentiated human gastric adenocarcinoma cell line.

CONCLUSIONSCXCR7 is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues with variable intensities in 5 gastric cancer cell lines, suggesting its important role in gastric cancer progression.

Cell Differentiation ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Disease Progression ; Helicobacter Infections ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Receptors, CXCR ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism

Acute kidney injury is a serious global health problem and determinant of morbidity and mortality. Recent advancements in the field of stem cell research raise hopes for stem cell-based regenerative approaches to treat acute kidney diseases. In this review, the authors summarized the latest research advances of the adult resident renal progenitor cells (ARPCs) on kidney repair, the role of ARPCs on tubular regeneration after acute kidney injury, the current understanding of the mechanisms related to ARPC activation and modulation, as well as the challenges that remain to be faced.
Acute Kidney Injury ; physiopathology ; Antigens, CD ; metabolism ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Kidney ; physiopathology ; Kidney Tubules ; physiopathology ; Receptors, CXCR ; metabolism ; Regeneration ; physiology ; Reperfusion Injury ; physiopathology ; Stem Cells ; physiology

OBJECTIVETo construct a soluble prokaryotic expression vector of the CXCR7-specific antagonist SDF-1/54R and evaluate its activity.

METHODSSDF-1/54r gene amplified by PCR was inserted into the soluble expression vector pET-41a+ engineered with GST fusion tag, and the recombinant vector was transformed into E. coli strain BL21 (DE3). After IPTG induction of E. coli, the expressed recombinant protein was purified with GST affinity chromatography purification system and confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting assay. The target protein SDF-1/54R was obtained after digestion of the purified product with enterokinase. Breast cancer MCF-7 cells with high expression of CXCR7 was treated with SDF-1/54R and the cell proliferation and metastasis was evaluated with MTT and chemotaxis assays.

RESULTSThe target protein SDF-1/54R obtained showed an obvious inhibitory effect on the proliferation and metastasis of MCF-7 cells as confirmed by MTT and chemotaxis assays.

CONCLUSIONSDF-1/54R is a good antagonist of CXCR7 and shows a potential value as an effective anti-cancer agent.

Blotting, Western ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; metabolism ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Escherichia coli ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, CXCR ; antagonists & inhibitors ; Recombinant Proteins ; biosynthesis

Adenocarcinoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Adenoma ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Adult ; Aged ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Intestinal Mucosa ; metabolism ; pathology ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Receptors, CXCR ; metabolism ; Young Adult

Animals ; Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Adhesion ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; metabolism ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2 ; Humans ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; Receptors, CXCR ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology

Chemokines, a family of small cytokines, were initially characterized as proinflammatory chemoattractant cytokines that regulated cell trafficking and adhesion. Today, attention focuses on chemokines because evidence shows that they play a critical role in tumor initiation, promotion, and progression. CXCR7, a seven-transmembrane G-protein-coupled CXC chemokine receptor, has recently been identified as binding with high affinity to chemokines CXCL11 (I-TAC) and CXCL12 (SDF-1). In this review, we highlight the current knowledge about the role of CXCR7 in the biologic processes of cancer, including cancer growth, survival, adhesion, invasion, metastasis, angiogenesis, and progression. The use of peptides, small molecules, antibodies, or small interfering RNA to target CXCR7 shows promise as new potential avenues for the treatment of cancer.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Cell Adhesion ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; Chemokine CXCL12 ; pharmacology ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Neovascularization, Pathologic ; metabolism ; Receptors, CXCR ; genetics ; metabolism ; physiology ; Signal Transduction

INTRODUCTIONC-X-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CXCR7) has recently been characterised as a novel receptor for the C-X-C motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12)/stromal cell-derived factor 1-alpha. CXCR7 has been thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis, angiogenesis and tumour metastasis. The present study aimed to examine the expression of CXCR7 in tissue samples of laryngeal cancer and maxillary sinus carcinoma to determine its role in the development of otorhinolaryngologic neoplasms.

METHODSSamples of otorhinolaryngologic neoplasms were obtained from 17 patients with either nasal polyps (n = 7), laryngeal cancer (n = 5) or maxillary sinus carcinoma (n = 5), and who underwent surgical resection at West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Total RNA was isolated and CXCR7 mRNA expression was examined and quantified by relative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. A one-way analysis of variance was performed using SPSS Statistics version 11.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) to compare the CXCR7 mRNA levels among the three groups of patients.

RESULTSAll samples tested positive for CXCR7 mRNA. The quantitative results showed that the CXCR7 mRNA levels were highest in laryngeal cancer and lowest in maxillary sinus carcinoma neoplasms, although there was no significant difference among the three samples.

CONCLUSIONCXCL12 and its receptor CXCR7 may contribute to eosinophilic inflammation in patients with chronic sinusitis and nasal polyps. Our results also suggest that CXCR7 may play a role in the progression, metastasis and angiogenesis of otorhinolaryngologic tumours.

Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Disease Progression ; Female ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Otorhinolaryngologic Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; RNA, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, CXCR ; biosynthesis ; genetics