The epothilones are a class of microtubule inhibitors that exhibit a strong antitumor activity. UTD2 is a novel epothilone analog generated by genetic manipulation of the polyketide biosynthetic gene cluster. This study investigated the effects of UTD2 on the actin cytoskeleton and its critical regulators, and the signaling pathways which are essential for cell motility, growth and survival in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Results showed that UTD2 inhibited the cellular functions of actin cytoskeleton, such as wound-closure, migration and invasion, as well as adhesion. Our study further demonstrated that UTD2 suppressed Rac1 GTPase activation and reduced the activity of PAK1, which is a downstream effector of Rac1, while the activity of Cdc42 was not affected. Additionally, the phosphorylation of p38 and ERK were significantly inhibited, but the phosphorylation of JNK remained the same after UTD2 treatment. Moreover, UTD2 inhibited the activity and mRNA expression of MMP-2, which plays a key role in cell motility. UTD2 also reduced the phosphorylation of Akt, which is an important signaling kinase regulating the cell survival through Rac1. Furthermore, UTD2 interrupted the synergy between Rac1 and Raf in focus formation assays. Taken together, these results indicated that UTD2 exerted multiple effects on the actin cytoskeleton and signaling pathways associated with Rac1. This study provided novel insights into the molecular mechanism of the antineoplastic and antimetastatic activities of epothilones. Our findings also suggest that the signaling pathways regulated by Rac1 may be evaluated as biomarkers for the response to therapy in clinical trials of epothilones.
Actin Cytoskeleton ; Biomarkers ; Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast* ; Cell Movement ; Cell Survival ; Epothilones* ; GTP Phosphohydrolases* ; Humans ; Microtubules ; Multigene Family ; Phosphorylation ; Phosphotransferases ; RNA, Messenger

In the present work, we studied the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of tautomycetin (TMC) and its derivatives. Further, we demonstrated the correlation between the immunosuppressive fuction, anticancer activity and protein phosphatase type 1 (PP1) inhibition of TMC and its derivatives. We have prepared some TMC derivatives via combinatorial biosynthesis, isolation from fermentation broth or chemical degradation of TMC. We found that the immunosuppressive activity was correlated with anticancer activity for TMC and its analog compounds, indicating that TMC may home at the same targets for its immunosuppressive and anticancer activities. Interestingly, TMC-F1, TMC-D1 and TMC-D2 all retained significant, albeit reduced PP1 inhibitory activity compared to TMC. However, only TMC-D2 showed immunosuppressive and anticancer activities in studies carried out in cell lines. Moreover, TMC-Chain did not show any significant inhibitory activity towards PP1 but showed strong growth inhibitory effect. This observation implicates that the maleic anhydride moiety of TMC is critical for its phosphatase inhibitory activity whereas the C1-C18 moiety of TMC is essential for the inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. Furthermore, we measured in vivo phosphatase activities of PP1 in MCF-7 cell extracts treated with TMC and its related compounds, and the results indicate that the cytotoxicity of TMC doesn't correlate with its in vivo PP1 inhibition activity. Taken together, our study suggests that the immunosuppressive and anticancer activities of TMC are not due to the inhibition of PP1. Our results provide a novel insight for the elucidation of the underlying molecular mechanisms of TMC's important biological functions.
Cell Line ; Cell Proliferation ; Fermentation ; Furans ; Lipids ; Maleic Anhydrides ; MCF-7 Cells ; Structure-Activity Relationship

Objective To have SD rats inhaled with different drugs,and observe their lung pathological change of lungs through light microscopy,in order to evaluate the safety of different drugs inhaled by natural rats. Methods A total of 40 rats were randomly divided into 8 groups,and every group had 5 rats,including blank control groups,9 g/L saline group,Salbutamol group,Dingchuantang group,Shuanghuanglian group,Centamicin group,Danshen group,Silicon dioxide group,twice a day,last 56 days totally. Then,blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were collected and analyzed for cell count,percent of each type of cell,to measure the severity of the inflammation. Additionally,histopathology re-vealed the lungˊs pathological change and the number of dust cell;while immunohistochemistry revealed CD163 respon-ding. Results (1)White blood cell count:blank control group(3. 96 ± 0. 36)×109/L,9 g/L saline group(4. 66 ± 0. 58)×109/L,Salbutamol group(4. 06 ± 0. 86)×109/L,Dingchuantang group(8. 98 ± 1. 08)×109/L,Shuanghuang-lian group(7. 10 ± 0. 88)×109/L,Centamicin group(6. 14 ± 0. 89)×109/L,Danshen group(9. 84 ± 2. 33)×109/L, Silicon dioxide group(8. 99 ± 2. 48)×109/L,and comparative analysis of the 8 groups had significant difference(F＝14. 530,P<0. 05);the differences among blank control group,9 g/L saline group and Salbutamol group were not sig- nificant(all P>0. 05). White cell count in BALF:blank control group(2. 16 ± 1. 04)×109/L,9 g/L saline group (3. 94 ± 0. 67)×109/L,Salbutamol group(4. 36 ± 1. 15)×109/L,Dingchuantang group(14. 58 ± 2. 93)×109/L, Shuanghuanglian group(19. 68 ± 6. 29)×109/L,Gentamicin group(11. 74 ± 1. 03)×109/L,Danshen group(44. 75 ± 10. 8)×109/L,Silicon dioxide group(53. 54 ± 14. 25)×109/L,and comparative analysis of the 8 groups had signifi-cant difference(F＝40. 616,P<0. 05);the differences among blank control group,9 g/L saline group and Salbutamol group were not significant(all P>0. 05). Lymphocyte count in BALF:blank control group(18. 70 ± 9. 00)×108/L, 9 g/L saline group( 36. 01 ± 5. 99 )×108/L,Salbutamol group( 38. 95 ± 11. 69 )×108/L,Dingchuantang group (132. 70 ± 26. 94)×108/L,Shuanghuanglian group(173. 56 ± 57. 6)×108/L,Gentamicin group(106. 60 ± 16. 76)× 108/L,Danshen group(340. 63 ± 70. 97)×108/L,Silicon dioxide group(495. 63 ± 131. 95)×108/L,and comparative analysis of the 8 groups had significant difference(F＝41. 980,P<0. 05);the differences among blank control group, 9 g/L saline group and Salbutamol group were not significant(all P>0. 05).(2)Number of lung dust cell count in 10 sight of high light microscopy:blank control group 12/10 HP,9 g/L saline group 26/10 HP,Salbutamol group 17/10 HP,Dingchuantang group 262/10 HP,Shuanghuanglian group 133/10 HP,Gentamicin group 109/10 HP,Danshen group 96/10 HP,Silicon dioxide group 315/10 HP,and comparative analysis of the 8 groups had significant difference (F＝69. 915,P<0. 05);the differences among blank control group,9 g/L saline group and Salbutamol group were not significant(all P>0. 05).(3)Hematoxylin-eosin staining of lung:blank control group,9 g/L saline group and Sal-butamol group had no pathological change in the lung,but Salbutamol group,Dingchuantang group,Shuanghuanglian group,Gentamicin group,Danshen group and Silicon dioxide group had pathological changes in different degrees.(4) Immunohistochemistry of CD163 responding:blank control group,9 g/L saline group and Salbutamol group had negative expression,Salbutamol group,Dingchuantang group,Shuanghuanglian group,Gentamicin group,Danshen group and Sili-con dioxide group had positive expression in different degrees. Conclusions 9 g/L saline,salbutamol for atomized inhalation does not cause lung tissue damage;Long-term use of non-atomized drugs in atomization can cause lung tissue injury in SD rats,and the severity varies with specific drugs.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that can automatically detect and classify rib fractures, and output structured reports from computed tomography (CT) images. Materials and Methods: This study included 1079 patients (median age, 55 years; men, 718) from three hospitals, between January 2011 and January 2019, who were divided into a monocentric training set (n = 876; median age, 55 years; men, 582), five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (n = 173; median age, 59 years; men, 118) with different slice thicknesses and image pixels, and a normal control set (n = 30; median age, 53 years; men, 18). Three classifications (fresh, healing, and old fracture) combined with fracture location (corresponding CT layers) were detected automatically and delivered in a structured report. Precision, recall, and F1-score were selected as metrics to measure the optimum CNN model. Detection/diagnosis time, precision, and sensitivity were employed to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the structured report and that of experienced radiologists. Results: A total of 25054 annotations (fresh fracture, 10089; healing fracture, 10922; old fracture, 4043) were labelled for training (18584) and validation (6470). The detection efficiency was higher for fresh fractures and healing fractures than for old fractures (F1-scores, 0.849, 0.856, 0.770, respectively, p = 0.023 for each), and the robustness of the model was good in the five multicenter/multiparameter validation sets (all mean F1-scores > 0.8 except validation set 5 [512 x 512 pixels; F1-score = 0.757]). The precision of the five radiologists improved from 80.3% to 91.1%, and the sensitivity increased from 62.4% to 86.3% with artificial intelligence-assisted diagnosis. On average, the diagnosis time of the radiologists was reduced by 73.9 seconds. Conclusion Our CNN model for automatic rib fracture detection could assist radiologists in improving diagnostic efficiency, reducing diagnosis time and radiologists’ workload.

Objective:To investigate the risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparo-scopic lower anterior resection (LAR) of rectal cancer, and the application value of its risk assess-ment scoring model.Methods:The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinico-pathological data of 539 patients who underwent laparoscopic LAR of rectal cancer in 13 medical centers, including 248 cases in Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 35 cases in Ningbo First Hospital, 35 cases in Changzhou Second People's Hospital, 32 cases in the First People's Hospital of Nantong, 32 cases in Linyi People's Hospital, 31 cases in Changzhou Wujin People's Hospital, 28 cases in Jiading District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 27 cases in the First Hospital of Taizhou, 26 cases in Shanghai Pudong Gongli Hospital, 21 cases in the People's Hospital of Rugao, 11 cases in Central Hospital of Fengxian District, 7 cases in Ningbo Hangzhou Bay Hospital and 6 cases in Jiangsu jianhu People's Hospital, from January 2016 to November 2020 were collected. There were 157 males and 382 females, aged (62.7±0.5)years. Observation indicators: (1) follow-up; (2) risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR; (3) establishment of risk assessment scoring model for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. Follow-up was conducted by outpatient examination or telephone interview. Patients were followed up at 1 week after discharge or 1 month after the operation to detect the anastomotic leakage. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were represented as absolute numbers or percentages, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the chi-square test. Univariate analysis was conducted using the chi-square test and multivariate analysis was conducted usong the Logistic regression model. The area under curve of receiver operating characteristic curve was used to estimate the efficiency of detecton methods. The maximum value of the Youden index was defined as the best cut-off value. Results:(1) Follow-up: 539 patients were followed up at postoperative 1 week and 1 month. During the follow-up, 79 patient had anastomotic leakage, with an incidence of 14.66%(79/539). Of the 79 patients, 39 cases were cured after conservative treatment, 40 cases were cured after reoperation (ileostomy or colostomy). (2) Risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. Results of univariate analysis showed that sex, age, body mass index, smoking and/or drinking, tumor diameter, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin, albumin, grade of American Society of Anesthesio-logists (ASA), neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line, the number of pelvic stapler, reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss, placement of decompression tube, preservation of left colic artery, operation time and professional doctors were related factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR ( χ2=14.060, 4.387, 5.039, 4.094, 17.488, 33.485, 25.066, 28.959, 34.973, 34.207, 22.076, 13.208, 16.440, 17.708, 17.260, 4.573, 5.919, 5.389, P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis showed that male, tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin <90 g/L, albumin <30 g/L, grade of ASA ≥Ⅲ, neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line <1 cm, the number of pelvic stapler ≥3, non-reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss ≥100 mL and no placement of decom-pression tube were independent risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR ( odds ratio=2.864,3.043,12.556,7.178,8.425,12.895,8.987,4.002,3.084,4.393,3.266,3.224,95% confidence interval as 1.279?6.411, 1.404?6.594, 4.469?35.274, 2.648?19.459, 2.471?28.733, 4.027?41.289, 3.702?21.777, 1.746?9.171, 1.365?6.966, 1.914?10.083, 1.434?7.441, 1.321?7.867, P<0.05). (3) Establishment of risk assessment scoring model for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. based on the results of univariate analysis, clinicopathological factors with χ2>20, χ2>10 and ≤20 or χ2≤10 were defined as scoring of 3, 2, 1, respectively. The cumulative clinicopatho-logical factors scoring ≥6 was defined as an effective evaluating indicator for postoperative anastomotic leakage. The risk assessment scoring model (6-321) for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR was established. The cumulative value ≥6 indicated high incidence of anastomotic leakage, and the cumulative value <6 indicated low incidence of anastomotic leakage. Conclusions:Male, tumor diameter ≥3.5 cm, diabetes mellitus, hemoglobin <90 g/L, albumin <30 g/L, grade of ASA ≥Ⅲ, neo-adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, distance from anastomotic level to dentate line <1 cm, the number of pelvic stapler ≥3, non-reinforced anastomosis, volume of intraoperative blood loss ≥100 mL and no placement of decompression tube are independent risk factors for anastomotic leakage after laparoscopic LAR. The risk assessment scoring model (6-321) is established according to the above results.The cumulative value ≥6 indicates high incidence of anastomotic leakage and the cumulative value <6 indicates low incidence of anastomotic leakage.

OBJECTIVE： To study lung tissue injury induced by long-term aerosol inhalation of 4 kinds of non-aerosol drugs in healthy SD rats， and to evaluate the safety of aerosol inhalation of non-aerosol drugs. METHODS： Totally 40 healthy SD rats （♂） were randomly divided into 8 group， i.e. blank control group， normal saline group （solvent control）， budesonide group （non-aerosol drug control， 0.1 g/L） ，silicon dioxide group （lung injury drug control， 40 g/L）and 4 kinds of non-aerosol drugs [Dingchuan decoction group （15 g/mL， calculated by crude drug）， cefatriaxone group （200 g/L）， Qingkailing group （stoste） and Tangreqing group （stoste）]， with 5 rats in each group. Except that blank control group didn’t received any treatment， other groups received aerosol inhalation， 10 mL， twice a day， for consecutive 56 days. After medication， the number of white blood cells in peripheral blood were counted and classified， and the number of white blood cells in bronchus alveolar lavage fluid were counted. The pathological changes of lung tissue were observed by HE staining and the number of dust cells was counted. The expression of leukocyte differentiation antigen 163 （CD163） in lung tissue were determined by immunohistochemical method. RESULTS： The white blood cells in peripheral blood mainly included lymphocyte and neutrophil， of which lymphocyte is the main one. Compared with blank control group， there was no statistical significance in the number of white blood cells， lymphocyte or neutrophil in peripheral blood， the number of white blood cells in alveolar lavage fluid or the number of dust cells in lung tissue of rats in normal saline group （P＞0.05）； the structures of bronchus and lung tissue were intact， and the expression of CD163 was negative. Compared with normal saline group， there was no statistical significance in the above indexed of rats in budesonide group（P＞0.05）， the structures of bronchus and lung tissue were intact， and the expression of CD163 was negative， while the number of white blood cells， lymphocyte or neutrophil in peripheral blood， the number of white blood cells in alveolar lavage fluid or the number of dust cells in lung tissue of rats in other 5 groups were all increased significantly （P＜0.05）； alveolar wall thickening and alveolar interstitial edema occurred in different degrees in lung tissue. The expression of CD163 was positive or strongly positive. CONCLUSIONS： The long-term aerosol inhalation of 4 kinds of non-aerosol drugs can induce pathological changes of lung tissue and increase the number of inflammatory cell and dust cell in alveolin in healthy SD rats.