Pimavanserin(Nuplazid) is a drug of selective targeting 5-HT2A receptor, developed by Acadia Pharmaceuticals. In April 29, 2016, it was approved by FDA for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients experiencing mental symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions. In this paper, we summarize the synthetic methods of pimavanserin published in literature in recent years and their advantages and disadvantages.

Objective To synthesize the impurity of vildagliptin as a reference substance, and optimize its preparation process by the central composite design-response surface methodology. Method The impurity was synthesized from L-proline and 3-amino-1-adamantanol through chloroacetylation, amination, dehydration and substitution. Results The structure of the disubstituted derivative of vildagliptin was verified by IR, 1H-NMR and MS. Conclusion The synthesized compound can be used as the reference substance of the impurity, so the impurity can be controlled. Preparation process gained the application value after it was optimized by the central composite design-response surface methodology.

Apoptosis ; Down-Regulation ; Electron Transport Complex IV ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; Humans ; Mitochondria ; metabolism ; Mutation ; Neoplasms ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology

Objective To explore the new model of teaching assessment and evaluation of sanitary microbiology studied by students majoring in preventive medicine. Methods Combination of formative assessment and summative assessment was applied in the teaching for students in under-graduate preventive medicine class in Grade 2007-2010. To get better effect, method was improved constantly. Pearson correlation analysis was used to students' formative assessment and summative as-sessment, and comprehensive evaluation achievement(the first two added). Moreover, the effects were assessed by teachers' self-evaluation and their exchanging ideas with students. Results Ranging from 10.06 to 12.22, the standard deviations of four grades' summative assessment results were the biggest number, so the summative assessment was more effective. Students' formative assessment, summative assessment, and comprehensive assessment for this course were positively correlated(P<0.01) for suc-cessive four years. Teachers and students approved of the new mode. Conclusion The effective com-bination of formative assessment and summative assessment was helpful for student to develop and assess learning ability and overall qualities, and for teachers to improve teaching level.

OBJECTIVETo investigate the tumor-suppression effect of hydroxyurea on meningioma cells and its possible mechanism.

METHODSThe meningioma cells were cultured in medium containing varied doses of hydroxyurea (5x10(-3)mol/L, 5x10(-4)mol/L, 5x10(-5)mol/L), the cell growth was measured by MTT method, cell apoptosis was observed with flow cytometry (FCM).

RESULTSMTT measurement demonstrated that the administration of hydroxyurea led to a dose-dependent suppression in cell proliferation and FCM showed a dose-dependent increase in apoptosis rate.

CONCLUSIONHydroxyurea can inhibit meningioma cell growth in vitro, which is most likely associated with apoptosis of the tumor cells.

Adult ; Aged ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Division ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug ; Female ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Hydroxyurea ; pharmacology ; Male ; Meningioma ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Middle Aged

Orphan nuclear receptor NR4A1 from the NR4A subfamily is one of the transcriptional factors that have not identified specific ligands .Previous studies have found that NR4A1 could regulate cell proliferation ,apoptosis ,differentiation and stress responses by changing gene expression ,post-translational modification and interactions between coregulatory pro-teins .Recently ,it has shown that NR4A1 has an abnormal expression in human atherosclerotic lesions and has been identified as a key regulator gene in vascular cells dysfunction .Regulating NR4A1 expression can have an important impact on the prolif-eration of smooth muscle cell and endothelial cell activation ,meanwhile it could reduce inflammation ,foam cell formation and lipid deposition ,inhibit vascular remodeling ,and prevent the development of atherosclerosis .These studies suggest that NR4A1 might be a novel target for drug development in prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis .

Proteasome inhibitors have shown remarkable success in the treatment of hematologic neoplasm. There has been a lot of attention to applying these drugs for solid tumor treatment. Recent preclinical study has signified the effectiveness on cell proliferation inhibition in lung adenocarcinoma treated by carfilzomib (CFZ), a second generation proteasome inhibitor. However, no insight has been gained regarding the mechanism. In this study, we have systematically investigated the CFZ functions in cell proliferation and growth, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma cells. Flow cytometry experiments showed that CFZ significantly induced G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma. MTS and colony formation assays revealed that CFZ substantially inhibited survival of lung adenocarcinoma cells. All results were consistently correlated to the upregulation expression of Gadd45a, which is an important gene in modulating cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in response to physiologic and environmental stresses. Here, upregulation of Gadd45a expression was observed after CFZ treatment. Knocking down Gadd45a expression suppressed G2/M arrest and apoptosis in CFZ-treated cells, and reduced cytotoxicity of this drug. The protein expression analysis has further identified that the AKT/FOXO3a pathway is involved in Gadd45a upregulation after CFZ treatment. These findings unveil a novel mechanism of proteasome inhibitor in anti-solid tumor activity, and shed light on novel preferable therapeutic strategy for lung adenocarcinoma. We believe that Gadd45a expression can be a highly promising candidate predictor in evaluating the efficacy of proteasome inhibitors in solid tumor therapy.
Adenocarcinoma of Lung/pathology* ; Apoptosis/drug effects* ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints/drug effects* ; Cell Cycle Proteins/genetics* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Forkhead Box Protein O3/physiology* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects* ; Humans ; Lung Neoplasms/pathology* ; Oligopeptides/pharmacology* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/physiology* ; Up-Regulation

OBJECTIVETo construct COL1A1-targeted short hairpin RNA (shRNA) vector with pSilencer 4.1-CMV neo siRNA expression vector and to evaluate its effect on proliferation and migration of gastric cancer BGC-823 cells in vitro.

METHODSThree COL1A1-shRNA plasmids (COL1A1-shRNA-1, COL1A1-shRNA-2, COL1A1-shRNA-3), targeting different sites of COL1A1 gene, were constructed using pSilencer 4.1-CMV neo siRNA expression vector and transfected into gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Real time quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect expression levels of COL1A1. MTT and Transwell migration assays were employed to evaluate the effects of COL1A1 gene silence on cell proliferation and migration.

RESULTThree recombinant plasmids targeting COL1A1 were constructed successfully. The expressions of COL1A1 in BGC-823 cells, including mRNA and protein levels, were significantly inhibited by the COL1A1-shRNA transfectants, which resulted in a clear reduction of cell proliferation and migration capacity.

CONCLUSIONThe COL1A1-shRNA can effectively knock down gene expression and inhibit proliferation and migration of gastric cancer BGC-823 cells.

Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; Collagen Type I ; genetics ; metabolism ; Genetic Vectors ; Humans ; Plasmids ; genetics ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; RNA, Small Interfering ; genetics ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology ; Transfection ; Transformation, Bacterial

Background: The detection of glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) autoantibodies is essential for the prediction and diagnosis of latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). The aim of the current study was to compare a newly developed electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-GAD65 antibody assay with the established radiobinding assay, and to explore whether the new assay could be used to define LADA more precisely. Methods: Serum samples were harvested from 141 patients with LADA, 95 with type 1 diabetes mellitus, and 99 with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and tested for GAD65 autoantibodies using both the radiobinding assay and ECL assay. A glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA) competition assay was also performed to assess antibody affinity. Furthermore, the clinical features of these patients were compared. Results: Eighty-eight out of 141 serum samples (62.4%) from LADA patients were GAD65 antibody-positive by ECL assay. Compared with ECL-GAD65 antibody-negative patients, ECL-GAD65 antibody-positive patients were leaner (P<0.0001), had poorer β-cell function (P<0.05), and were more likely to have other diabetes-associated autoantibodies. The β-cell function of ECLGAD65 antibody-positive patients was similar to that of type 1 diabetes mellitus patients, whereas ECL-GAD65 antibody-negative patients were more similar to type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Conclusion Patients with ECL-GAD65 antibody-negative share a similar phenotype with type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, whereas patients with ECL-GAD65 antibody-positive resemble those with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Thus, the detection of GADA using ECL may help to identify the subtype of LADA.

OBJECTIVETo observe the effects of combined beta(1) adrenergic receptor (AR) antagonist with beta(2)AR agonist therapy on cardiac function and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in heart failure rats.

METHODSHeart failure was induced by isoproterenol and rats were randomly divided into metoprolol group (50 mg/kg twice daily/gavage, n = 11), combined treatment group (fenoterol 125 microg/kg and metoprolol 50 mg/kg twice daily/gavage, n = 11) and placebo group (saline, n = 10), another normal 9 male Wistar rats served as control group. After 8 weeks' treatment, cardiac function, apoptosis index (AI), Caspase-3 activity, expression levels of bcl-2 and bax protein, organ weight/body weight and collagen volume fraction (CVF) were evaluated.

RESULTS(1) Left ventricular end diastolic dimension, left ventricular end systolic dimension and E/A ratio were significantly increased and fractional shortening, ejection fraction significantly reduced post isoproterenol (all P < 0.05 vs. control) and these changes were significantly attenuated by metoprolol alone (all P < 0.05 vs. placebo) and further attenuated by the metoprolol and fenoterol combination therapy (all P < 0.05 vs. placebo and metoprolol). (2) Left ventricular weight to body weight ratio, lung weight to body weight ratio and CVF were also significantly reduced in metoprolol and combined treatment group than those in placebo group (all P < 0.01). (3) Compared with placebo group, AI and Caspase-3 activity were significantly lower in metoprolol group (all P < 0.01 vs. placebo) and further reduced in combined treatment group (all P < 0.01 vs. metoprolol). (4) The expression level of bax protein was significantly lower in metoprolol group while bcl-2/bax significantly higher than those in placebo group. These changes were more significant in combined treatment group (all P < 0.01 vs. metoprolol).

CONCLUSIONSbeta(1)AR antagonist in combination with beta(2)AR agonist further improved the cardiac function and prevented cardiac remodeling compared with using beta(1)AR antagonist alone in heart failure rats. Downregulated bax and upregulated bcl-2/bax expressions might contribute to the observed beneficial therapy effects by reducing cardiomyocyte apoptosis in these animals.

Adrenergic beta-1 Receptor Antagonists ; Adrenergic beta-2 Receptor Agonists ; Adrenergic beta-Agonists ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Adrenergic beta-Antagonists ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Animals ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Male ; Myocytes, Cardiac ; cytology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Ventricular Remodeling