Background and purpose:Gemcitabine-based chemotherapy has been shown to have signiifcant activity and favourable safety in metastatic breast cancer patients, but the effectiveness is limited due to drug resistance. MicroRNAs are a family of small non-coding RNA molecules, acting as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Although various mechanisms of chemoresistance have been uncovered, the aberrant microRNA expression and its relationship with drug resistance of breast cancer are still unclear. This study explored the potential role and underlying mechanism of microRNA-21 in gemcitabine resistant breast cancer. Methods:MDA-MB-231 cells were continuously exposed to the increasing concentrations of gemcitabine to induce drug resistance to gemcitabine, which was 10 times more resis-tant. Then multiple methods were used including real-time PCR (RT-PCR), CCK-8, Western blot, transfection, wound healing and Transwell assay to observe the effect of microRNA-21 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and chemosensitivity. Results:The expression of microRNA-21 was up-regulated in gemcitabine resistant breast cancer cell line and inversely correlated with gemcitabine sensitivity. Manipulation of microRNA-21 status could change microR-NA-21 level, and could result in corresponding changes in EMT status and drug sensitivity. Conclusion:MicroRNA-21 induces gemcitabine resistance possibly via EMT process in breast cancer.

Objective To investigate the effects of bisoprolol combined with rosuvastatin on endothelial function and inflammation in patients with coronary slow flow (CSF). Methods Ninety CSF patients treated from August 2014 to October 2015 were randomly divided into control group, statin group and combined group, thirty cases in each group. The control group was given conventional therapy (aspirin 100 mg/d and isosorbide mononitrate 60 mg/d), statin group was given rosuvastatin 10 mg/d on the basic of control group, while the combined group was given bisoprolol 5 mg/d on the basic therapy of statin group. The serum concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), endothelin-1(ET-1), high-sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were detected before treatment and 8 weeks after treatment. The improvement of patients with angina pectoris was evaluated. Results After eight-week treatment, the NO levels were significantly increased in combined group and statin group, while the ET-1, hs-CRP and IL-6 levels were significantly decreased than those before the treatment (P<0.05). At the same time, comparing with the statin group and control group, the NO level was increased in combined group (P<0.05), while the ET-1, hs-CRP, and IL-6 levels decreased significantly (P<0.05). There were significant differences in the effective rates between the combined group (90.0%) and the statin group (83.3%), which were higher than those in control group (56.7%). Conclusion Bisoprolol combined with rosuvastatin can improve the endothelial function and anti-inflammatory in the treatment of CSF.

Objective:To study the effect of alum on immune response in mice induced by HBoV1 VP2 VLPs.Methods:BABL/c mice were randomly divided into VLPs experimental group, alum adjuvant experimental group, PBS control group and alum adjuvant control group,the experimental group mice were intramuscular immunization with HBoV1 VP2 VLPs and HBoV1 VP2 VLPs added alum,control group mice were immunization with alum or PBS buffer,then to study the effect of alum on immune response in mice induced by HBoV1 VP2 VLPs by cellular and humoral immune strength.Results: Alum adjuvant decreased cellular immune response induced by HBoV1 VP2 VLPs(P<0.001),enhance the HBoV1 VP2 VLPs immuned serum IgG titer(P<0.05)and IgG activity(P<0.01).Conclusion:Alum adjuvant can enhance humoral immune response induced by HBoV1 VP2 VLPs,but weaken cellular immune response induced by HBoV1 VP2 VLPs,when HBoV1 VP2 VLPs used as a prophylactic vaccine it should add alum adjuvant,when used as a therapeutic vaccine,it should not add alum adjuvant.

BACKGROUND: RT-Q medical biomembrane, the novel copolymer synthesized from lactic acid and hyaluronic acid, not only possesses the advantages of hyaluronic acid, such as multiple biological functions, excellent flexibility and biocompatibility, but also has the merits of polylactic acid fragments to be easily processed and transformed to membrane when encountering water. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hemostatic effect of RT-Q medical biomembrane in rat external jugular vein hemorrhage model, and to evaluate its histocompatibility by locally applying it to rat muscle. DESIGN: Randomized controlled animal trial.SETTING: Department of Pharmacology, Department of Pharmacognosy, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University.MATERIALS: 130 male Wistar rats aged 6 weeks, weighing 170-210 g, were selected. Eighty rats were used for evaluation of hemostatic effect, and the other fifty were used in biocompatibility experiment. Animal intervention met the animal ethical standard. RT-Q aerosol composed of DL-lactic acid and hyaluronic acid, α-cyanoacrylate, acetone (solvent), freon (propellant) and excipient aerosol composed of acetone and freon (propellant) (Batch number 20050311) were provided by Department of Pharmaceutics, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University.α-cyanoacrylate medical adhesive(SUNCON medical adhesive) (Batch number 20050930) was produced by Beijing Suncon Medical Adhesive Science and Technology Development Co., Ltd. METHODS: Haemostatic effect: Eighty male rats were randomly divided into four groups, served as RT-Q, SUNCON (positive control), excipient group and non-treatment group (negative control), twenty in each group. After anesthesia was induced, external jugular vein of rats was exposed, and an approximately 0.6 cm incision was made to create hemorrhage. The bleeding areas were blotted by antiseptic gauze. After removing the gauze, the bleeding surfaces were immediately treated with RT-Q aerosol in the RT-Q group, excipient aerosol in the excipient group, 0.15 mL SUNCON medical adhesive in the SUNCON group, or no agent in non-treatment group, respectively. Then, injury surfaces were covered by gauze. In the non-treatment group, bleeding was left to naturally stop. Bleeding time and blood loss (gauze weight after hemostasia - that before hemostasia) were determined. Local histocompatibility: Rats were divided into A and B groups. Incision was made in rat post-leg muscle after anesthesia was induced. Left bleeding surfaces were treated with excipient aerosol, and right bleeding surfaces were treated with RT-Q aerosol in group A (n=30). The same incision as the group A was made, but no intervention was performed in the group B (n=20). Tissues were possessed and HE-stained for pathological observation under light microscope at days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15, 23, 30 after the surgery. Effect of biomembrane on wound healing, degradation and toxicity to tissues surrounding injuries were observed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Bleeding time and blood loss in hemostatic experiment; wound healing, biodegradation and toxicity to tissues surrounding injuries in local histocompatibility experiment. RESULTS: 130 rats were involved in the result analysis. Histopathologic examination showed RT-Q membrane had no effect of promoting or delaying wound healing. Membrane formed by RT-Q aerosol began to degrade on the 15th day, absorbed completely during 3-4 weeks, and had no toxicity to surrounding tissues. Bleeding time and blood loss were reduced in the RT-Q group than in the non-treatment group and the excipient group (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the RT-Q group and the SUNCON group (P > 0.05).CONCLUSION: RT-Q medical biomembrane as α-cyanoacrylate medical adhesive has significant hemostatic effects on topical bleeding, and possesses good histocompatibility.

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that chitosan can inhibit scar formation and promote wound healing. Medical invisible antimicrobial film is a new type of membrane materials which comprises chitosan as ground substance.OBJECTIVE: To determine the inhibitory effects of medical invisible antimicrobial film on the operative incision scar, and to observe its effects on wound healing.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A controlled animal study was conducted at the IVC Experimental Animal Room, West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University from August to October 2007.MATERIALS: Medical invisible antimicrobial film stock solution was colorless transparent sticking solution, which formed colorless transparent film following spray painting (specification: 40 mL), provided by Chengdu Chaojl Technology Co., Ltd. (lot number 070501).METHODS: A total of 16 healthy Sprague Dawley rats aged 20 to 23 days were selected. Full linear skin incisions were operated in aseptic condition. After operation, the experimental group (right side) was sprayed medical invisible antimicrobial film 0.5 mL/time, once a day, for totally 3 days. The control group (left side) received an equal volume of 0.9% sodium chloride injection, with natural cure.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: At 3, 7 and 14 days following surgery, incision skin specimens were obtained, and subjected to hematoxylin-eosin staining and Masson staining was applied to observe wound healing and the formation of scar, then the scar area was analyzed.RESULTS: The scar relative mean area of control group was 154 069±51 356 and the experimental group was 98 200±34 719 on the postoperative 14~(th) day. The two groups were significantly different (P < 0.05). At 14 days following surgery, optical microscope showed that the experiment group had less collagen fibers and fibroblast accumulation. At 3 days, compared with the control group, the experimental group had less epithelization period, more granulation tissue and less inflammatory cell infiltration.CONCLUSION: The medical invisible antimicrobial film has inhibitory effect of the formation of operative incision scar, and no influence on wound healing of operative incision.

Objective To investigate the effectiveness of ultrasound in evaluating the degree of xerostomia in the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ( NPC) receiving intensity?modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Methods A total of 30 NPC patients who were admitted to our hospital from May 2013 to December 2014 were enrolled in this study. The degree of xerostomia in these NPC patients was scored according to the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group scoring criteria. Color Doppler ultrasound was used to measure the peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland and submandibular gland and the changes in vascular diameter of the parotid gland in the NPC patients before, during, and after IMRT. The correlation between each parameter and the degree of xerostomia was determined by analysis of variance. Results In the 28 NPC patients included in the statistical analysis, the degree of xerostomia during IMRT was significantly higher than that before IMRT ( P=0024 ) , and the degree of xerostomia at 3 months after IMRT was significantly lower than that during IMRT ( P=0035) . The peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland and submandibular gland and the proportion of patients with decreases in vascular diameter of the parotid gland during IMRT were significantly higher than those before IMRT ( P=0001 and 0003;P=0001);the above parameters at 3 months after IMRT were significantly lower than those during IMRT ( P=0008 and 0012;P=0001) . During IMRT and after IMRT, the degree of xerostomia was significantly correlated with the peak systolic blood flow velocity of the parotid gland ( r=0563, P=0026;r=0409, P=0031) . Conclusions Ultrasound can be used as a noninvasive detection for the hemodynamic changes in the parotid gland, and it has a certain clinical reference value for evaluating the degree of xerostomia in NPC patients during and after IMRT.

The role of serum and glucocorticoid-induced kinase 1 (SGK1) pathway in the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression was investigated in cultured human mesangial cells (HMCs) under high glucose. By using RT-PCR and Western blot, the effect of SGK1 on the CTGF expression in HMCs under high glucose was examined. Overexpression of active SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-S422D hSGK1 (SD) could increase the expression of phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF as compared with HMCs groups transfected with pIRES2-EGFP (FP) under high glucose or normal glucose. Overexpression of inactive SGK1 in HMCs transfected with pIRES2-EGFP-K127N hSGK1 (KN) could decrease phosphorylated SGK1 and CTGF expression as compared with HMCs groups transfected with FP under high glucose. In conclusion, these results suggest that high glucose-induced CTGF expression is mediated through the active SGK1 in HMCs.
Cells, Cultured ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor/genetics ; Connective Tissue Growth Factor/*metabolism ; Glucose/*pharmacology ; Immediate-Early Proteins/metabolism ; Immediate-Early Proteins/*physiology ; Mesangial Cells/cytology ; Mesangial Cells/*metabolism ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism ; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases/*physiology ; Signal Transduction/drug effects

Objective To identify novel tumor suppressor genes at chromosome 3p24-26 in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods Twenty epithelial-derived expressed sequence tags (EST) were selected from chromosome 3p24-26. RT-PCR and Northern blot were used to detect the expression of the ESTs in NPC cell line, HNE-1, and primary cultures of normal nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. One EST, which was substantially downregulated in the HNE-1 cell line, was detected in 19 NPC biopsy samples, cDNA library screening was used to get its full sequence and the sequence of this novel gene was analyzed.Results A novel gene located at chromosome 3p25.3 was obtained and named NAG-7. It was downregulated in 26.3％ (5/19) of NPC biopsy samples. Its 1677 bp full length cDNA had a potential open reading frame predicting a 94 amino acid protein with a molecular weight of 11023.87 Dalton. Analysis of the NAG-7 gene showed that it was a transmembrane protein containing a protein kinase C phosphorylation site and a myristyl site. It has no significant homology to any reported genes in the database of GenBank. Conclusion NAG-7 is a novel gene downregulated in NPC, suggesting that it may be involved in the development of NPC.

Two kinds of algorithm have been set forth to estimate the symmetry characteristic of live human skull on CT image. These CT images were treated with a series of processes such as coding into programs, formatting originals, binary coding, rectifying image deviation, detecting boundary edge, and quantitatively measuring the skull symmetry. The statistical analyses of measuring 3000 live human skull images have worked out the ratio and the distribution of the skull symmetry, so that dependable data are provided for establishing the human head injury biomechanics model. The results are of great practical value in the fields of anatomy, clinical medicine, biomechanies study, head injury analysis, etc.
Biomechanical Phenomena ; Cephalometry ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Male ; Reference Values ; Skull ; anatomy & histology ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

This study sought to measure accurately the thickness of the frontal, parietal and occipital bones of the alive human skull based on CT images. The images were treated with a series of processes by coding into a program: image segmentation and binary coding; eliminating edge interference; rectifying image deviation and clarifying boundary edge; redrawing the boundary and reference point fixing; and finally thickness measurement. The new method can measure not only the different points in one CT image but also the same point in massive CT images. The measurement results are of great practical value in the fields of anatomy, clinical medicine, biomechanics study, head injury analysis, etc.
Cephalometry ; methods ; Humans ; Radiographic Image Enhancement ; methods ; Skull ; anatomy & histology ; diagnostic imaging ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed