PURPOSE: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of pseudolaric acid B (PAB) on proliferation, invasion and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic cancer cells and to explore the possible mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990 was cultured and treated with PAB dose- and time-dependent manners. Cell proliferation and invasion ability were measured by MTT assay and Matrigel/Transwell test, respectively. Semi-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting were conducted to detect the expression of EMT markers and the key molecules. Finally, nude mice subcutaneous transplantation tumor model was used to confirm the therapy efficacy of PAB. RESULTS: PAB could inhibit SW1990 cell proliferation and invasion in time- and dose-dependent manners. Vimentin, fibronectin, N-cadherin, Snail, Slug, YAP, TEAD1, and Survivin were down-regulated (p < 0.01), while E-cadherin, caspase-9, MST1, and pYAP were up-regulated (p < 0.05). Combined PAB and gemcitabine treatment markedly restricted the tumor growth compared with gencitabin or PAB alone groups. CONCLUSION: PAB could inhibit the proliferation and invasion ability of pancreatic cancer cells through activating Hippo-YAP pathway and inhibiting the process of EMT.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use ; Biomarkers, Tumor/metabolism ; Cadherins ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects ; Cytokines ; Deoxycytidine/analogs & derivatives ; Deoxycytidine/pharmacology ; Deoxycytidine/therapeutic use ; Diterpenes/pharmacology ; Diterpenes/therapeutic use ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/drug effects ; Female ; Humans ; Mice, Nude ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/diet therapy ; Pancreatic Neoplasms/pathology ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Signal Transduction/drug effects ; Vimentin/metabolism

Objective:Clamping bilateral renal arteries with refined surgical methods to establish the rat renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (RIRI) model, and study the protective mechanism of ischemic preconditioning renal (IPC) tubular cell-derived exosomes in RIRI.Methods:25 female Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were divided into sham group, model group, inactivated group, normoxic group, IPC group. In the sham operation group, after bilateral renal arteries were dissociated, the back incision was disinfected and closed. The model group established RIRI model; RIRI models were established in inactivated group, normoxia group and IPC group, and then 200 μg of inactivated exosomes, normal exosomes and IPC exosomes were injected into the caudal vein 24 hours after operation. Serum creatinine (Scr) and urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were detected. The pathological changes of renal tissue were observed under light microscope. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to observe the shape and size of renal tubular exosomes. Nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA)was used to detect the concentration and size of renal tubular exosomes.Results:Compared with the sham group, the Scr and BUN levels in the model group were significantly elevated ( P<0.01). Renal pathological changes in the model group showed damaged of the tubular structure, necrosis and shedding of tubular epithelial cells, and a large number of inflammatory cells accumulated in the renal interstitial tissue with varying degrees of edema. Compared with the inactivated group, the Scr and BUN levels significantly decreased in the normoxic group and IPC group ( P<0.01). Renal pathological changes in the normoxic group and IPC group showed that the renal tubular cell necrosis alleviated, inflammatory was reduced, the improved edema. Compared with the normoxic group, the Scr and BUN levels in the IPC group were further reduced ( P<0.01). Renal pathological changes in the IPC group showed that the inflammatory cells were significantly reduced, the cell edema was significantly improved, and the cell apoptosis was significantly reduced. Conclusions:Clamping bilateral renal arteries with refined surgical methods is the main and optimal way to build a rat model of RIRI. IPC tubular cell-derived exosomes have protective and repair effects on RIRI.

The prevalence of periodontal disease in Chinese population is more than 90％.The present treatment techniques can only control the development of the disease,inducement of bone tissue regeneration is a promising strategy and a challenge for the treatment.Exosomes are multivesicle structures derived from endosomes.More and more studies have been conducted on their application in perio-dontal regeneration.This paper reviews the application of exosome in periodontal regeneration in recent years,which is expected to pro-vide new idea for periodontal regeneration therapy.

ObjectiveLipopolysaccharide （LPS）-induced zebrafish inflammation model was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of different extracts from Lianggesan （LGS） and its component Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma. MethodDifferent polar fractions of LGS and Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma were obtained by the principle of similar miscibility. For toxicity observation， the zebrafish （3 day-post-fertilization） was exposed to different concentrations of extracts for 24， 48 and 72 h. The yolk sac of the zebrafish was microinjected with 0.5 g·L^-1 LPS to establish the inflammation model， and then the embryos were soaked with different concentrations of extracts to observe their survival status at 72 h and the aggregation of neutrophils in yolk sac at 12 h after treatment. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to analyze the yolk sac of the zebrafish microinjected with LPS. Quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction （Real-time PCR） was performed to further investigate the anti-inflammatory effects and mechanisms of LGS and Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma. ResultThe toxicity of LGS and Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma was decreased with the increase of polarity， and the descending order was petroleum ether>ethyl acetate>n-butanol>water. Compared with model group， the extracts from different fractions of LGS and Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma prolonged the survival time of the zebrafish， and inhibited the recruitment and aggregation of neutrophils and decreased the infiltration of inflammatory cells in the yolk sac， among which the water fraction of LGS and the ethyl acetate fraction of Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma had the most significant effect （P<0.01）. In addition， compared with model group， the water fraction of LGS and the ethyl acetate fraction of Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma down-regulated the mRNA expression of interleukin-6 （IL-6） and tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， and suppressed the expression of toll like receptor 4 （TLR4） and nuclear factor kappa-B （NF-κB） in LPS-stimulated zebrafish （P<0.01）. ConclusionThe extracts from different fractions of LGS and Glycyrrhiza Radix et Rhizoma exerted protective effects in LPS-induced zebrafish by inhibiting the TLR4 and NF-κB signaling pathways. Moreover， in zebrafish model， the method of administration by soaking was applicable to the high-throughput screening of anti-inflammatory Chinese medicine， which was suitable for the evaluation of anti-LPS activity of Chinese medicine and the different extracts.

Acute lung injury (ALI), as a common clinical emergency, is pulmonary edema and diffuse lung infiltration caused by inflammation. The lack of non-invasive alert strategy, resulting in failure to carry out preventive treatment, means high mortality and poor prognosis. Stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a key molecular biomarker of innate immunity in response to inflammation, but there is still a lack of STING-targeted strategy. In this study, a novel STING-targeted PET tracer, [¹⁸F]FBTA, was labeled with high radiochemical yield (79.7 ± 4.3%) and molar activity (32.5 ± 2.9 GBq/μmol). We confirmed that [¹⁸F]FBTA has a strong STING binding affinity (K_d = 26.86 ± 6.79 nmol/L) and can be used for PET imaging in ALI mice to alert early lung inflammation and to assess the efficacy of drug therapy. Our STING-targeted strategy also reveals that [¹⁸F]FBTA can trace ALI before reaching the computed tomography (CT) diagnostic criteria, and demonstrates its better specificity and distribution than [¹⁸F]fluorodeoxyglucose ([¹⁸F]FDG).