MAGED4B belongs to the melanoma-associated antigen family; originally found in melanoma, it is expressed in various types of cancer, and is especially enriched in glioblastoma. However, the functional role and molecular mechanisms of MAGED4B in glioma are still unclear. In this study, we found that the MAGED4B level was higher in glioma tissue than that in non-cancer tissue, and the level was positively correlated with glioma grade, tumor diameter, Ki-67 level, and patient age. The patients with higher levels had a worse prognosis than those with lower MAGED4B levels. In glioma cells, MAGED4B overexpression promoted proliferation, invasion, and migration, as well as decreasing apoptosis and the chemosensitivity to cisplatin and temozolomide. On the contrary, MAGED4B knockdown in glioma cells inhibited proliferation, invasion, and migration, as well as increasing apoptosis and the chemosensitivity to cisplatin and temozolomide. MAGED4B knockdown also inhibited the growth of gliomas implanted into the rat brain. The interaction between MAGED4B and tripartite motif-containing 27 (TRIM27) in glioma cells was detected by co-immunoprecipitation assay, which showed that MAGED4B was co-localized with TRIM27. In addition, MAGED4B overexpression down-regulated the TRIM27 protein level, and this was blocked by carbobenzoxyl-L-leucyl-L-leucyl-L-leucine (MG132), an inhibitor of the proteasome. On the contrary, MAGED4B knockdown up-regulated the TRIM27 level. Furthermore, MAGED4B overexpression increased TRIM27 ubiquitination in the presence of MG132. Accordingly, MAGED4B down-regulated the protein levels of genes downstream of ubiquitin-specific protease 7 (USP7) involved in the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α)-induced apoptotic pathway. These findings indicate that MAGED4B promotes glioma growth via a TRIM27/USP7/receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIP1)-dependent TNF-α-induced apoptotic pathway, which suggests that MAGED4B is a potential target for glioma diagnosis and treatment.
Humans ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism* ; Ubiquitin-Specific Peptidase 7 ; Cisplatin ; Temozolomide ; Transcription Factors ; Glioma ; Cell Proliferation ; Melanoma ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Apoptosis ; Nuclear Proteins/genetics*

BACKGROUND: Glutamine synthetase (GS) and arginase 1 (Arg1) are widely used pathological markers that discriminate hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; however, their clinical significance in HCC remains unclear. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 431 HCC patients: 251 received hepatectomy alone, and the other 180 received sorafenib as adjuvant treatment after hepatectomy. Expression of GS and Arg1 in tumor specimens was evaluated using immunostaining. mRNA sequencing and immunostaining to detect progenitor markers (cytokeratin 19 [CK19] and epithelial cell adhesion molecule [EpCAM]) and mutant TP53 were also conducted. RESULTS: Up to 72.4% (312/431) of HCC tumors were GS positive (GS+). Of the patients receiving hepatectomy alone, GS negative (GS-) patients had significantly better overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) than GS+ patients; negative expression of Arg1, which is exclusively expressed in GS- hepatocytes in the healthy liver, had a negative effect on prognosis. Of the patients with a high risk of recurrence who received additional sorafenib treatment, GS- patients tended to have better RFS than GS+ patients, regardless of the expression status of Arg1. GS+ HCC tumors exhibit many features of the established proliferation molecular stratification subtype, including poor differentiation, high alpha-fetoprotein levels, increased progenitor tumor cells, TP53 mutation, and upregulation of multiple tumor-related signaling pathways. CONCLUSIONS GS- HCC patients have a better prognosis and are more likely to benefit from sorafenib treatment after hepatectomy. Immunostaining of GS may provide a simple and applicable approach for HCC molecular stratification to predict prognosis and guide targeted therapy.
Humans ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/metabolism* ; Sorafenib/therapeutic use* ; Liver Neoplasms/metabolism* ; Glutamate-Ammonia Ligase/metabolism* ; Hepatectomy ; Retrospective Studies ; Prognosis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/surgery*

The mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) has been recently identified as a neurotrophic factor, but its role in hepatic fibrosis is unknown. Here, we found that MANF was upregulated in the fibrotic liver tissues of the patients with chronic liver diseases and of mice treated with CCl₄. MANF deficiency in either hepatocytes or hepatic mono-macrophages, particularly in hepatic mono-macrophages, clearly exacerbated hepatic fibrosis. Myeloid-specific MANF knockout increased the population of hepatic Ly6C^high macrophages and promoted HSCs activation. Furthermore, MANF-sufficient macrophages (from WT mice) transfusion ameliorated CCl₄-induced hepatic fibrosis in myeloid cells-specific MANF knockout (MKO) mice. Mechanistically, MANF interacted with S100A8 to competitively block S100A8/A9 heterodimer formation and inhibited S100A8/A9-mediated TLR4-NF-κB signal activation. Pharmacologically, systemic administration of recombinant human MANF significantly alleviated CCl₄-induced hepatic fibrosis in both WT and hepatocytes-specific MANF knockout (HKO) mice. This study reveals a mechanism by which MANF targets S100A8/A9-TLR4 as a "brake" on the upstream of NF-κB pathway, which exerts an impact on macrophage differentiation and shed light on hepatic fibrosis treatment.

Objective To evaluate the effect of case-PBL method and case-PBL method combined with SPSS software on the teaching of medical statistics for medical undergraduates. Methods Students from two classes major in experimental medicine from Nantong University Xingling College were selected as Experimental Class 1 ( using case-PBL teaching ) and Experimental Class 2 ( using case-PBL teaching combined with SPSS software). Each class attended lessons for five times. The teachers would send cases for each lesson one week in advance, and students would form into groups to access information, learn and discuss independently. Representatives from groups spoke in class, members would complement and discuss, while teachers offered guidance, review, analysis and summary. We shortened the discussion time in the class, and added instructions on the operation steps of SPSS software for case analysis and how to interpret the analysis result correctly in Experiment Class 2 . The Control Class received traditional teaching . Questionnaires, process assessment and final assessment were used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. SPSS 21.0 software was used to implement variance analysis and chi-square test for comparison between groups. Results The scores of the two experimental classes were higher than those of the control class in the five process assessments ( P<0 . 05 ) . Experimental Class 2 was the best in three section process assessments including those of t-test, the rank sum test and the straight-line correlation (P<0.05). However, there was no difference in the theoretical test scores among the three classes (P=0.670). 94％-100％of the students in the two experimental classes believed that the teaching effects of the case-PBL method and case-PBL method combined with SPSS software were better than the traditional teaching method (P<0.05) in such areas as stimulating interest in learning, improving learning efficiency, etc. Students in Experimental Class 2 were more prone to think these methods improved teaching effect. Conclusion The case-PBL teaching combined with the application of SPSS software will further help students to systematically grasp the statistical knowledge and cultivate statistical practice ability . However , neither methods will improve students' theoretical test scores.

Purpose To investigate the expression of RNF2 in breast disease tissues and cell lines,and to analyze the association between expression of RNF2 and clinicopathological characteristics in breast carcinoma.Methods Expression of RNF2 protein and mRNA levels was detected using immunohistochemistry of EnVision two-step and qRT-PCR in breast carcinoma and benign breast disease as well as in cell lines.Results RNF2 expression was sigmificantly higher in breast carcinoma tissue specimens compared with benign breast disease specimens (P ＜0.05).Besides,the expression of RNF2 protein was significantly associated to tumor size,lymph node status and TNM stage (P ＜ 0.05 for both),but was not related to age,histological grade,the expression of ER,PR and HER-2 (P ＞ 0.05 for both).Higher expression of RNF2 mRNA was detected in breast carcinoma cell lines compared with breast epithelial cell lines (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion RNF2 is overexpressed in breast carcinoma and can be a potential therapeutic target for breast carcinoma.

Objective To investigate protective effects of dexmedetomidine on oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion(OGD/R)-induced neuronal apoptosis.Methods SH-SY5Y cells were differentiated to neurons with ATRA and followed by TPA.According to the results of preliminary experiment, OGD/R modle was constructed by oxygen-glucose deprivation(OGD) for 12 h and reperfusion(R) for another 12 h.During the start of the OGD, neurons were immediately divided into six groups: group D0(0 μmol/L dexmedetomidine), group D1(0.1 μmol/L dexmedetomidine), group D2 (1 μmol/L dexmedetomidine), group D3 (10 μmol/L dexmedetomidine), group D4(100 μmol/L dexmedetomidine), group D5 (1 000 μmol/L dexmedetomidine).After reperfusion 12 h, the cell viability was evaluated by the method of MTT.The cellular apoptosis was observed by flow cytometry method.The protective effects of different concentration dexmedetomidine on OGD/R-induced neuronal apoptosis were investigated.Then in chosen the exact group having protective effects, endoplasmic reticulum stress specific protein mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) and pro-apoptotic protein Caspase-3 and CHOP were detected by Westernblot method.Results Compared with group D0, there was no difference on the cell viability and cellular apoptosis induced by OGD/R in groups D1 and D2, but a significant decrease and increase in groups D4 and D5 (P<0.01 or P<0.05).And only group D3 had a neuroprotective effect, significantly increased the cell viability and inhibited the apoptosis (P<0.01).Further studys found that group D3 significantly up-regulated ER stress specific protein MANF (P<0.01) and inhibited up-regulation of Caspase-3 and CHOP (P<0.01).Conclusion These data suggest that 10 μmol/L dexmedetomidine had neuroprotective effect on OGD/R-induced neuronal apoptosis and significantly increased cell viability.Our results also indicate that up-regulation of ER stress specific protein MANF and inhibition of CHOP and Caspase-3 by MANF are involved in the neuroprotective effects of Dexmedetomidine.

Aim To observe the effects of rapamycin (Rapa) and starvation-induced autophagy on the morphology of neuronal cells, tau protein aggregation and expression of phosphorylated tau protein, to explore the possible mechanism of cytoprotective effect of these two classical autophagy inducers on phosphorylated tau expressing cells.Methods N2a cells were transfected with GFP-tau plasmid, and equal amount of empty vector was used as control.Then cells were incubated with or without okadaic acid(OA) for 12 h, followed by treatment with autophagy inducers rapamycin(Rapa) and EBSS, autophagy inhibitor Bafilomycin A1(Baf A1) for 6 h.DAB was used to observe tau expression and cell morphology.Confocal microscopy was used to observe the intracellular tau aggregation.TUNEL assay and cleaved caspase-3 level were used to detect cell apoptosis.Immunoblot was used to detect the expression of phosphorylated tau and autophagy-related proteins.Results Our study showed that the N2a cells treated with OA exhibited small cell body, retracted processes and increased tau aggregation, compared with only tau-expressing cells.Rapa and EBSS treatment significantly improved cell morphology, decreased tau aggregation and reduced cell apoptosis.On the contrary, Baf A1 treatment induced aberrant cell shape and increased tau aggregation and cell apoptosis.In addition, Rapa significantly decreased the high molecular weight, phosphorylated tau whereas EBSS especially decreased the low molecular weight phosphorylated tau.Conclusions Rapa and EBSS is alleviate hyperphosphorylated tau-induced cytotoxicity through different mechanism.Rapamycin mainly decreases phosphorylated tau oligomers, while EBSS liable to decrease the soluble phosphorylated tau.

Objective To evaluate the effect of propofol on autophagy during oxygen-glucose deprivation and restoration (OGD/R) in human liver cells.Methods Human hepatic HL-7702 cells at the logarithmic growth phase were seeded into culture plates and randomly divided into 3 groups (n =12 each) using a random number table:control group (group C),OGD/R group,and propofol + OGD/R group (group P+OGD/R).The cells were cultured in normal culture medium in group C.In OGD/R and P+OGD/R groups,the cells were subjected to O2-glucose deprivation for 6 h followed by restoration of O2-glucose supply for 12 h.Propofol with a final concentration of 50 mmol/L was added at 10 min before oxygen-glucose deprivation.The cell viability was detected by MTT assay.The expression of autophagy-related proteins such as microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) and Beclin-1 was evaluated by Western blot.Immunofluorescence was used to determine the number and distribution of autophagosomes.Results Compared with group C,the cell viability was significantly decreased,the expression of LC3 and Beclin-1 was significantly up-regulated (P＜0.05),and the number of autophagosomes was significantly increased in OGD/R and P+OGD/R groups.Compared with group OGD/R,the cell viability was significantly increased,the expression of LC3 and Beclin-1 was significantly down-regulated (P＜0.05),and the number of autophagosomes was significantly decreased in group P+OGD/R.Conclusion The mechanism by which propofol reduces OGD/R injury is probably related to inhibition of autophagy in human liver cells.

Objective To investigate the effects of phosphocreatine postconditioning on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion(IR)injury in rats.Methods Thirty-six SD rats were randomly divided into three groups:groups Sham,IR (treated with normal saline)and PCr.IR was induced by intraluminal middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).All treatments were given intravenously at the begining of reperfusion.Twenty-four hours after the reperfusion, neurological deficit score and magnetic resonance scan were performed.serum concentrations of malonaldehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal,cere-bral infarct volume and destruction of cerebral cortex were estimated.Neuronal apoptosis was further assessed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescent staining of caspase-3 and NeuN. Results Compared with group IR,phosphocreatine significantly decreased neurological deficit score, infarct volume,malonaldehyde and 4-hydroxynonenal levels(P < 0.05 ).Cortex structure was more complete,as well as neuronal apoptotic index was smaller in group PCr (P <0.05).Conclusion PCr can reduce cerebral infarct volume,thereby promote neurofunctional recovery.The mechanism of Pcr is related to reduced oxidative stress and inhibitted apopotosis during IR.

Objective To observe the diagnostic value of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (hs-CRP/ALB) in early-onset infection in premature and its clinical significance. Methods Clinical data of premature patients with high risk factors of intrauterine infection admitted to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Liaocheng People's Hospital in Shandong Province from July 2013 to July 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. They were divided into infection and non-infection groups, as well as survival and death groups according to the outcome of the premature babies. The pre-albumin (PA), ALB, white blood cell count (WBC), platelet count (PLT), and hs-CRP at the moment of NICU admission (0 hour) and 24, 48 and 72 hours after NICU admission were compared. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted for evaluation of the predictive value of serum hs-CRP/ALB ratio for the babies during hospitalization. Results A total of 214 cases of premature infants were enrolled, with 102 cases in infection group, and 112 in non-infection group. In infection neonates, 97 of them survived, and 5 died. ① The level of hs-CRP after NICU admission was increased in infection and non-infection groups, and it was significantly higher at 48 hours in infection group than that of the non-infection group [mg/L: 22.0 (7.6, 40.4) vs. 18.3 (12.9, 23.4),Z = 5.257, P = 0.038]. Then hs-CRP was decreased in non-infection, but it was persistently increased in infection group, and it was significantly higher at 72 hours in infection group than that of the non-infection group [mg/L: 25.5 (9.8, 43.5) vs. 12.2 (1.9, 22.1), Z = 5.879, P = 0.042]. The levels of ALB and WBC in infection group was significantly lower than those of the non-infection group [ALB (g/L): 27.9±2.7 vs. 29.1±2.9, t = 5.178, P = 0.026; WBC (×109/L): 13.7±7.1 vs. 16.1±7.9, t = 4.368, P = 0.037], and at 48 hours hs-CRP/ALB in infection group was significantly higher than that of non-infection group [0.16 (0.08, 0.57) vs. 0.07 (0.00, 0.23), Z = 3.436, P = 0.042]. There was no significant difference in PA and PLT between infection and non-infection groups. ② In premature patients with infection, ALB in non-survival group was decreased (g/L: 20.4±6.9 vs. 29.6±7.5, t = 7.859, P = 0.003), and 48-hour hs-CRP and hs-CRP/ALB ratio was significantly increased when compared with that of survival group [hs-CRP (mg/L): 25.8 (15.6, 54.8) vs. 18.2 (12.9, 36.2), Z = 4.067, P = 0.043; hs-CRP/ALB: 0.31 (0.28, 0.76) vs. 0.06 (0.00, 0.21), Z = 6.102, P = 0.011].③ It was shown by ROC curve analysis that the area under ROC curve (AUC) of 48-hour hs-CRP/ALB ratio for evaluating infection was 0.765, when the cut-off of 48-hour hs-CRP/ALB ratio was 0.08, the sensitivity was 84.2%, and the specificity was 76.3%. Conclusions The values of hs-CRP and ALB can be used as effective indexes in early diagnosis of intrauterine bacterial infection, and increase in 48-hour hs-CRP/ALB can improve the sensitivity of the diagnosis. Hs-CRP/ALB can be combined to guide rational use of antibiotics.