Pre-treatment Metabolic Tumor Volume and Total Lesion Glycolysis are Useful Prognostic Factors for Esophageal Squamous Cell Cancer Patients

Li, Yi-Min,Lin, Qin,Zhao, Long,Wang, Li-Chen,Sun, Long,Dai, Ming-Ming,Luo, Zuo-Ming,Zheng, Hua,Wu, Hua Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.3

Objectives: To study application of the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) with $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT for predicting prognosis of esophageal squamous cell cancer (ESC) patients. Methods: Eighty-six patients with ESC staged from I to IV were prospectively enrolled. Cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or palliative chemoradiotherapy were the main treatment methods and none received surgery. $^{18}F$-FDG PET/CT scans were performed before the treatment. SUVmax, MTV, and TLG were measured for the primary esophageal lesion and regional lymph nodes. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) were generated to calculate the P value of the predictive ability and the optimal threshold. Results: MTV and TLG proved to be good indexes in the prediction of outcome for the ESC patients. An MTV value of 15.6 ml and a TLG value of 183.5 were optimal threshold to predict the overall survival (OS). The areas under the curve (AUC) for MTV and TLG were 0.74 and 0.70, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed an MTV less than 15.6 ml and a TLG less than 183.5 to indicate good media survival time (p value <0.05). In the stage III-IV patient group, MTV could better predict the OS (P < 0.001), with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.80 and 0.67, respectively. Conclusions: Pre-treatment MTV and TLG are useful prognostic factors in nonsurgical ESC.

Tube Voltage, DNA Double-Strand Breaks, and Image Quality in Coronary CT Angiography

Lin Zhu Xiao,Zhou Fan,Schoepf U. Joseph,Pillai Balakrishnan,Zhou Chang Sheng,Quan Wei,Bao Xue Qin,Lu Guang Ming,Zhang Long Jiang 대한영상의학회 2020 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.21 No.8

Objective: To evaluate the effects of tube voltage on image quality in coronary CT angiography (CCTA), the estimated radiation dose, and DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in peripheral blood lymphocytes to optimize the use of CCTA in the era of low radiation doses. Materials and Methods: This study included 240 patients who were divided into 2 groups according to the DNA DSB analysis methods, i.e., immunofluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Each group was subdivided into 4 subgroups: those receiving CCTA only with different tube voltages of 120, 100, 80, or 70 kVp. Objective and subjective image quality was evaluated by analysis of variance. Radiation dosages were also recorded and compared. Results: There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics between the 2 groups and 4 subgroups in each group (all p > 0.05). As tube voltage decreased, both image quality and radiation dose decreased gradually and significantly. After CCTA, γ-H2AX foci and mean fluorescence intensity in the 120-, 100-, 80-, and 70-kVp groups increased by 0.14, 0.09, 0.07, and 0.06 foci per cell and 21.26, 9.13, 8.10, and 7.13 (all p < 0.05), respectively. The increase in the DNA DSB level in the 120-kVp group was higher than those in the other 3 groups (all p < 0.05), while there was no significant difference in the DSBs levels among these latter groups (all p > 0.05). Conclusion: The 100-kVp tube voltage may be optimal for CCTA when weighing DNA DSBs against the estimated radiation dose and image quality, with further reductions in tube voltage being unnecessary for CCTA.

Synthesis and characterization of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers for enrichment of sanguinarine from the extraction wastewater of M. cordata

Ming Zhong,Yan-Hong Wang,Lu Wang,Rui-Qing Long,Chun-Lin Chen 한국공업화학회 2018 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.66 No.-

A novel and efficient pretreatment method is proposed for the enrichment of sanguinarine (SA) from the extraction wastewater of Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br. using magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) as solid phase adsorbent. The obtained MMIPs were synthesized by molecular imprinted technology and were well characterized with TEM, FT-IR, XRD, TGA, and VSM. The adsorption capacity and selectivity of MMIPs were also investigated. The results showed that the obtained MMIPs were core–shell spherical morphologies with an average diameter of 300 nm. The adsorption experiments showed that the MMIPs exhibited an almost three times higher adsorption capacity towards SA (Qmax = 12.24 mg/g) than magnetic molecularly non-imprinted polymers (MNIPs) (Qmax = 4.15 mg/g). The calculated parameters of adsorption isotherms and kinetics suggested that the adsorption process matched the Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model. The thermodynamic parameters were calculated, indicating that the adsorption process was spontaneous (ΔG298K = −3.24 kJ/mol). The selectivity experiment showed that the MMIPs displayed higher selective adsorption capacity for SA compared to its reference compounds. Moreover, the MMIPs were applied to enrich SA from the extraction wastewater of M. cordata. The proposed method could provide an effective, simple and environmentally friendly way to identify and enrich SA from the extraction wastewater of M. cordata.

Identification of novel rheumatoid arthritis-associated MiRNA-204-5p from plasma exosomes

Wu Long-Fei,Zhang Qin,Mo Xing-Bo,Lin Jun,Wu Yang-Lin,Lu Xin,He Pei,Wu Jian,Guo Yu-Fan,Wang Ming-Jun,Ren Wen-Yan,Deng Hong-Wen,Lei Shu-Feng,Deng Fei-Yan 생화학분자생물학회 2022 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.54 No.-

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by infiltration of immune cells in the synovium. However, the crosstalk of immune cells and synovial fibroblasts is still largely unknown. Here, global miRNA screening in plasma exosomes was carried out with a custom microarray (RA patients vs. healthy controls = 9:9). A total of 14 exosomal miRNAs were abnormally expressed in the RA patients. Then, downregulated expression of exosomal miR-204-5p was confirmed in both the replication (RA patients vs. healthy controls = 30:30) and validation groups (RA patients vs. healthy controls = 56:60). Similar to the findings obtained in humans, a decreased abundance of exosomal miR-204-5p was observed in mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Furthermore, Spearman correlation analysis indicated that plasma exosomal miR-204-5p expression was inversely correlated with disease parameters of RA patients, such as rheumatoid factor, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein. In vitro, our data showed that human T lymphocytes released exosomes containing large amounts of miR-204-5p, which can be transferred into synovial fibroblasts, inhibiting cell proliferation. Overexpression of miR-204-5p in synovial fibroblasts suppressed synovial fibroblast activation by targeting genes related to cell proliferation and invasion. In vivo assays found that administration of lentiviruses expressing miR-204-5p markedly alleviated the disease progression of the mice with CIA. Collectively, this study identified a novel RA-associated plasma exosomal miRNA-204-5p that mediates the communication between immune cells and synovial fibroblasts and can be used as a potential biomarker for RA diagnosis and treatment.

Suppression of CDK2 expression by siRNA induces cell cycle arrest and cell proliferation inhibition in human cancer cells

( Xiang E Long ),( Zhao Hui Gong ),( Lin Pan ),( Zhi Wei Zhong ),( Yan Ping Le ),( Qiong Liu ),( Jun Ming Guo ),( Jiu Chang Zhong ) 한국생화학분자생물학회 (구 한국생화학회) 2010 BMB Reports Vol.43 No.4

Cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) is a member of serine/threonine protein kinases, which initiates the principal transitions of the eukaryotic cell cycle and is a promising target for cancer therapy. The present study was designed to inhibit cdk2 gene expression to induce cell cycle arrest and cell proliferation suppression. Here, we constructed a series of RNA interference (RNAi) plasmids which can successfully express small interference RNA (siRNA) in the transfected human cells. The results showed that the RNAi plasmids containing the coding sequences for siRNAs down-regulated the cdk2 gene expression in human cancer cells at the mRNA and the protein levels. Furthermore, we found that the cell cycle was arrested at G0G1 phases and the cell proliferation was inhibited by different siRNAs. These results demonstrate that suppression of CDK2 activity by RNAi may be an effective strategy for gene therapy in human cancers. [BMB reports 2010; 43(4): 291-296]

β-elemene Induces Caspase-dependent Apoptosis in Human Glioma Cells in vitro through the Upregulation of Bax and Fas/FasL and Downregulation of Bcl-2

Li, Chen-Long,Chang, Liang,Guo, Lin,Zhao, Dan,Liu, Hui-Bin,Wang, Qiu-Shi,Zhang, Ping,Du, Wen-Zhong,Liu, Xing,Zhang, Hai-Tao,Liu, Yang,Zhang, Yao,Xie, Jing-Hong,Ming, Jian-Guang,Cui, Yu-Qiong,Sun, Ying Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.23

Background: ${\beta}$-elemene, extracted from herb medicine Curcuma wenyujin has potent anti-tumor effects in various cancer cell lines. However, the activity of ${\beta}$-elemene against glioma cells remains unclear. In the present study, we assessed effects of ${\beta}$-elemene on human glioma cells and explored the underlying mechanism. Materials and Methods: Human glioma U87 cells were used. Cell proliferation was determined with MTT assay and colony formation assay to detect the effect of ${\beta}$-elemene at different doses and times. Fluorescence microscopy was used to observe cell apoptosis with Hoechst 33258 staining and change of glioma apoptosis and cell cycling were analyzed by flow cytometry. Real-time quantitative PCR and Western-blotting assay were performed to investigated the influence of ${\beta}$-elemene on expression levels of Fas/FasL, caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax. The experiment was divided into two groups: the blank control group and ${\beta}$-elemne treatment group. Results: With increase in the concentration of ${\beta}$-elemene, cytotoxic effects were enhanced in the glioma cell line and the concentration of inhibited cell viability ($IC_{50}$) was $48.5{\mu}g/mL$ for 24h. ${\beta}$-elemene could induce cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase. With Hoechst 33258 staining, apoptotic nuclear morphological changes were observed. Activation of caspase-3,-8 and -9 was increased and the pro-apoptotic factors Fas/FasL and Bax were upregulated, while the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 was downregulated after treatment with ${\beta}$-elemene at both mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, proliferation and colony formation by U87 cells were inhibited by ${\beta}$-elemene in a time and does-dependent manner. Conclusions: Our results indicate that ${\beta}$-elemene inhibits growth and induces apoptosis of human glioma cells in vitro. The induction of apoptosis appears to be related with the upregulation of Fas/FasL and Bax, activation of caspase-3,-8 and -9 and downregulation of Bcl-2, which then trigger major apoptotic cascades.

Significant down-regulation of growth hormone receptor expression revealed as a new unfavorable prognostic factor in hepatitis C virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma

( Ching-chih Lin ),( Ta-wei Liu ),( Ming-lun Yeh ),( Yi-shan Tsai ),( Pei-chien Tsai ),( Chung-feng Huang ),( Jee-fu Huang ),( Wan-long Chuang ),( Chia-yen Dai ),( Ming-lung Yu ) 대한간학회 2021 Clinical and Molecular Hepatology(대한간학회지) Vol.27 No.2

Background/Aims: Growth hormone (GH) is the main regulator of somatic growth, metabolism, and gender dimorphism in the liver. GH receptor (GHR) signaling in cancer is derived from a large body of evidence, although the GHR signaling pathway involved in the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC, remains unclear. We aimed to explore the expression of GHR and analyze its association with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. Methods: The expression of GHR mRNA was investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in paired tumors and adjacent non-tumorous (ANT) liver tissues of 200 patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays using the HCV-infected Huh7.5.1 cell model was performed. Results: GHR mRNA was significantly lower in HCV-HCC tissues than in corresponding ANT liver tissues. GHR mRNA and protein levels also decreased in the HCV-infected Huh7.5.1 cell model. Notably, lower GHR expression was associated with age of >60 years (P=0.0111) and worse clinicopathologic characteristics, including alpha-fetoprotein >100 ng/mL (P=0.0403), cirrhosis (P=0.0075), vascular invasion (P=0.0052), pathological stage II-IV (P=0.0002), and albumin ≤4.0 g/dL (P=0.0055), which were linked with poor prognosis of HCC. Most importantly, the high incidence of recurrence and poor survival rates in patients with a low ratio of tumor/ANT GHR (≤0.1) were observed, indicating that low expression levels of GHR had great risk for development of HCC in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a significant down-regulation of GHR expression as a new unfavorable independent prognostic factor in patients with chronic hepatitis C and HCC. (Clin Mol Hepatol 2021;27:313-328)

Fuzzy Logic Based Temporal Error Concealment for H.264 Video

Pei-Jun Lee,Ming-Long Lin 한국전자통신연구원 2006 ETRI Journal Vol.28 No.5

In this paper, a new error concealment algorithm is proposed for the H.264 standard. The algorithm consists of two processes. The first process uses a fuzzy logic method to select the size type of lost blocks. The motion vector of a lost block is calculated from the current frame, if the motion vectors of the neighboring blocks surrounding the lost block are discontinuous. Otherwise, the size type of the lost block can be determined from the preceding frame. The second process is an error concealment algorithm via a proposed adapted multiplereference- frames selection for finding the lost motion vector. The adapted multiple-reference-frames selection is based on the motion estimation analysis of H.264 coding so that the number of searched frames can be reduced. Therefore the most accurate mode of the lost block can be determined with much less computation time in the selection of the lost motion vector. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves from 0.5 to 4.52 dB improvement when compared to the method in VM 9.0.

RBM24 exacerbates bladder cancer progression by forming a Runx1t1/TCF4/miR-625-5p feedback loop

Yin Yue-Wei,Liu Kai-Long,Lu Bao-Sai,Li Wei,Niu Ya-Lin,Zhao Chen-Ming,Yang Zhan,Guo Ping-Ying,Qi Jin-Chun 생화학분자생물학회 2021 Experimental and molecular medicine Vol.53 No.-

RNA–binding motif protein 24 (RBM24) acts as a multifunctional determinant of cell fate, proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation during development by regulating premRNA splicing and mRNA stability. It is also implicated in carcinogenesis, but the functions of RBM24 in bladder cancer (BC) remain unclear. In the present study, we revealed that RBM24 was upregulated in BC tissues. Importantly, we found that a higher level of RBM24 was correlated with poor prognosis in BC patients. Overexpression of RBM24 promoted BC cell proliferation, while depletion of RBM24 inhibited BC cell proliferation in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistically, RBM24 positively regulated Runx1t1 expression in BC cells by binding to and enhancing Runx1t1 mRNA stability. Furthermore, Runx1t1 in turn promoted RBM24 expression by interacting with the transcription factor TCF4 and suppressing the transcription of miR-625-5p, which directly targets RBM24 and suppresses RBM24 expression. RBM24-regulated BC cell proliferation was moderated via the Runx1t1/TCF4/miR-625-5p feedback loop. These results indicate that the RBM24/Runx1t1/TCF4/miR-625-5p positive feedback loop participates in BC progression. Disruption of this pathway may be a potential therapeutic strategy for BC treatment.

The role of hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery in total colectomy for colonic inertia

Dan Yang Wang,Jian Jiang Lin,Xiang Ming Xu,Fan Long Liu 대한외과학회 2013 Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research(ASRT) Vol.85 No.3

Purpose: To compare and assess the efficacy, safety and utility of hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) with open surgery (OS) in total colectomy with ileorectal for colonic inertia. Methods: From January 2001 to February 2012, 56 patients diagnosed with colonic inertia who failed to respond to medical treatments underwent hand-assisted laparoscopic total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis. Another 68 patients underwent laparotomy. Main parameters such as clinical manifestations, conversion to open procedure, operative time, incision length, pain score, intraoperative blood loss, time to first flatus and hospitalization, early postoperative complications and hospitalization cost were retrospectively analyzed. Postoperative defecating frequencies were followed up in both groups. Results: All patients received successful operation, no surgical mortality happened and none of the patients required conversion to an exploratory laparotomy in HALS group. The clinical features, the estimated blood loss, incision length, pain score, first passing flatus time, and postoperative hospitalization time were superior in HALS group (P < 0.05). The early postoperative complications and frequency of defecation were similar. However, the mean operative time was longer and hospitalization cost was higher in HALS group than those in OS group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: HALS total colectomy can be a safe and efficient technique in the treatment of colonic inertia. HALS can result in a better cosmetic result and a quicker postoperative recovery, but requires higher direct cost.