Transcriptional response of Methoprene-tolerant (Met) gene to three insect growth disruptors in Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say)

Qing-Wei Meng,Qing-Yu Xu,Pan Deng,Kai-Yun Fu,Wen-Chao Guo,Guo-Qing Li 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.2

Some insect growth disruptors (IGDs), such as pyriproxyfen and halofenozide, may be used to control Leptinotarsa decemlineata. However, their mechanism of action remains elusive. Methoprene-tolerant (Met) mediates juvenile hormone (JH) signal to control numerous essential physiological processes. In the present paper, we identified a Met gene (LdMet). LdMet protein was a typical basic helix-loop-helix/Per-Arnt-Sim (bHLHPAS) transcription factor with a bHLH domain, two PAS domains (PAS-A and PAS-B) and a region called PAS associated C terminal (PAC). Eight conserved amino acids critical for JH binding were located in PAS-B and PAC domains. The temporal expression pattern of LdMet was in accordance with the variation of circulating JH titers. Feeding of juvenoid methoprene or pyriproxyfen, or provide for JH dose-dependently stimulated the expression of LdMet. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of two JH degradation genes increased the transcription of LdMet, while silencing of a JH biosynthesis gene repressed the transcription. Conversely, ingestion of an ecdysteroid agonist halofenozide or 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) reduced the mRNA levels of LdMet, in a dosedependent manner, whereas knockdown of either ecdysteroidogenesis or 20E signaling genes increased the mRNA accumulation. Providing that the expression of LdMet can be disturbed by methoprene, pyriproxyfen and halofenozide, LdMet may be a potential target of these IGDs in L. decemlineata larvae.

Meta-analysis of Associations between Interleukin-17 Gene Polymorphisms and Risk of Gastric Cancer

Yu, Hui,Sun, Si,Liu, Fang,Xu, Qing-Hua Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.20

Background: Previous studies have indicated that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the interleukin-17 (IL-17) gene are associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. However, the findings were inconsistent. Materials and Methods: To provide a more reliable estimation of the association between SNPs in the IL-17 gene and the susceptibility to gastric cancer, we searched PubMed, CNKI, and Wan Fang databases and selected finally six studies covering 2,366 cases and 3,205 controls to perform a meta-analysis. Results: Statistical analyses showed that an rs2275913 polymorphism within the IL-17A gene was significantly associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer using a generalized odds ratio (ORG, a model-free approach). Moreover, we also found that the 'A' allele carriers of IL-17A rs2275913 had a significant link with clinicopathological features. However, no significant positive signals were observed in the association analysis of the rs3748067 and rs763780 polymorphisms with the risk of gastric cancer in IL-17A and IL-17F, respectively. Conclusions: Despite some limitations, the present meta-analysis provided a more precise estimation of the relationship between the IL-17 gene SNPs and gastric cancer risk compared with individual studies.

Liver Cancer Mortality Trends during the Last 30 Years in Hebei province: Comparison Results from Provincial Death Surveys Conducted in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and 2004-2005

Xu, Hong,He, Yu-Tong,Zhu, Jun-Qing Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.5

Background and Aims: Liver cancer is a major health problem in low-resource countries. Approximately 55% of all liver cancer occurs in China. Hebei Province is one of the important covering nearly 6% of the population of China. The aim of this paper was to explore liver cancer mortality trends during past 30 years, and provide basic information on prevention strategies. Methods: Hebei was covered covered all the three national surveys during 1973-1975, 1990-1992, and 2004-2005 and one provincial survey during 1984-1986. Subjects included all cases dying from liver cancer in Hebei Province. Liver cancer mortality trend and geographic differences across cities and counties were analyzed. Results: There were 82,878 deaths in Hebei Province during 2004-2005 with an average mortality rate was 600.9/10,000, and an age-adjusted rate of 552.3/10,000. Those dying of cancer were 18,424 cases, accounting for 22.2% of all deaths, second only to cerebrovascular disease as a cause of death. Cancer mortality was 133.6/100,000 (age-adjusted rate was 119.2/100,000). Liver cancer ranked fourth in this survey with a mortality rate of 21.0/100,000, 28.4/100,000 in males and 13.35/10,000 in females, accounting for 15.7%, 17.1% and 13.4% of the total number of cancer deaths and in males and females, respectively. The sex ratio was 2.13. Since the 1970s, liver cancer deaths of Hebei province have been increasing slightly. The crude mortality rates in the four surveys were 11.3, 16.0, 17.4, 21.0 per 100,000, respectively, with age-adjusted rates fluctuating during the past 30 years, but the trend also being upwards. There is a tendency for the mortality rates to be higher in coastal than mountain areas, and is relative lower in the plain area, with crude mortality rates of 25.3, 22.1, and 19.1 per 100,000, respectively. There were no notable differences in cride data between urban and rural, but the age-adjusted mortality rate in rural was much higher. Conclusion: Our study indicated that the mortality of liver cancer in Hebei Province is lower than the national average level. There is a slightly increase trend, especially in some counties. Liver cancer is a major health problem and it is necessary to further promote prevention strategies in Hebei province.

Synthesis, Antibacterial Activity, and Structure–Activity Relationship of Fusaric Acid Analogs

Qing-Yan Zhang,Yang Fei‐Yu,Liao Shang‐Gao,Wang Bing,Li Rui,Dong Yong‐Xi,Zhou Meng,Yang Yuan‐Yong,Xu Guo‐Bo 대한화학회 2021 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.42 No.4

Forty-one fusaric acid analogs possessing a pyridine carboxylic acid scaffold have been synthesized. The antibacterial activity results demonstrated that compounds 5b, 7b, 8c, and 8d displayed strong antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 4–16 μg/mL. Molecular docking study indicated that these compounds have strong hydrogen-bonding interactions with TyrRS. Meanwhile, 8c and 8d showed promising antibacterial activities against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9027. Compound 4 exhibited pronounced antibacterial activities against a clinically isolated multidrug-resistant strain of Escherichia coli (MIC: 64 μg/mL as compared 64 μg/mL of levofloxacin and 1024 μg/mL of ceftriaxone sodium). Moreover, compound 17e displayed strong synergistic antibacterial effect with levofloxacin against the multidrug-resistant strain, decreasing the MIC value of levofloxacin to 1/16 of its original MIC. No obvious cytotoxic activities against LO2 was observed for compounds 4, 5b, 8c, 8d, 17d, and 17e at 50 μM. The preliminary structure–activity relationship of fusaric acid analogs was also discussed.

Xanthoceraside Induces Apoptosis in Melanoma Cells Through the Activation of Caspases and the Suppression of the IGF-1R/Raf/MEK/ERK Signaling Pathway

Qing Jiao,Libo Zou,Peng Liu,Qian Xu,Yifei Zhang,Ying Yu,Lu Zou,Tianyan Chi,Xuefei Ji 한국식품영양과학회 2014 Journal of medicinal food Vol.17 No.10

Xanthoceraside, a saponin extracted from the husks of Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge, suppresses inflammation and oxidative stress. However, the antitumor properties of xanthoceraside as well as its mechanism of action remain unclear. Therefore, we proposed to investigate its potential anticancer property. In this study, the viability of cells was measured by the MTT assay. Cell cycle and mitochondrial membrane potential were measured by flow cytometry, and the expressions of procaspase-9, procaspase-3, Cyto.c, Apaf-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bad, p53, and IGF-1R/Raf/MEK/ERK were tested by Western blotting. Xanthoceraside significantly inhibited the proliferation of human melanoma A375.S2 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner but did not impair the viability of normal cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells). Further analysis revealed that xanthoceraside induced apoptosis by activating caspase-3 and caspase-9 in a time-dependent manner through the mitochondrial pathway but did not activate caspase-8 in the cells. In addition, xanthoceraside inhibited the expression of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), which is an important prosurvival, antiapoptotic signaling growth factor receptor that is frequently overexpressed in cancer cells and used as a therapeutic target for multiple cancers. Interestingly, xanthoceraside also decreased the expression of Raf, p-MEK, and p-ERK, the downstream effectors of IGF-1R. Taken together, these findings indicate that xanthoceraside induces apoptosis through a mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathway, which is induced by the downregulation of IGF-1R/Raf/MEK/ERK cascades in A375.S2 cells.

Selection signature reveals genes associated with susceptibility loci affecting respiratory disease due to pleiotropic and hitchhiking effect in Chinese indigenous pigs

Xu, Zhong,Sun, Hao,Zhang, Zhe,Zhang, Cheng-Yue,Zhao, Qing-bo,Xiao, Qian,Olasege, Babatunde Shittu,Ma, Pei-Pei,Zhang, Xiang-Zhe,Wang, Qi-Shan,Pan, Yu-Chun Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2020 Animal Bioscience Vol.33 No.2

Objective: Porcine respiratory disease is one of the most important health problems causing significant economic losses. To understand the genetic basis for susceptibility to swine enzootic pneumonia (EP) in pigs, we detected 102,809 single nucleotide polymorphisms in a total of 249 individuals based on genome-wide sequencing data. Methods: Genome comparison of susceptibility to swine EP in three pig breeds (Jinhua, Erhualian, and Meishan) with two western lines that are considered more resistant (Duroc and Landrace) using cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity and F-statistic (F_ST) statistical approaches identified 691 positively selected genes. Based on quantitative trait loci, gene ontology terms and literature search, we selected 14 candidate genes that have convincible biological functions associated with swine EP or human asthma. Results: Most of these genes were tested by several methods including transcription analysis and candidate genes association study. Among these genes: cytochrome P450 1A1 and catenin beta 1 (CTNNB1) are involved in fertility; transforming growth factor beta receptor 3 plays a role in meat quality traits; Wnt family member 2, CTNNB1 and transcription factor 7 take part in adipogenesis and fat deposition simultaneously; plasminogen activator, urokinase receptor (completely linked to AXL receptor tyrosine kinase, r² = 1) plays an essential role in the successful ovulation of matured oocytes in pigs; colipase like 2 (strongly linked to SAM pointed domain containing ETS transcription factor, r² = 0.848) is involved in male fertility. Conclusion: These adverse genes susceptible to swine EP may be selected while selecting for economic traits (especially reproduction traits) due to pleiotropic and hitchhiking effect of linked genes. Our study provided a completely new point of view to understand the genetic basis for susceptibility or resistance to swine EP in pigs thereby, provides insight for designing sustainable breed selection programs. Finally, the candidate genes are crucial due to their potential roles in respiratory diseases in a large number of species, including human.

Systematic Studies of 12S Seed Storage Protein Accumulation and Degradation Patterns during Arabidopsis Seed Maturation and Early Seedling Germination Stages

( Qing Li ),( Bai Chen Wang ),( Yu Xu ),( Yu Xian Zhu ) 생화학분자생물학회 2007 BMB Reports Vol.40 No.3

폴리프로필렌/폴리아미드 엘라스토머 블렌드

Qing Sheng Liu,Yan Xu,Hong Xia Zhang,Yu Hao Li,Bing Yao Deng 한국고분자학회 2014 폴리머 Vol.38 No.5

The polypropylene/polyamide elastomer (PP/PAE) blends were prepared by melt mixing. PP and PAE in PP/PAE were immiscible completely. The size of PAE domains was large and the clear gap in the interface between PP and PAE existed, which did not meet the conditions enhancing toughness of polymers by elastomer. Therefore, maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MP) was used to improve the miscibility between PP and PAE. The miscibility between PP and PAE was improved and the size of dispersed phase PAE decreased by introducing MP. The crystallization of PP became easier by introducing PAE as a nucleating agent. With the increase of PAE content, the melt-crystallization temperatures of PP components in PP/PAE/MP blends increased gradually. The melt-crystallization of the polytetramethyleneoxide segment of PAE component in PP/PAE blends were hampered by PP component. In addition, PAE can enhance significantly the toughness of PP, and the tensile strength and modulus did not decrease.

In vitro Study of Nucleostemin as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Human Breast Carcinoma SKBR-3 Cells

Guo, Yu,Liao, Ya-Ping,Zhang, Ding,Xu, Li-Sha,Li, Na,Guan, Wei-Jun,Liu, Chang-Qing Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.5

Although nucleolar protein nucleostemin (NS) is essential for cell proliferation and early embryogenesis and expression has been observed in some types of human cancer and stem cells, the molecular mechanisms involved in mediation of cell proliferation and cell cycling remains largely elusive. The aim of the present study was to evaluate NS as a potential target for gene therapy of human breast carcinoma by investigating NS gene expression and its effects on SKBR-3 cell proliferation and apoptosis. NS mRNA and protein were both found to be highly expressed in all detected cancer cell lines. The apoptotic rate of the pcDNA3.1-NS-Silencer group ($12.1-15.4{\pm}3.8%$) was significantly higher than those of pcDNA3.1-NS ($7.2-12.0{\pm}1.7%$) and non-transfection groups ($4.1-6.5{\pm}1.8%$, P<0.01). MTT assays showed the knockdown of NS expression reduced the proliferation rate of SKBR-3 cells significantly. Matrigel invasion and wound healing assays indicated that the number of invading cells was significantly decreased in the pcDNA3.1-NS-siRNA group (P<0.01), but there were no significant difference between non-transfected and over-expression groups (P>0.05). Moreover, RNAi-mediated NS down-regulation induced SKBR-3 cell G1 phase arrest, inhibited cell proliferation, and promoted p53 pathway-mediated cell apoptosis in SKBR-3 cells. NS might thus be an important regulator in the G2/M check point of cell cycle, blocking SKBR-3 cell progression through the G1/S phase. On the whole, these results suggest NS might be a tumor suppressor and important therapeutic target in human cancers.

Antinociceptive Effects of Prim-O-Glucosylcimifugin in Inflammatory Nociception via Reducing Spinal COX-2

( Liu Qing Wu ),( Yu Li ),( Yuan Yan Li ),( Shi Hao Xu ),( Zong Yong Yang ),( Zheng Lin ),( Jun Li ) 한국응용약물학회 2016 Biomolecules & Therapeutics(구 응용약물학회지) Vol.24 No.4

We measured anti-nociceptive activity of prim-o-glucosylcimifugin (POG), a molecule from Saposhnikovia divaricate (Turcz) Schischk. Anti-nociceptive or anti-inflammatory effects of POG on a formalin-induced tonic nociceptive response and a complete Freund``s adjuvant (CFA) inoculation-induced rat arthritis pain model were studied. Single subcutaneous injections of POG produced potent anti-nociception in both models that was comparable to indomethacin analgesia. Anti-nociceptive activity of POG was dose-dependent, maximally reducing pain 56.6% with an ED50 of 1.6 mg. Rats given POG over time did not develop tolerance. POG also time-dependently reduced serum TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 in arthritic rats and both POG and indomethacin reduced spinal prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Like indomethacin which inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity, POG dose-dependently decreased spinal COX-2 content in arthritic rats. Additionally, POG, and its metabolite cimifugin, downregulated COX-2 expression in vitro. Thus, POG produced potent anti-nociception by downregulating spinal COX-2 expression.