Somatic mutations of mitochondrial genome in early stage breast cancer

The complete mitochondrial genomes of the primary cancerous, matched paracancerous normal and distant normal tissues from 10 early-stage breast cancer patients were analyzed in this study, with special attempt (i) to investigate whether the reported high

U19/Eaf2 knockout causes lung adenocarcinoma, B-cell lymphoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia

Upregulated gene 19 (U19)/ELL-associated factor 2 (Eaf2) is a potential human tumor suppressor that exhibits frequent allelic loss and downregulation in high-grade prostate cancer. U19/Eaf2, along with its homolog Eaf1, has been reported to regulate transcriptional elongation via interaction with the eleven-nineteen lysine-rich leukemia (ELL) family of proteins. To further explore the tumor-suppressive effects of U19/Eaf2, we constructed and characterized a murine U19/Eaf2-knockout model. Homozygous or heterozygous deletion of U19/Eaf2 resulted in high rates of lung adenocarcinoma, B-cell lymphoma, hepato cellular carcinoma and prostate intraepithelial neoplasia. Within the mouse prostate, U19/Eaf2 defficiency enhanced cell proliferation and increased epithelial cell size. The knockout mice also exhibited cardiac cell hypertrophy. These data indicate a role for U19/Eaf2 in growth suppression and cell size control as well as argue for U19/Eaf2 as a novel tumor suppressor in multiple mouse tissues. The U19/Eaf2 knockout mouse also provides a unique animal model for three important cancers: lung adenocarcinoma, B-cell lymphoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.

Effects of brominated flame retardants and brominated dioxins on steroidogenesis in H295R human adrenocortical carcinoma cell line

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and brominated dioxins are emerging persistent organic pollutants that are ubiquitous in the environment and can be accumulated by wildlife and humans. These chemicals can disturb endocrine function. Recent studies have demonstrated that one of the mechanisms of endocrine disruption by chemicals is modulation of steroidogenic gene expression or enzyme activities. In this study, an in vitro assay based on the H295R human adrenocortical carcinoma cell line, which possesses most key genes or enzymes involved in steroidogenesis, was used to examine the effects of five bromophenols, two polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs 77 and 169), 2,3,7,8-tetrabromodibenzo-p-dioxin, and 2,3,7,8-tetrabromodibenzofuran on the expression of 10 key steroidogenic genes. The H295R cells were exposed to various BFR concentrations for 48 h, and the expression of specific genescytochrome P450 (CYP11A, CYP11B2, CYP17, CYP19, and CYP21), 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3PHSD2), 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (17 beta HSD1 and 17 beta HSD4), steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR)-was quantitatively measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Cell viability was not affected at the doses tested. Most of the genes were either up- or down-regulated, to some extent, by BFR exposure. Among the genes tested, 3PHSD2 was the most markedly up-regulated, with a range of magnitude from 1.6- to 20-fold. The results demonstrate that bromophenol, bromobiphenyls, and bromodibenzo-p-dioxin/furan are able to modulate steroidogenic gene expression, which may lead to endocrine disruption.

Dioxin-like components in human breast milk collected from Hong Kong and Guangzhou

The H4IIE rat hepatoma cell line was employed as a cell model to screen 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD)-TCDD equivalents (EROD-TEQ) of human breast milk samples collected from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China. The screening methods employed a 96-well plate spectrofluorometer-EROD assay. For cell-line validation, our results demonstrated a dose-dependent increase in the Ah receptor-mediated response (i.e., CYP1A1 mRNA and EROD) of the cells upon exposure to a number of known Ah receptor agonists, including 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzothiophene, benzo[a]pyrene, and beta-naphthaflavone. TCDD induced CYP1A1 mRNA and EROD was in a close positive correlation (r = 0.98). For the screening of dioxin-like compounds, breast milk samples collected during lactation weeks 3-5 were used. One hundred (from Hong Kong) and 48 (from Guangzhou) breast milk samples were assayed, of which 65% and 68% of the samples, respectively, showed detectable dioxin-like activities using the H4IIE cell EROD screening method. For sixty-five samples from Hong Kong the mean EROD-TEQ values ranged from 58.1 to 96.5 pg/g of milk fat for those aged 21-36 years while 32 samples from Guangzhou had mean values of 98.8-202.1 pg/g of milk fat. In comparisons of the EROD-TEQ values for different age groups from both cities, there were no significant differences (P < 0.05). However, the mean and median EROD-TEQ values of the Guangzhou population were in general higher than those of the Hong Kong population. The results of the present study indicate that it is feasible to use the H4IIE cell-line as a model for screening dioxin-like compounds in human breast milk. In addition, the method is rapid and cost-effective, particularly for a routine and high-throughput sample screening analysis, compared to the costly and time-intensive chemical analytical techniques. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

HLA-DRB1 allele polymorphisms in genetic susceptibility to esophageal carcinoma

AIM: To probe into the genetic susceptibility of HLA-DRB1 alleles to esophageal carcinoma in Han Chinese in Hubei Province. METHODS: HLA-DRB1 allele polymorphisms were typed by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) in 42 unrelated patients with esophageal cancer and 136 unrelated normal control subjects and the associated HLA-DRB1 allele was measured by nucleotide sequence analysis with PCR.SAS software was used in statistics. RESULTS: Allele frequency (AF) of HLA-DRB1*0901 was significantly higher in esophageal carcinoma patients than that in the normal controls (0.2500 vs0.1397, P=0.028, the odds ratio 2.053, etiologic fraction 0.1282). After analyzed the allele nucleotide sequence of HLA-DRB1*0901 which approachs to the corresponded exon 2 sequence of the allele in genebank. There was no association between patients and controls in the rested HLA-DRB1 alleles. CONCLUSION: HLA-DRB1*0901 allele is more common in the patients with esophageal carcinoma than in the healthy controls, which is positively associated with the patients of Hubei Han Chinese. Individuals carrying HLA-DRB1*0901 may be susceptible to esophageal carcinoma.

齐墩果酸的微生物转化

齐墩果酸（OA）是一个分布广泛、含量丰富的天然三萜化合物，常以皂苷元的形式广泛存在于植物中,具有多种重要生物活性。但是OA许多活性较弱，且生物利用度低，限制了其在临床上的应用。一是OA水溶性差;二是抗癌活性仍与临床应用的抗癌药物相差比较大。 真菌在微生物转化中具有种类多、培养条件比较简单等特点，为了寻找到具有转化OA能力的菌株，采取一步发酵的方法，在18株实验室保藏真菌菌株中筛选到5株目的菌株,TLC分析显示有转化效果。 随后采用二步发酵的方法作为复筛，验证5株菌株转化能力，波谱分析结果表明5株菌株对OA确实有转化作用。 选择5株菌种中代号1F-2 2菌株作为放大实验菌株，分离转化产物，得到OA衍生物108（相对分子量414m/z）和1010（相对分子量340 m/z），分离出的产物用于活性检测。寻找到产物108的RP-HPLC分离条件，质谱得出二者相对分子质量。 为验证OA转化产物抗肿瘤活性，首次研究了OA对卵巢癌细胞株IGROV1和人乳腺癌细胞株MDA-MB-231作用，通过细胞增殖抑制实验、用MTT法检测细胞活性，结果表明齐墩果酸可降低卵巢癌细胞株IGROV1和乳腺癌细胞MDA-MB-231细胞增殖能力并呈剂量依赖性，对肿瘤细胞株的半数有效抑制浓度化IC50 分别为36.58μg/mL和38.8μg/mL (P<0．01)。OA能抑制肿瘤细胞活性，并且OA对卵巢癌细胞株IGROV1抑制活性高于乳腺癌细胞MDA-MB-231。 在此基础上，转化产物108和1010对卵巢癌细胞株IGROV1和人乳腺癌细胞株MDA-MB-231的抑制作用也进行研究，MTT实验结果表明，转化产物对两株癌细胞也有抑制活性（P<0．01）。 总之，本文工作为进一步开展齐墩果酸类化合物结构改造和抗肿瘤活性的研究奠定了基础。 Oleanolic acid (OA) is a triterpenoid widely distributed in the nature which possesses various important bioactivities. OA also serves as aglycon of many natural saponins. However, the relatively weak activities and poor bioavailability hinder its clinical use. Firstly, poor water-solubility results in worse bioavailability. Secondly, compared with clinical antitumor drug, the antitumor effect of OA has a great difference, it is worse. Many fungi have ability to transform nature products into a variety of derivatives, and transformation conditions of fungi are simple. Attempt to obtain fungi strains able to biotransform OA, we carried out the following experiments: To investigate the biotransformation 0f OA by strains supplied firstly, we used one-step fermentation method to screen the aimed strains from 18 fungus strains stored in our laboratory. On the basis of the initial screening experiments, we found 5 aimed strains. The TLC results showed that the 5 fungi strains could transform OA into other components derivatives. Then we used two-step fermentation method as secondly screening. We repeated the five strains to do the experiments, analytical data of the results proved the transformation indeed. In the followed experiments work, we chose 1F-2 2 strain as large-scale transformation fungus from the aimed fungi. We got two biotransformation products of OA by 1F-2 2, and named those derivatives 108 and 1010. We found RP-HPLC separation conditions of product 108. The two products were characterized by ESI-MS. To verify the anti-tumor activity of biotransformation products of OA, we studied the inhibition effect of oleanolic acid on the ovarian carcinomas IGROV1 and breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 firstly. With an assay based on a tetrazolium dye (MTT), the effects of various concentrations of oleanolic acid on ovarian carcinomas IGROV1 and breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 were studied. MTT method was used to measure the tumor cells viability. Compared with the control group, oleanolic acid can significantly inhibit the viability of the ovarian carcinoma cells IGROV1 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line (P<0．01), IC50 values were 36.58μg/mL or 38.8μg/mL. Oleanolic acid can inhibit the malignant tumor cells viability, and inhibitory activity of OA to ovarian carcinomas IGROV1 was higher than to breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. On this basis, we studied the anti-tumor activity of the two derivatives of OA [called 108 (414 m/z) and 1010(340 m/z)]. It came to the conclusion that the two derivatives also showed potent inhibitory effect on the growth of these tumor cells（P<0．01）. Therefore, the results of studies will benefit the further investigating on the relationships of structures and antitumor activities of OA.

potential mechanisms involved in resistant phenotype of MCF-7breast carcinoma cells to ionizing radiation induced apoptosis

In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms of apoptosis resistance and the roles of the phosphorylation of BRCA1, p21, the Bax/Bcl-2 protein ratio and cell cycle arrest in IR-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. X-irradiation, in particular at low dose (1 Gy), but not carbon ion irradiation, had a significant antiproliferative effect on the growth of MCF-7 cells. 1 Gy X-irradiation resulted in G1 and G2 phase arrest, but 4 Gy induced a significant G1 block. In contrast, carbon ion irradiation resulted in a significant accumulation in the G2 phase. Concomitant with the phosphorylation of H2AX induced by DNA damage,carbon ion irradiation resulted in an approximately 1.9–2.8-fold increase in the phosphorylation of BRCA1 on serine residue 1524, significantly greater than that detected for X-irradiation. Carbon ion irradiation caused a dramatic increase in p21 expression and drastic decrease in Bax expression compared with X-irradiation. The data implicated that phosphorylation of BRCA1 on serine residue 1524 might,at least partially, induce p21 expression but repress Bax expression. Together, our results suggested that the phosphorylation of BRCA1 at Ser-1524 might contribute to the G2 phase arrest and might be an upstream signal involved in preventing apoptosis signal via upregulation of p21 and downregulation of the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio.

Assessment of DNA damage of Lewis lung carcinoma cells irradiated by carbon ions and X-rays using alkaline comet assay

DNA damage and cell reproductive death determined by alkaline comet and clonogenic survival assays were examined in Lewis lung carcinoma cells after exposure to 89.63 MeV/u carbon ion and 6 MV X-ray irradiations, respectively. Based on the survival data, Lewis lung carcinoma cells were verified to be more radiosensitive to the carbon ion beam than to the X-ray irradiation. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) value, which was up to 1.77 at 10% survival level, showed that the DNA damage induced by the high-LET carbon ion beam was more remarkable than that induced by the low-LET X-ray irradiation. The dose response curves of '' Tail DNA (%)'' (TD) and "Olive tail moment" (OTM) for the carbon ion irradiation showed saturation beyond about 8 Gy. This behavior was not found in the X-ray curves. Additionally, the carbon ion beam produced a lower survival fraction at 2 Gy (SF2) value and a higher initial Olive tail moment 2 Gy (OTM2) than those for the X-ray irradiation. These results suggest that carbon ion beams having high-LET values produced more severe cell reproductive death and DNA damage in Lewis lung carcinoma cells in comparison with X-rays and comet assay might be an effective predictive test even combining with clonogenic assay to assess cellular radio sensitivity

Adenovirus-mediated p53 gene transfer sensitizes hepatocellular carcinoma cells to heavy-ion radiation

Background. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether adenovirus-mediated p53 transfer could sensitize hepatocellular carcinoma to heavy-ion irradiation. Methods. HepG2 cells were preexposed to a C-12(6+) beam, and then infected with replication-deficient adenovirus recombinant vectors containing human wild-type p53 (AdCMV-p53) (C-12(6+) irradiation + AdCMV-p53 infection). The survival fraction was determined by clonogenic assay. The cell cycle, cell apoptosis, and p53 expression were monitored by flow cytometric analysis. Results. p53 expression in C-12(6+) irradiation + AdCMV-p53 infection groups was markedly higher than that in C-12(6+) irradiation only groups (P < 0.05), suggesting that the preexposure to the C-12(6+) beam promoted the expression of exogenous p53 in HepG2 cells infected with AdCMV-p53 only. The G(1)-phase arrest and cell apoptosis in the C-12(6+) irradiation + AdCMV-p53 infection groups were significantly more than those in the C-12(6+) irradiated groups (P < 0.05). The survival fractions of the C-12(6+) irradiation + AdCMV-p53 infection groups decreased by 30%-49% compared with those of the C-12(6+) beam-irradiated only groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions. Adenovirus-mediated p53 gene transfer can promote G(1)-phase arrest and cell apoptosis, thus sensitizing hepatocellular carcinoma cells to heavy-ion irradiation.

Effect of p53 on lung carcinoma cells irradiated by carbon ions or X-rays

The study is to investigate the feasibility and advantages of heavy ion beams on radiotherapy. The cellular cycle and apoptosis, cell reproductive death and p53 expression evaluated with flow cytometry, clonogenic survival assays and Western blot analysis were examined in lung carcinoma cells after exposure to 89.63 MeV/u carbon ion and 6 MV X-ray irradiations, respectively. The results showed that the number colonyforming assay of A549 was higher than that of H1299 cells in two radiation groups; A549 cellular cycle was arrested in G(2)/M in 12 It and the percentage of apoptosis ascended at each time point of carbon ion radiation with doses, the expression of p53 upregulated with doses exposed to X-ray or carbon ion. The cell number in G(2)/M of H1299 and apoptosis were increasing at all time points with doses in C-12(6+) ion irradiation group. The results suggested that the effects of carbon ions or X rays irradiation on lung carcinoma cells were different, C-12(6+) ion irradiation could have more effect on upregulating the expression of p53 than X-ray, and the upregulated expression of p53 might produce the cellular cycle G(2)/M arrested, apoptosis increasing; and p53 gene might affect the lung cancer cells radiosensitivity.

High-efficiency transfer and expression of AdCMV-p53 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells induced by low-dose carbon-ion radiation

Objective To investigate whether the irradiation with C-beam could enhance adenovirus-mediated transfer and expression of p53 in human hepatocellular carcinoma. Materials and methods HepG2 cells were exposed to C-beam or gamma-ray and then infected with replicationdeficient adenovirus recombinant vectors containing human wild-type p53 or green fluorescent protein, respectively. The transfer efficiency and expression level of the exogenous gene were detected by flow cytometric analysis. Cell survival fraction was detected by clonogenic assay. Results The transfer frequency in C-beam or gamma-irradiated groups increased by 50-83% and 5.7-38.0% compared with the control, respectively (P < 0.05). Compared with C-beam alone, p53 alone, and gamma-ray with p53, the percentages of p53 positive cells for 1 Gy C-beam with p53 increased by 56.0-72.0%, 63.5-82.0%, and 31.3-72.5% on first and third day after the treatments, respectively (P < 0.05). The survival fractions for the 2Gy C-bearn and AdCMV-p53 infection groups decreased to similar to 2%. Conclusion C-beam irradiation could significantly promote AdCMV-green fluorescent protein transfer and expression of p53.

尼美舒利对乳腺癌细胞放射增敏作用的研究；Radiosensitizing Effect of Nimesulide on Breast Cancer Cells and Corresponding Mechanisms

目的综述近年来banoxantrone(AQ4N)作为肿瘤治疗增敏药物在国外的研究进展,为国内开发和应用AQ4N提供参考。方法分析、归纳、总结近年来发表的相关文献。结果与结论AQ4N本身对细胞没有毒性,在乏氧条件下经还原酶的催化生成活性药物AQ4,后者通过抑制乏氧细胞中的拓扑异构酶Ⅱ活性而杀死肿瘤乏氧细胞。AQ4N选择性作用于乏氧细胞,与富氧细胞毒性剂如放疗或化疗联合应用,疗效显著。