Disc regeneration by injectable fucoidan-methacrylated dextran hydrogels through mechanical transduction and macrophage immunomodulation.

Modulating a favorable inflammatory microenvironment that facilitates the recovery of degenerated discs is a key strategy in the treatment of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration (IDD). More interestingly, well-mechanized tissue-engineered scaffolds have been proven in recent years to be capable of sensing mechanical transduction to enhance the proliferation and activation of nucleus pulposus cells (NPC) and have demonstrated an increased potential in the treatment and recovery of degenerative discs. Additionally, existing surgical procedures may not be suitable for IDD treatment, warranting the requirement of new regenerative therapies for the restoration of disc structure and function.

Quercetin-solid lipid nanoparticle-embedded hyaluronic acid functionalized hydrogel for immunomodulation to promote bone reconstruction.

Bone defects are a persistent challenge in clinical practice. Although repair therapies based on tissue-engineered materials, which are known to have a crucial role in defective bone regeneration, have gathered increased attention, the current treatments for massive bone defects have several limitations. In the present study, based on the immunomodulatory inflammatory microenvironment properties of quercetin, we encapsulated quercetin-solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) in a hydrogel.

Electrospun nanofibrous membrane for biomedical application.

Electrospinning is a simple, cost-effective, flexible, and feasible continuous micro-nano polymer fiber preparation technology that has attracted extensive scientific and industrial interest over the past few decades, owing to its versatility and ability to manufacture highly tunable nanofiber networks. Nanofiber membrane materials prepared using electrospinning have excellent properties suitable for biomedical applications, such as a high specific surface area, strong plasticity, and the ability to manipulate their nanofiber components to obtain the desired properties and functions. With the increasing popularity of nanomaterials in this century, electrospun nanofiber membranes are gradually becoming widely used in various medical fields.

Mechanically enhanced composite hydrogel scaffold for in situ bone repairs.

High-efficiency repair of critical bone defects is a pressing problem in clinical practice. However, most biological replacement materials do not simultaneously satisfy the dual requirements of mechanical strength and cell compatibility. In this study, chitosan methacryloyl (CSMA) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) were subjected to photo-crosslinking to form the CSMA/β-TCP composite hydrogel, which has strong mechanical properties contributing to bone regeneration.

Correction: liang, j., et Al. Antisense oligonucleotide against clusterin regulates human hepatocellular carcinoma invasion through transcriptional regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and e-cadherin. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012, 13, 10594-10607.

The original version of the paper reports that "OGX-011 is a second generation 21-mer oligonucleotide with a 20-O-(2-methoxy)-ethyl modification, generously provided by OncoGenex Technologies (OncoGenex, Vancouver, Canada)" [1] (p. 10602). OGX-011 was not provided by OncoGenex Technologies directly.

Antisense oligonucleotide against clusterin regulates human hepatocellular carcinoma invasion through transcriptional regulation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and E-cadherin.

Secreted clusterin (sCLU) has been shown to be overexpressed in metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue, and its overexpression in HCC cells increases cell migration and the formation of liver metastatic tumor nodules in vivo. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that sCLU plays a role in the invasiveness of human HCC and may be associated with its metastatic spread. HCCLM3, a human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, was transiently transfected with an antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) against sCLU (OGX-011).

Apoptosis and expression of the Bcl-2 family of proteins and P53 in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to clarify the association between P53 and the Bcl-2 family (Bcl-2, Bax, Bcl-xL, Bcl-xS) expression and apoptosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Subjects And Methods: A total of 70 patients with PDAC were studied. The expression of P53 protein in PDAC was assessed using the immunohistochemical method, which categorized the PDAC patients into two groups: group 1: 36 cases with immunonegative P53(-), and group 2: 34 cases with immunopositive P53(+).

Clusterin confers gemcitabine resistance in pancreatic cancer.

Objective: To measure clusterin expression in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines and to evaluate whether clusterin confers resistance to gmcitabine in pancreatic cancer cells.

Methods: Immunohistochemistry for clusterin was performed on 50 primary pancreatic cancer tissues and 25 matched backgrounds, and clusterin expression in 5 pancreatic cancer cell lines was quantified by Western blot and PT-PCR. The correlation between clusterin expression level and gmcitabine IC50 in pancreatic cancer cell lines was evaluated.

Activation of NF-B upregulates Snail and consequent repression of E-cadherin in cholangiocarcinoma cell invasion.

Background/aims: A wide variety of evidence has pointed to a critical role of transcriptional nuclear factor Kappa B (NF-kappaB) in tumour migration and invasion,but the mechanisms involved are not clear.In the present study, we reported that activation of NF-kappaB promotes migration and invasion in cholangiocarcinoma cell through upregulating Snail and consequent repression of E-cadherin.

Methodology: We examined the expression of the NF-kappaB subunit P65 (NF-kappaBP65) after being treated by tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a, a strong NF-kappaB activator or PDTC, a specific NF-kappaB inhibitor.

RNA interference targeting slug increases cholangiocarcinoma cell sensitivity to cisplatin via upregulating PUMA.

Slug is an E-cadherin repressor and a suppressor of PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) and it has recently been demonstrated that Slug plays an important role in controlling apoptosis. In this study, we examined whether Slug's ability to silence expression suppresses the growth of cholangiocarcinoma cells and/or sensitizes cholangiocarcinoma cells to chemotherapeutic agents through induction of apoptosis. We targeted the Slug gene using siRNA (Slug siRNA) via full Slug cDNA plasmid (Slug cDNA) transfection of cholangiocarcinoma cells.