RNA interference of GGTA1 physiological and immune functions in immortalized porcine aortic endothelial cells.

Background: Pig organs are commonly used in xenotransplantation, and α-1,3-galactose has been shown to be the main cause of hyperacute rejection. The development of transgenic pigs that lack α-1,3-galactosyltransferase (GGTA1) has overcome this problem to a certain extent, but transgenic pigs are difficult to maintain, making their usefulness in basic research limited. For this reason, we propose to establish a cell model to study hyperacute rejection.

Overexpression of Bmi-1 contributes to the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by increasing the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‑2, MMP-9 and vascular endothelial growth factor via the PTEN/PI3K/Akt pathway.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumours and it carries a poor prognosis due to a high rate of recurrence or metastasis after surgery. Bmi-1 plays a significant role in the growth and metastasis of many solid tumours. However, the exact mechanisms underlying Bmi-1-mediated cell invasion and metastasis, especially in HCC, are not yet known.

Abnormal chloride homeostasis in the substancia nigra pars reticulata contributes to locomotor deficiency in a model of acute liver injury.

Background: Altered chloride homeostasis has been thought to be a risk factor for several brain disorders, while less attention has been paid to its role in liver disease. We aimed to analyze the involvement and possible mechanisms of altered chloride homeostasis of GABAergic neurons within the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr) in the motor deficit observed in a model of encephalopathy caused by acute liver failure, by using glutamic acid decarboxylase 67 - green fluorescent protein knock-in transgenic mice.

Methods: Alterations in intracellular chloride concentration in GABAergic neurons within the SNr and changes in the expression of two dominant chloride homeostasis-regulating genes, KCC2 and NKCC1, were evaluated in mice with hypolocomotion due to hepatic encephalopathy (HE).

[Report of 3162 cases of holmium laser enucleation of the prostate and review].

Objective: To evaluate the safety, effectiveness, and outcomes of holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) for patients with symptomatic enlarged prostate after 11 years of experience.

Methods: The 3162 evaluable patients treated with holmium laser enucleation of the prostate at our institution between August 2001 and August 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. Study variables included International Prostate Symptom Score, quality of life, maximum urinary flow rate, and incidence of complications.

MicroRNA-21 regulates the migration and invasion of a stem-like population in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Due to invasion and intrahepatic metastasis, the prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poor. However, the mechanisms underlying these processes of HCC remain unclear. Cancer stem cells may be involved in early systemic dissemination and metastasis formation and side population (SP) cells isolated from diverse cancer cells possess stem cell-like properties.

Effect of pre-procedural statin therapy on myocardial no-reflow following percutaneous coronary intervention: a meta analysis.

Background: Successful revascularization of coronary artery disease, especially ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), does not always mean optimal myocardial reperfusion in a portion of patients because of no-reflow phenomenon. We hypothesized that statins might attenuate the incidence of myocardial no-reflow when used before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The purpose of this study was to summarize the evidence of pre-procedural statin therapy to reduce myocardial no-reflow after PCI.

Can "Hybrid stent implantation" improve long-term safety without adversely affecting efficacy when treating multilesion coronary artery disease in the drug-eluting stent era?

Background: Though drug-eluting stent (DES) almost solved a problem of restenosis, safety issues related to stent thrombosis are still the major concern of DES. We hypothesized that hybrid stent implantation may decrease the use of DES, probably improving the long-term safety but not affecting efficacy adversely when treating multilesion coronary artery disease in the DES era.

Methods: From April 2004 to October 2006, 848 patients with multilesion disease underwent hybrid stent implantation.

Protein kinase A-mediated cardioprotection of Tongxinluo relates to the inhibition of myocardial inflammation, apoptosis, and edema in reperfused swine hearts.

Background: Our previous studies have demonstrated that Tongxinluo (TXL), a traditional Chinese medicine, can protect hearts against no-reflow and reperfusion injury in a protein kinase A (PKA)-dependent manner. The present study was to investigate whether the PKA-mediated cardioprotection of TXL against no-reflow and reperfusion injury relates to the inhibition of myocardial inflammation, edema, and apoptosis.

Methods: In a 90-minute ischemia and 3-hour reperfusion model, minipigs were randomly assigned to sham, control, TXL (0.

The splicing machinery promotes RNA-directed DNA methylation and transcriptional silencing in Arabidopsis.

DNA methylation in transposons and other DNA repeats is conserved in plants as well as in animals. In Arabidopsis thaliana, an RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway directs de novo DNA methylation. We performed a forward genetic screen for suppressors of the DNA demethylase mutant ros1 and identified a novel Zinc-finger and OCRE domain-containing Protein 1 (ZOP1) that promotes Pol IV-dependent siRNA accumulation, DNA methylation, and transcriptional silencing.

The significance of Notch1 compared with Notch3 in high metastasis and poor overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The prognosis for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poor, and the mechanisms underlying the development of HCC remain unclear. Notch1 and Notch3 may be involved in malignant transformation, although their roles remain unknown.

Materials And Methods: HCC tissues were stained with anti-Notch1 or -Notch3 antibody.

[Efficacy of modified Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in the treatment of non-obese type 2 diabetes mellitus:one year follow-up].

Objective: To evaluate the one year effect of modified Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGP) in the treatment of non-obese type 2 diabetes and to investigate the reasonable indications for surgery.

Methods: Totally 72 patients diagnosed as type 2 diabetes underwent RYGP from May 2009 to June 2010. There were 45 male and 27 female patients, with an average age of (47 ± 10) years.

Changes in expression of the chloride homeostasis-regulating genes, KCC2 and NKCC1, in the blood of cirrhotic patients with hepatic encephalopathy.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a neuropsychiatric abnormality that commonly accompanies cirrhosis of the liver, is often difficult to treat and manage. Changes in chloride homeostasis are involved in the generation of a number of brain disorders. In this study, we considered whether chloride homeostasis is associated with HE.

Associations between high levels of Notch1 expression and high invasion and poor overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Although Notch1 expression has been associated with progression or prognosis in various tumors, the role of Notch1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown. This study sought to investigate the clinicopathological and prognostic relevance of Notch1 expression in HCC as well as the underlying mechanisms responsible. HCC tissues were stained with an anti-Notch1 antibody.

Nine-month angiographic and 2-year clinical follow-up of the NOYA biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stent in the treatment of patients with de novo native coronary artery lesions: the NOYA I trial.

Aims: This study sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the NOYA stent which is a cobalt chromium-based sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) with DL-polylactide biodegradable polymer (Medfavour Medical, Beijing, China) in treating de novo coronary artery lesions.

Methods And Results: The NOYA I trial was designed to compare the NOYA stent with the FIREBIRD2™ stent, a durable polymer SES widely used in China (MicroPort Medical, Shanghai, China); the trial was a non-inferiority trial with a primary angiographic endpoint of the in-stent late lumen loss (LLL) at nine-month follow-up. The secondary endpoints were binary restenosis rates within nine months, major adverse cardiac events (MACE) defined as the composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI) or target lesion revascularisation (TLR), and definite/probable stent thrombosis (ST) at 24-month follow-up.

Learning curve for bipolar transurethral enucleation and resection of the prostate in saline for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia: experience in the first 100 consecutive patients.

Background: Bipolar transurethral enucleation and resection of the prostate in saline has recently been considered as a safe and technically feasible endoscopic procedure for symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia. However, it has not been accepted widely because of the perception of technical difficulty.

Methods: A retrospective data review was performed of the first consecutive 100 patients who had undergone bipolar transurethral enucleation and resection of prostatic adenoma.

MicroRNA-125b expression in gastric adenocarcinoma and its effect on the proliferation of gastric cancer cells.

MicroRNAs exert regulatory effects on a number of genes, thereby contributing to both physiological and pathological processes. The functions of microRNAs in tumorigenesis are becoming increasingly clear. In the present study, we investigated the role of microRNA-125b (miR‑125b), previously implicated in prostate and breast cancer, in gastric cancer, particularly regarding proliferation and apoptosis of gastric cancer cells.

Possibility of the enhanced progression of fetal liver stem/progenitor cells therapy for treating end-stage liver diseases by regulating the notch signaling pathway.

Cell therapy is the most promising therapy for end-stage liver diseases (ESLDs). Fetal liver stem/progenitor cells (FLSPCs) have the advantages of a high survival rate, high proliferation, small volume, and high safety, which make them one of the ideal cells for stem cell therapy for liver diseases. During the early phase of our study, we applied a three-step separation method to enrich FLSPCs and obtained a separation efficiency that was similar to the flow cell-sorting method.

Several important in vitro improvements in the amplification, differentiation and tracing of fetal liver stem/progenitor cells.

Objective: We previously isolated fetal liver stem/progenitor cells (FLSPCs), but there is an urgent need to properly amplify FLSPCs, effectively induce FLSPCs differentiation, and steadily trace FLSPCs for in vivo therapeutic investigation.

Methods: FLSPCs were maintained in vitro as adherent culture or soft agar culture for large-scale amplification. To direct the differentiation of FLSPCs into hepatocytes, FLSPCs were randomly divided into four groups: control, 1% DMSO-treated, 20 ng/ml HGF-treated and 1% DMSO+20 ng/ml HGF-treated.

The down-regulation of Notch1 inhibits the invasion and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by inactivating the cyclooxygenase-2/Snail/E-cadherin pathway in vitro.

Background: The Notch signaling pathway plays an important role in cancer, but the mechanism by which Notch1 participates in invasion and migration of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells is unclear.

Aims: Our purpose is to confirm the anti-invasion and anti-migration effects of the down-regulation of Notch1 in HCC cells.

Methods: The invasion and migration capacities of HCC cells were detected with Transwell cell culture chambers.

Swainsonine inhibits growth and potentiates the cytotoxic effect of paclitaxel in hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro and in vivo.

Swainsonine, an extract from Astragalus membranaceus, exhibits broad inhibition of growth and pro-apoptotic activity in a number of tumor types. However, the underlying mechanism involved remains unclear. To investigate the effects and mechanisms of swainsonine on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we performed experiments on HepG2, SMCC7721, Huh7 and MHCC97-H human hepatoma and HL-7702 human hepatocyte cells.

The differentiation of MSCs into functional hepatocyte-like cells in a liver biomatrix scaffold and their transplantation into liver-fibrotic mice.

Hepatocytes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) hold great potential for cell-based therapies for liver diseases. The cell-based therapies are critically dependent on the hepatic differentiation of the MSCs with a high efficiency and on a considerable scale. Recent results have shown that decellularized organs provide a three-dimensional extracellular matrix for the lineage restriction of stem cell maturation.

Tg737 signaling is required for hypoxia-enhanced invasion and migration of hepatoma cells.

Background: Although hypoxia is known to promote hepatoma cell invasion and migration, little is known regarding the molecular mechanisms of this process. Our previous research showed that loss of Tg737 is associated with hepatoma cell invasion and migration; therefore, we hypothesized that the Tg737 signal might be required for hypoxia-enhanced invasion and migration.

Methods: We established in vitro normoxic or hypoxic models to investigate the role of Tg737 in the hypoxia-enhanced invasion and migration of hepatoma cells.

Improved radiosensitizing effect of the combination of etanidazole and paclitaxel for hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most critical global health issues. Potential curative therapies, including surgical resection, are offered to only a limited number of patients. Therefore, new and effective treatment strategies are required.

Tolerance induction by exosomes from immature dendritic cells and rapamycin in a mouse cardiac allograft model.

Background: Dendritic cells (DCs) release bioactive exosomes that play an important role in immune regulation. Because they express low levels of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and co-stimulatory molecules, exosomes derived from donor immature DCs (imDex) prolong allograft survival by inhibiting T-cell activation. However, this effect is limited and does not induce immunological tolerance when imDex are administered alone.

Lumican expression in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Background/aims: The present study was aimed to investigate lumican expression in and correlation with severity of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA).

Methodology: We assessed mRNA expression and protein localization (using immunohistochemistry) in PDA samples collected from 260 patients. Additionally, we compared lumican expression with expression of Ki-67, VEGF and mutated p53 proteins, which are markers of cancer progression.