Ultraviolet A rush hardening for chronic actinic dermatitis: Pilot treatment outcomes.

Chronic actinic dermatitis (CAD) is a common debilitating photodermatosis. Patients often have to completely avoid outdoor activities, which severely impacts their quality of life. Phototherapy is effective for CAD and seems to increase patients' tolerance towards sunlight and consequently decrease the extent of disease.

Ultrastructural Changes of Brain Tissues Surrounding Hematomas after Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Our knowledge about pathophysiology of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) mainly originates from preclinical models of ICH. In this study, cerebral ultrastructure surrounding hematoma and its correlation with clinical severity were investigated in ICH patients. Thirty patients with basal ganglia hemorrhage and 6 control subjects were enrolled.

DNA damage response--a double-edged sword in cancer prevention and cancer therapy.

Genomic stability depends on an efficient DNA damage repair system to keep the chromosomes intact. Unrepaired DNA damage not only causes cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, but also accumulates genome mutations. DNA damage response (DDR) exhibits a critical function on the protection against human cancer, as indicated by the high predisposition to cancer of individuals with germ-line mutations in DDR genes.

Melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24 induces caspase-3 denitrosylation to facilitate the activation of cancer cell apoptosis.

Melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7 (mda-7)/interleukin-24 (IL-24) induces caspase-3 cleavage and subsequent activation via the intrinsic or extrinsic pathway to result in cancer cell-selective apoptosis, but whether mda-7/IL-24 may directly regulate caspase-3 through the post-translational modification remains unknown. Here, we reported that tumor-selective replicating adenovirus ZD55-IL-24 led to caspase-3 denitrosylation and subsequent activation, indicating that caspase-3 denitrosylation played a crucial role in ZD55-IL-24-induced cancer cell apoptosis. To confirm the relationship between caspase-3 denitrosylation and its activation in response to ZD55-IL-24, we treated carcinoma cells with the different nitric oxide (NO) regulators to modulate caspase-3 denitrosylation level, then observed the corresponding caspase-3 cleavage.

Low-dose topical 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy in the treatment of different severity of acne vulgaris.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy and safety of low-concentration 5-aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) in the treatment of different severity of acne vulgaris and optimize the treatment regimen.

Methods: A self-controlled multicenter clinical trial was carried out in 15 centers throughout China. A total of 397 acne patients of grade II-IV received 3- or 4-session PDT treatment.

Expression, purification, and characterization of RGD-mda-7, a His-tagged mda-7/IL-24 mutant protein.

RGD peptide (Arg-Gly-Asp tripeptide) binds to integrin αVβ(3) and αVβ(5), which is selectively expressed in tumor neovasculature and on the surface of some tumor cells. Some studies showed that coupling the RGD peptides to anticancer drugs yielded compounds with increased efficiency against tumors and lowered toxicity to normal tissues. The melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 gene (mda-7/IL-24) is a novel tumor-suppressor/cytokine gene that exhibits potent tumor-suppressive activity without damaging normal cells.

Keap1: one stone kills three birds Nrf2, IKKβ and Bcl-2/Bcl-xL.

Oxidative stress, implicated in the etiology of cancer, results from an imbalance in the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and cell's own antioxidant defenses. As a oxidative stress sensor, Keap1 functions as both an adaptor for Cul3⋅Rbx1 E3 ligase complex mediated degradation of the transcription factor Nrf2, and a master regulator of cytoprotective gene expression. Although Nrf2 is a well known substrate for Keap1, the DGR domain of Keap1 has been reported also to bind other proteins directly or indirectly.

MDA-7/IL-24 induces Bcl-2 denitrosylation and ubiquitin-degradation involved in cancer cell apoptosis.

MDA-7/IL-24 was involved in the specific cancer apoptosis through suppression of Bcl-2 expression, which is a key apoptosis regulatory protein of the mitochondrial death pathway. However, the underlying mechanisms of this regulation are unclear. We report here that tumor-selective replicating adenovirus ZD55-IL-24 leads to Bcl-2 S-denitrosylation and concomitant ubiquitination, which take part in the 26S proteasome degradation.

Potent antitumor effect elicited by RGD-mda-7, an mda-7/IL-24 mutant, via targeting the integrin receptor of tumor cells.

The melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 gene (mda-7/IL-24) is a novel tumor-suppressor/cytokine gene that exhibits potent tumor-suppressive activity without damaging normal cells. To enhance the antitumor effect, an mda-7/IL-24 mutant, RGD-mda-7, which includes the cell adhesive sequence 164Arg-165Gly-166Asp (RGD motif), was constructed and evaluated for bioactivity. RGD peptide binds to integrins α(V)β(3) and α(V)β(5), which are selectively expressed in tumor neovasculature and in the surface of some tumor cells.

p53 regulates Ki-67 promoter activity through p53- and Sp1-dependent manner in HeLa cells.

The expression of the human Ki-67 protein, which is strictly associated with cell proliferation, is regulated by a variety of cellular mediators. In this study, we studied the effects of p53 on Ki-67 promoter in HeLa cells using luciferase reporter assay. The results showed that: (1) p53 inhibited Ki-67 promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner, (2) the p53-binding motifs mediated part of the transcriptional repression of Ki-67 promoter through a sequence-specific interaction with p53, (3) p53 was able to repress the Sp1-stimulated Ki-67 promoter activity, and (4) the Sp1-binding sites were responsible for the p53-mediated transcriptional repression of Ki-67 promoter.

The effect of methylated oligonucleotide targeting Ki-67 gene in human 786-0 renal carcinoma cells.

To investigate the effect of methylated oligonucleotide (MON) targeting Ki-67 promoter on the expression of Ki-67 gene and the proliferation and apoptosis of the human 786-0 renal carcinoma cells, human 786-0 cells were transfected with MON. The activity of Ki-67 promoter was detected by dual-luciferase reporter assay system. Among the five methylated oligonucleotides (MON(1)-MON(5)), MON(4) is the best excellent one in the inhibition of the Ki-67 promoter activity.

Identification of HLA-A*0201-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope from proliferating cell nuclear antigen.

Peptide-based immunotherapy strategies appear promising as an approach to successfully induce an antitumor immune response and prolong survival in patients with various cancers. Protein antigens and their specific epitopes are formulation targets for anti-tumor vaccines. Bioinformatical approaches to predict major histocompatibility complex binding peptides can facilitate the resource-consuming effort of T cell epitope identification.

[Mechanistic study of nimesulide on enhancing gammadeltaT cell-mediated killing of gastric cancer cells].

Aim: To explore the effect of nimesulide on human gammadeltaT cell function.

Methods: gammadeltaT cells were cultured routinely, collected on the 9th day, and then induced with nimesulide at indicated concentrations (0.25 micromol/L, 0.

[Expression of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-9 in the plasma and hematoma fluid of intracerebral hemorrhage patients].

Objective: To investigate the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 played in secondary brain injury following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: Hematoma fluid and peripheral blood samples were collected from 60 ICH patients, 34 males and 26 females, aged 60 +/- 13 (37 - 81) n the days 1, 4, and 7 after evacuation of hematoma. Peripheral blood samples were collected form.

[Neural apoptosis and apoptosis-related genes in intracerebral hemorrhage patients].

Objective: To observe the neural apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-related genes in brain in order to elucidate the regulation mechanism in the perihematomal region of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients.

Methods: Specimens of perihematomal region in human brain were obtained from 29 patients undergoing surgical evacuation of an intracerebral hematoma. Specimens of brain tissue were collected from the corpses of 6 persons within 3 hours after the accidental death.

Microarray analysis of gene-expression profile in hepatocellular carcinoma cell, BEL-7402, with stable suppression of hLRH-1 via a DNA vector-based RNA interference.

To establish a cell line with a permanent suppression of hLRH-1 in this study, a stable RNAi vector (pSineohLRH-1) targeting hLRH-1 was constructed and introduced into hepatocellular carcinoma cell, BEL-7402. By semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis, the expression of hLRH-1 in BEL-7402 cells carrying pSineohLRH-1 was shown to be significantly suppressed by up to approximately 60%. In addition, microarray analysis was carried out to assess the extent of altered gene expression in BEL-7402 cells with stable knockdown of hLRH-1.

Prenatal molecular diagnosis of adrenoleukodystrophy.

Objective: To carry out prenatal diagnosis on two fetuses of different pedigrees with X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD).

Methods: The amniotic fluid was obtained with the help of a clinical doctor and the genomic DNA was isolated from it. Maternal DNA contamination was excluded by fluorescent STR profiling, The R617G mutation found in the first pedigree was searched in genomic DNA of amniotic fluid cells (AFC) from fetus 1 by amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) and dot DNA hybridization while the P534R mutation found in pedigree 2 was analyzed in the AFC genomic DNA of fetus 2 by restrictive digestion with Hae II and DNA direct sequencing.