Mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyl transferase-II inactivity aggravates lipid accumulation in rat hepatocarcinogenesis.

Aim: To investigate the dynamic alteration of mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyl transferase II (CPT-II) expression during malignant transformation of rat hepatocytes.

Methods: Sprague-Dawley male rats were fed with normal, high fat (HF), and HF containing 2-fluorenylacetamide (2-FAA) diet, respectively. According to the Hematoxylin and Eosin staining of livers, rats were divided into control, fatty liver, degeneration, precancerous, and cancerous groups.

Reversal of multidrug resistance of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by metformin through inhibiting NF-κB gene transcription.

Aim: To interfere with the activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) with metformin and explore its effect in reversing multidrug resistance (MDR) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.

Methods: Expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and NF-κB in human HepG2 or HepG2/adriamycin (ADM) cells treated with pCMV-NF-κB-small interference RNA (siRNA) with or without metformin, was analyzed by Western blot or fluorescence quantitative PCR. Cell viability was tested by CCK-8 assay.

Oncogenic Wnt3a expression as an estimable prognostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Aim: To investigate member 3a of Wingless-type MMTV integration site family (Wnt3a) expression in cancerous and surrounding tissues and the relationship between clinicopathologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and Wnt3a expression.

Methods: Wnt3a expression and cellular distribution and clinicopathologic characteristics in cancerous tissue and matched surrounding tissues were analyzed in 80 HCC patients from January 2006 to August 2008 by tissue microarrays and immunohistochemistry. The overall and disease-free survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test.

[Down-regulated clusterin expression enhances sensitivity of hepatoma cells to anti-cancer drugs].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between and underlying mechanistic pathway of clusterin (CLU) and chemo-resistance ofhepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells.

Methods: CLU protein expression in HCC cell lines (Hep3B, SMMC7721, PLC, and HepG2) and HepG2/ADM cells was quantified by western blotting. Four short-hairpin (sh)RNAs designed to block CLU-mRNA were generated, screened by RT-PCR, and transfected into the cells to determine effects of CLU on cell viability and apoptosis.

A new method for the determination of biological oxygen demand in domestic wastewater by headspace gas chromatography.

A headspace gas chromatographic method (HS-GC) has been developed for the determination of biological oxygen demand (BOD) in the water samples from domestic wastewater treatment plants. The method is based on measuring the remaining oxygen in the headspace of the sample (that has been seeded with microorganisms) in a closed container after a period of incubation. The relative standard deviation of the method in replicate testing was <4.