Inhibitory effects of Gleditsia sinensis fruit extract on telomerase activity and oncogenic expression in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Previous studies have shown that the anomalous fruit extract of Gleditsia sinensis (GSE) exhibited apoptotic properties in various solid and non-solid tumors in vitro. However, the inhibitory actions of GSE on oncogenic expression and telomerase activity in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) have not been studied before. In the present study, the anti-cancer effects of GSE were demonstrated in three ESCC cell lines (HKESC-1, HKESC-2 and SLMT-1) by MTS and anchorage-independent clongen-icity assays, expression studies on oncogenes at 11q13 (CCND1, INT2, FGF4 and EMS1) and real-time quantitative telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay to show the inhibitory effect of GSE on telomerase in ESCC.

Oncogenic properties of a novel gene JK-1 located in chromosome 5p and its overexpression in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) shows high frequency and mortality in Asian regions, including China. Previous analysis of genomic DNA of ESCC using comparative genomic hybridization indicated that amplification of the chromosome 5p regions is a common event in ESCC cell lines and patient cases of Hong Kong Chinese origin, and the results suggested that the genes located in the chromosome 5p regions may play crucial roles in the molecular pathogenesis of ESCC. Our previous studies on ESCC confirmed the tumorigenic and overexpression properties of a novel gene JS-1 located in chromosome 5p15.

Transforming capacity of two novel genes JS-1 and JS-2 located in chromosome 5p and their overexpression in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has a high mortality rate and geographic differences in incidence. Previous studies of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) showed that chromosomal 5p is frequently amplified in cell lines and primary ESCC of Hong Kong Chinese origin. In this report, attempt was made to study two novel genes, named as JS-1 and JS-2, which are located in chromosome 5p15.

Gleditsia sinensis fruit extract induced growth inhibition involves basic fibroblast growth factor and nitric oxide.

Recently we have shown the antiproliferative activity of Gleditsia sinensis fruit extract (GSE) on various solid tumour and leukaemia cell lines as well as primary cultured bone marrow cells isolated from patients with acute and chronic myelogenous leukaemia. We further studied whether the growth inhibitory effect of GSE involves basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in cancer cell lines including breast cancer MDA-MB231, nasopharyngeal cancer CNE-2 and prostate cancer LNCaP. We also investigated whether GSE could alter the production of nitric oxide (NO) pattern from these cancer cell lines.