Gut Microbiome of a Multiethnic Community Possessed No Predominant Microbiota.

With increasing globalisation, various diets from around the world are readily available in global cities. This study aimed to verify if multiethnic dietary habits destabilised the gut microbiome in response to frequent changes, leading to readily colonisation of exogenous microbes. This may have health implications.

Genomic analysis of Lactococcus garvieae isolates.

Lactococcus garvieae is a well-known fish pathogen, and in recent years, a human pathogen of increasing clinical significance. However, not much is known about the variances in characteristics of strains isolated locally and overseas. This study aims at conducting comparative genomic analysis on local and overseas L.

Chemokine CXCL14 is associated with prognosis in patients with colorectal carcinoma after curative resection.

Background: The chemokine CXCL14 has been reported to play an important role in the progression of many malignancies such as breast cancer and papillary thyroid carcinoma, but the role of CXCL14 in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) remains to be established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression pattern and significance of CXCL14 in CRC progression.

Method: 265 colorectal carcinoma specimens and 129 matched adjacent normal colorectal mucosa specimens were collected.

Advent of the cancer methylome.

DNA hypermethylation of CpG islands plays an important role in gene regulation during cancer development. Many techniques have been developed to detect global DNA methylation in cancer cells compared to normal tissues. This knowledge helps us to better understand cancer progression and also aids in the development of new biomarker for early cancer detection.

Proteomics identification of ITGB3 as a key regulator in reactive oxygen species-induced migration and invasion of colorectal cancer cells.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and second in females worldwide. Unfortunately 40-50% of patients already have metastatic disease at presentation when prognosis is poor with a 5-year survival of <10%. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been proposed to play a crucial role in tumor metastasis.

Proteomic analysis revealed association of aberrant ROS signaling with suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid-induced autophagy in Jurkat T-leukemia cells.

Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) is a newly emerging histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) and has been approved in phase II clinical trials for treating patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Autophagy is a conserved self-digestion process that degrades cytoplasmic materials and recycles long-lived proteins and organelles within cells. In this study, we demonstrate that SAHA stimulates autophagy in Jurkat T-leukemia cells, which was evidenced by the appearance of autophagic vacuoles, formation of acidic vesicular organelles, recruitment of LC3-II to the autophagosomes and conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II .

Cytokeratin 19 regulates endoplasmic reticulum stress and inhibits ERp29 expression via p38 MAPK/XBP-1 signaling in breast cancer cells.

Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) is widely used as a biomarker for the detection of disseminated tumor cells in blood and bone marrow, and its positivity is considered as an independent prognostication indicator in cancer patients. However, its role in breast cancer progression remains unknown. We had established a stable CK19-expressing clone in the CK19-negative BT549 human breast cancer cell line and found that CK19 expression in the BT549 cells caused cell cycle arrest, reduced cell motility and increased drug resistance.

Proteomic profiling identifies aberrant epigenetic modifications induced by hepatitis B virus X protein.

The hepatitis B virus-encoded X (HBx) protein coactivates transcription of a variety of viral and cellular genes and it is believed to play essential roles in viral replication and hepatocarcinogenesis. To examine the pleiotropic effects of HBx protein on host cell protein expression, we utilized 2-DE and MS analysis to compare and identify differentially expressed proteins between a stable HBx-transfected cell line (HepG2-HBx), constitutively expressing HBx, and vector control cells. Of the 60 spots identified as differentially expressed (+/- over 2-fold, p < 0.

Proteomic analysis of cellular protein alterations using a hepatitis B virus-producing cellular model.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major etiological factors responsible for acute and chronic liver disease and for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To determine the effects of HBV replication on host cell-protein expression, we utilized 2-DE and MS/MS analysis to compare and identify differentially expressed proteins between an HBV-producing cell line HepG2.2.

Detection of promoter hypermethylation in serum samples of cancer patients by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction for tumour suppressor genes including RUNX3.

The purpose was to validate the use of RUNX3 as a potential biomarker for detection of cancer in serum samples and to determine its sensitivity alone and in combination with p16, RASSF1A and CDH1 using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP). We examined the promoter methylation status of RUNX3, p16, RASSF1A and CDH1 by MSP using the serum of 70 metastatic breast, non-small cell lung, gastric, pancreatic, colorectal or hepatocellular carcinomas. The DNA from 10 healthy serum controls was used to determine the specificity of methylation.

RUNX3 is frequently inactivated by dual mechanisms of protein mislocalization and promoter hypermethylation in breast cancer.

A tumor suppressor function has been attributed to RUNX3, a member of the RUNX family of transcription factors. Here, we examined alterations in the expression of three members, RUNX1, RUNX2, and RUNX3, and their interacting partner, CBF-beta, in breast cancer. Among them, RUNX3 was consistently underexpressed in breast cancer cell lines and primary tumors.

Mutational hotspot in exon 20 of PIK3CA in breast cancer among Singapore Chinese.

The recent identification of somatic mutations in the catalytic region of PIK3 (PIK3CA) in breast cancer and demonstration of their oncogenic function has implicated PIK3CA in mammary carcinogenesis. To investigate possible ethnic differences in patterns of PIK3CA mutations in Singaporean Chinese breast cancer and to characterize these in a panel of cell lines, we sequenced exons 9 and 20 in 80 primary tumors, 19 breast cancer cell lines and 7 normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). Searching for novel hotspots of mutation, we sequenced additional exons (1, 2, 6, 7, 14 and 18) in 20 primary tumors and 6 breast cancer cell lines.

C-Raf controlled pathways in the protection of tumor cells from apoptosis.

The Raf serine-threonine kinase is upregulated in many human tumors and plays a pivotal role in tumor cell proliferation and survival. Abrogation of c-Raf expression by specific antisense oligonucleotides (Raf-AS-ODN) efficiently blocks tumor cell growth and induces apoptosis in human cancer cells. The signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms c-Raf utilizes to mediate the survival of tumor cells are, however, not well understood.

In vivo pro-apoptotic and antitumor efficacy of a c-Raf antisense phosphorothioate oligonucleotide: relationship to tumor size.

Previously, we have shown that a phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide (ODN) targeted against c-raf RNA (ISIS5132; cRaf-AS) induces apoptosis in human tumor cells. We now show that the same ODN also efficiently triggers apoptosis in human tumor xenografts in nu/nu mice. Although cRaf-AS showed a clearly inhibitory effect on the growth of established tumors (approximately 150 mm3) compared to a mismatched control ODN (MM), tumor progression was not prevented.