Publications by authors named "Tzu Chun Cheng"

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Among them, human epidermal growth factor receptor-positive (HER2+) breast cancer is more malignant. Fortunately, many anti-HER2 drugs are currently used in clinical treatments to increase patient survival.

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  • * The RNA nanotechnology facilitates co-delivery of nucleoside analogs (floxuridine and gemcitabine) alongside the chemotherapeutic paclitaxel, enhancing treatment efficacy for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
  • * The designed RNA nanoparticles exhibit spontaneous tumor targeting with minimal toxicity due to their negative charge, allowing safe drug circulation in the bloodstream and efficient drug loading during synthesis.
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α9-nAChR, a subtype of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, is significantly overexpressed in female breast cancer tumor tissues compared to normal tissues. Previous studies have proposed that specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CHRNA9 (α9-nAChR) gene are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in interaction with smoking. The study conducted a breast cancer risk assessment of the α9-nAChR SNP rs10009228 (NM_017581.

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RNA therapeutics has advanced into the third milestone in pharmaceutical drug development, following chemical and protein therapeutics. RNA itself can serve as therapeutics, carriers, regulators, or substrates in drug development. Due to RNA's motile, dynamic, and deformable properties, RNA nanoparticles have demonstrated spontaneous targeting and accumulation in cancer vasculature and fast excretion through the kidney glomerulus to urine to prevent possible interactions with healthy organs.

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  • * The study focuses on a specially designed branched RNA nanoparticle known as a four-way junction (4WJ), which enhances drug delivery and stability for cancer treatments, especially for metastatic tumors in the lungs.
  • * Results show that the 4WJ RNA drug complex, functionalized with the anti-cancer drug SN38, effectively targets and inhibits cancer growth with minimal toxicity and rapid clearance from the body, marking it as a promising candidate for cancer therapy.
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Although various HER2-targeted therapies have been approved clinically, drug resistance remains a considerable challenge. Studies have found that the cause of drug resistance is related to the expression of genes co-amplified with HER2 in breast cancer cells. Our study found that STARD3 was highly expressed in tumor tissues (n = 130, P < 0.

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  • Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) lacks effective drug targets, making it aggressive and difficult to treat; however, the α9-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) shows promise as a biomarker for detection and treatment.
  • Researchers created RNA nanoparticles using a stable three-way junction (3WJ) format, with one version (3WJ-B-α9-apt-Alexa) showing greater specificity for α9-nAChR in TNBC cells and better accumulation in tumor tissues compared to other versions.
  • The nanoparticles carrying anti-microRNA-21 (miR-21) were effective in suppressing tumor growth and inducing apoptosis in TNBC, without causing harmful effects in healthy
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This study demonstrated for the first time that curcumin effectively inhibits the growth of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) tumors by inhibiting the expression of salt-induced kinase-3 (SIK3) protein in patient-derived xenografted tumor mice (TNBC-PDX). For TNBC patients, chemotherapy is the only option for postoperative adjuvant treatment. In this study, we detected the SIK3 mRNA expression in paired-breast cancer tissues by qPCR analysis.

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The microenvironment for tumor growth and developing metastasis should be essential. This study demonstrated that the hyaluronic acid synthase 3 (HAS3) protein and its enzymatic product hyaluronic acid (HA) encompassed in the subcutaneous extracellular matrix can attenuate the invasion of human breast tumor cells. Decreased HA levels in subcutaneous Has3-KO mouse tissues promoted orthotopic breast cancer (E0771) cell-derived allograft tumor growth.

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  • Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are resistant to targeted therapies and show high levels of proline dehydrogenase (PRODH) mRNA, which is linked to tumor growth and metastasis.
  • Research using TNBC cell lines showed that increased PRODH led to more aggressive cancer behaviors, while the tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) inhibited PRODH and reduced cancer cell proliferation.
  • In a mouse model of TNBC, treatment with EGCG significantly slowed tumor growth, suggesting that targeting the PRODH pathway with EGCG could be a promising therapeutic approach for TNBC patients.
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Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of melanoma metastasis. Smokers show higher PD-L1 expression and better responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors than nonsmokers. Here, we investigate whether nicotine, a primary constituent of tobacco, induces PD-L1 expression and promotes melanoma cell proliferation and migration, which is mediated by the α9 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α9-nAChR).

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Background: Apiole was isolated from the leaves of various plants and vegetables and has been demonstrated to inhibit human colon cancer cell (COLO 205 cells) growth through induction of G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death. This study further explored the antitumor effects of apiole derivatives AP-02, 04, and 05 in COLO 205 cancer cells.

Methods: Human breast (MDA-MB-231, ZR75), lung (A549, PE089), colon (COLO 205, HT 29), and hepatocellular (Hep G2, Hep 3B) cancer cells were treated with apiole and its derivatives in a dose-dependent manner.

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Neuroblastoma is the second most common pediatric malignancy and has a high rate of spontaneous remission. Uncovering the mechanisms underlying neuroblastoma cell differentiation is critical for therapeutic purposes. A neuroblastoma cell line (N2a) treated with either serum withdrawal (<2.

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It is well-known that human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is critical for breast cancer (BC) development and progression. Several studies have revealed the role of the ubiquitin/proteasome system (UPS) in cancer. In this study, we investigated the expression level of Proteasome 26S subunit, non-ATPase 3 (PSMD3) in BC using BC cell lines, human BC tissue samples, Oncomine, and TCGA databases and studied the PSMD3-HER2 protein interaction.

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The function of small G protein signalling modulators (SGSM1/2/3) in cancer remains unknown. Our findings demonstrated that SGSM2 is a plasma membrane protein that strongly interacted with E-cadherin/β-catenin. SGSM2 downregulation enhanced the phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK; Y576/577), decreased the expression of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin, β-catenin, and Paxillin, and increased the expression of Snail and Twist-1, which reduced cell adhesion and promoted cancer cell migration.

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Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer affecting women worldwide and has been associated with active tobacco smoking. Low levels of nicotine (Nic) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), have been detected in cases of second-hand smoke (SHS). However, the correlation between SHS and BC risk remains controversial.

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Purpose: Glutathione S-transferase mu 3 (GSTM3) is an enzyme involving in the detoxification of electrophilic compounds by conjugation with glutathione. Higher GSTM3 mRNA levels were reported in patients with ERα-positive breast cancer who received only tamoxifen therapy after surgery. Thus, this study aimed to clarify the oncogenic characteristics of GSTM3 in breast cancer and the mechanism of tamoxifen resistance.

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α-L-fucosidase 1 (FUCA1) is a lysosomal enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of the terminal fucose residue in breast cancer cells. FUCA1 mRNA levels were detected by real-time PCR, and there was a greater than 139-fold increase in FUCA1 mRNA expression in breast tumor samples compared with normal breast tissue samples (*P = 0.005, n = 236).

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Here we report that 3'-hydroxypterostilbene (HPSB), a natural pterostilbene analogue, was more potent than pterostilbene against the growth of human cancer cells (COLO 205, HCT-116, and HT-29) with measured IC50 values of 9.0, 40.2, and 70.

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Background: Large epidemiological cohort studies in the United States have indicated that active and passive smoking are associated with increased breast cancer risk. However, there was no direct evidence of an effect of tobacco carcinogens on the cellular molecules involved in breast tumorigenesis.

Methods: Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the expression of all of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subunits in 50 human breast cancer samples and to determine the expression of the alpha9-nAChR subunit in 276 surgical and laser capture microdissected breast tumor vs normal tissue pairs.

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Enolase-alpha (ENO-1) is a key glycolytic enzyme that has been used as a diagnostic marker to identify human lung cancers. To investigate the role of ENO-1 in breast cancer diagnosis and therapy, the mRNA levels of ENO-1 in 244 tumor and normal paired tissue samples and 20 laser capture-microdissected cell clusters were examined by quantitative real-time PCR analysis. Increased ENO-1 mRNA expression was preferentially detected in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) tumors (tumor/normal ratio >90-fold) when compared to ER-negative (tumor/normal ratio >20-fold) tumor tissues.

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Objective: To evaluate sperm DNA fragmentation in correlation with sperm parameters and IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcomes.

Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: A tertiary infertility referral clinic.

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Background: Blastocysts were cryopreserved by a new two-step ultra-rapid cooling in super-cooled liquid nitrogen (-205 degrees C).

Methods: There were 308 mouse blastocysts collected from fertile B6CBF1 mice and 249 human blastocysts collected from 51 couples treated with IVF. The blastocysts were super-cooled by a Vit-Master and cryoloops after treatment in 50 and 100% vitrification solution (VS) for 2 min and 30 s, respectively.

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Purpose: This study determined the incidence of sperm nuclear DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chromosomal aneuploidy. The results were correlated with the semen analysis parameters and fertilization rates.

Methods: Semen samples from 10 men showing oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) and undergoing ICSI treatment were analyzed.

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The aim of our study is to observe the relationship between the blastocyst morphology and the implantation rate for mice. Mouse embryos obtained from the superovulated-ICR mice were cultured in vitro from 1-cell zygotes to blastocysts. Mouse blastocysts were then classified into 3 grades: grade I, small blastocysts; grade II, large blastocysts; grade III, hatching blastocysts.

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