Impact of Taurine on the proliferation and apoptosis of human cervical carcinoma cells and its mechanism.

Background: Cervical cancer has the fourth highest incidence and mortality rate of all cancers in women worldwide; it seriously harms their physical and mental health. The aim of this study was to observe the roles and preliminary mechanism of Taurine (Tau)-induced apoptosis in cervical cancer cells.

Methods: Cells from the human cervical cancer cell line SiHa were transfected with the recombinant plasmid pEGFP-N1-MST1 (mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1); then, the cell proliferation activity was analyzed by the MTT assay, cell apoptosis by flow cytometry, and the related protein levels by Western blotting.

High expression of IGFBP7 in fibroblasts induced by colorectal cancer cells is co-regulated by TGF-β and Wnt signaling in a Smad2/3-Dvl2/3-dependent manner.

Fibroblasts in the tumor microenvironment are a key determinant in cancer progression and may be a promising target for cancer therapy. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 (IGFBP7) is known as a tumor suppressor in colorectal cancer (CRC). The present study investigated the inductive mechanism of IGFBP7 expression in fibroblasts by supernatant from the CRC cell line, SW620.

Nkx2-1: a novel tumor biomarker of lung cancer.

Nkx2-1 (Nkx homeobox-1 gene), also known as TTF-1 (thyroid transcription factor-1), is a tissue-specific transcription factor of the thyroid, lung, and ventral forebrain. While it has been shown to play a critical role in lung development and lung cancer differentiation and morphogenesis, molecular mechanisms mediating Nkx2-1 cell- and tissue-specific expression in normal and cancerous lungs have yet to be fully elucidated. The recent identification of prognostic biomarkers in lung cancer, particularly in lung adenocarcinoma (ADC), and the different reactivity of patients to chemotherapeutic drugs have opened new avenues for evaluating patient survival and the development of novel effective therapeutic strategies.

Anticancer effects of Chinese herbal medicine, science or myth?

Currently there is considerable interest among oncologists to find anticancer drugs in Chinese herbal medicine (CHM). In the past, clinical data showed that some herbs possessed anticancer properties, but western scientists have doubted the scientific validity of CHM due to the lack of scientific evidence from their perspective. Recently there have been encouraging results, from a western perspective, in the cancer research field regarding the anticancer effects of CHM.

IGFBP7 plays a potential tumor suppressor role against colorectal carcinogenesis with its expression associated with DNA hypomethylation of exon 1.

Insulin-like growth factor binding-protein-7 (IGFBP7) was obtained from our previous colonic adenocarcinoma (CRC) and normal mucosa suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) cDNA libraries. By RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, we found that IGFBP7 was overexpressed in CRC tissue compared to normal tissue. However, our in vitro experiments performed in 10 CRC cell lines showed that IGFBP7 expressed only in SW480 and Caco2 cell lines, which implied an underlying reversible regulatory mechanism.

[VNTR polymorphism of C6orf37 in Chinese population].

Objective: To identify a novel VNTR in C6orf37 and to detect the C6orf37 VNTR polymorphism distribution in Chinese population.

Methods: RT-PCR and sequencing were conducted to identify VNTR alleles in the variable region of C6orf37.SSLP and DHPLC were applied in detecting the VNTR genotypes in 166 Chinese individuals.

Identification of a novel VNTR polymorphism in C6orf37 and its association with colorectal cancer risk in Chinese population.

Background: C6orf37 was a gene up-regulated in colorectal adenoma in our previous study. A variable region of C6orf37 sequence was found when we blasted its full sequence with NCBI nucleotide database.

Methods: RT-PCR and sequencing were conducted to identify the variable region of C6orf37 as VNTR.

Autocrine stimulation in colorectal carcinoma (CRC): positive autocrine loops in human colorectal carcinoma and applicable significance of blocking the loops.

Many tumors co-express growth factors and their receptors; thus, the concept of autocrine secretion was proposed to explain the unrestrained growth of the malignant cells. Autocrine stimulation refers to positive autocrine secretion, which functions to stimulate cell growth. Many of the positive autocrine loops have been demonstrated in human colorectal carcinoma (CRC), which are considered to play an important role in the initiation and progression of the cancer.