Curcumin plays a synergistic role in combination with HSV-TK/GCV in inhibiting growth of murine B16 melanoma cells and melanoma xenografts.

Melanoma is a global concern and accounts for the major mortality of skin cancers. Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene with ganciclovir (HSV-TK/GCV) is a promising gene therapy for melanoma. Despite its low efficiency, it is well known for its bystander effect which is mainly mediated by gap junction.

A Circular RNA Binds To and Activates AKT Phosphorylation and Nuclear Localization Reducing Apoptosis and Enhancing Cardiac Repair.

As central nodes in cardiomyocyte signaling, nuclear AKT appears to play a cardio-protective role in cardiovascular disease. Here we describe a circular RNA, circ-Amotl1 that is highly expressed in neonatal human cardiac tissue, and potentiates AKT-enhanced cardiomyocyte survival. We hypothesize that circ-Amotl1 binds to PDK1 and AKT1, leading to AKT1 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation.

Dioscin suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma tumor growth by inducing apoptosis and regulation of TP53, BAX, BCL2 and cleaved CASP3.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy of the liver, occurs frequently in the setting of chronic liver injury. Although multiple therapeutic approaches are available, the prognosis of patients with HCC remains poor. Dioscin is a natural steroid saponin that presents in various plants.

Tanshinone IIA increases the bystander effect of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir gene therapy via enhanced gap junctional intercellular communication.

The bystander effect is an intriguing phenomenon by which adjacent cells become sensitized to drug treatment during gene therapy with herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir (HSV-tk/GCV). This effect is reported to be mediated by gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC), and therefore, we postulated that upregulation of genes that facilitate GJIC may enhance the HSV-tk/GCV bystander effect. Previous findings have shown Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA), a chemical substance derived from a Chinese medicine herb, promotes the upregulation of the connexins Cx26 and Cx43 in B16 cells.

Induction of apoptosis by evodiamine involves both activation of mitotic arrest and mitotic slippage.

Evodiamine (Evo) is an indole quinazoline alkaloid isolated from the fruit of Evodia rutaecarpa Bentham. Previous studies have shown that Evo exhibits anti-proliferative anti-tumor activities in several cancer types, but its target(s) and underlying mechanism(s) of action remain unclear. In the present study, we sought to establish a cell synchronization model in order to examine the anti-proliferative and apoptotic mechanisms of Evo in the human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901.

[Preliminary evaluation of immunological function in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia].

This study was aimed to investigate 6 kinds of human cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, IL-12, IL-13, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha) in patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), so as to find their relationship with the disease. The pure monoclonal antibodies were spotted on the prepared NC membrane glass slides under certain conditions to make human cytokine protein microarray. The serum samples were collected from peripheral blood of 28 patients and 25 normal controls, the serum concentration of cytokines was determined by using the protein microarray and ELISA.