miR-451 regulates FoxO3 nuclear accumulation through Ywhaz in human colorectal cancer.

Background And Objective: Our previous studies reported that miR-451 could protect against erythroid oxidant stress target gene-Ywhaz (14-3-3zeta) via inhibiting FoxO3 in the erythropoiesis. This study aimed to investigate the potential mechanism underlying the regulatory effect of miR-451 on human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells.

Methods: In this study, expressions of miR-451 and Ywhaz in CRC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry respectively.

Association of the Serotonin Receptor 3E Gene as a Functional Variant in the MicroRNA-510 Target Site with Diarrhea Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Chinese Women.

Background/aims: The functional variant (rs56109847) in the 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTR) of the serotonin receptor 3E (HTR3E) gene is associated with female diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) in British populations. However, the relationship of the polymorphism both to HTR3E expression in the intestine and to the occurrence of Chinese functional gastrointestinal disorders has yet to be examined.

Methods: Polymerase chain reaction amplification and restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses were employed to detect polymorphisms among Chinese Han women, particularly 107 patients with IBS-D, 99 patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), 115 patients with mixed IBS and 69 patients with IBS-D + FD.

Astragalus polysaccharide suppresses excessive collagen accumulation in a murine model of bleomycin-induced scleroderma.

Systemic scleroderma is an autoimmune disease characterized by fibrotic changes in skin and other organs involving excessive collagen deposition. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway plays a key role in the fibrotic process in systemic scleroderma (SSc). Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) isolated from one of the Chinese herbs, Astragalus mongholicus, are known to have a variety of immunomodulatory activities.

MicroRNA-7 inhibits metastasis and invasion through targeting focal adhesion kinase in cervical cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in cervical cancer. miR-7 has been demonstrated to function as both an oncogene and a tumor suppressor in some types of human cancers. In the present study, miR-7 was significantly downregulated in cervical cancer, especially metastatic tumors.

Shikonin induces apoptosis and inhibits migration of ovarian carcinoma cells by inhibiting the phosphorylation of Src and FAK.

The present study identified that shikonin, a naphthoquinone extracted from the roots of , inhibits the migration of ovarian cancer cells and induces their apoptosis by impairing the phosphorylation of two kinases, proto-oncogene tyrosine protein kinase Src (Src) and focal adhesion kinase (FAK). Ovarian carcinoma SKOV-3 cells were treated with various concentrations of shikonin and analyzed for the effects on cell migration, invasion and apoptosis via Transwell assays and flow cytometry. In addition, the effects of shikonin administration on the expression and phosphorylation of Src and FAK in the SKOV-3 cells were analyzed by western blotting.

Activating transcription factor 3 interferes with p21 activation in histone deacetylase inhibitor-induced growth inhibition of epidermoid carcinoma cells.

Inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity by HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) results in cancer cell growth inhibition, and HDACis have been revealed as potential anti-skin cancer agents. p21 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor and an essential regulator of growth inhibition. Recently, we reported that activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) could significantly promote skin cancer cell growth.

ATF3 activates Stat3 phosphorylation through inhibition of p53 expression in skin cancer cells.

Aim: ATF3, a member of the ATF/CREB family of transcription factors, has been found to be selectively induced by calcineurin/NFAT inhibition and to enhance keratinocyte tumor formation, although the precise role of ATF3 in human skin cancer and possible mechanisms remain unknown.

Methods: In this study, clinical analysis of 30 skin cancer patients and 30 normal donors revealed that ATF3 was accumulated in skin cancer tissues. Functional assays demonstrated that ATF3 significantly promoted skin cancer cell proliferation.

Environmental investigations and molecular typing of Aspergillus in a Chinese hospital.

Invasive fungal infections due to Aspergillus species have become a major cause of morbidity and mortality among immunocompromised patients. In order to determine the possible relationship between environmental contamination by Aspergillus and the occurrence of invasive aspergillosis, a 1-year prospective study was carried out in a tertiary hospital in China. Air, surface, and tap water sampling was performed twice monthly at the bone marrow transplant (BMT) department, intensive care unit (ICU), neurosurgery intensive care unit (NICU), and outdoors.

Environment surveillance of filamentous fungi in two tertiary care hospitals in China.

Background: Invasive fungal infections have constituted an increasingly important cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. In this study, a surveillance project was conducted in three different intensive care units of two large tertiary hospitals in China.

Methods: A one-year surveillance project was conducted in two tertiary hospitals which located in northern China and southwest China respectively.

Pathogenicity of Trichosporon asahii in a murine model of disseminated trichosporonosis.

Background: In recent years, superficial and deep mycoses caused by trichosporon were occasionally reported. In 2001, we reported the first case of disseminated trichosporonosis caused by Trichosporon asahii (T. asahii) in China.