Amorphous selenium inhibits oxidative stress injury of neurons in vascular dementia rats by activating NMDAR pathway.

Vascular dementia (VD) is one of the most common causes of dementia, taking account for about 20% of all cases. Although studies have found that selenium supplementation can improve the cognitive ability of Alzheimer's patients, there is currently no research on the cognitive impairment caused by VD. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of Amorphous selenium nanodots (A SeNDs) in the prevention of VD.

Amorphous nano-selenium quantum dots prevent pulmonary arterial hypertension through recoupling endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

Aims: We have previously reported that nano-selenium quantum dots (SeQDs) prevented endothelial dysfunction in atherosclerosis. This study is to investigate whether amorphous SeQDs (A-SeQDs) increase endogenous tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis to alleviate pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Results: Both A-SeQDs and C-SeQDs were stable under physiological conditions, while the size of A-SeQDs was smaller than C-SeQDs by high resolution-transmission electron microscopy scanning.

SN50 enhances the effects of LY294002 on cell death induction in gastric cancer cell line SGC7901.

Introduction: In the previous study, we found that the inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) by LY294002 induced SGC7901 cell death in vitro. We did not know whether SN50, which is a specific inhibitor of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), could increase the cell death induction of gastric cancer of LY294002 in vitro, and we also wanted to know the mechanism of it, which might be applied to clinical tumor therapy.

Material And Methods: The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effects of the drugs.

Knockdown of Bcl-3 inhibits cell growth and induces DNA damage in HTLV-1-infected cells.

Oncoprotein Bcl-3 is perceived as an unusual member of IκB family since it can both stimulate and suppress NF-κB activation. Aberrant Bcl-3 results in increased cell proliferation and survival, suggesting a contribution to malignant potential and elevated levels of Bcl-3 have been observed in many HTLV-1-infected T cell lines and ATL cells. To investigate the specific roles of Bcl-3 in HTLV-1-infected cells, we knocked down Bcl-3 expression using shRNA and then examined the consequences with regard to DNA damage and cell proliferation, as well as NF-κB activation.

Tax is involved in up-regulation of HMGB1 expression levels by interaction with C/EBP.

The high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein is a multifunctional cytokine-like molecule that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of tumors. In this study, real-time polymerase chain reactions and Western blot assays indicated that HMGB1 transcriptional activity and protein level are increased in Tax+-T cells (TaxP). To clarify the mechanisms, a series of HMGB1 deletion reporter plasmids (pHLuc1 to pHLuc6) were transfected into Tax--T cells (TaxN, Jurkat) and Tax+-T cells (TaxP).

Lapatinib, a dual inhibitor of EGFR and HER2, has synergistic effects with 5-fluorouracil on esophageal carcinoma.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) amplification occurs in over 30% of esophageal carcinomas. Combination therapies with EGFR and HER2-targeting agents and cytotoxic agents are considered a potential therapeutic option for esophageal cancer. We evaluated the antitumor effects of lapatinib, a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor which simultaneously inhibits EGFR and HER2, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) alone and in combination on esophageal cancer cells.