Autonomic and somatic components participate in the defecation process in mammals, combining signals from the brainstem and forebrain. The innervation pattern involved in micturition in rats has been well studied, while defecation has been less studied. The aim of the present study was to identify the most important sensory and motor nerves of the anal canal and rectum involved in defecation. The amplitudes of evoked potential of the anal canal and rectum were higher when L6 and S1 ventral rootlets were stimulated, compared with the other segments (ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test, all P < 0.05). The S1 segment was more strongly cholera toxin subunit B conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (CB-HRP) positive compared with the other segments (ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test, P < 0.05). Ventral spinal rootlets of L6 and S1 mainly contributed to the pressure change in the anal canal and rectum when the ventral spinal rootlets from L5 to S3 were stimulated electrically. In conclusion, many afferent and efferent nerves innervate the anal canal and rectum and are involved in defecation, but the S1 nerve rootlet could be the most efficient one. These results could provide a basis for defecation reconstruction, especially for patients with spinal cord injuries.

The described systematic review aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for psoriasis.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a leading cause of sudden death in aged people. Activation of ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) plays a critical role in the protein quality control and various diseases. However, the functional role of UPS in AAA formation remains unclear. In this study, we found that the proteasome activities and subunit expressions in AAA tissues from human and angiotensin II (Ang II)-infused apolipoprotein E knockout (Apo E(-/-)) mice were significantly increased. To investigate the effect of proteasome activation on the AAA formation, Apo E(-/-) mice were cotreated with bortezomib (BTZ) (a proteasome inhibitor, 50 μg/kg, 2 times per week) and Ang II (1000 ng/kg/min) up to 28 days. Ang II infusion significantly increased the incidence and severity of AAA in Apo E(-/-) mice, whereas BTZ treatment markedly inhibited proteasome activities and prevented AAA formation. Furthermore, BTZ treatment significantly reduced the inflammation, inhibited the metal matrix metalloprotease activity, and reversed the phenotypic SMC modulation in AAA tissue. In conclusion, these results provide a new evidence that proteasome activation plays a critical role in AAA formation through multiple mechanisms, and suggest that BTZ might be a novel therapeutic target for treatment of AAA formation.

Monocytes and macrophages can infiltrate into tumor microenvironment and regulate the progression of tumors. This study aimed at determining the frequency of different subsets of circulating monocytes and tumor infiltrating macrophages (TIMs) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).

Nasal olfactory mucosa mesenchymal stem cells (OM-MSCs) have the ability to promote regeneration in the nervous system in vivo. Moreover, with view to the potential for clinical application, OM-MSCs have the advantage of being easily accessible from patients and transplantable in an autologous manner, thus eliminating immune rejection and contentious ethical issues. So far, most studies have been focused on the role of OM-MSCs in central nervous system replacement. However, the secreted proteomics of OM-MSCs have not been reported yet. Here, proteins secreted by OM-MSCs cultured in serum-free conditions were separated on SDS-PAGE and identified by LC-MS/MS. As a result, a total of 274 secreted proteins were identified. These molecules are known to be important in neurotrophy, angiogenesis, cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis, and inflammation which were highly correlated with the repair of central nervous system. The proteomic profiling of the OM-MSCs secretome might provide new insights into their nature in the neural recovery. However, proteomic analysis for clinical biomarkers of OM-MSCs needs to be further studied.

It has been established that mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors have anti-inflammatory effects in models of experimental colitis. However, the underlying mechanism is largely unknown. In this research, we investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of AZD8055, a potent mTOR inhibitor, on T cell response in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice, a commonly used animal model of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Severity of colitis is evaluated by changing of body weight, bloody stool, fecal consistency, histology evaluation and cytokine expression. We find that AZD8055 treatment attenuates DSS-induced body weight loss, colon length shortening and pathological damage of the colon. And AZD8055 treatment decreases colonic expression of genes encoding the pro-inflammatory cytokines interferon-γ, interleukin (IL)-17A, IL-1β,IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-a and increases colonic expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-10. We show that AZD8055 treatment decreases the percentages of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells in spleen, lymph nodes and peripheral blood of mice. We also find that AZD8055 treatment significantly reduces the number of T helper 1(TH1) cells and TH17 cells and increases regulatory T (Treg) cells in the lamina propria and mesenteric lymph nodes. Furthermore, we demonstrates that AZD8055 suppresses the proliferation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and the differentiation of TH1/TH17 cells and expands Treg cells in vitro. The results suggest that, in experimental colitis, AZD8055 exerts anti-inflammatory effect by regulating T helper cell polarization and proliferation.

Deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) is an endonuclease responsible for the destruction of chromatin during apoptosis. However, its role in diabetes remains unclear. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of DNase I combined with high glucose levels in β‑cell apoptosis. Human samples were collected and the DNase I activity was examined. High glucose‑cultured INS‑1 cells were transfected with DNase I small interfering RNA (siRNA) and the cell apoptosis was examined by western blotting and flow cytometry. Cell viability was analyzed by the Cell Counting Kit‑8 assay. Cell apoptosis resulting from 50 mU/µl DNase I was also observed by flow cytometry, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick‑end labeling stain and western blotting. Compared with healthy controls, the serum DNase I activity of patients with diabetes was significantly increased (P<0.05). In addition, DNase I expression was observed to be significantly increased in human pancreatic tissues. The addition of high glucose upregulated the cell apoptotic rate, whereas DNase I knockdown significantly reduced apoptosis in cells treated with high glucose. In addition, the western blotting results indicated that caspase‑3 was increased subsequent to treatment of cells with 30 mM high glucose, however, this increase can be reversed by transfection with DNase I siRNA (P<0.05). Compared with cells cultured in normal conditions and high glucose, 50 mU/µl DNase I was able to significantly increase the cell apoptotic rate and level of caspase-3. DNase I activity was observed to be increased in type 2 diabetes, and high glucose combined with increased DNase I is suggested to aggravate β-cell apoptosis.

LASP-1 is an actin-binding protein that regulates cytoskeletal dynamics and cell migration. LASP-1 was previously identified in a cDNA library from metastatic breast cancer samples. This protein has since been detected in multiple human cancers, including liver cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer. S100P is a small calcium-binding protein in the S100 protein family that regulates cellular, physiological and pathological processes in various cancers. However, the clinical significance of LASP-1 and S100P expression in gallbladder cancer (GBC) is not yet clear. In our study, we focused on the clinical significance, biological function and mechanism of LASP-1 in gallbladder cancer and detected LASP-1 and S100P overexpression in GBC tissues. The expression of LASP-1 was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in GBC patients (P < 0.05). Furthermore, down-regulation of LASP-1 expression resulted in the obvious inhibition of proliferation and migration and caused cell cycle arrest by down-regulating S100P via the PI3K/AKT pathway; in mice, tumor volume was significantly decreased. In conclusion, LASP-1 may act as an oncogene to regulate the expression of S100P to influence cellular functions in GBC. LASP-1 could serve as a genetic treatment target in GBC patients.

To develop an accurate model with pre-treatment parameters to predict tumor regression and down-staging in locally advanced rectal cancer patients, basing the cohort of preoperative chemotherapy alone in FOWARC study.

Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is an essential component of the polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), which is required for epigenetic silencing of target genes, including those affecting cancer progression. Its role in pancreatic cancer remains to be clarified; therefore, we investigated the effects of aberrantly expressed EZH2 on pancreatic cancer. We found that EZH2 expression is up-regulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and advanced clinical stage in pancreatic cancer patients. EZH2 knockdown in pancreatic cancer cell lines inhibited cell migration and invasion, but did not alter cell proliferation. Silencing of EZH2 also increased E-cadherin expression in vitro, and E-cadherin expression was inversely correlated with EZH2 expression in pancreatic cancer tissue samples. Patients with high EZH2 and low E-cadherin expression had the worst prognosis. RIP and ChIP assays suggest that EZH2 is recruited to the E-cadherin promoter by the long non-coding RNA, MALAT-1 (metastasis associated in lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1), where it represses E-cadherin expression. Our results show that EZH2-based therapies may be an option for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

The deubiquitinase OTUB1 plays critical oncogenic roles and facilitates tumor progression in cancer. However, less is known regarding the aberrant expression, clinical significance and biological functions of the non-coding RNA OTUB1-isoform 2. We aimed to evaluate the OTUB1-isoform 2 levels in gastric cancer and their possible correlation with clinicopathologic features and patient survival to reveal its biological effects in gastric cancer progression.

The most common genetic changes identified in human NSCLC are Kras mutations (10-30 %) and p53 mutation or loss (50-70 %). Moreover, NSCLC with mutations in Kras and p53 poorly respond to current therapies, so we are trying to find a new target for the treatment strategies.

The P1B-ATPase subfamily is an important group involved in transporting heavy metals and has been extensively studied in model plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana and Oryza sativa. Emerging evidence indicates that one homolog in Glycine max is also involved in cadmium (Cd) stress, but the gene family has not been fully investigated in soybean.

Neddylation, a newly identified post-translational modification, is significant for the activity and stability of target proteins. The exact role of neddylation in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease, specifically those mediated by dendritic cells (DCs), was still rarely reported. Here, we showed that inhibition of neddylation protected mice from mucosal inflammation. Targeting neddylation also inhibited DC maturation characterized by reduced cytokine production, down-regulated costimulatory molecules and suppressed capacity in allogeneic T cell stimulation. Additionally, inactivation of neddylation promotes caspase dependent apoptosis of DCs. These phenomena were attributed to the inactivation of mTOR, which was caused by Cullin-1 deneddylation induced Deptor accumulation. Together, our findings revealed that neddylation inhibition suppressed DC functions through mTOR signaling pathway and provided a potential therapeutic opportunity in inflammatory bowel diseases.

Dysregulated microRNAs play important pathological roles in carcinogenesis that are yet to be fully elucidated. This study was performed to investigate the biological functions of microRNA-320a (miR-320a) in breast cancer and the underlying mechanisms. Function analyses for cell proliferation, cell cycle, and cell invasion/migration, were conducted after miR-320a silencing and overexpression. The specific target genes of miR-320a were predicted by TargetScan algorithm and then determined by dual luciferase reporter assay and rescue experiment. The relationship between miR-320a and its target genes was explored in human breast cancer tissues. We found that miR-320a overexpression could inhibit breast cancer invasion and migration abilities in vitro, while miR-320a silencing could enhance that. In addition, miR-320a could suppress activity of 3'-untranslated region luciferase of metadherin (MTDH), a potent oncogene. The rescue experiment revealed that MTDH was a functional target of miR-320a. Moreover, we found that MTDH was negatively correlated with miR-320a expression, and it was related to clinical outcomes of breast cancer. Further xenograft experiment also showed that miR-320a could inhibit breast cancer metastasis in vivo. Our findings clearly demonstrate that miR-320a suppresses breast cancer metastasis by directly inhibiting MTDH expression. The present study provides a new insight into anti-oncogenic roles of miR-320a and suggests that miR-320a/MTDH pathway is a putative therapeutic target in breast cancer.

C-type lectins are important immune molecules that participate in host defense response. The present work reports a novel C-type lectin (PcLec3) from the red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Sequence analysis found that PcLec3 encodes a polypeptide with252 amino acid residues, which contains an immunoglobulin-like domain (IG) and a C-type lectin domain (CTLD) arranged in tandem. Tissue distribution analysis indicated that PcLec3 is enriched expressed in hemocytes and hepatopancreas cells, in which PcLec3 was up-regulated following bacterial challenge by Vibrio anguillarum. Function analysis using recombinant full-length PcLec3, IG, and CTLD proteins revealed that these recombinant proteins had the capacity to bind carbohydrates and bacteria, while IG determined the cell binding activity. However, only full-length PcLec3 promotes the phagocytic activity of hemocytes and subsequent clearance of invasive bacteria. Taken together, these results manifest that PcLec3 acts as a hemocyte adhesion molecule to promote hemocyte phagocytosis against invasive V. anguillarum.

Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BYHWD) is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula for treating stroke-induced disability. Xiaoshuan enteric-coated capsule (XSECC), derived from the formula BYHWD, is a drug approved by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) for stroke management. To further investigate the potential protective effects of XSECC on neurovascular functions, we endeavour to monitor the neurovascular functions using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and evaluated histopathological changes of neurovascular unit (NVU) after stroke.

Decorin (DCN) is a major member of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan (SLRP) family that is critically involved in tumorigenesis and the development of metastasis of cancers, including glioma. Overexpression of DCN was indicated to suppress glioma cell growth. However, the role of DCN in the migration of glioma cells remain elusive. In this study, we found that treatment with exogenous DCN inhibited the adhesion and migration of U87MG glioma cells with down-regulation of TGF-β signaling. DCN also activated autophagy, as indicated by monodansylcadaverine (MDC) staining, increase in LC3 I/LC3 II conversion, and p62/SQSTM1 degradation in U87MG cells. The increased activity of autophagy was found to be connected to the inhibition on glioma cell migration. Knockdown of DCN expression or the disruption of autophagy with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) was able to reduce the suppression on cell adhesion and migration induced by DCN. When U87MG cells were treated with temozolomide (TMZ), induction of autophagy and up-regulation of DCN were observed, accompanied by suppressed cell adhesion and migration. Transfection of siRNA targeting DCN attenuated the suppressive effect of TMZ on glioma cell migration and adhesion. Our results indicated that the migration of glioma cells was under the control of the active status of autophagy, with DCN serving as a key player, as well as an indicator of the outcome. Therefore, it is suggested that autophagy-modulating reagents could be considered for the treatment of invasive glioma.

Phyllomedusine frogs are an extraordinary source of biologically active peptides. At least 8 families of antimicrobial peptides have been reported in this frog clade, the dermaseptins being the most diverse. By a peptidomic approach, integrating molecular cloning, Edman degradation sequencing and tandem mass spectrometry, a new family of antimicrobial peptides has been identified in Cruziohyla calcarifer. These 15 novel antimicrobial peptides of 20-32 residues in length are named cruzioseptins. They are characterized by having a unique shared N-terminal sequence GFLD- and the sequence motifs -VALGAVSK- or -GKAAL(N/G/S) (V/A)V- in the middle of the peptide. Cruzioseptins have a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity and low haemolytic effect. The most potent cruzioseptin was CZS-1 that had a MIC of 3.77μM against the Gram positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus and the yeast Candida albicans. In contrast, CZS-1 was 3-fold less potent against the Gram negative bacterium, Escherichia coli (MIC 15.11μM). CZS-1 reached 100% haemolysis at 120.87μM. Skin secretions from unexplored species such as C. calcarifer continue to demonstrate the enormous molecular diversity hidden in the amphibian skin. Some of these novel peptides may provide lead structures for the development of a new class of antibiotics and antifungals of therapeutic use.

Currently, no therapeutic options exist for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients who have developed resistance to the second generation anti-androgen receptor (AR) axis therapy. Here we report that co-deletion of Pten and p53 in murine prostate epithelium, often observed in human CRPC, leads to AR-independent CRPC and thus confers de novo resistance to second generation androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in multiple independent yet complementary preclinical mouse models. In contrast, mechanism-driven co-targeting hexokinase 2 (HK2)-mediated Warburg effect with 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) and ULK1-dependent autophagy with chloroquine (CQ) selectively kills cancer cells through intrinsic apoptosis to cause tumor regression in xenograft, leads to a near-complete tumor suppression and remarkably extends survival in Pten-/p53-deficiency-driven CRPC mouse model. Mechanistically, 2-DG causes AMPK phosphorylation, which in turn inhibits mTORC1-S6K1 translation signaling to preferentially block anti-apoptotic protein MCL-l synthesis to prime mitochondria-dependent apoptosis while simultaneously activates ULK1-driven autophagy for cell survival to counteract the apoptotic action of anti-Warburg effect. Accordingly, inhibition of autophagy with CQ sensitizes cancer cells to apoptosis upon 2-DG challenge. Given that 2-DG is recommended for phase II clinical trials for prostate cancer and CQ has been clinically used as an anti-malaria drug for many decades, the preclinical results from our proof-of-principle studies in vivo are imminently translatable to clinical trials to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy by the combination modality for a subset of currently incurable CRPC harboring PTEN and TP53 mutations.