Colorectal cancer is a common malignancy. NTS receptor 3 (NTSR3) is known to play an important role in several cancers. This study examined the effects of NTSR3 on cell growth and metastasis in colorectal cancer. Western blot analysis, real-time PCR, immunofluorescence staining, MTT, cell cycle assay, cell apoptosis assay, Hoechst staining, caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity assays, cell adhesion assay

The glycolytic pathway of the enteric pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is incomplete; the absence of phosphofructokinase means that the suppression of futile cycling at this point in the glycolytic-gluconeogenic pathway might not be required, and therefore the mechanism for controlling pathway flux is likely to be quite different or absent. In this study, the characteristics of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase

Recent studies have shown that long non-coding RNA(LncRNA) H19 is up-regulated in the brain of rats suffering from cerebral ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, inducing severe disability and mortality. Little was known about the molecular mechanisms underlying the involvement of H19 in cerebral I/R injury. In this study, a rat model of I/R was induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO)

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is known to be involved in a variety of diseases. However, the role of Gm4419 in hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury remains unknown. To study this, we first established a rat model of hepatic I/R, and a BRL-3A cell model of hypoxia-reoxygenation (H/R) for in vivo and in vitro studies. Staining with hematoxylin and eosin and hepatic injury scores were used to evaluate

Both the Notch1 and Keap1-Nrf2 signaling pathways have cardioprotective effects, but the role of Notch1-Nrf2 crosstalk in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is unclear. In this study, we established hypoxia-reoxygenation in neonate rat myocardial cells and employed γ-secretase inhibitor and curcumin to inhibit and activate the Notch1 and Keap1-Nrf2 signaling pathways, respectively. We found that

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major diabetes-related microvascular disease. LncRNA MALAT1 is widely expressed in cardiomyocytes responding to hypoxia and high levels of glucose (high glucose). In this study, cardiac fibroblasts (CFs) were transfected with si-MALAT1 and exposed to high glucose. CFs in the high glucose groups were treated with 30 mmol/L glucose, and the control CFs were treated

The natural product pateamineA (PatA) is a highly potent antiproliferative agent. PatA and the simplified analog desmethyl, desamino pateamineA (DMDAPatA) have exhibited cytotoxicity selective for rapidly proliferating cells, and have been shown to inhibit cap-dependent translation initiation through binding to eIF4A (eukaryotic initiation factor 4A) of the eIF4F complex. PatA and DMDAPatA are both

Induction of autophagy promotes cardiomyocyte survival and confers a cardioprotective effect on acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Our previous study showed that knockdown of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) attenuated myocardial apoptosis in mouse AMI. Herein, this study further investigated whether the mechanisms by which MALAT1 enhanced

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle for successful cancer chemotherapy, and the main cause of MDR has been attributed to overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp). In this present study, four P-gp modulators (E,E)-4,6-bis(styryl)-2-(substituted amino)-pyrimidines were evaluated for their activity in a breast cancer cell line overexpressing P-gp (LCC6MDR). The four modulators displayed significantly

Exogenous ubiquitin (UB) plays a protective role in β-adrenergic receptor-stimulated and ischemia/reperfusion (I/R)-induced myocardial remodeling. Here, we report that UB treatment inhibits hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced apoptosis in adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVMs). The activation of Akt was elevated, whereas the activation of glycogen synthase kinase-3β was reduced in UB-treated cells

Ankyrin-B (AnkB) is scaffolding protein that anchors integral membrane proteins to the cardiomyocyte cytoskeleton. We recently identified an AnkB variant, AnkB p.S646F (ANK2 c.1937 C>T) associated with a phenotype ranging from predisposition for cardiac arrhythmia to cardiomyopathy. AnkB p.S646F exhibited reduced expression levels in the H9c2 rat ventricular-derived cardiomyoblast cell line relative

Heart failure (HF) is associated with a considerable number of symptoms and significantly impaired health for humans, including reduced quality of life and physical functioning. Previous studies have indicated that miRNAs have important roles in regulating the development of HF. MiR-1180 is involved in the proliferation, migration, invasiveness, and chemoresistance of cancer cells; however, the underlying

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease accompanied by a low expression level of cerebral hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1α). Hence, activating the hypoxia-signaling pathway may be a favorable therapeutic approach for curing PD. This study explored the efficacy of hydralazine, a well-known antihypertensive agent, for restoring the impaired HIF-1 signaling in PD, with the aid of 6-hydroxydopamine

The RiboWest Conference brings together RNA researchers in Canada with the 2-fold goals of fostering internationally competitive RNA research and of training the next generation of scientists. The 14th Annual RiboWest conference (RiboWest 2018) was held at the University of Lethbridge (Lethbridge, Alberta) from June 10th to 13th, 2018. This meeting was focused on all major aspects of RNA research,

Over the past two decades, the importance of small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) as regulatory molecules has become apparent in all three domains of life (archaea, bacteria, eukaryotes). In fact, sncRNAs play an important role in the control of gene expression at both the transcriptional and the post-transcriptional level, with crucial roles in fine-tuning cell responses during internal and external stress

This study evaluated the effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) on oxidative stress and energy metabolism parameters in the visceral fat of a high-fat-diet induced obesity model. Energy intake, body mass, and visceral fat mass were also evaluated. Male Swiss mice received either a control diet (control group) or a high-fat diet (obese group) for 6 weeks. After this period, the groups

Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is a devastating complication for patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who are treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). HT is associated with high morbidity and mortality, but no effective treatments are currently available to reduce the risk of HT. Therefore, methods to prevent HT are urgently needed. In this study, we used IM-12, an inhibitor of glycogen

The purpose of this study was to characterize the expression of procollagen-lysine, 2-oxoglutarate 5-dioxygenase 2 (PLOD2), a membrane-bound homodimeric enzyme that specifically hydroxylates lysine in the telopeptide of procollagens, and assess the clinical significance of PLOD2 in colorectal cancer (CRC). Our results show that PLOD2 is highly expressed in CRC tumor tissues and cell lines, both at

The aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is involved in the initiation and progression of human cancers. In our study, we found that miR-539 was down-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines. Decreased expression of miR-539 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis in patients with breast cancer. Overexpression of miR-539 inhibited the proliferation and promoted apoptosis

Hypoxia induces cellular oxidative stress that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases. HPN (4'-hydroxyl-2-substituted phenyl nitronyl nitroxide), a stable nitronyl nitroxide, has excellent free radical scavenging properties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effects of HPN on hypoxia-induced damage in PC12 cells. It was shown that HPN significantly attenuated hypoxia-induced

A summary of the Jeanne Manery Fisher Memorial Lecture presented at the CSMB meeting in Montreal, June 2019.

The consumption of nicotine via smoking tobacco has been reported to stimulate the occurrence and progression of periodontitis. Many studies have demonstrated that nicotine prevents the regeneration of periodontal tissues primarily by inhibiting the proliferation of human periodontal ligament (PDL) cells. However, the mechanisms underlying this process are still unclear. Therefore, we investigated

Promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies (PML NBs) are nuclear subdomains that respond to genotoxic stress by increasing in number via changes in chromatin structure. However, the role of the PML protein and PML NBs in specific mechanisms of DNA repair has not been fully characterized. Here, we have directly examined the role of PML in homologous recombination (HR) using I-SceI extrachromosomal and chromosome-based

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as vital regulators in various physiological and pathological processes. It was recently found that lncRNA HIF1A-AS2 could play oncogenic roles in several cancers. However, the function and regulatory mechanism of lncRNA HIF1A-AS2 in osteosarcoma (OS) remain largely unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that HIF1A-AS2 was overexpressed in OS tissues and

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), which results in vision loss. This study explored the role of miR-126 in high-glucose-induced human retinal endothelial cells (HRECs) and its underlying molecular mechanisms. The results showed that the expression levels of miR-126 and interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in high-glucose-induced HRECs were downregulated and upregulated

Cell fractionation can be used to determine the localization and trafficking of proteins between cellular compartments such as the cytosol, mitochondria, and nuclei. Subcellular fractionation is usually performed immediately after tissue dissection because freezing may fragment cell membranes and induce organellar cross-contamination. Mitochondria are especially sensitive to freezing/thawing and mechanical

MicroRNA (miR)-1298 is widely down-regulated in a variety of malignant tumors, which facilitates cell proliferation, invasiveness, and migration. However, the specific biological function of miR-1298 in bladder cancer (BC) is still unknown. Connexin 43 (Cx43) is often up-regulated in tumors. Identifying miRNAs that target Cx43 in the setting of BC will help to develop Cx43-based therapies for BC. In

This study investigated the potential effect of n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on inflammation and myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury (MIRI) in rats, together with the underlying protective mechanisms, and screen out most effective ratio of n-6/n-3 within limits. The rats with pre-infarct treatment were distributed among 5 groups according to the n-6/n-3 ratio (36:1; 1:1, 5:1, 10:1

Extensive studies have been reported the non-canonical functions of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) as a kinase, transcriptional regulator, and even cell-to-cell communicator, emphasizing its importance in various signaling pathways. However, the role of secreted PKM2 in cancer progression and its signaling pathway is yet to be elucidated. In this study, we found that extracellular PKM2 enhanced the migration

Several miRNAs have been recently suggested as potential therapeutic targets for anesthesia-related diseases. This study was carried out to explore the biological roles of miR-24 in isoflurane-treated rat hippocampal neurons. Isoflurane was used to induce neurotoxicity in a rat model. Gain- and loss-of-function of miR-24 was performed, and the size and Ca2+ permeability of mitochondria, as well as

Human myeloid angiogenic cells (MACs), also termed early endothelial progenitor cells, play an important role in neovascularization and vascular repair. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of naturally occurring, noncoding, short (∼22 nucleotides), single-stranded RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally. MiRNAs have been shown to regulate MAC function. A miRNA signature of MACs was described

We previously demonstrated that genome reorganization, through chromosome territory repositioning, occurs concurrently with significant changes in gene expression in normal primary human fibroblasts treated with the drug rapamycin, or stimulated into quiescence. Although these events occurred concomitantly, it is unclear how specific changes in gene expression relate to reorganization of the genome

MicroRNA (miR)-204 is known to be associated with several different diseases. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has the highest incidence rate among the endocrine disorders in females between the ages of 18 and 44. We aimed to illustrate the miR-204 function in PCOS. MiR-204 expression levels in tissue and cell were examined through RT-qPCR. Colony formation assay and MTT assay were applied to detect

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are longer than 200 nt transcripts and are not translated into proteins. Increasing evidence has shown that lncRNAs are associated with several biological processes in cancer. However, the roles of LINC00511 in lung cancer progression remain unknown. In the present study, we confirmed that LINC00511

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a huge threat to human health even though the diagnosis and treatment strategies have improved rapidly in the past few decades. Increasing evidence has illustrated the critical role noncoding RNA and their regulatory network play in the pathology of HCC. Here, we identified a novel long noncoding RNA, RP5-1120P11.3, that is ectopically expressed in HCC. Further

Gastric cancer (GC) is a major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and has a low survival rate, low cure rate, high recurrence rate, and poor prognosis. Recent studies have indicated that circular RNAs (circRNAs) have important functions in the occurrence and progression of GC. Studies on circ-NOTCH1, which was shown to be highly expressed in GC, have indicated that miR-637 binds to circ-NOTCH1

The major biological role of red blood cells is to carry oxygen to the tissues in the body. However, another role of the erythroid cell is to participate in the immune response. Mature erythrocytes from chickens express Toll-like receptors and several cytokines in response to stimulation of the immune system. We previously reported the application of a biochemical fractionation protocol to isolate

Distant metastasis frequently occurs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and contributes to the adverse prognosis for patients with OSCC. However, the potential mechanisms behind the metastasis have not yet been clarified. This study investigated the role of miR-378 in the migration and invasiveness of OSCC in vitro and in vivo. According to our results, the migration and invasiveness of OSCC cells

Long noncoding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 4 (SNHG4) is usually up-regulated in cancer and regulates the malignant behavior of cancer cells. However, its role in lung cancer remains elusive. In this study, we silenced the expression of SNHG4 in NCI-H1437 and SK-MES-1, two representative non-small-cell lung cancer cell lines, by transfecting them with siRNA (small interfering RNA) that specifically

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a devastating disease with high mortality and morbidity, and the underlying mechanisms of miR-19a in CRC are poorly understood. In our study, dual-luciferase reporter assays were used to evaluate the binding of miR-19a with thrombospondin-1 (THBS1). Cell viability, migration, and invasiveness were assessed using MTT, wound healing, and Transwell assays, respectively. Tube-formation

Many studies have identified circRNA as a prospective direction in the field of cardiovascular research. Detection of circRNA expression in different vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotypes revealed that circ_RUSC2 is upregulated in proliferative VSMCs. Sequence analysis of circ_RUSC2 showed that there are multiple binding sites of miR-661 on circ_RUSC2, and that SYK is an important target gene

The wood frog is one of the few freeze-tolerance vertebrates. This is accomplished in part by the accumulation of cryoprotectant glucose, metabolic rate depression, and stress response activation. These may be achieved by mechanisms such as DNA methylation, which is typically associated with transcriptional repression. Hyperglycemia is also associated with modifications to epigenetic profiles, indicating

The strength of the scientific process is its immunity from human frailties. The built-in error correction and robustness of principles protect and nurture truth, despite both intended and unintended errors and naivety. What it doesn't secure is understanding of how the scientific sausage is made. Here, a scientific journey revolving around a single protein that spans nearly 35 years is used to illustrate

Mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represents a huge burden to society. It is recognized that environmental factors and individual lifestyles play important roles in disease susceptibility, but the link between these external risk factors and our genetics has been unclear. However, the discovery of sequence-independent heritable DNA changes (epigenetics) have helped us to explain

In deciphering the regulatory networks of gene expression controlled by the small non-coding RNAs known as microRNAs (miRNAs), a major challenge has been with the identification of the true mRNA targets by these RNAs within the context of the enormous numbers of predicted targets for each of these small RNAs. To facilitate the system-wide identification of miRNA targets, a variety of system wide methods

Osteosarcoma remains fatal in adolescents and young adults, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 20%. However, the details for mechanisms that regulate osteosarcoma metastasis are poorly understood. We analyzed the expression levels of miR-211-5p in clinical samples of osteosarcoma as well as cell lines, and found that the expression of miR-211-5p was reduced in osteosarcoma. Moreover, induction

Mitochondria affect cellular functions alone or in cooperation with other cellular organelles. Recent research has demonstrated the close relationship of mitochondria with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), both at the physical and the functional level. In an effort to define the combined effect of mitochondrial dysfunction (MD) and ER stress in the proinflammatory activities of macrophages, the human

This study was designed to investigate the effect of particulate matter with a diameter of ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) on bleomycin (BLM) induced pulmonary fibrosis. Thirty-two Sprague Dawley rats were assigned into four groups (intratracheal instillation of 500 μL of PBS (control), 2 mg/kg PM2.5, 3.5 mg/kg BLM A5, and BLM plus 2.0 mg/kg PM2.5) and were fed for 14 days. All rats were sacrificed after the study

Sirt6 has been reported to play a protective role in macrophage foam cell formation, but whether Sirt6 controls atherosclerosis plaque stability and whether it can reduce the interaction between endothelial cells and macrophages remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Sirt6 on atherosclerosis plaque stability and the underlying mechanisms. We used Tie2-Cre transgenic

Glycosaminoglycan-modified proteoglycans play important roles in many cell activities, including cell differentiation and stem cell development. Tumor sphere formation ability is one of properties in cancer stem cells (CSCs). The correlation between CSC markers and proteoglycan remains to be clarified. Upon hepatoma sphere formation, expression of CSC markers CD13, CD90, CD133, and CD44, as well the

This study investigated the role of miR-628-5p and interferon-induced protein 44-like (IFI44L) in osteosarcoma (OS) and determined whether miR-628-5p modulated OS growth by regulating IFI44L. Based on the data downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we revealed that the expression of IFI44L was downregulated in OS and low expression of IFI44L was correlated with better prognosis of

BACKGROUND This study focuses on the lncRNA XIST (X inactive-specific transcript), an lncRNA involved in multiple human cancers, and investigates the functional significance of XIST and the molecular mechanisms underlying the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in pancreatic cancer (PC). METHODS Clinical specimens from 25 patients as well as 5 human PC cell lines were analyzed for XIST, YAP, and

To date, surgical resection is the mainstay for the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC). Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol), one of the most commonly used intravenous anaesthetic agents, has been reported to be involved in modulating the malignancy of a variety of human cancers. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, using a cell counting kit (CCK-8), flow cytometry

We recently demonstrated that Cav1 (caveolin-1) is a negative regulator of Stat3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription-3) activity in mouse fibroblasts and human lung carcinoma SHP77 cells. We now examined whether the cellular context may affect their levels as well as the relationship between them, by assessing Cav1 and Stat3-ptyr705 amounts in different cell lines. In MDA-MB-231, A549

The 40th International Asilomar Chromatin, Chromosomes, and Epigenetics Conference was held in the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California, USA, on 6-9 December 2018. The organizing committee consisted of established scientists in the fields of chromatin and epigenetics: Sally Pasion and Michael Goldman from the Biology Department, San Francisco State University, California, USA; Philippe

Numerous studies have reported that CPSF4 is over-expressed in a large percentage of human lung cancers, and CPSF4 has been identified as a potential oncogene of human lung tumor. Downregulation of CPSF4 inhibits the proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma cells. A previous study by our group also found overexpression of CPSF4 in breast cancer (BC), and was closely associated

Human 2'-5' oligoadenylate synthetases (OAS) are a family of interferon-inducible proteins that, upon activation by double-stranded RNA, polymerize ATP into 2'-5' linked oligoadenylates. In this study, we probed the RNA cofactor specificity of the two smallest isozymes, OAS1 and OAS2. First, we developed a strategy for the expression and purification of recombinant human OAS2 from eukaryotic cells

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus nonstructural protein 1 (nsp1) is a key factor in virus-induced down-regulation of host gene expression. In infected cells, nsp1 engages in a multipronged mechanism to inhibit host gene expression by binding to the 40S ribosome to block the assembly of translationally competent ribosome, and then inducing endonucleolytic cleavage and the degradation of