Andrographolide inhibits HMGB1-induced inflammatory responses in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and in murine polymicrobial sepsis

AIM

Nuclear DNA-binding protein high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein acts as a late mediator of severe vascular inflammatory conditions, such as septic shock, upregulating pro-inflammatory cytokines. Andrographolide (AG) is isolated from the plant of Andrographis paniculata and used as a folk medicine for treatment of viral infection, diarrhoea, dysentery and fever. However, the effect of AG on HMGB1-induced inflammatory response has not been studied.

METHODS

Firstly, we accessed this question by monitoring the effects of post-treatment AG on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and caecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-mediated release of HMGB1 and HMGB1-mediated regulation of pro-inflammatory responses in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and septic mice.

RESULTS

Post-treatment AG was found to suppress LPS-mediated release of HMGB1 and HMGB1-mediated cytoskeletal rearrangements. AG also inhibited HMGB1-mediated hyperpermeability and leucocyte migration in septic mice. In addition, AG inhibited production of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and activation of AKT, nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and extracellular-regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 by HMGB1 in HUVECs. AG also induced downregulation of CLP-induced release of HMGB1, production of interleukin (IL) 1β/6/8 and mortality.

CONCLUSION

Collectively, these results suggest that AG may be regarded as a candidate therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular inflammatory diseases via inhibition of the HMGB1 signalling pathway.

The novel miR-9500 regulates the proliferation and migration of human lung cancer cells by targeting Akt1

MicroRNAs have crucial roles in lung cancer cell development. They regulate cell growth, proliferation and migration by mediating the expression of tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes. We identified and characterized the novel miR-9500 in human lung cancer cells. The miR-9500 forms a stem-loop structure and is conserved in other mammals. The expression levels of miR-9500 were reduced in lung cancer cells and lung cancer tissues compared with normal tissues, as verified by TaqMan miRNA assays. It was confirmed that the putative target gene, Akt1, was directly suppressed by miR-9500, as demonstrated by a luciferase reporter assay. The miR-9500 significantly repressed the protein expression levels of Akt1, as demonstrated via western blot, but did not affect the corresponding mRNA levels. Akt1 has an important role in lung carcinogenesis, and depletion of Akt1 has been shown to have antiproliferative and anti-migratory effects in previous studies. In the current study, the overexpression of miR-9500 inhibited cell proliferation and the expression of cell cycle-related proteins. Likewise, the overexpression of miR-9500 impeded cell migration in human lung cancer cells. In an in vivo assay, miR-9500 significantly suppressed Fluc expression compared with NC and ASO-miR-9500, suggesting that cell proliferation was inhibited in nude mice. Likewise, miR-9500 repressed tumorigenesis and metastasis by targeting Akt1. These data indicate that miR-9500 might be applicable for lung cancer therapy.

Quercetin suppresses MIP-1α-induced adipose inflammation by downregulating its receptors CCR1/CCR5 and inhibiting inflammatory signaling

Obesity-induced inflammation is characterized by recruitment of adipose tissue macrophages that release inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. MIP-1α (macrophage inflammatory protein 1α)/CCL3, a CC chemokine, induces monocyte/macrophage infiltration and thus is implicated in obesity-induced adipose inflammation. Quercetin has been shown to modulate obesity-induced inflammation, but the mechanism of its action remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that quercetin decreases MIP-1α release from adipocytes and macrophages and from cocultured adipocytes/macrophages; it also opposes MIP-1α-induced macrophage infiltration and activation. The inhibitory action of quercetin on the MIP-1α-induced inflammatory responses of macrophages is mediated by downregulation of CCR1/CCR5, and inhibition of activation of JNK, p38 mitogen-activated-protein kinase (MAPK), and IKK as well as IκBα degradation. These findings suggest that quercetin may be a useful agent against obesity-induced adipose tissue inflammation.

Three-dimensional imaging and visualization using off-axially distributed image sensing

This Letter presents an off-axially distributed image sensing (ODIS) system for three-dimensional (3D) imaging and visualization. The off-axially distributed sensing method provides both lateral and longitudinal perspectives for 3D scenes even though the sensor moves along a slanted, one-dimensional path. A 3D volume is generated from a set of recorded images by use of a computational algorithm based on ray backprojection. Preliminary experimental results are presented to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on 3D imaging and visualization using ODIS.

Axially moving a lenslet array for high-resolution 3D images in computational integral imaging

This paper presents a new high-resolution computational integral imaging system employing a pickup with the axial movement of a lenslet array and a computation reconstruction algorithm with pixel-to-pixel mapping. In the proposed method, a lenslet array and its image sensor are moved together along the z-axis direction (or axial direction) and a series of elemental image arrays are obtained while moving. The elemental image arrays are then applied to pixel-to-pixel mapping without interpolation for the reconstruction of 3D slice images. Also, an analysis of the proposed reconstruction method is provided. To show the usefulness of the proposed method, experiments are conducted. The results indicate that the proposed method is superior to the existing method such as MALT in terms of image quality.

Endoscopic focal modulation microscopy

We present endoscopic focal modulation microscopy (FMM) for minimally invasive imaging of deep tissue with high contrast, and then compare the results using endoscopic confocal microscopy (CM). Deep tissue imaging is achieved using a needle-like endoscopic probe based on gradient-index (GRIN) lenses. A tissue-like phantom with fluorescent micro-beads and rat kidney tubules were imaged through the endoscopic probe with FMM. FMM effectively rejected the background signals from the out-of-focus plane, thereby enhancing the image contrast and the optical sectioning ability. The combination of the GRIN endoscopic probe and FMM provides deep tissue imaging with better contrast than endoscopic CM.

Electrical characteristics of 2D and 3D microelectrodes for high-resolution retinal prostheses

In order to provide high quality visual information to patients who have implanted retinal prosthetic devices, the number of microelectrode should be large. As the number of microelectrode is increased, the dimension of the microelectrode is decreased, which in turn results in the increased interface impedance of microelectrode and decreased dynamic range of injection current. In addition, the reduced maximum limit of injection current may not be sufficiently large to stimulate the ganglion cells in a retina. In order to improve the trade-off envelope between number of microelectrode and current injection limit, a 3D microelectrode structure can be used as an alternative. From the advancement of microfabrication technology, the fabrication of highly-accurate 3D structures with small dimensions is possible. This paper presents a first comprehensive electrical characterization of 2D and 3D microelectrodes for high-resolution retinal prostheses. Microelectrodes which differ in shapes and diameters are analyzed. Their interface impedances and charge injection limits are quantitatively analyzed. This research can be used to define requirements for further retinal prosthetic device research.

Volumetric response evaluation after intensity modulated radiotherapy in patients with supratentorial gliomas

Radiotherapy is frequently indicated to treat cerebral gliomas. Accurate response evaluation after radiotherapy is essential to determine the efficacy of treatment. We retrospectively analyzed the volumetric tumor response after simultaneous integrated boost-intensity modulated radiotherapy (SIB-IMRT) in patients with gliomas. Thirty-five patients (Grade II, 7 patients; Grade III, 12; and Grade IV, 16) were treated with SIB-IMRT with a median total dose of 55.9 Gy/26 fractions for Grade II and 60 Gy/25 fractions for Grade III-IV tumors. Tumor responses were evaluated for enhancing volume on post-gadolinium T1-weighted images (Vgd) and hyper-intensity volume on T2-weighted FLAIR images (V(fl)) on serial MRIs. With the median follow-up of 24.0 months, overall response rates (RRs) were 57% for V(gd) and 51% for V(fl). Tumor grade was predictive of response favoring the lower grade in Vfl with RRs of 86% for Grade II, 75% for Grade III, and 19% for Grade IV tumors (p = 0.004). Time to 50% or greater volume reduction (T50) in Vgd was 8 months for grade III. The T50 in V(fl) was approximately 24 months both for Grade II and III tumors. Majority of Grade IV tumors continued to progress and never reached the T50 in Vgd or Vfl. Responders survived longer than non-responders for V(gd) and V(fl). Volume response after radiotherapy was dependent upon tumor grade and time. LGGs are very responsive to radiotherapy with the RRs of 86% in V(fl). The response of Vfl is more protracted compared to V(gd). Further investigation is needed to determine the clinical significance of volumetric response evaluation.

Capsaicin-induced apoptosis of FaDu human pharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells

PURPOSE

To investigate the anti-tumor effect of capsaicin on human pharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells (FaDu).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression of apoptosis/cell cycle-related proteins (or genes) was examined by reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction, western blotting and ELISA methods, while the apoptotic cell population, cell morphology and DNA fragmentation levels were assessed using flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy and agarose gel electrophoresis.

RESULTS

Capsaicin was found to inhibit the growth and proliferation of FaDu cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Apoptotic cell death was confirmed by observing increases in nuclear condensation, nuclear DNA fragmentation and sub-G1 DNA content. The observed increase in cytosolic cytochrome c, activation of caspase 3 and PARP (p85) levels following capsaicin treatment indicated that the apoptotic response was mitochondrial pathway-dependent. Gene/protein expression analysis of Bcl-2, Bad and Bax further revealed decreased anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein and increased pro-apoptotic Bad/Bax expression. Furthermore, capsaicin suppressed the cell cycle progression at the G1/S phase in FaDu cells by decreasing the expression of the regulators of cyclin B1 and D1, as well as cyclin-dependent protein kinases cdk-1, cdk-2 and cdk-4.

CONCLUSION

Our current data show that capsaicin induces apoptosis in FaDu cells and this response is associated with mitochondrial pathways, possibly by mediating cell cycle arrest at G1/S.

Ethanol elicits inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of tongue carcinoma cells by inducing cell cycle arrest

Cellular effects of ethanol in YD-15 tongue carcinoma cells were assessed by MTT assay, caspase activity assay, Western blotting and flow cytometry. Ethanol inhibited the growth and proliferation of YD-15 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner in an MTT assay. The effects of ethanol on cell cycle control at low percent range of ethanol concentration (0 to 1.5%), the condition not inducing YD-15 cell death, was investigated after exposing cells to alcohol for a certain period of time. Western blotting on the expression of cell cycle inhibitors showed that p21 and p27 was up-regulated as ethanol concentration increases from 0 to 1.5% whilst the cell cycle regulators, cdk1, cdk2, and cdk4 as well as Cyclin A, Cyclin B1 and Cyclin E1, were gradually down-regulated. Flow cytometric analysis of cell cycle distribution revealed that YD-15 cells exposed to 1.5% ethanol for 24 h was mainly arrested at G2/M phase. However, ethanol induced apoptosis in YD-15 cells exposed to 2.5% or higher percent of ethanol. The cleaved PARP, a marker of caspase-3 mediated apoptosis, and the activation of caspase-3 and -7 were detected by caspase activity assay or Western blotting. Our results suggest that ethanol elicits inhibitory effect on the growth and proliferation of YD-15 tongue carcinoma cells by mediating cell cycle arrest at G2/M at low concentration range and ultimately induces apoptosis under the condition of high concentration.