Incorporation of all-trans retinoic acid into lipoplexes inhibits nuclear factor κB activation mediated liver injury induced by lipoplexes in mice

Comprehensive pulmonary metabolic responses to silica nanoparticles exposure in Fisher 344 rats

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) could induce adverse pulmonary effects, but the mechanism was not clear enough. Metabolomics is a sensitive and high-throughput approach that could investigate the intrinsic causes of adverse health effects caused by SiNPs. The current investigation represented the first in vivo metabolomics study examining the chronic pulmonary toxicity of SiNPs at a low dosage, mimicking real human exposure situation. The recovery process after the cessation of exposure was also taken into consideration. Fisher 344 rats were treated with either saline or SiNPs for 6 months. Half of the animals in each group received an additional six-month period for recovery. The findings indicated that chronic low-level exposure to SiNPs resulted in notable alterations in pulmonary metabolism of amino acids, lipids, carbohydrates, and nucleotides. SiNPs exerted an impact on various metabolites and metabolic pathways which are linked to oxidative stress, inflammation and tumorigenesis. These included but were not limited to L-carnitine, spermidine, taurine, xanthine, and glutathione metabolism. The metabolic alterations caused by SiNPs exhibited a degree of reversibility. However, the interference of SiNPs on two metabolic pathways related to tumorigenesis was observed to persist after a recovery period. The two metabolic pathways are glycerophospholipid metabolism as well as phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis. This study elucidated the metabolic alterations induced by chronic low-level exposure to SiNPs and presented novel evidence of the chronic pulmonary toxicity and carcinogenicity of SiNPs, from a metabolomic perspective.

All-trans retinoic acid protects renal tubular epithelial cells against hypoxia induced injury in vitro

BACKGROUND

It has been reported that the all-trans retinoic acid (atRA)-mediated protective effects in various cells are related to the inhibition of nuclear factor (NF)-κB activities. There exists some evidence that an increase in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is expressed by proximal tubular epithelial cells and regulated by NFκB, may play a critical role in maintaining peritubular capillary endothelium in renal disease. By stimulating the production of VEGF, hypoxia is involved in tubulointerstitial fibrosis processes in various renal diseases.

METHODS

NRK52E cells survival rate was proportional to absorbance in dimethyl-thiazol-diphenyltetrazoliumbromide tests. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were performed to assay the expression of VEGF, p65, and Scpep1. The activation of NFκB was determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Co-immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrates that whether the Scpep1 and NFκB protein interacted.

RESULTS

We demonstrated that the hypoxia-mimicking agent CoCl2 triggered hypoxia injury of rat proximal tubular epithelial cells and significantly reduced cell viability. Addition of atRA increased the cell survival rate. Under CoCl(2)-mimicking hypoxic conditions, the expression of VEGF and p65 increased. The addition of atRA significantly attenuated the expression of VEGF and p65. There was a similar variation of NFκB/DNA binding activities. atRA not only activated distinct pathways to stimulate the expression of Scpep1, a retinoid-inducible gene, under normoxic conditions, but also acted as a CoCl(2)-mimicking hypoxia.

CONCLUSION

The protective effects of atRA against hypoxia-induced injury might be involved in suppression of VEGF expression via stimulating Scpep1 distinct pathways and inhibiting the NFκB pathway.

All-trans retinoic acid preconditioning protects against liver ischemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting the nuclear factor kappa B signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

Inflammatory response plays a pathogenic role in liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is an active metabolite of vitamin A with anti-inflammatory effects. However, there are few reports on the anti-inflammatory effects of ATRA on liver I/R injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ATRA on liver I/R injury and related mechanisms.

METHODS

A total of 54 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups (18 rats each), namely, sham, I/R, and I/R+ATRA groups. ATRA was intraperitoneally administered at a dose of 15mg/kg/d 14d before ischemia surgery. The segmental (70%) hepatic ischemia model was used by clamping the portal vein, hepatic artery, and bile duct of the left and median for 1h. The rats were sacrificed 3, 6, and 24h after reperfusion, and blood and liver tissue samples were obtained. Liver injury was evaluated by biochemical and histopathologic examinations. Myeloperoxidase activity was spectrophotometrically measured. The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time polymerase chain reaction. Liver nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression of NF-κB p65 and inhibitor NF-κB-α (IκBα) was determined by Western blot analysis.

RESULTS

The serum alanine aminotransferase level, Suzuki scores of hepatic histology, and hepatic myeloperoxidase activity, as indices of hepatic injury, were increased after reperfusion. The increase was attenuated by preadministration with ATRA. Compared with the I/R group, ATRA treatment increased IκBα expression and suppressed NF-κB p65 expression. Subsequently, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 after liver I/R were effectively downregulated.

CONCLUSIONS

ATRA administration can significantly attenuate I/R injury in rat liver. The protective mechanism is related to its anti-inflammatory function of inhibiting NF-κB activation.

All-trans retinoic acid alleviates hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury by enhancing manganese superoxide dismutase in rats

All-trans retinoic acid (atRA) is an active metabolite of vitamin A with antioxidant effects. There have been few reports on the effects of atRA on liver ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Here we have used a rat liver ischemia/ reperfusion model to analyze the protective effect of atRA. Rats were administered with different does (5-15 mg/kg/d) of atRA intraperitoneally (i.p.) for 14 d before I/R. Partial (70%) hepatic ischemia was induced by clamping the hepatic artery, portal vein, and bile duct to the left and median lobes of the liver using a vascular clamp for 60 min, followed by 24 h of reperfusion. The serum aminotransferase (ALT and AST) and hepatic pathology were used to evaluate I/R injury. The results demonstrate that atRA pretreatment attenuates liver I/R injury by inhibiting the release of malondialdehyde (MDA) and by enhancing the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD). To gain insight into the mechanism of the SOD up-regulation by atRA, the activity of p38 mitogenactivated protein kinase (p38MAKP) and Akt was measured. The results showed that the phosphorylation of p38MAPK and Akt paralleled the expression of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD). That these activities are related was demonstrated by the addition of a p38 inhibitor which markedly decreased MnSOD levels. Taken together, our data reveal that atRA can protect liver from I/R injury by increaseing MnSOD, which is associated with an increased activity of p38MAPK and Akt.

Systemic delivery of E6/7 siRNA using novel lipidic particles and its application with cisplatin in cervical cancer mouse models

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) shows great promise in cancer therapy, but its effectiveness in vivo still remains a crucial issue for its transition into the clinics. Although the successful use of polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated lipidic delivery systems have already been reported, most of the formulation procedures used are labour intensive and also result in unstable end products. We have previously developed a simple yet efficient hydration-of-freeze-dried-matrix (HFDM) method to entrap siRNA within lipid particles, in which the products exhibited superior stability. Here, we show that these HFDM-formulated particles are stable in the presence of serum and can deliver siRNA efficiently to tumours after intravenous administration. Using these particles, around 50% knockdown of the target gene expression was observed in tumours. With the use of siRNA targeting the E6/7 oncogenes expressed in cervical cancer, we showed a 50% reduction in tumour size. This level of tumour growth suppression was comparable to that achieved from cisplatin at the clinically used dose. Overall, our results demonstrate the feasibility of using HFDM-formulated particles to systematically administer E6/7-targeted siRNA for cervical cancer treatment. The simplicity of preparation procedure along with superior product stability obtained from our method offers an innovative approach for the in vivo delivery of siRNA.

Enhanced growth inhibition of metastatic lung tumors by intravenous injection of ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes in mice

Interleukin 12 (IL-12) is a proinflammatory cytokine with antitumor activity. All-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) exerts antitumor effects by regulating a variety of gene expressions, including tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1), increases the number of TNFR1 and potentiates TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis in cancer cells. In this study, ATRA-incorporated cationic liposome (ATRA-cationic liposome)/IL-12 plasmid DNA (pDNA) complexes were prepared to improve therapeutic efficacy of cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes in a mouse model of metastatic lung tumor after intravenous injection. IL-12 production in lungs by ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes was comparable with that by cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes. The number of metastatic tumor cells (colon26/Luc) was quantitatively evaluated by measuring luciferase activity. ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes reduced the number of colon26/Luc cells and tumor nodules in lungs. ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes significantly prolonged the survival time of mice, whereas cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA only slightly prolonged it. ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes increased the TNFR1 mRNA upregulation and the number of apoptotic cells in the lung. Moreover, reduced serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) activities were observed in mice treated with ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes. These results suggest that intravenous injection of ATRA-cationic liposome/IL-12 pDNA complexes is an effective method for the treatment of lung metastasis in mice.