Reduced signaling of PI3K-Akt and RAS-MAPK pathways is the key target for weight-loss-induced cancer prevention by dietary calorie restriction and/or physical activity

Effects of gallic acid and physical training on liver damage, force, and anxiety in obese mice: Hepatic modulation of Sestrin 2 (SESN2) and PGC-α expression

Obesity and overweight are multifactorial diseases affecting more than one-third of the world's population. Physical inactivity contributes to a positive energy balance and the onset of obesity. Exercise combined with a balanced diet is an effective non-pharmacological strategy to improve obesity-related disorders. Gallic acid (GA), is a natural endogenous polyphenol found in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and wines, with beneficial effects on energetic homeostasis. The present study aims to investigate the effects of exercise training on obese mice supplemented with GA. Animal experimentation was performed with male Swiss mice divided into five groups: ST (standard control), HFD (obese control), HFD + GA (GA supplement), HFD + Trained (training), and HFD + GA + Trained (GA and training). The groups are treated for eight weeks with 200 mg/kg/body weight of the feed compound and, if applicable, physical training. The main findings of the present study show that GA supplementation improves liver fat, body weight, adiposity, and plasma insulin levels. In addition, animals treated with the GA and a physical training program demonstrate reduced levels of anxiety. Gene expression analyses show that Sesn2 is activated via PGC-1α independent of the GATOR2 protein, which is activated by GA in the context of physical activity. These data are corroborated by molecular docking analysis, demonstrating the interaction of GA with GATOR2. The present study contributes to understanding the metabolic effects of GA and physical training and demonstrates a new hepatic mechanism of action via Sestrin 2 and PGC-1α.

Calorie restriction alters the mechanisms of radiation-induced mouse thymic lymphomagenesis

Calorie restriction (CR) suppresses not only spontaneous but also chemical- and radiation-induced carcinogenesis. Our previous study revealed that the cancer-preventive effect of CR is tissue dependent and that CR does not effectively prevent the development of thymic lymphoma (TL). We investigated the association between CR and the genomic alterations of resulting TLs to clarify the underlying resistance mechanism. TLs were obtained from previous and new experiments, in which B6C3F1 mice were exposed to radiation at 1 week of age and fed with a CR or standard (non-CR) diet from 7 weeks throughout their lifetimes. All available TLs were used for analysis of genomic DNA. In contrast to the TLs of the non-CR group, those of the CR group displayed suppression of copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity (LOH) involving relevant tumor suppressor genes (Cdkn2a, Ikzf1, Trp53, Pten), an event regarded as cell division-associated. However, CR did not affect interstitial deletions of those genes, which were observed in both groups. In addition, CR affected the mechanism of Ikzf1 inactivation in TLs: the non-CR group exhibited copy-neutral LOH with duplicated inactive alleles, whereas the CR group showed expression of dominant-negative isoforms accompanying a point mutation or an intragenic deletion. These results suggest that, even though CR reduces cell division-related genomic rearrangements by suppressing cell proliferation, tumors arise via diverse carcinogenic pathways including inactivation of tumor suppressors via interstitial deletions and other mutations. These findings provide a molecular basis for improved prevention strategies that overcome the CR resistance of lymphomagenesis.

Discovery of exercise-related genes and pathway analysis based on comparative genomes of Mongolian originated Abaga and Wushen horse

The Mongolian horses have excellent endurance and stress resistance to adapt to the cold and harsh plateau conditions. Intraspecific genetic diversity is mainly embodied in various genetic advantages of different branches of the Mongolian horse. Since people pay progressive attention to the athletic performance of horse, we expect to guide the exercise-oriented breeding of horses through genomics research. We obtained the clean data of 630,535,376,400 bp through the entire genome second-generation sequencing for the whole blood of four Abaga horses and ten Wushen horses. Based on the data analysis of single nucleotide polymorphism, we severally detected that 479 and 943 positively selected genes, particularly exercise related, were mainly enriched on equine chromosome 4 in Abaga horses and Wushen horses, which implied that chromosome 4 may be associated with the evolution of the Mongolian horse and athletic performance. Four hundred and forty genes of positive selection were enriched in 12 exercise-related pathways and narrowed in 21 exercise-related genes in Abaga horse, which were distinguished from Wushen horse. So, we speculated that the Abaga horse may have oriented genes for the motorial mechanism and 21 exercise-related genes also provided a molecular genetic basis for exercise-directed breeding of the Mongolian horse.

Exercise and colorectal cancer: prevention and molecular mechanisms

Exercise and physical activity have been shown to be strongly associated with a decreased incidence rate of various chronic diseases especially numerous human malignancies. A huge number of clinical trials and meta-analysis have demonstrated that exercise is significantly effective in lowering the risk of colorectal cancer. In addition, it is suggested as an effective therapeutic modality against this cancer type. Therefore, in this review, we will review comprehensibly the effects of exercise in preventing, treating, and alleviating the adverse effects of conventional therapeutic options in colorectal cancer. Moreover, the possible mechanisms underlying the positive effects of exercise and physical activity in colorectal cancer, including regulation of inflammation, apoptosis, growth factor axis, immunity, epigenetic, etc. will be also discussed.

Exercise is an effective post-treatment management program in colorectal cancer survivals

Exercise improves muscle strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, emotional distress, physical activity, fatigue, and sleep quality in colorectal patients undergoing chemotherapy

Targeting and modulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system, inflammation, apoptosis, immunity, epigenetic, Leptin and Ghrelin, and signaling pathways are major underlying mechanisms for preventive effects of exercise in colorectal cancer

Impacts of exercise interventions on different diseases and organ functions in mice

Background

In recent years, much evidence has emerged to indicate that exercise can benefit people when performed properly. This review summarizes the exercise interventions used in studies involving mice as they are related to special diseases or physiological status. To further understand the effects of exercise interventions in treating or preventing diseases, it is important to establish a template for exercise interventions that can be used in future exercise-related studies.

Methods

PubMed was used as the data resource for articles. To identify studies related to the effectiveness of exercise interventions for treating various diseases and organ functions in mice, we used the following search language: (exercise [Title] OR training [Title] OR physical activity [Title]) AND (mice [title/abstract] OR mouse [title/abstract] OR mus [title/abstract]). To limit the range of search results, we included 2 filters: one that limited publication dates to "in 10 years" and one that sorted the results as "best match". Then we grouped the commonly used exercise methods according to their similarities and differences. We then evaluated the effectiveness of the exercise interventions for their impact on diseases and organ functions in 8 different systems.

Results

A total of 331 articles were included in the analysis procedure. The articles were then segmented into 8 systems for which the exercise interventions were used in targeting and treating disorders: motor system (60 studies), metabolic system (45 studies), cardio-cerebral vascular system (58 studies), nervous system (74 studies), immune system (32 studies), respiratory system (7 studies), digestive system (1 study), and the system related to the development of cancer (54 studies). The methods of exercise interventions mainly involved the use of treadmills, voluntary wheel-running, forced wheel-running, swimming, and resistance training. It was found that regardless of the specific exercise method used, most of them demonstrated positive effects on various systemic diseases and organ functions. Most diseases were remitted with exercise regardless of the exercise method used, although some diseases showed the best remission effects when a specific method was used.

Conclusion

Our review strongly suggests that exercise intervention is a cornerstone in disease prevention and treatment in mice. Because exercise interventions in humans typically focus on chronic diseases, national fitness, and body weight loss, and typically have low intervention compliance rates, it is important to use mice models to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits from exercise interventions in humans.

Nexrutine and exercise similarly prevent high grade prostate tumors in transgenic mouse model

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the antitumorigenic effects of the natural product Nexrutine to voluntary wheel running (VWR) in the transgenic adenocarcinoma of the mouse prostate (TRAMP) model. Forty-five, 10-week old TRAMP mice were randomized to either receive free access to the running wheel, Nexrutine pelleted into chow at 600 mg/kg or no treatment control. Mice were serially sacrificed at weeks 4, 8,12 and 20 weeks. Palpable tumors, body weight, food consumption and running wheel activity were monitored weekly. At necropsy, tumors and serum were harvested and stored for analysis. Serum was used to quantify circulating cytokines in 4 and 20 week time points. Nexrutine supplementation led to a 66% protection against high grade tumors. Exercise resulted in a 60% protection against high grade tumors. Both interventions reduced concentrations of IL-1α. Exercise also significantly lowered concentrations of eotaxin, IL-5, IL-12(p40) and VEGF. While there were no significant differences at baseline, exercise mice had significantly lower IL-5 and VEGF compared to control at the 20 week time point. Nexrutine also significantly reduced circulating IL-9 concentrations. No significant differences were observed when compared to the control group. Immunohistochemistry of tumor sections showed significantly lower expression of pAkt in Nexrutine fed mice with no visible differences for NFκB. In conclusion, both Nexrutine and exercise suppressed tumor growth. Though similar outcomes were seen in this comparative effectiveness study, the mechanisms by which exercise and Nexrutine exert this benefit may focus on different pathways.

Calorie restriction for human aging: is there a potential benefit for cancer?

Caloric restriction in non-obese humans improves metabolic efficiency and reduces oxidative damage markers which may decrease cancer incidence and progression.

Protein restriction and cancer

Protein restriction without malnutrition is currently an effective nutritional intervention known to prevent diseases and promote health span from yeast to human. Recently, low protein diets are reported to be associated with lowered cancer incidence and mortality risk of cancers in human. In murine models, protein restriction inhibits tumor growth via mTOR signaling pathway. IGF-1, amino acid metabolic programing, FGF21, and autophagy may also serve as potential mechanisms of protein restriction mediated cancer prevention. Together, dietary intervention aimed at reducing protein intake can be beneficial and has the potential to be widely adopted and effective in preventing and treating cancers.

Dietary restriction protects against diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocellular tumorigenesis by restoring the disturbed gene expression profile

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal and prevalent malignancies, worse still, there are very limited therapeutic measures with poor clinical outcomes. Dietary restriction (DR) has been known to inhibit spontaneous and induced tumors in several species, but the mechanisms are little known. In the current study, by using a diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC mice model, we found that DR significantly reduced the hepatic tumor number and size, delayed tumor development, suppressed proliferation and promoted apoptosis. Further transcriptome sequencing of liver tissues from the DEN and the DEN accompanied with DR (DEN+DR) mice showed that DEN induced profound changes in the gene expression profile, especially in cancer-related pathways while DR treatment reversed most of the disturbed gene expression induced by DEN. Finally, transcription factor enrichment analysis uncovered the transcription factor specificity protein 1 (SP1) probably functioned as the main regulator of gene changes, orchestrating the protective effects of DR on DEN induced HCC. Taken together, by the first comprehensive transcriptome analysis, we elucidate that DR protects aginst DEN-induced HCC by restoring the disturbed gene expression profile, which holds the promise to provide effective molecular targets for cancer therapies.

Caloric restriction reduces the systemic progression of mouse AApoAII amyloidosis

In mouse senile amyloidosis, apolipoprotein (Apo) A-II is deposited extracellularly in many organs in the form of amyloid fibrils (AApoAII). Reduction of caloric intake, known as caloric restriction (CR), slows the progress of senescence and age-related disorders in mice. In this study, we intravenously injected 1 μg of isolated AApoAII fibrils into R1.P1-Apoa2c mice to induce experimental amyloidosis and investigated the effects of CR for the next 16 weeks. In the CR group, AApoAII amyloid deposits in the liver, tongue, small intestine and skin were significantly reduced compared to those of the ad libitum feeding group. CR treatment led to obvious reduction in body weight, improvement in glucose metabolism and reduction in the plasma concentration of ApoA-II. Our molecular biological analyses of the liver suggested that CR treatment might improve the symptoms of inflammation, the unfolded protein response induced by amyloid deposits and oxidative stress. Furthermore, we suggest that CR treatment might improve mitochondrial functions via the sirtuin 1-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (SIRT1-PGC-1α) pathway. We suggest that CR is a promising approach for treating the onset and/or progression of amyloidosis, especially for systemic amyloidosis such as senile AApoAII amyloidosis. Our analysis of CR treatment for amyloidosis should provide useful information for determining the cause of amyloidosis and developing effective preventive treatments.

Exercise Activates p53 and Negatively Regulates IGF-1 Pathway in Epidermis within a Skin Cancer Model

Exercise has been previously reported to lower cancer risk through reducing circulating IGF-1 and IGF-1-dependent signaling in a mouse skin cancer model. This study aims to investigate the underlying mechanisms by which exercise may down-regulate the IGF-1 pathway via p53 and p53-related regulators in the skin epidermis. Female SENCAR mice were pair-fed an AIN-93 diet with or without 10-week treadmill exercise at 20 m/min, 60 min/day and 5 days/week. Animals were topically treated with TPA 2 hours before sacrifice and the target proteins in the epidermis were analyzed by both immunohistochemistry and Western blot. Under TPA or vehicle treatment, MDM2 expression was significantly reduced in exercised mice when compared with sedentary control. Meanwhile, p53 was significantly elevated. In addition, p53-transcriptioned proteins, i.e., p21, IGFBP-3, and PTEN, increased in response to exercise. There was a synergy effect between exercise and TPA on the decreased MDM2 and increased p53, but not p53-transcripted proteins. Taken together, exercise appeared to activate p53, resulting in enhanced expression of p21, IGFBP-3, and PTEN that might induce a negative regulation of IGF-1 pathway and thus contribute to the observed cancer prevention by exercise in this skin cancer model.

Understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer prevention by dietary phytochemicals: From experimental models to clinical trials

Chemoprevention is one of the cancer prevention approaches wherein natural/synthetic agent(s) are prescribed with the aim to delay or disrupt multiple pathways and processes involved at multiple steps, i.e., initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer. Amongst environmental chemopreventive compounds, diet/beverage-derived components are under evaluation, because of their long history of exposure to humans, high tolerability, low toxicity, and reported biological activities. This compilation briefly covers and compares the available evidence on chemopreventive efficacy and probable mechanism of chemoprevention by selected dietary phytochemicals (capsaicin, curcumin, diallyl sulphide, genistein, green/black tea polyphenols, indoles, lycopene, phenethyl isocyanate, resveratrol, retinoids and tocopherols) in experimental systems and clinical trials. All the dietary phytochemicals covered in this review have demonstrated chemopreventive efficacy against spontaneous or carcinogen-induced experimental tumors and/or associated biomarkers and processes in rodents at several organ sites. The observed anti-initiating, anti-promoting and anti-progression activity of dietary phytochemicals in carcinogen-induced experimental models involve phytochemical-mediated redox changes, modulation of enzymes and signaling kinases resulting to effects on multiple genes and cell signaling pathways. Results from clinical trials using these compounds have not shown them to be chemopreventive. This may be due to our: (1) inability to reproduce the exposure conditions, i.e., levels, complexity, other host and lifestyle factors; and (2) lack of understanding about the mechanisms of action and agent-mediated toxicity in several organs and physiological processes in the host. Current research efforts in addressing the issues of exposure conditions, bioavailability, toxicity and the mode of action of dietary phytochemicals may help address the reason for observed mismatch that may ultimately lead to identification of new chemopreventive agents for protection against broad spectrum of exposures.

Recent advances in lipidomics for disease research

Lipidomics is an important branch of metabolomics, which aims at the detailed analysis of lipid species and their multiple roles in the living system. In recent years, the development of various analytical methods for effective identification and characterization of lipids has greatly promoted the process of lipidomics. Meanwhile, as many diseases demonstrate a remarkable alteration in lipid profiles compared with that of healthy people, lipidomics has been extensively introduced to disease research. The comprehensive lipid profiling provides a chance to discover novel biomarkers for specific disease. In addition, it plays a crucial role in the study of lipid metabolism, which could illuminate the pathogenesis of diseases. In this review, after brief discussion of analytical methods for lipidomics in clinical research, we focus on the recent advances of lipidomics related to four types of diseases, including cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, and Alzheimer's disease.

Health-related quality of life and related factors among elderly people in Jinzhou, China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES

With rapid reductions in fertility and mortality, China has to face the dramatic ageing of its population. Although an ageing population is associated with greater life expectancy, and reflects a huge improvement in people's living standards and health care services, it also means that more elderly people suffer from non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The prolonged course of illness and disability associated with chronic diseases may significantly reduce health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among elderly people. The aims of this study were to evaluate HRQoL of elderly people living in Jinzhou, and to identify the predictors of HRQoL.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study with stratified sampling.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1015 elderly people (≥60 years) living in the three administrative regions (Linghe, Guta and Taihe) of Jinzhou. A demographic questionnaire and Short Form-36 were employed to collect demographic variables and evaluate HRQoL, respectively. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis was performed to estimate factors related to HRQoL of the subjects.

RESULTS

Lowest HRQoL scores were obtained in the following dimensions: general health (65.44), role-emotional (69.74) and role-physical (70.20). Multiple stepwise regression showed that factors associated with HRQoL of elderly people were medical health checks, age, socio-economic status, NCDs, and various unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, excessive drinking and insufficient exercise.

CONCLUSIONS

This study described overall HRQoL of elderly people in Jinzhou, and found that medical health checks, age, socio-economic status, NCDs, smoking, excessive drinking and insufficient exercise affected HRQoL. These findings will provide a basis for recommendations regarding health management of elderly people, and will also help local government to devise appropriate health intervention strategies for promoting the health status of elderly people in this region.