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  • Bruce Krarup posted an update 4 days, 2 hours ago

    SF1670 promoted the invasion and colony formation of Hep3B and HCCLM3 cells. SF1670 partly inhibited the effect of FOXK2 suppression on Hep3B and HCCLM3 cells. In conclusion, this study revealed that FOXK2 downregulation suppressed the EMT in HCC partly through inhibition of the Akt signaling pathway.The chaperonin-containing T-complex protein 1 (CCT) subunits participate in diverse diseases. However, little is known about their expression and prognostic values in human head and neck squamous cancer (HNSC). This article aims to evaluate the effects of CCT subunits regarding their prognostic values for HNSC. We mined the transcriptional and survival data of CCTs in HNSC patients from online databases. A protein-protein interaction network was constructed and a functional enrichment analysis of target genes was performed. We observed that the mRNA expression levels of CCT1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8 were higher in HNSC tissues than in normal tissues. Survival analysis revealed that the high mRNA transcriptional levels of CCT3/4/5/6/7/8 were associated with a low overall survival. The expression levels of CCT4/7 were correlated with advanced tumor stage. And the overexpression of CCT4 was associated with higher N stage of patients. Validation of CCTs’ differential expression and prognostic values was achieved by the Human Protein Atlas and GEO datasets. Mechanistic exploration of CCT subunits by the functional enrichment analysis suggests that these genes may influence the HNSC prognosis by regulating PI3K-Akt and other pathways. This study implies that CCT3/4/6/7/8 are promising biomarkers for the prognosis of HNSC.This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab (BEV) in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases (BM) by performing meta-analyses of response and survival indices. Seventeen studies were included. BEV treatment was associated with a lower new BM incidence (hazard ratio 0.30 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.14, 0.46]) during follow-up. Disease control rate (DCR) of BEV-treated patients with BM was 91% [95% CI 85, 95]. However, intracranial DCR was relatively higher (94% [95% CI 87, 98]) than extracranial DCR (86% [95% CI 74, 96]). DCR of NSCLC patients with BM was significantly better with BEV than with control therapies (odds ratio 2.71 [95% CI 1.26, 5.86], P = 0.01). Progression-free survival (PFS) of BEV-treated patients with and without BM was 7.1 months [95% CI 6.2, 8.0] and 7.4 months [95% CI 6.3, 8.4], respectively. Intracranial PFS of BEV-treated patients with BM was 8.0 months [95% CI 6.0, 10.0]. Overall survival of BEV-treated NSCLC patients with and without BM was 13.5 months [95% CI 11.4, 15.6] and 12.5 months [95% CI 10.2, 14.8], respectively. The incidence of bleeding/hemorrhage in the central nervous system was 1% with BEV treatment.We investigated the effects of voluntary exercise after myocardial infarction (MI) on cardiac function, remodeling, and inflammation. Male C57BL/6J mice were divided into the following four groups sedentary + sham (Sed-Sh), sedentary + MI (Sed-MI), exercise + sham (Ex-Sh), and exercise + MI (Ex-MI). MI induction was performed by ligation of the left coronary artery. Exercise consisting of voluntary wheel running started after the operation and continued for 4 weeks. The Ex-MI mice had significantly increased cardiac function compared with the Sed-MI mice. The Ex-MI mice showed significantly reduced expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 in the infarcted area of the left ventricle compared with the Sed-MI mice. In the Ex-MI mice, the expression levels of fibrosis-related genes including collagen I and III were decreased compared to the Sed-MI mice, and the expression levels of IL-1β, IL-6, follistatin-like 1, fibroblast growth factor 21, and mitochondrial function-related genes were significantly elevated in skeletal muscle compared with the Sed mice. The plasma levels of IL-6 were also significantly elevated in the Ex-MI group compared with the Sed-MI groups. These findings suggest that voluntary exercise after MI may improve in cardiac remodeling associated with anti-inflammatory effects in the myocardium and myokine production in the skeletal muscles.Abnormal proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are critical processes that are involved in atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to explore the role of microRNA-491-5p (miR-491-5p) in the progression of atherosclerosis by regulating the growth and migration of VSMCs. In this study, we showed that the expression of miR-491-5p was downregulated in the atherosclerotic plaque tissues and plasma samples of the patients with atherosclerosis. The bioinformatic analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay identified that matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) was a target gene of miR-491-5p. The results showed a significant upregulation of MMP-9 in the atherosclerotic plaque tissues and plasma samples. Subsequently, the results also showed that downregulation of miR-491-5p significantly promoted the proliferation and migration of VSMCs and inhibited the apoptosis in VSMCs. Furthermore, we detected the effects of miR-491-5p mimic on the growth and migration of VSMCs, and the results illustrated that miR-491-5p mimic could inhibit the proliferation and migration of VSMCs and promote the apoptosis of VSMCs. Notably, MMP-9 plasmid could reverse all the effects of miR-491-5p mimic on VSMCs. Collectively, our study provides the first evidence that miR-491-5p inhibited the growth and migration of VSMCs by targeting MMP-9, which might provide new biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis treatment.This study aimed to investigate the role and relevant mechanism of miR-30a-3p action in asthma. The results of this study revealed that the expression levels of miR-30a-3p were significantly decreased in the peripheral blood of asthmatic patients. In addition, we found that the CC chemokine receptor (CCR3) was a target of miR-30a-3p. Subsequently, an asthma mouse model was established using ovalbumin (OVA). The results showed that the expression of miR-30a-3p and CCR3 was downregulated and upregulated, respectively, in the peripheral blood of asthmatic mice. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in asthmatic mouse serum demonstrated that miR-30a-3p mimic treatment significantly decreased the secretion of OVA-specific IgE, eotaxin-1, interleukin (IL)-5, and IL-4. These results suggested that miR-30a-3p inhibited CCR3 signaling pathway and relieved the inflammatory response against asthma in vivo. Eosinophils have also been implicated in the asthmatic inflammatory response. Therefore, the in vitro effects of miR-30a-3p on eosinophil activity were determined. Findings suggested that miR-30a-3p mimic significantly reduced eosinophil viability and migration and induced apoptosis. In addition, CCR3 and eotaxin-1 downregulation were observed. The aforementioned results were significantly reversed following CCR3 overexpression. This study suggested that miR-30a-3p was involved in asthma by regulating eosinophil activity and targeting CCR3.Melanoma is one of the most highly metastatic, aggressive and fatal malignant tumors in skin cancer. This study employs bioinformatics to identify key microRNAs and target genes (TGs) of plasma extracellular vesicles (pEVs) and their diagnostic and prognostic significance in melanoma. The gene expression microarray dataset (GSE100508) was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differential analysis of miRNAs in pEVs was performed to compare melanoma samples and healthy samples. Then, TGs of the differential miRNAs (DE-miRNAs) in melanoma were selected, and differential genes were analyzed by bioinformatics (including Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment, protein-protein interaction network and prognostic analysis). A total of 55 DE-miRNAs were found, and 3,083 and 1,351 candidate TGs were diagnostically correlated with the top ten upregulated DE-miRNAs and all downregulated DE-miRNAs, respectively. Prognostic analysis results showed that high expression levels of hsa-miR-550a-3p, CDK2 and POLR2A and low expression levels of hsa-miR-150-5p in melanoma patients were associated with significantly reduced overall survival. In conclusion, bioinformatics analysis identified key miRNAs and TGs in pEVs of melanoma, which may represent potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis and treatment of this cancer.This study evaluates the efficacy of pembrolizumab for the treatment of advanced/metastatic melanoma. The literature search was conducted in electronic databases for studies that evaluated the efficacy and safety of pembrolizumab either alone or in combination with other treatments advanced/metastatic melanoma patients. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to achieve pooled effect sizes of response and survival rates. The overall objective response rate (ORR) was 34.2% [95% confidence interval (CI) 30.4, 38.0]. However, ORR differed with respect to the history of prior systemic therapy. ORR was lower in studies with over 50% patients with prior therapy (25.5% [22.4, 28.5]) than in studies with under 50% patients with prior therapy (40.1% [34.1, 46.1]). ORR was higher in pembrolizumab monotherapy (32.9% [28.1, 37.7]) than in pembrolizumab-ipilimumab combination (27.6% [24.0, 31.2]). Overall ORR was inversely associated with visceral metastasis and prior systemic therapy. With pembrolizumab treatment, either alone or in combination, the progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.73 months; 12-, 24-, and 60-month PFS rate were 44%, 27%, and 25%, respectively; and 12-, 24-, and 60-month overall survival rates were 65%, 50%, and 41%, respectively. The percentage of AEs that led to treatment discontinuation was 13%. Pembrolizumab monotherapy is a valuable option for the treatment of advanced/metastatic melanoma patients.

    This study identified key genes in gastric cancer (GC) based on the mRNA microarray GSE19826 from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and preliminarily explored the relationships among the key genes.

    Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained using the GEO2R tool. The functions and pathway enrichment of the DEGs were analyzed using the Enrichr database. Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were established by STRING. A lentiviral vector was constructed to silence RUNX2 expression in MGC-803 cells. The expression levels of RUNX2 and FN1 were measured. The influences of RUNX2 and FN1 on overall survival (OS) were determined using the Kaplan-Meier plotter online tool.

    In total, 69 upregulated and 65 downregulated genes were identified. Based on the PPI network of the DEGs, 20 genes were considered hub genes. RUNX2 silencing significantly downregulated the FN1 expression in MGC-803 cells. High expression of RUNX2 and low expression of FN1 were associated with long survival time in diffuse, poorly differentiated, and lymph node-positive GC.

    High RUNX2 and FN1 expression were associated with poor OS in patients with GC. RUNX2 can negatively regulate the secretion of FN1, and both genes may serve as promising targets for GC treatment.

    High RUNX2 and FN1 expression were associated with poor OS in patients with GC. read more RUNX2 can negatively regulate the secretion of FN1, and both genes may serve as promising targets for GC treatment.