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Choroidal melanoma is the most common primary malignant intraocular tumor, and very few effective therapies are available to treat it. Our study aimed to understand whether pemetrexed plus cisplatin exerts a beneficial synergistic effect in human choroidal melanoma cells and to delineate the underlying molecular mechanism. To accomplish these aims, we treated choroidal melanoma cells with pemetrexed and cisplatin and assessed cell survival with SRB and MTT assays. Proteins were detected using western blotting analysis. NOXA and CHOP were knocked down with siRNA. We found that pemetrexed or cisplatin alone inhibited survival and induced apoptosis in human choroidal melanoma cells. Furthermore, the expression levels of c-FLIP, an anti-apoptotic protein in the extrinsic apoptosis pathway, and Mcl-1, an anti-apoptotic protein in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, were decreased by pemetrexed or cisplatin respectively, while the expression of a pro-apoptotic protein in the intrinsic apoptosis pathway, NOXA, was up-regulated. Moreover, pemetrexed or cisplatin alone increased the protein expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress markers IRE1α, Bip and CHOP. Silencing CHOP expression reduced NOXA expression. These findings suggest that the pemetrexed or cisplatin induced intrinsic apoptosis via activation of the ER stress response. Importantly, combining the two compounds more strongly induced apoptosis. Following the cotreatment, CHOP and NOXA expression increased, while c-FLIP and Mcl-1 expression decreased, and these effects were more pronounced than when using either compound alone. This result suggests that pemetrexed and cisplatin synergistically activate ER stress response-induced apoptosis in choroidal melanoma cells. To summarize, the c-FLIP and NOXA/Mcl-1 axis participated in the synergistic effect of pemetrexed plus cisplatin in human choroidal melanoma cells. Intrinsic apoptosis was induced via activation of the ER stress response. Our study provides important mechanistic insights into potential cancer treatment with pemetrexed plus cisplatin and enriches our understanding of human choroidal melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral research has demonstrated that males have a higher capability of regulating their own and others' emotions than females; however, little is known about the sex-specific brain mechanisms involved in emotion regulation ability. In the present study, we used voxel-based morphometry to investigate the neural basis underlying emotion regulation ability in a large sample of young adults. Assessment of emotion regulation ability was performed using the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. As expected, males significantly scored higher in emotion regulation ability than females did. More importantly, we found the sex differences in the neuroanatomical basis of emotion regulation ability. Males showed a stronger positive relation between emotion regulation ability and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, females demonstrated a stronger positive relation between emotion regulation ability and rGMV in an anatomical cluster that extends from the left brainstem to the left hippocampus, the left amygdala and the insular cortex. The present study provides the first empirical evidence regarding the sex-linked neuroanatomical correlates of emotion regulation ability. These findings may help understand why there is a higher prevalence of affective disorders in females and maladaptive behaviors in males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In plants, age-related resistance (ARR) refers to a gain of disease resistance during shoot or organ maturation. ARR associated with vegetative phase change, a transition from juvenile to adult stage, is a widespread agronomic trait affecting resistance against multiple pathogens. How innate immunity in a plant is differentially regulated during successive stages of shoot maturation is unclear. In this work, we found that Arabidopsis thaliana showed ARR against its bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 during vegetative phase change. The timing of the ARR activation was associated with a temporal drop of miR156 level. The microRNA miR156 maintains juvenile phase by inhibiting the accumulation and translation of SPL transcripts. A systematic inspection of the loss- and gain-of-function mutants of 11 SPL genes revealed that a subset of SPL genes, notably SPL2, SPL10, and SPL11, activated ARR in adult stage. The immune function of SPL10 was independent of its role in morphogenesis. Furthermore, the SPL10 mediated an age-dependent augmentation of the salicylic acid (SA) pathway partially by direct activation of PAD4. Disrupting SA biosynthesis or signaling abolished the ARR against Pto DC3000. Our work demonstrated that the miR156-SPL10 module in Arabidopsis is deployed to operate immune outputs over developmental timing. Author summary: Age-associated change of immunity is a widespread phenomenon in animals and plants. How organisms integrate immune maturation into a developmental clock is a fundamental question. Heterochronic microRNAs are key regulators of developmental timing. We found that a conserved heterochronic microRNA (miRNA) in Arabidopsis, microRNA156, regulates the timing of age-related resistance associated with a transition from the juvenile to the adult vegetative phase. The coordination between developmental maturation and gain of disease resistance is achieved through miR156-controlled SPL transcription factors with distinct functions. A subset of SPL transcription factors promoted resistance by directly activating key genes in defense signaling. This work bridges the knowledge gap between vegetative development and age-related resistance. Pinpointing mechanisms of the developmental regulation on immunity may pave a way for unlocking the age limit on plant immunity and lay a foundation to applications in the precision agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to determine the impact of co-infection of Clonorchis sinensis (CS) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) on the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) following hepatectomy. Methods: The clinicopathological information of 946 patients with HCC following hepatectomy was retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into four groups depending on whether they had CS infection and/or HBV infection: double-negative group (infected with neither CS nor HBV), simple CS group (infected with only CS), simple HBV group (infected with only HBV), and double-positive group (co-infected with CS and HBV). Kaplan-Meier curves were used to evaluate the overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS), while log-rank tests were used to compare survival rates. Further, Cox regression was used to perform both univariate and multivariate survival analyses to identify variables linked to the prognosis of HCC. Results: The median overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in the double-positive, simple CS, simple HBV, and double-negative groups were 27 months and 9 months, 20 months and 7 months, 44 months and 12 months, and 42 months and 17 months, respectively. The double-positive group's 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS and RFS rates were 79.2% and 46.9%, 62.6% and 28.4%, 47.8%, and 12.2%, respectively. The simple CS group's 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS and RFS rates were 86.3% and 41.5%, 56.5% and 27.7%, 50.2%, and 18.5%, respectively. The simple HBV group's 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS and RFS rates were 89.8% and 56.0%, 72.5% and 30.5%, 63.8%, and 19.9%, respectively. The double-negative group's 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS and RFS rates were 91.5% and 62.3%, 76.1% and 32.9%, 64.0%, and 22.4%, respectively. Further, according to a Cox multivariate analysis, tumor size (> 5cm), Edmonson grade (III-IV), BCLC-C stage, and tumor satellite focus were independent risk factors for RFS and OS in patients with HCC. Conclusion: Patients with HCC and Clonorchis sinensis infection experience a poor prognosis after hepatectomy, regardless of whether they are co-infected with HBV. Author summary: Clonorchis sinensis inhabits the bile ducts of mammals, and clonorchiasis is a major public health concern in numerous countries. Infection with Clonorchis sinensis is a risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma. It is unknown whether it changes the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients or contributes to this disease's development. The hepatitis B virus is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, hepatitis B infection is prevalent in many endemic places for clonorchiasis, although the potential interaction between the two diseases has gotten little attention. This study aimed to determine the prognostic significance of Clonorchis sinensis infection and Clonorchis sinensis combined with HBV infection in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy. Our results indicate that patients with hepatocellular carcinoma combined with Clonorchis sinensis infection have a worse prognosis after hepatectomy with or without HBV infection, providing evidence for future studies on the adverse effects of the interaction between the two on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We recently reported that Riccardin D (RD) was able to induce apoptosis by targeting Topo II. Here, we found that RD induced cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase in PC-3 cells, and caused remarkable DNA damage as evidenced by induction of γH2AX foci, micronuclei, and DNA fragmentation in Comet assay. Time kinetic and dose-dependent studies showed that ATM/Chk2 and ATR/Chk1 signaling pathways were sequentially activated in response to RD. Blockage of ATM/ATR signaling led to the attenuation of RD-induced γH2AX, and to the partial recovery of cell proliferation. Furthermore, RD exposure resulted in the inactivation of BRCA1, suppression of HR and NHEJ repair activity, and downregulation of the expressions and DNA-end binding activities of Ku70/86. Consistent with the observations, microarray data displayed that RD triggered the changes in genes responsible for cell proliferation, cell cycle, DNA damage and repair, and apoptosis. Administration of RD to xenograft mice reduced tumor growth, and coordinately caused alterations in the expression of genes involved in DNA damage and repair, along with cell apoptosis. Thus, this finding identified a novel mechanism by which RD affects DNA repair and acts as a DNA damage agent in prostate cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Purpose: Radiation treatment (RT) stimulates the release of many immunohumoral factors, complicating the identification of clinically significant cytokine expression patterns. This study used principal component analysis (PCA) to analyze cytokines in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients undergoing RT and explore differences in changes after hypofractionated stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and conventionally fractionated RT (CFRT) without or with chemotherapy. Methods: The dataset included 141 NSCLC patients treated on prospective clinical protocols; PCA was based on the 128 patients who had complete CK values at baseline and during treatment. Patients underwent SBRT (n = 16), CFRT (n = 18), or CFRT (n = 107) with concurrent chemotherapy (ChRT). Levels of 30 cytokines were measured from prospectively collected platelet-poor plasma samples at baseline, during RT, and after RT. PCA was used to study variations in cytokine levels in patients at each time point. Results: Median patient age was 66, and 22.7% of patients were female. PCA showed that sCD40l, fractalkine/C3, IP10, VEGF, IL-1a, IL-10, and GMCSF were responsible for most variability in baseline cytokine levels. During treatment, sCD40l, IP10, MIP-1b, fractalkine, IFN-r, and VEGF accounted for most changes in cytokine levels. In SBRT patients, the most important players were sCD40l, IP10, and MIP-1b, whereas fractalkine exhibited greater variability in CFRT alone patients. ChRT patients exhibited variability in IFN-γ and VEGF in addition to IP10, MIP-1b, and sCD40l. Conclusions: PCA can identify potentially significant patterns of cytokine expression after fractionated RT. Our PCA showed that inflammatory cytokines dominate post-treatment cytokine profiles, and the changes differ after SBRT versus CFRT, with vs without chemotherapy. Further studies are planned to validate these findings and determine the clinical significance of the cytokine profiles identified by PCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment related death (TRD) is the worst adverse event in chemotherapy and radiotherapy for patients with cancer, the reports for TRDs were sporadically. We aimed to study TRDs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), and determine whether high radiation dose and newer chemotherapy regimens were associated with the risk of TRD. Data from randomized clinical trials for locally advanced/unresectable NSCLC patients were analyzed. Eligible studies had to have at least one arm with CCRT. The primary endpoint was TRD. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) for TRDs were calculated. In this study, a total of fifty-three trials (8940 patients) were eligible. The pooled TRD rate (accounting for heterogeneity) was 1.44% for all patients. In 20 trials in which comparison of TRDs between CCRT and non-CCRT was possible, the OR (95% CI) of TRDs was 1.08 (0.70–1.66) (P = 0.71). Patients treated with third-generation chemotherapy and concurrent radiotherapy had an increase of TRDs compared to those with other regimens in CCRT (2.70% vs. 1.37%, OR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.09–2.07, P = 0.008). No significant difference was found in TRDs between high (≥ 66 Gy) and low (< 66 Gy) radiation dose during CCRT (P = 0.605). Neither consolidation (P = 0.476) nor induction chemotherapy (P = 0.175) had significant effects with increased TRDs in this study. We concluded that CCRT is not significantly associated with the risk of TRD compared to non-CCRT. The third-generation chemotherapy regimens may be a risk factor with higher TRDs in CCRT, while high dose radiation is not significantly associated with more TRDs. This observation deserves further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most lethal of all genitourinary malignancies. Distant metastasis represents the major cause of death in patients with RCC. Recent studies have implicated the AAA+ ATPase pontin in many cellular activities that are highly relevant to carcinogenesis. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time that pontin was up-regulated in RCC, and plays a previously unknown pro-invasive role in the metastatic progression of RCC through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) pathway. 28 pairs of freshly frozen clear cell RCC samples and the matched normal renal tissues analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR and western blotting demonstrated that pontin was up-regulated in clear cell RCC tissues than in normal renal tissues. In addition, immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate subcellular pontin expression in 95 RCC patients, and found that overexpression of pontin in cytoplasm positively correlated with the metastatic features, predicting unfavorable outcomes of RCC patients. Furthermore, in vitro experiments show pontin was predominantly expressed in cytoplasm of RCC cell lines, and a significant suppression of cell migration and invasion in pontin siRNA treated RCC cell lines was observed. Mechanistic studies show that pontin depletion up-regulated the E-cadherin protein and down-regulated vimentin protein, and decreased nuclear β-catenin expression, suggesting the involvement of EMT in pontin induced metastatic progression. Together, our data suggest pontin as a potential prognostic biomarker in RCC, and provide new promising therapeutic targets for clinical intervention of kidney cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT)-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) plays an important role in modulating mood and behavior by regulating 5-HTT expression and thereby controlling the concentration of serotonin (5-HT) in brain synapses: The homozygous shorter allele (S/S) in 5-HTTLPR results in lower 5-HTT expression coupled with stronger psycho-pathological reactions to stressful experiences compared to the homozygous long (L/L) and heterozygous (S/L) alleles. Psychological insults and mood disorders have been shown to cause accelerated telomere shortening, a marker of biological aging, however, it is currently unclear whether the allelic variants of 5-HTTLPR affect telomere length (TL) in the healthy population without mood disorders. In the present study, we determined the relationship between TL and the 5-HTTLPR variants in healthy Han Chinese. The 5-HTTLPR genotyping and leukocyte TL analysis of 280 young female Han Chinese freshmen showed a significantly shorter TL in 149 of them carrying the 5-HTTLPR S/S version compared to those (131) with the L/S or L/S plus L/L genotypes (mean ± SD, 0.533±0.241 for S/S vs 0.607±0.312 for L/S, P  =  0.034; or vs 0.604±0.313 for L/S plus L/L, P  =  0.038). Similar results were achieved in the other cohort including 220 adult healthy individuals of different age, gender and profession (0.691±0.168 for S/S vs 0.729±0.211 for L/S, P  =  0.046, or vs 0.725±0.213 for L/S plus L/L, P  =  0.039). Taken together, shorter leukocyte TL is significantly associated with the 5-HTTLPR S/S allelic variant, which may be implicated in psychological stress-related health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]