Search

APETALA2/ethylene-responsive (AP2/ERF) plays crucial roles in resisting diverse stresses and in regulating plant growth and development. However, little is known regarding the structure and function of the AP2/ERF genes in pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum). The AP2/ERF gene family may be involved in the development and maintenance of P. glaucum resilience to abiotic stresses, central to its role as a vital forage and cereal crop. In this study, PgAP2/ERF family members were identified and comprehensive bioinformatics analyses were performed, including determination of phylogenetic relationships, gene structures, conserved motifs, chromosomal localization, gene duplication, expression pattern, protein interaction network, and functional characterization of PgRAV_01 (Related to ABI3/VP1). In total, 78 PgAP2/ERF members were identified in the P. glaucum genome and classified into five subfamilies: AP2, ERF, DREB, RAV, and soloist. Members within the same clade of the PgAP2/ERF family showed similar gene structures and motif compositions. Six duplication events were identified in the PgAP2/ERF family; calculation of Ka/Ks values showed that purification selection dominated the evolution of PgAP2/ERFs. Subsequently, a potential interaction network of PgAP2/ERFs was generated to predict the interaction relationships. Additionally, abiotic stress expression analysis showed that most PgAP2/ERFs were induced in response to drought and heat stresses. Furthermore, overexpression of PgRAV_01 negatively regulated drought tolerance in Nicotiana benthamiana by reducing its antioxidant capacity and osmotic adjustment. Taken together, these results provide valuable insights into the characteristics and functions of PgAP2/ERF genes, with implications for abiotic stress tolerance, and will ultimately contribute to the genetic improvement of cereal crop breeding., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Members of the plant-specific B3 transcription factor superfamily play crucial roles in various plant growth and developmental processes. Despite numerous valuable studies on B3 genes in other species, little is known about the B3 superfamily in pearl millet., Methods and Results: Here, through comparative genomic analysis, we identified 70 B3 proteins in pearl millet and categorized them into four subfamilies based on phylogenetic affiliations: ARF, RAV, LAV, and REM. We also mapped the chromosomal locations of these proteins and analyzed their gene structures, conserved motifs, and gene duplication events, providing new insights into their potential functional interactions. Using transcriptomic sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR, we determined that most PgB3 genes exhibit upregulated expression under drought and high-temperature stresses, indicating their involvement in stress response regulation. To delve deeper into the abiotic stress roles of the B3 family, we focused on a specific gene within the RAV subfamily, PgRAV-04 , cloning it and overexpressing it in tobacco. PgRAV-04 overexpression led to increased drought sensitivity in the transgenic plants due to decreased proline levels and peroxidase activity., Discussion: This study not only adds to the existing body of knowledge on the B3 family's characteristics but also advances our functional understanding of the PgB3 genes in pearl millet, reinforcing the significance of these factors in stress adaptation mechanisms., Competing Interests: The reviewer KS declared a shared affiliation with the authors Y-HW, XY, B-YZ, W-JW, Z-FZ, X-LH, K-XO, T-XZ and F-XL to the handling editor at the time of review. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Ye, Zhao, Wang, Zhou, Zhang, Du, Song, Huang, Ouyang, Zhong and Liao.)

Objectives: This study aims to explore the mechanisms of dual regulation of osteoarthritis (OA) progression by the involvement of estrogen receptor (ER) in autophagy and inflammation., Materials and Methods: Bioinformatics methods were used to explore the relationship among associated genes. Western blot assays were used to detect related protein expression of OA in C28I2 and induced OA cellular model. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis were used to detect OA related gene expression in C28I2 and induced OA cellular model. Co-immunoprecipitation (CO-IP) analysis were used to verify the direct interaction between ER and NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3)., Results: The C28I2 cellular model of OA was induced by interleukin-1β (IL-1β). The small interfering ribonucleic acid (SiRNA)-mediated knockdown of autophagy-related 16 like 1 (ATG16L1) in C28I2 decreased the expression of MAP1LC3B (LC3B) and NLRP3. Besides, ER-beta (ERβ) agonist changed the gene expression of NLRP3 and ATG16L1. Moreover, CO-IP analysis indicated the direct interaction between ER and NLRP3., Conclusion: Our study results revealed that ATG16L1, NLRP3, and IL-1β interacted closely and ERβ was involved in OA process by affecting autophagy and inflammatory activation.

Background: Synchronous multiple primary malignant neoplasms occurring at the same time (SMPMNS) are not currently uncommon in clinical oncological practice; however, the diagnostic performance of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ( 18 F-FDG PET/CT) for SMPMNS needs further elucidation., Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the application of 18 F-FDG PET/CT in patients with SMPMNS., Materials and Methods: The clinical and imaging data of 37 patients with SMPMNS who had undergone 18 F-FDG PET/CT from October 2010 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The kappa consistency test was applied to evaluate the consistency of the diagnostic performance between PET/CT and conventional imaging (CI). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET/CT and CI in the detection of metastatic lesions were compared., Results: This retrospective diagnostic study included 74 lesions identified in 37 patients with SMPMNS, with 94.6% of patients having double primary tumors. Of the incidences of SMPMNS, 18.9% occurred in the same organ system, with respiratory tumors being the most common type of neoplasm (43.2%) and the lung being the most common primary site (40.5%). The overall survival of SMPMNS patients without metastases was longer than that of those with metastases ( χ 2  = 12.627, p  = 0.000). The maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ), the SUV max ratio (larger SUV max /smaller SUV max ), and the difference index of SUV max (DISUV max ) [(larger SUV max  - smaller SUV max )/larger SUV max ] of the primary lesions ranged from 0.9 to 41.7 (average = 12.3 ± 7.9), from 0.3 to 26.7 (average = 4.4 ± 6.9), and from 0.0% to 96.3% (average = 50.3% ± 29.3%), respectively. With regard to diagnostic accuracy, PET/CT and CI showed poor consistency ( κ  = 0.096, p  = 0.173). For the diagnosis of primary lesions (diagnosed and misdiagnosed), PET/CT and CI also showed poor consistency ( κ  = 0.277, p  = 0.000), but the diagnostic performance of PET/CT was better than that of CI. In the diagnosis of metastases, the patient-based sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of PET/CT were 100.0%, 81.8%, and 89.2%, respectively, while those of CI were 73.3%, 100.0%, 89.2%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity values were significantly different, with PET/CT having higher sensitivity ( p  = 0.02) and CI showing higher specificity ( p  = 0.02)., Conclusions: 18 F-FDG PET/CT improves the diagnostic performance for SMPMNS and is a good imaging modality for patients with SMPMNS., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Luo, Qi, Jin, Liao, Liu and Zeng.)

Background: Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is an inflammatory myeloid neoplasm that can involve multisystem organs. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been widely used in tumor staging and efficacy evaluation. However, at present, there are few 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT studies on LCH. This study aimed to explore the possible role of 18 F-FDG PET/CT in the diagnosis and management of patients with LCH., Methods: 18 F-FDG PET/CT images of 22 Chinese patients diagnosed with LCH on biopsy or surgery histopathology between January 2011 and December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The incidence of LCH in each system was assessed by a PET/CT scan. The imaging characteristics were analyzed semiquantitatively and qualitatively. The discrepancies between PET/CT and conventional imaging modalities were recorded. Evaluations of curative effect according to RECIST1.1 and PERCIST1.0 were compared using Fisher's exact chi-squared test, and P values <0.05 were considered significant., Results: Eight (36.4%) of the 22 patients presented with single system involvement (4 isolated site involvement, 4 multiple site involvement), and 14 (63.6%) presented with multiple system involvement. Twenty-one (95.5%) patients had hypermetabolic lesions. Musculoskeletal, lymphatic, respiratory, liver, skin-soft tissue and thyroid involvement were seen in 14 (63.6%), 13 (59.1%), 5 (22.7%), 4 (18.2%), 5 (22.7%) and 1 (4.5%) patient, respectively. Cranial and facial bones were the most common sites of musculoskeletal involvement. Ten patients underwent PET/CT follow-up, and there was no significant difference in curative effect evaluations according to RECIST1.1 and PERCIST1.0. However, among the complete remission cases assessed by RECIST1.1, three were partial metabolic responses assessed by PERCIST1.0, while among the partial response cases assessed by RECIST1.1, one was metabolic progressive disease assessed by PERCIST1.0., Conclusions: 18 F-FDG PET/CT is an imaging modality option for the diagnosis and assessment of the curative effect of LCH., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://qims.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/qims-21-823/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Sirtuin1 (Sirt1) in the regulation of autophagy for human osteoarthritis (OA) chondrocytes., Design: All cartilage samples were collected from human donors, including young group, aged group, and OA group. Primary chondrocytes were isolated and cultured with Sirt1 activator or inhibitor. Sirt1 expression in cartilage tissue and chondrocytes was evaluated, and the deacetylation activity of Sirt1 was determined. The alteration of autophagy activity after upregulating or downregulating Sirt1 was detected. Chondrocytes were treated with autophagy activator and inhibitor, and then the protein level of Sirt1 was examined. The interactions between Sirt1 and autophagy-related proteins Atg7, microtubule associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3), and Beclin-1 were determined by using immunoprecipitation., Results: The assay of articular cartilage revealed that the expression of Sirt1 might be age-related: highly expressed in of younger people, and respectively decreased in the elderly people and OA patients. In vitro study was also validated this result. Further study confirmed that higher levels of Sirt1 significantly increased autophagy in aged chondrocytes, while the lower expression of Sirt1 reduced autophagy in young chondrocytes. Of note, the high levels of Sirt1 reduced autophagy in OA chondrocytes. When the chondrocytes were treated with autophagy activator or inhibitor, we found the expression of Sirt1 was not affected. In addition, we found that Sirt1 could interact with Atg7., Conclusion: These results suggest that Sirt1 in human chondrocytes regulates autophagy by interacting with autophagy related Atg7, and Sirt1 may become a more important target in OA treatment.

Transforming growth factor beta regulator 4 (TBRG4) is a novel regulator in tumorigenic progression of several tumors. However, so far, the expression and functions of TBRG4 in osteosarcoma are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential biological functions of TBRG4 in osteosarcoma. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of TBRG4 in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines. The levels of TBRG4 protein in osteosarcoma tissues were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Lentivirus-mediated short hairpin (sh) RNA was employed to knock down TBRG4 in osteosarcoma cells, and the expressions of TBRG4 mRNA and protein were determined by qRT-PCR and Western blot assay, respectively. Subsequently, the proliferation, clonogenic ability, apoptosis and invasion of osteosarcoma cells were measured using high content screening analysis and CCK8 assay, tumor sphere formation assay, flow cytometry and Transwell invasion assays, respectively. Furthermore, the osteosarcoma cells growth and metastasis in vivo were detected, and the effect of TBRG4 on the transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was explored by qRT-PCR and Western blot assay, respectively. The results showed the levels of TBRG4 were overexpressed in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines, confirming that the high TBRG4 expression was related to advanced tumor stages, large tumor size, and lymph node metastasis. Functional assays showed knockdown of TBRG4 could inhibit proliferation, invasion and induce apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells in vitro, and could also suppress osteosarcoma growth and metastasis in vivo. By examining the expression levels of TGF-β1, p-PI3K, PI3K, p-AKT and AKT, it showed that the suppression of TBRG4 would reduce TGF-β1 expression and inactivate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. These results showed for the first time that TBRG4 knockdown could suppress osteosarcoma progression, suggesting TBRG4 might be a promising therapeutic target for osteosarcoma treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: Published papers reported contradictory results about the correlation between bevacizumab effectiveness and primary tumor location of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Methods: 740 mCRC patients treated with chemotherapy (CT group) and 244 patients treated with bevacizumab plus chemotherapy as first-line setting (CT + B group) were included. Propensity score analyses were used for patients' stratification and matching. Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank tests were used to detect different overall survival (OS). Results: Patients in CT + B group had similar OS comparing with CT group only when the primary tumor located at right-side colon (20.2 for CT + B versus 19.7 months for CT group, p = 0.269). For left-side colon and rectal cancer patients, significantly longer OS were observed in CT + B than CT group. Conclusion: Our data suggested only patients with left-side colon or rectal cancer could get survival benefit from the addition of bevacizumab to first-line chemotherapy., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Background: It remains controversial whether palliative primary tumor resection (PPTR) can provide survival benefits to the patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who have unresectable metastases. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether PPTR could improve the survival of patients with mCRC., Methods: We conducted a retrospective study on consecutive mCRC patients with unresectable metastases who were diagnosed at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, between January 2005 and December 2012. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) after first-line chemotherapy failure were compared between the PPTR and non-PPTR patient groups., Results: A total of 387 patients were identified, including 254 who underwent PPTR and 133 who did not. The median OS of the PPTR and non-PPTR groups was 20.8 and 14.8 months (P < 0.001), respectively. The median PFS after first-line chemotherapy was 7.3 and 4.8 months (P < 0.001) in the PPTR and non-PPTR groups, respectively. A larger proportion of patients in the PPTR group (219 of 254, 86.2%) showed local progression compared with that of patients in the non-PPTR group (95 of 133, 71.4%; P < 0.001). Only patients with normal lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels and with carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels <70 ng/mL benefited from PPTR (median OS, 22.2 months for the PPTR group and 16.2 months for the non-PPTR group; P < 0.001)., Conclusions: For mCRC patients with unresectable metastases, PPTR can improve OS and PFS after first-line chemotherapy and decrease the incidence of new organ involvement. However, PPTR should be recommended only for patients with normal LDH levels and with CEA levels <70 ng/mL.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of taxane-based regimens in the first line setting retrospectively in Chinese patients with recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer., Methods: We analyzed 102 recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer patients who received taxanes-based regimens in a first-line setting from January 2009 to December 2013. Sixteen (15.7%) patients were administered Nab-PTX based chemotherapy and 86 patients (84.3%) received paclitaxel (PTX) or docetaxel (DTX) based chemotherapy. Patients in the PTX/DTX group could be further divided into TP (71 patients) and TPF (15 patients) groups., Results: The objective response rate (ORR) of all patients was 20.6%, and the disease control rate (DCR) was 67.6%. The median overall survival (OS) was 10.5 months (95% CI 10.1-16.4) and the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.04 months (95% CI 5.09-7.91). The DCR was higher in the TPF group than the TP group (93.3% vs. 59.1%; p = 0.015 ). There were no significant differences in ORR, OS, and PFS among Nab-PTX, TPF and TP groups., Conclusions: The three regimens of Nab-PTX based, TP and TPF proved active in a first line setting of Chinese patients with recurrent and/or metastatic esophageal cancer, and should thus be regarded as alternative treatments.

This study investigates the applications of computational approaches in the prediction of enthalpies of formation (ΔH(f)) for C-, H-, and O-containing compounds. Molecular mechanics (MM4) molecular mechanics method, density functional theory (DFT) combined with the atomic equivalent (AE) and group equivalent (GE) schemes, and DFT-based correlation corrected atomization (CCAZ) were used. We emphasized on the application to xanthophylls, C-, H-, and O-containing carotenoids which consist of ∼ 100 atoms and extended π-delocaization systems. Within the training set, MM4 predictions are more accurate than those obtained using AE and GE; however a systematic underestimation was observed in the extended systems. ΔH(f) for the training set molecules predicted by CCAZ combined with DFT are in very good agreement with the G3 results. The average absolute deviations (AADs) of CCAZ combined with B3LYP and MPWB1K are 0.38 and 0.53 kcal/mol compared with the G3 data, and are 0.74 and 0.69 kcal/mol compared with the available experimental data, respectively. Consistency of the CCAZ approach for the selected xanthophylls is revealed by the AAD of 2.68 kcal/mol between B3LYP-CCAZ and MPWB1K-CCAZ., (Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

A computational approach has been designed for accurately determining enthalpies of formation (ΔH(f)) for the carotene species. This approach, named correlation corrected atomization (CCAZ), is based on the concept of bond and group additivity, and is applied along with density functional theory (DFT). Corrections to the deficiencies in DFT were divided into 1,2-, 1,3-, and 1,4- atomic interactions, which were determined by comparisons with the G3 data of the training set. When comparing predictions from CCAZ combined with two different DFT methods (B3LYP and MPWB1K), fairly accurate prediction is expected. In contrast, DFT using the atomization and isodesmic schemes resulted in poor predictions of ΔH(f). The equivalent methods, atomic equivalent (AEQ) and group equivalent (GEQ) provide improved predictions; however, the accuracies are lower than that of CCAZ.

Mononuclear, distorted trigonal bipyramidal [PPN][Ni(III)(R)(P(C(6)H(3)-3-SiMe(3)-2-S)(3))] (R = Me (1); R = Et (2)) were prepared by reaction of [PPN][Ni(III)Cl(P(C(6)H(3)-3-SiMe(3)-2-S)(3))] and CH(3)MgCl/C(2)H(5)MgCl, individually. EPR, SQUID studies as well as DFT computations reveal that the Ni(III) in 1 has a low-spin d(7) electronic configuration in a distorted trigonal bipyramidal ligand field. The Ni-C bond lengths of 1.994(3) A in 1 and 2.015(3) A in 2 are comparable to that in the Ni(III)-methyl state of MCR (approximately 2.04 A) (Sarangi, R.; Dey, M.; Ragsdale, S. W. Biochemistry 2009, 48, 3146). Under a CO atmosphere, CO triggers homolytic cleavage of the Ni(III)-CH(3) bond in 1 to produce Ni(II)-thiolate carbonyl [PPN][Ni(II)(CO)(P(C(6)H(3)-3-SiMe(3)-2-S)(3))] (3). Additionally, protonation of 1 with phenylthiol generates Ni(III)-thiolate [PPN][Ni(III)(SPh)(P(C(6)H(3)-3-SiMe(3)-2-S)(3))] (4).

Objective: To develop a new method of PET and CT cross-modality medical image fusion based on out-location frame., Methods: PET/CT cross-modality medical images were obtained based on the out-location frame and the external fiducial marker on the frame was used for rigid medical image registration. A variation model based on the wavelet transform was used for image fusion., Results: The CT images were displayed by grey scale and overlaid with the PET images displayed by chromatic scale to obtain the image after registration and fusion., Conclusion: The method of external markers registration can be effective and accurate in achieving PET and CT image fusion.