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Flower teas are widely consumed across the world because of their beneficial health effects. The antioxidant activities of methanol extracts from ten common flower teas in China were evaluated using four antioxidant assays. The total phenolic (TPCs) and total flavonoid contents (TFCs) were also investigated. Most of these flower teas exhibited potent antioxidant effects, of which rosae rugosae flos exerted the strongest antioxidant effects in four assays. Rosae rugosae flos also exerted the highest TPC, while fragrans showed the highest TFC. Correction analysis indicated that phenolics play a key role in the antioxidant effect of flower teas, while flavonoids were poorly correlated with antioxidant activity. The results supported the consumption of flower teas as functional foods and their application as sources of natural antioxidants in the food industry.

Four new C19-diterpenoid alkaloids, named taronenines A-D (1-4), have been isolated from the roots of Aconitum taronense Fletcher et Lauener (Ranunculaceae), which has long been used as a folk medicine to treat rheumatism and arthritis in China. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their potential anti-inflammatory effects using LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Compounds 1, 2 and 4 showed certain inhibition activities of interleukin-6 in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells with IC50 values of 29.60 ± 0.08 μg/mL, 18.87 ± 0.14 μg/mL, and 25.39 ± 0.11 μg/mL, respectively.

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the top deaths causing cancers with low 5-year survival rate. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are recognized as a crucial type of nonprotein-coding transcripts implicated in tumorigenesis. Emerging evidence has implied that LINC00152 exerts the potential oncogenic functions in various cancers. Nevertheless, the role of LINC00152 in PC remains elusive. In the present study, we found that LINC00152 was significantly up-regulated while miR-150 was down-regulated both in tissues and cell lines of PC, indicating their negative correlation in PC progression. Functionally, overexpression of LINC00152 promoted cell proliferation, migration and invasion, while LINC00152 knockdown reversed these effects. Mechanistic experiments reveal that miR-150 acted as a target of LINC00152 confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. Moreover, inhibition of miR-150 could markedly attenuate the suppression of cell proliferation, migration and invasion by knocking down LINC00152. Altogether, our findings concluded that LINC00152 facilitated PC progression through inhibiting miR-150 expression, indicating an innovative therapeutic target for PC.

A novel blue-emitting apatite structure phosphate phosphor Sr5(PO4)2SiO4: Ce3+, Tb3+ has been synthesized by a high-temperature solid-state reaction. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electric microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–Vis DRS), photoluminescence excitation (PLE) and emission (PL) spectra were utilized to characterize the samples. The results showed that the Sr5(PO4)2SiO4: Ce3+, Tb3+ samples exhibit a wide and strong emission band located at 405 nm. In addition, the process of energy transfer (ET) from Ce3+ to Tb3+ has been proved to be a dipole-dipole interaction. Importantly, the color of the phosphor emission can be changed by proper tuning of the Ce3+/Tb3+ ratio. Therefore, the prepared phosphors exhibit great potential for applications in the fields of luminescence and display.

Objective: To study the clinical effect of low molecular heparin administered to patients with Unexplained Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion (URSA). Methodology: A total of 120 URSA patients admitted to our hospital from October 2015 to September 2017 were taken as observation subjects. They were divided into two groups based on a random number table, that is, control group (n=60) and observation group (n=60). The patients in the control group were administered with progesterone and human chorionic gonadotropin, while the patients in the observation group were administered with low molecular heparin. The two groups were compared statistically in terms of pregnancy outcomes, incidence of complications in pregnancy, and incidence of adverse drug reactions. Results: For the pregnancy outcomes, the pregnancy success rate of patients in the observation group is higher than that of the patients in the control group at 90.00% and 68.33%, respectively, indicating a significant difference (P 0.05). Conclusion: Low molecular heparin administered to the URSA patients manifests a strong clinical effect. This treatment not only improves the pregnancy success rate but also reduces the incidence of complications. Furthermore, low molecular heparin is characterized by safety and reliability, and has potential for application in clinical studies.

This paper introduces the definition and types of plasticizers, mainly may contain species of plasticizer in food, detection methods of plasticizer in food, research on phthalic acid esters migrate in food packaging material as well as the causes and Countermeasures of food plasticizer that exceed the standard system to introduced, providing a reference for the further research and related researchers.

In our previous study, significantly high expression levels of matrix-remodeling associated 5 (MXRA5) were identified in fresh-cultured colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues compared with their normal adjacent mucosa by differential secretome analysis. Whether MXRA5 is a potential serum biomarker of CRC has not been evaluated. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between MXRA5 expression and clinicopathological characteristics of CRC patients. The MXRA5 expression levels were determined by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in 20 colorectal adenoma tissues, 156 CRC tissues and their corresponding adjacent normal mucosa. Relative quantity (RQ) value and immunoreactive score (IRS) were used for quantitative assessment. The staining for MXRA5 protein was mainly located in the cytoplasm of CRC cells. All CRC tissues were positively stained, with a higher expression rate (IRS>4) of 67% (105/156), and a lower expression rate (IRS≤4) of 33% (51/156). Meanwhile, their corresponding normal tissues exhibited little positive staining; the higher expression rate was 0% (0/156) and the lower expression rate was 25% (16/156). Additionally, more than half of the adenoma tissues were positively stained; the higher expression rate was 15% (3/20) and the lower expression rate was 50% (10/20). The MXRA5 protein positive staining rates were significantly correlated with the lesion sites (colon vs. rectum, 76 vs. 59%), TNM staging (I+II vs. III+IV, 56 vs. 73%) and metastasis (present vs. absent; 76 vs. 61%) with the most high positive staining rate observable in omental metastasis (82%). However, MXRA5 mRNA expression levels showed no significant differences between CRC tissues and their corresponding normal tissues, and no significant correlation between IRS and corresponding RQ value was observed. In this study, we present the first evaluation of MXRA5 protein expression in CRC tissue. Our results revealed that MXRA5 protein is aberrantly expressed in CRC tissues, and has potential value in early detection of CRC and prediction of omental metastasis.

This paper using an electric field-assisted direct precipitation method synthesize the ZnO nanosheets with zinc nitrate hexahydrate and sodium carbonate. The synthesis processes with and without an electric field were compared. The morphology of the ZnO nanosheets was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements. The SEM results show that the application of an electric field caused the morphology transformation from flake-like to flower-like. It was found that an electric field had an effect on the crystal structure，the particle size and morphology. The photoluminescence spectrum of the synthesized ZnO nanosheets shows a strong ultraviolet emission at 249 nm. In addition，the formation mechanism of the ZnO nanosheets is discussed.

This paper presents the experimental results on electric field-assisted synthesis of spherical Zinc Oxide (ZnO) micro-flower in an homogeneous precipitation method. The synthesis processes with and without an electric field were compared. The products were characterized via SEM, XRD, TGA and FT-IR spectrum. The results show that the spherical ZnO micro-flower composed of ZnO single crystalline nanoparticles have thickness of about 10nm, width of about 50nm.The SEM results show that the application of an electric field caused the morphology transformation from flake-like to flower-like. It was found that an electric field had an effect on the crystal structure,the particle size and morphology.

In this paper, the vibration and power flow characteristics of stiffened plate and cylindrical shell structures are investigated by using finite element method. The power flow formulas of basic shell structural elements are given at first. Then a simply supported plate and stiffened plate’s input power flow characteristics and power flow vectors are investigated. The effects of stiffeners in plates are discussed. For a simply supported cylindrical shell, the influence of the structural damping, viscous damper and stiffeners on the cylindrical shell’s input power flow characteristics and propagated power flow characteristics are discussed in detail. The power flow vectors are visualized to reveal the distribution of energy in the shell structures. Some useful conclusions are drown and helpful for the vibration control of plate and shell structures.

The milling process of hard-to-cut material high manganese steel ZGMn13 was simulated and experimental studied based on Johnson-Cook material model and shear failure model.The high speed milling processing finite element model has established adopting arbitrary Lagrangian-Euler method (ALE) and the grid adaptive technology,The influence of milling parameters to milling force is analyzed in the high speed milling high manganese steel process. The simulated and experimental results being discussed are matched well. It certifies the finite element model is correct.

Grain evolution of boron carbide ceramic powder during isothermal sintering process was in situ investigated by synchrotron radiation X-ray computed tomography (SR-CT) technique. The process of grain growth and material migration during three sintering stages was clearly distinguished from the 2-D and 3-D reconstructed images. The results show that from room temperature to 1 200℃ (0-270 mm), grains gradually approach each other and form the sintering neck but grain growth does not start, which is indicated as the initial sintering stage. While the sintering time is between 270-390 mm (temperature is 1 200 ℃, material migration between grains starts, while grains and sintering neck grow up, which is defined as the middle sintering stage. As the sintering time exceeds 390 mm (temperature is 1 200 ℃), pores become isolated and spheroidized, which shows the final sintering stage. The double logarithm curve of mean grain radius and time logarithm during middle stage of isothermal sintering process is obtained from reconstructed images and the grain growth exponent is 0.364 03, falling in the predicted range of the traditional sintering theory. The experiment results are in accordance with those of the traditional sintering theory and provide effective experimental data for further analysis of the sintering process and the mechanical characteristics of ceramics.

Ca2+ spark is the elementary Ca2+ signaling event in muscle excitation-contraction coupling. The rise time of Ca2+ spark is rather stable under different conditions, suggesting consistent open duration of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) in vivo. It has been proposed that the array-based behavior of RyRs plays an important role in shaping Ca2+ spark dynamics, particularly in controlling the open duration of RyR clusters. Therefore, we investigated the possible role of inter-RyR coupling in stabilization of the open time of arrayed RyRs under several potential perturbations, for instance, array size, inter-RyR coupling noise, and up-regulation or down-regulation of the activity of partial RyRs in the array. We found that RyR arrays with dynamic coupling showed consistent open duration against the perturbations, whereas the RyR array with constant coupling did not. On the other hand, the open probability and amplitude of RyR arrays with dynamic interreceptor coupling were sensitive to the perturbations. These two points were consistent with experimental observations, indicating that the RyR array with dynamic coupling could recapitulate in vivo open properties of RyRs. Our findings support the idea that dynamic coupling is a feasible in vivo working mechanism of RyR arrays.

In this report, we applied in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the dynamic process of disassembly-assembly of alpha-synuclein (alpha-Syn) fibrils in different solutions. Most of the mica-adsorbed alpha-Syn fibrils disassemble into small particles step-by-step on the mica surface in diluted solutions, yet a few short fibrils still extend to form longer fibrils. This process usually started randomly at the center of the long fibrils, which progressively disassemble into short fragments and small protein particles of varying size. Compared to disassembly, assembly happened infrequently when the protein concentration was low. It was observed directly by AFM that the chaotropic agent guanidinium chloride rapidly breaks the long alpha-Syn fibrils. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The ryanodine receptors/calcium release channels (RyRs) usually form two dimensional regular lattices in the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. The native RyR is associated with many auxiliary proteins, including FKBP. It has been indicated that FKBP may play a role in the intermolecular interaction and coupled gating of neighboring RyRs. However, a more recent study shows that FKBP12 is not involved in the physical linkage between neighboring RyR1s. In the present work, the effect of FKBP12 on the interaction between RyR1s isolated from rabbit skeletal muscle was investigated in an aqueous medium with photon correlation spectroscopy. We found that the depletion of FKBP12 did not affect the oligomerization of RyR1s in the medium containing different [KCl] or under different channel functional states. No evidence is obtained for the involvement of FKBP12 in the intermolecular interaction between RyR1s.

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) of skeletal muscle, as calcium release channels, have been found to form semicrystalline arrays in the membrane of sarcoplasmic reticulum. Recently, both experimental observations and theoretical simulations suggested cooperative coupling within interlocking RyRs. To better understand the interactions between RyRs and their modulation, the aggregation and dissociation of isolated RyRs in aqueous medium containing various Na(+) and K(+) concentrations were investigated using photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). RyRs aggregated readily at low salt concentrations. However, a different behavior was observed in the presence of Na(+) or K(+). Detectable aggregates were formed in 5 microg/mL RyR sample when the concentration of Na(+) and K(+) was reduced from 1 M to below 0.28 and 0.23 M, respectively. The dissociation of RyR aggregates was also examined when raising the salt concentration. While aggregates formed in 0.15 M NaCl medium could reverse almost completely, those formed in 0.15 M KCl medium only dissolved partly. When keeping the total salt concentration at 0.15 M, the aggregation and dissociation of RyRs were seen to evidently depend on the relative concentration of Na(+) and K(+). The interaction between RyRs was strengthened with increasing Na(+)/K(+) ratios in the mixed medium. Accompanying this, a decrease of [(3)H]ryanodine binding occurred. The results obtained with PCS and AFM provide further evidence for the interaction between RyRs and suggest the importance of Na(+), K(+), and their relative composition in modulating the interaction and cooperation between RyRs in vivo.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs) on radioresistance of breast cancer cells. Materials and Methods: MTT assays were used to detect any influence of AMSC supernatants on proliferation of breast cancer cells; cell migration assays were used to determine the effect of breast cancer cells on the recruitment of AMSCs; the cell survival fraction post-irradiation was assessed by clonogenic survival assay; γ-H2AX foci number post-irradiation was determined via fluorescence microscopy; and expression of IGF-1R was detected by Western blotting. Results: AMSC supernatants promoted proliferation and radioresistance of breast cancer cells. Breast cancer cells could recruit AMSCs, especially after irradiation. IGF-1 derived from AMSCs might be responsible for the radioresistance of breast cancer cells. Conclusions: Our results suggest that AMSCs in the tumor microenvironment may affect the outcome of radiotherapy for breast cancer in vitro.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from gram negative bacteria plays an important role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. Many evidences showed that LPS-induced neuroinflammation is related to upregulation of NF-kappaB. Here, we report that long-term treatment of lower dosage LPS mainly causes upregulation of Id2 protein. As an inhibitor of cell differentiation, Id2 plays an import role in adult olfactory neurogenesis. However, Id2 protein in brain acts as two edges in a sword, persist over-expression of Id2 in brain can induce neurodamages and may be related to neurodegeneration.

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) usually form two-dimensional regular array in sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes in muscle cells. The inter-RyRs coupling may be essential for the maintenance of quiescent Ca2+ release in resting state, as well as for the coordinated activation and rapid termination of RyR-mediated Ca2+ release during excitation-contraction coupling. In our previous work, we have reported that the inter-RyRs interaction is modulated by RyR channel's functional state, which inspired us to propose a novel working mechanism of RyR array: “dynamic inter-RyR coupling”. In this work, we built a simple model based on cellular automata and the Monte-Carlo method to quantitatively investigate the roles of intermolecular coupling and its modulation in regulating the signaling capabilities of RyR array. Our simulation results showed that with a suitable inter-RyR coupling strength, the combination of rest stability and high response efficiency, namely optimal signal/noise ratio, of Ca2+ signaling could be achieved. Moreover, we also found the continued coupling between open RyRs would delay the system termination rate. The coacquisition of robust termination of array opening relied on the proper decrease of coupling strength between activated RyRs. Obviously, such temporally asymmetric coupling would simultaneously endow the system with physiologically relevant resting stability and fast termination.

Receptor proteins in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells often form regular lattice or array in the membrane. Recent theoretical analyses indicate that such arrays may provide a novel mechanism for receptor signaling regulation in cells. The functional coupling between neighboring receptors could improve the signaling performance. The ryanodine receptors (RyR)/calcium release channels usually form 2-D regular lattice in the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. Thus, RyR is a potentially good model to study the function of receptor 2-D array. In this article, we briefly review recent progresses in this research field, including RyR-RyR interaction, RyR array's function and working mechanisms. The investigations performed by new methods in our laboratory are summarized. We demonstrate that the RyR-RyR interaction is modulated by the functional states of RyRs. Accordingly, the mechanism of "dynamic coupling" of RyR array is proposed. Its possible role in RyR-mediated Ca(2+) release is discussed.

To investigate the development and dynamic changes of host immune response in DBA/2 mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii 17XL.Female DBA/2 mice were infected by intraperitoneal (i. p.) injection of 10(6) P. yoelii 17XL parasitized erythrocytes (PRBC). Levels of IL-12, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-10 and P. yoelii 17XL-specific antibody in sera were measured by ELISA. Concentrations of NO in cell supernatants were measured by the Griess reaction. Parasitemia, percentage of mononuclear-macrophages of individual mice were monitored daily, and phagocytosis of mononuclear macrophages was also observed.Primary parasitemia in vein blood was developed on day 3 postinfection, which peaked with a level of 46. 9% on day 9. Most mice cleared the infection and survived by day 20 postinfection. From day 6 to day 16, the phagocytosis of PRBC by rodent macrophages was observed on the blood smear. Infected mice had a continuously increased level of IL-12 in serum from day 1 postinfection. Accordingly, high level of IFN-gamma was also detected in sera from day 1 postinfection, which peaked on day 6. Infected mice produced higher level of IL-4 and IL-10 in serum on day 6 postinfection, which peaked on day 9 and day 15 postinfection respectively. In addition, splenocytes from infected mice produced significantly higher level of NO on day 6 and 20 postinfection. Level of P. yoelii 17XL-specific IgG was determined in the sera of infected mice with a steadily increased trend after infection, which peaked on day 70 postinfection.Effective polarizing of Th1 cells is significant in inhibition of parasitemia and eventual clearance of the Plasmodium parasites. Activated mononuclear-macrophages play a key role in inhibiting parasitemia in the early phase of infection with P. yoelii 17XL.

To investigate the distribution of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in TBX1 gene and the distribution of related haplotypes in the patients with conotruncal defects (CTD) and normal people.The genotypes of the 3 selected SNPs: G2857C (rs737868), G2963A (rs28649236), and A6571T (rs28939675) in TBX1 gene were analyzed by PCR-RFLP among 130 patients with CTD and 200 normal people. Contingency table was applied to analyze the frequencies of these SNP genotypes and related alleles. PHASE software was used to construct the haplotypes and analyze the haplotype frequencies in these 2 groups.There were no significant differences in the allele frequency and genotype rates of the SNPs G2587C and A6571T between the CTD patients and normal controls (all P0.05). However, the allele frequency and genotype rates of the SNP G2963A were significant different between he CTD patients and normal controls: the G allele frequency in the CTD patients was 53.8%, significantly higher than that in the normal controls (42.5%, chi(2) = 8.14, P0.005); and the AA genotype rate of the CTD patients was 21.6%, significantly lower than that of the controls (38.0%), and the GA genotype rate in the CTD patients was 49.2%, significantly higher than that in the controls (39.0%) (both chi(2) = 9.9, P0.05). The haplotype frequencies of G2587/G2963/A6571 and G2587/A2963/T6571 of the CTD patients were 49.2% and 14.6% respectively, both significantly higher than those of the normal controls (36.3% and 9.5% respectively), and the haplotype frequencies of G2587/G2963/T6571 and G2587/A2963/A6571 in the CTD patients were 34.6% and 3% respectively, both significantly lower than those in the normal controls (48.3% and 18% respectively) (chi(2) = 22.39, P0.005).The SNP site G2963A located in the coding-region of TBX1 gene is associated with CTD. The persons with G2963 have higher risk of CTD than those with A2963. The haplotypes constructed with these 3 SNP sites may be linked with the susceptibility gene of CTD.

Acid red B (ARB) solution with pH = 3 was electrolyzed in a two-chamber cell using Pt/C gas diffusion electrode (GDE) as cathode. The color and COD removal ratio in cathode chamber were 94.2% and 66.8% respectively; and the color and COD removal ratio in anode chamber were 73.3% and 56.6% respectively, which indicated that O2 can be reduced to H2O2 and x OH in the cathode chamber, then ARB was degraded. Through IR and GC-MS analysis for the intermediates of ARB in the cathode chamber, 20 intermediates have been detected, including 14 esters, 3 acids and 3 compounds with -NO2 or N-OH groups and the probable degradation pathway of ARB in the cathode chamber was given.

The calcium release channels/ryanodine receptors (RyRs) usually form two-dimensional regular lattices in the endoplasmic/sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. However, the function and modulation of the interaction between neighboring RyRs are still unknown. Here, with an in vitro aqueous system, we demonstrate that the interaction between RyRs isolated from skeletal muscle (RyR1s) is modulated by their functional states by using photon correlation spectroscopy and [(3)H]ryanodine binding assay. High level of oligomerization is observed for resting closed RyR1s with nanomolar Ca(2+) in solution. Activation of RyR1s by micromolar Ca(2+) or/and millimolar AMP leads to the de-oligomerization of RyR1s. The oligomerization of RyR1s remains at high level when RyR1s are stabilized at closed state by Mg(2+). The modulation of RyR1-RyR1 interaction by the functional state is also observed under near-physiological conditions, suggesting that the interaction between arrayed RyR1s would be dynamically modulated during excitation-contraction coupling. These findings provide exciting new information to understand the function and operating mechanism of RyR arrays.

To investigate mechanism for the increasing level of serum vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) in tumour patients during radiotherapy and the inhibitory action of the antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (AS-ODN) to the expression of VEGF protein by radiotherapy in the prostate cancer cell line (PC3M).To observe the changes of serum VEGF in the prostate cancer patients during radiotherapy dynamically and the inhibitory action of the antisense oligodeoxynucleotide to the expression of VEGF by radiotherapy in PC3M.The changes of serum VEGF in three patients receiving radiotherapy had been observed continuously. The levels of serum VEGF began to increase when the patients received radiotherapy and rised up to peak value after fifteen days, then declined to the range of pre-radiotherapy. Irradiating the PC3M cells with X-rays significantly increased the VEGF expression and secretion. The expression of VEGF protein in the group treated by VEGF AS-ODNs and X-ray irradiation decreased significantly than the group treated only by X-ray irradiation.The induction of VEGF protein expression by X-ray irradiation in tumor cells may result in the increasing of the VEGF in the prostate cancer patients during radiotherapy and the induction can be blocked by VEGF AS-ODNs.

Functional coupling between clustered membrane receptors has been identified as a novel mechanism to improve signaling performance in a number of physiological processes. The potential role of defective inter-receptor coupling in the pathogenesis of disease, however, has not previously been explored. Ryanodine receptors (RyRs), the primary calcium release channel of muscle, usually form ordered two-dimensional arrays in the sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes. Mutations in RyRs are known to cause a number of severe diseases both in skeletal muscle and in heart. Here we present a model demonstrating how impaired functional coupling between neighboring mutant RyR1(R615C) channels may contribute to the pharmacogenetic skeletal muscle sensitivity, malignant hyperthermia (MH). We find that purified RyR1(R615C) from MH susceptible porcine skeletal muscle shows significantly reduced oligomerization when compared to RyR1(WT), indicating a potential loss of intrinsic intermolecular control. The MH-triggering volatile anesthetic, halothane, activates RyR1(R615C) and RyR1(WT) to a similar extent, using [(3)H]ryanodine binding as a measure of activation. Modeling RyR1 array function with parameters modified to simulate the loss of functional inter-RyR coupling recapitulates the MH molecular phenotype-RyR1 channels leaky to Ca(2+) at rest and long open-times following exposure to halothane. Our work suggests that a defect in inter-RyR1 coupling is a novel direction for research into the pathogenesis of MH.

Introduction Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients often face a high risk of early relapse characterized by extensive metastasis. Previous works have shown that aberrant cell surface glycosylation is associated with cancer metastasis, suggesting that altered glycosylations might serve as diagnostic signatures of metastatic potential. To address this question, we took TNBC as an example and analyzed six TNBC cell lines, derived from a common progenitor, that differ in metastatic potential. Methods We used a microarray with 91 lectins to screen for altered lectin bindings to the six TNBC cell lines. Candidate lectins were then verified by lectin-based flow cytometry and immunofluorescent staining assays using both TNBC/non-TNBC cancer cells. Patient-derived tissue microarrays were then employed to analyze whether the staining of Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCA-I), correlated with TNBC severity. We also carried out real-time cell motility assays in the presence of RCA-I. Finally, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/tandem spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was employed to identify the membrane glycoproteins recognized by RCA-I. Results Using the lectin microarray, we found that the bindings of RCA-I to TNBC cells are proportional to their metastatic capacity. Tissue microarray experiments showed that the intensity of RCA-I staining is positively correlated with the TNM grades. The real-time cell motility assays clearly demonstrated RCA-I inhibition of adhesion, migration, and invasion of TNBC cells of high metastatic capacity. Additionally, a membrane glycoprotein, POTE ankyrin domain family member F (POTEF), with different galactosylation extents in high/low metastatic TNBC cells was identified by LC-MS/MS as a binder of RCA-I. Conclusions We discovered RCA-I, which bound to TNBC cells to a degree that is proportional to their metastatic capacities, and found that this binding inhibits the cell invasion, migration, and adhesion, and identified a membrane protein, POTEF, which may play a key role in mediating these effects. These results thus indicate that RCA-I-specific cell surface glycoproteins may play a critical role in TNBC metastasis and that the extent of RCA-I cell binding could be used in diagnosis to predict the likelihood of developing metastases in TNBC patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13058-015-0544-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.