Fanfan Li

Resveratrol attenuates ischemic brain damage in the delayed phase after stroke and induces messenger RNA and protein express for angiogenic factors.

BACKGROUND It has been reported recently that resveratrol preconditioning can protect the brain from ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, it was unclear whether resveratrol administration after stroke was beneficial to the delayed phases after focal cerebral ischemia injury. This study investigated the effects and possible protective mechanism of resveratrol on the delayed phase after focal cerebral ischemia injury in mice. METHODS Mice were randomly assigned to five groups according to the time of administration of resveratrol. Control group mice received a corresponding volume of saline solution (0.9% NaCl) containing 20% hydroxypropyl h-cyclodextrin by gavage and were exposed to middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion and reperfusion injury. The treatment groups received resveratrol (50 mg/kg/d, gavage) until day 7. Ischemia group mice received their first dose 5 minutes before MCA ischemia, reperfusion group mice received their first dose 5 minutes before MCA reperfusion, first-day, group mice received their first dose 24 hours after MCA reperfusion, and third-day group mice received their first dose at 72 hours after MCA reperfusion. Brain injury was evaluated by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining and neurologic examination 7 days after reperfusion. The microvascular cell number was examined with immunohistochemistry staining. Effect of resveratrol on matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene expression was investigated with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. RESULTS The mean neurologic scores and infarct volumes of the ischemia and reperfusion groups were lower than that of the control group at 7 days after MCA reperfusion (P < .05). Immunohistochemistry staining showed significantly less reduction in the number of microvessels in the cortical area of mice of the ischemia and reperfusion groups compared with controls. The ischemic hemispheres of the ischemia and reperfusion groups showed significantly (P < .05) elevated levels of protein of MMP-2 and VEGF. CONCLUSIONS Resveratrol administration by gavage provided an important neuroprotective effect on focal cerebral ischemic injury in the delayed phase. The elevated MMP-2 and VEGF levels might be important in the neuroprotective effect of resveratrol administration by inducing angiogenesis.

Evaluation of global DNA hypomethylation in human prostate cancer and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasm tissues by immunohistochemistry

OBJECTIVE To identify the differences of 5-methylcytosine (5-MC) level between primary prostate cancer tissues (PCTs), prostate cancer-adjacent benign tissues (PCABTs), low-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (LGPIN), and high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN), and further analysis the 5-MC alterations in prostate cancer with pathologic grade and clinical prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Immunohistochemistry method with a 5-MC monoclonal antibody was used to identify the 5-methylcytosine (5-MC) levels in PCTs, PCABTs, LGPIN, and HGPIN specimens in the present study. Statistical analysis with SPSS software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) was used to compare differences of 5-MC levels in the four groups and evaluate the 5-MC alterations in prostate cancer with pathologic grade and clinical prognosis. RESULTS We found that 38 of 48 (79.1%) patients studied showed a decrease in 5-MC staining of PCTs compared with PCABTs. The difference in the methylation levels for the PCTs and the PCABTs was highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). Spearman correlation showed there was no statistically significant association between the average score of 5-MC staining and Gleason score sum. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patient group with no or weak 5-MC staining compared with group with moderate and strong 5-MC staining was associated with better survival of patients, although there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in predicating prognosis (P = 0.385). The average scores of 5-MC staining for LGPIN, HGPIN, PCABTs, and PCTs groups were 6.91, 1.58, 6.63, and 3.10, respectively. The methylation level of HGPIN group, as well as that of PCTs group, was significantly lower than those of LGPIN (P < 0.001; P < 0.001) and PCABTs groups (P < 0.001; P < 0.001), respectively, with the 5-MC levels of PCABTS group similar to that of LGPIN group (P = 0.476). 5-MC levels of HGPIN group was lower than that PCTs group (P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS We found that global DNA methylation was low in most prostate cancer compared with benign regions from the same patients sections. None of the DNA hypomethylation changes in primary cancers were associated with pathologic grade and clinical prognosis. In addition, immunohistochemistry showed that the global methylation was lower in HGPIN compared with LGPIN and methylcytosine staining in HGPIN was lower than that of PCTs. The results suggest that global DNA hypomethylation might play an important role in the process of prostate cancer initiation rather than progression.

LSDP5 enhances triglyceride storage in hepatocytes by influencing lipolysis and fatty acid β-oxidation of lipid droplets.

Lipid storage droplet protein 5 (LSDP5) is a lipid droplet-associated protein of the PAT (perilipin, adipophilin, and TIP47) family that is expressed in the liver in a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα)-dependent manner; however, its exact function has not been elucidated. We noticed that LSDP5 was localized to the surface of lipid droplets in hepatocytes. Overexpression of LSDP5 enhanced lipid accumulation in the hepatic cell line AML12 and in primary hepatocytes. Knock-down of LSDP5 significantly decreased the triglyceride content of lipid droplets, stimulated lipolysis, and modestly increased the mitochondrial content and level of fatty-acid β-oxidation in the mitochondria. The expression of PPARα was increased in LSDP5-deficient cells and required for the increase in the level of fatty acid β-oxidation in LSDP5-deficient cells. Using serial deletions of LSDP5, we determined that the lipid droplet-targeting domain and the domain directing lipid droplet clustering overlapped and were localized to the 188 amino acid residues at the N-terminus of LSDP5. Our findings suggest that LSDP5, a novel lipid droplet protein, may contribute to triglyceride accumulation by negatively regulating lipolysis and fatty acid oxidation in hepatocytes.

Cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector, a lipid droplet‐associated protein, might be involved in the differentiation of human adipocytes

Cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector (CIDE) family proteins, including cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector A (CIDEA), cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector B (CIDEB) and cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector C (CIDEC) [fat‐specific protein of 27 kDa in rodent (FSP27) in rodents], were originally identified by their sequence homology to the N‐terminal region of DNA fragmentation factor DFF40/45. Recent reports have revealed that CIDE family proteins play important roles in lipid metabolism. Several studies involving knockdown mice revealed that FSP27 is a lipid droplet‐targeting protein that can promote the formation of lipid droplets. However, the detailed roles of human CIDEC in the differentiation of human adipocytes remain unknown. In the present study, we found that the expression of CIDEC increased during the differentiation of fetal adipose tissues, but decreased during the de‐differentiation of adipocytic tumors, suggesting that the expression of CIDEC should be positively correlated with the differentiation of adipocytes. Furthermore, we verified that human CIDEC was localized on the surface of lipid droplets. Using human primary pre‐adipocytes, we confirmed that the expression of CIDEC was elevated during the differentiation of pre‐adipocytes, and knockdown of CIDEC in human primary pre‐adipocytes resulted in differentiation defects. These data demonstrate that CIDEC is essential for the differentiation of adipose tissue. Together with regulating adipocyte lipid metabolism, CIDEC should be a potential target for regulating adipocyte differentiation and reducing fat cell mass.

ATRA-inhibited proliferation in glioma cells is associated with subcellular redistribution of β-catenin via up-regulation of Axin

Retinoic acid (RA) is a major chemopreventive agent which exerts strong anti-tumor activity partly by trans-repressing the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in some tumor cell lines. However, the definite mechanism of RA trans-repression of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has not been elucidated clearly. In this work, we found that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) significantly inhibited proliferation of glioma cells, accompanied by up-regulation of expression of Axin and altered subcellular distribution of β-catenin. Transfecting C6 cells with rAxin further confirmed that increased expression of Axin is obligate for inhibition of proliferation and the increase of the cytoplasmic β-catenin. Our results suggested that Axin might play an important role in RA-mediated anti-proliferative effects of glioma cell lines.

Resveratrol prevents hepatic steatosis induced by hepatitis C virus core protein

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein plays an important role in the development of hepatic steatosis in patients with chronic HCV infection. Treatment of C57BL/6 mice infected with HCV core recombinant adenoviruses with resveratrol significantly decreased hepatic triacylglycerols (TAG) while the serum TAG level was unaffected. RT-PCR and Western blotting showed that HCV core protein attenuated the expression of Sirt1 and PPAR-α, which would be reversed by resveratrol. This was also confirmed in primary mouse hepatic cells infected with HCV core protein expressing adenovirus. Thus, resveratrol may prevent against hepatic steatosis by blocking the inhibited expression of Sirt1 and PPAR-α induced by HCV core protein.

Reduced β-catenin Expression is Associated with Good Prognosis in Astrocytoma

The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of β-catenin in astrocytoma, and the clinical relevance and prognostic significance of the expression of β-catenin was also analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was performed on 63 resected astrocytoma tumor specimens to detect the expression of β-catenin. The correlation between the results of immuoexpression and the clinicopathologic parameters and patient survival was processed statistically. In 63 samples of astrocytoma, 36 cases were immunoreactive for β-catenin at cytoplasm, ten cases of astrocytoma were immunoreactive at cytomembrane, and four cases of astrocytoma were stained for β-catenin at nucleus. Spearman analysis showed that the distribution of β-catenin was not correlated with the grades of astrocytoma. However, the expression profiles were correlated with the patient’s 2-year survival, but not correlated with the grades, tumor size, sex, age, or tumor location. Patients with low β-catenin expression levels tended to be associated with a better prognosis than those who with high levels (p = 0.042). Our results suggest that β-catenin is useful for the prognosis evaluation of astrocytoma.

Polyunsaturated fatty acid relatively decreases cholesterol content in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cell: partly correlates with expression profile of CIDE and PAT members

BackgroundPolyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have positive effect on the regulation of plasma lipids. But the mechanism for them to modulate lipid homeostasis in macrophage is still unclear. In this study, we employed PUFA to pretreat macrophages and evaluated the variations of lipid droplet (LD) content, lipid composition, and expressions of LD-associated genes in macrophage-derived foam cells.MethodTHP-1-derived macrophages or human peripheral blood monocyte-derived macrophages were pre-treated with four non-esterified fatty acids (NEFAs) separately: saturated fatty acid (SFA)-palmitic acid (PA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs)-oleic acid (OA), PUFAs-linoleic acid (LA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Intracellular lipid content and cholesterol efflux were analyzed in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells. Related gene expressions were detected by quantitative real-time PCR.ResultsPUFA pre-treatment reduced cholesterol content in foam cells and increased cholesterol efflux to lipid-free apoAI in conditioned medium compared with PA or OA group. Cell death-inducing DFF45 like effector (CIDE) and Perilipin-Adipophilin-TIP47 (PAT) family members, as LD-associated proteins, showed specific gene expression profiles after PUFA pre-treatment. These results may help to explain the process of lipid metabolism within foam cells.ConclusionPUFA (LA or EPA) had a potential protective effect against cholesterol accumulation. The specific expressions of CIDE and PAT genes may provide clues to explore the protective mechanism of PUFA in foam cells.

A role for MHBst167/HBx in hepatitis B virus-induced renal tubular cell apoptosis

BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated glomerulonephritis (HBVGN) is generally believed to be immune complex deposition. However, the presence of HBV-DNA and -RNA in HBVGN renal tissues suggested a direct virally induced injury. We previously showed that nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) was activated in HBVGN renal tissues, especially in tubular cells. We therefore investigated the role of NF-kappaB in tubular epithelial cells with HBV infection. METHODS Nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB and alpha subunit of NF-kappaB inhibitor (IkappaBalpha) phosphorylation were assessed by immunodetection following transfection of HK-2 cells with mhbs(t167) and/or hbx. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) and dual luciferase reporter assays (DLR) were used to further examine NF-kappaB activation following transfection. Hochest 33258 and NF-kappaB/terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) double staining were used to detect apoptosis and the correlation between NF-kappaB activation and apoptosis. Protein kinase C (PKC) assay and ERK phosphorylation were assayed for a possible mechanism of NF-kappaB activation. RESULTS Cells transfected with mhbs(t167) and/or hbx increased NF-kappaB nuclear translocation, phosphor-IkappaBalpha, kappaB-DNA binding activity, kappaB-dependent transcription and apoptotic index compared to controls (P < 0.05). The nuclear distribution of NF-kappaB strongly correlated to cellular apoptosis. PKC activity and phosphor-ERK were also increased (P < 0.05) during the NF-kappaB activation process. However, all above parameters were diminished after pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC)-incubation, a NF-kappaB inhibitor (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION MHBs(t167)/HBx-induced NF-kappaB activation via the PKC/ERK pathway in renal tubular cells undergoing apoptosis may be involved in virally induced pathogenesis.

Cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector b (Cideb) is present in pancreatic beta-cells and involved in palmitate induced beta-cell apoptosis

Excessive accumulation of long‐chain fatty acids in the pancreatic islets is associated with beta cell dysfunction and ultimately contributes to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. It has been well proved that the cell death‐inducing DFF45‐like effector b (Cideb) is involved in cell apoptosis and lipid metabolism. However, the expression and function of Cideb in endocrine pancreas remain to be investigated.