Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1), one of the first found cancer-associated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), involves in the development and progression of many types of tumors. An aberrant expression of MALAT1 was observed in hepatocellular carcinoma, cervical cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and colorectal cancer. However, the exact effects and molecular mechanisms of MALAT1 in osteosarcoma progression are still unknown up to now. Here, we investigated the role of MALAT1 in human osteosarcoma cell lines and clinical tumor samples in order to determine the function of this molecule. In our research, the MALAT1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was highly expressed in human osteosarcoma tissues, and its expression level was closely correlated with pulmonary metastasis. Then, we employed lentivirus-mediated knockdown of MALAT1 in U-2 OS and SaO2 to determine the role of MALAT1 in osteosarcoma cell lines. Lentivirus-mediated MALAT1 small interfering RNA (siRNA) could efficiently downregulated the expression level of MALAT1 in osteosarcoma cell lines. Knockdown of MALAT1 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of human osteosarcoma cell and suppressed its metastasis in vitro and vivo. At the same time, the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), phosphorylated PI3Kp85α, and Akt expressions were significantly inhibited in MALAT1-deleted cells. These findings indicated that MALAT1 might suppress the tumor growth and metastasis via PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Taken together, our data indicated that MALAT1 might be an oncogenic lncRNA that promoted proliferation and metastasis of osteosarcoma and could be regarded as a therapeutic target in human osteosarcoma.

No abstract

Although previous studies reported the associations between the intakes of individual foods or nutrients and the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the relationship between dietary patterns and NAFLD in the Chinese population has been rarely studied to date. This study aimed to investigate the associations between dietary patterns and the risk of NAFLD in a middle-aged Chinese population. The Study subjects were 999 Chinese adults aged 45–60 years in the Anhui province who participated in the Hefei Nutrition and Health Study. Dietary intake was collected by a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. NAFLD was defined as the presence of moderate-severe hepatic steatosis (by B-ultrasonic examination); the absence of excessive alcohol use (>20 g day−1 in men and 10 g day−1 in women); no use of steatogenic medications within the past six months; no exposure to hepatotoxins; and no history of bariatric surgery. Log-binomial regression analysis was used to examine the association between dietary patterns and NAFLD with adjustment of potential confounding variables. Out of 999 participants, 345 (34.5%) were classified as having NAFLD. Four major dietary patterns were identified: “Traditional Chinese”, “Animal food”, “Grains-vegetables” and “High-salt” dietary patterns. After adjusting for potential confounders, subjects in the highest quartile of the “Animal food” pattern scores had greater prevalence ratio for NAFLD (prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.354; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.063–1.724; p < 0.05) than did those in the lowest quartile. After adjustment for body mass index (BMI), compared with the lowest quartile of the “Grains-vegetables” pattern, the highest quartile had a lower prevalence ratio for NAFLD (PR = 0.777; 95% CI: 0.618–0.977, p < 0.05). However, the “traditional Chinese” and “high-salt” dietary patterns showed no association with the risk of NAFLD. Our findings indicated that the “Animal food” dietary pattern was associated with an increased risk of NAFLD.

No abstract

Background: CD59 is the sole membrane complement regulatory protein in restricting membrane attack complex assembly. Results: CD59 gene produces eight transcripts that share three transcriptional initiation sites but the same open reading frame. Conclusion: NF-B and CREB (as an enhancer-binding protein) bridged by CBP/p300 are responsible for the inducible expression of CD59. Significance: CD59 regulation mechanism suggests potential drug targets for controlling various complement-related human diseases.

Abstract. Breast cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer among women. CD59, a membrane complement regulatory protein, has been demonstrated to be overexpressed in most solid tumors, where it facilitates tumor cell escape from complement surveillance. However, the role of CD59 in breast cancer growth and clinical prognosis is not fully revealed. To investigate the role of CD59 in breast cancer growth and prognostic significance, we knocked down CD59 in a breast cancer cell line that is highly metastatic to the lungs, MDA-MB-231-HM. Cell growth was measured in vitro and in vivo using a xenograft model. In addition, clinical data on a cohort of 120 patients with or without lung metastasis was analyzed based on CD59 expression, which was detected by immunohistochemistry. Knockdown of CD59 significantly inhibited MDA-MB-231-HM cell growth both in vitro and in vivo. An analysis of clinical data on 120 patients revealed that patients with CD59 overexpression may have a worse prognosis. CD59 may therefore be a prognostic biomarker for poor outcome in breast cancer patients.

By using the Kubo formula, the optical conductivity of strained black phosphorene was studied. The anisotropic band dispersion gives rise to an orientation dependent optical conductivity. The energy gap can be tuned by the uniaxial and biaxial strains which can be observed from the interband optical conductivity polarized along the armchair (x) direction. The preferential conducting direction is along the x direction. The dependence of the intraband optical conductivity along the zigzag (y) direction on the Fermi energy and strain exhibits increasing or decreasing monotonously. However, along the x direction this dependence is complicated which originates from the carriers' inverse-direction movements obtained by two types of the nearest phosphorus atom interactions. The modification of the biaxial strain on the energy structure and optical-absorption property is more effective. The imaginary part of the total optical conductivity (Imσ ) can be negative around the threshold of the interband optical transition by modifying the chemical potential. Away from this frequency region, Imσ exhibits positive value. It can be used in the application of the surface plasmon propagations in multilayer dielectric structures. PHYSICAL REVIEW B 97, 245408 (2018) † k,s ψ * (r) where c † k,s and c k,s are the creation and annihilation operators for an electron at (k,s) state. In the second quantized notation, the Hamiltonian can be written as H = k,s E k,s c † k,s c k,s + J · A. The components J μ=x,y of the current operator J are

No abstract