The authors' experience with endogenous endophthalmitis has confirmed the findings of analogous East Asian studies, with liver abscess as the major source of infection and K. pneumoniae as the causative organism. Superior outcome may be achieved with more comprehensive and collaborative management, ideally through the combined efforts of multiple medical subspecialties.
The results of this study demonstrate that, with regular instillation, topical 0.05% atropine is an effective agent for controlling myopia progression in a majority of school-aged children for at least a period of 1 year.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the world, with a five-year survival rate of less than 30%. Clinically effective chemotherapeutic treatments at the initial stage may eventually face the dilemma of no drug being effective due to drug resistance; therefore, finding new effective drugs for lung cancer treatment is a necessary and important issue. Compounds capable of further increasing the oxidative stress of cancer cells are considered to have anticancer potential because they possessed the ability to induce apoptosis. This study mainly investigated the effects of BA6 (heteronemin), the marine sponge sesterterpene, on lung cancer cell apoptosis, via modulation of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). BA6 has cellular cytotoxic activities against a variety of cancer cell lines, but it has no effect on nontumor cells. The BA6-treated lung cancer cells show a significant increase in both cellular ROS and mtROS, which in turn caused the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). The increase of oxidative stress in lung cancer cells treated with BA6 was accompanied by a decrease in the expression of antioxidant enzymes Cu/Zn SOD, MnSOD, and catalase. In addition, OXPHOS performed in the mitochondria and glycolysis in the cytoplasm were inhibited, which subsequently reduced downstream ATP production. Pretreatment with mitochondria-targeted antioxidant MitoTEMPO reduced BA6-induced apoptosis through the mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway, which was accompanied by increased cell viability, decreased mtROS, enhanced MMP, and suppressed expression of cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins. In conclusion, the results of this study clarify the mechanism of BA6-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells via the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, suggesting that it is a potentially innovative alternative to the treatment of human lung cancer.
Celecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, can prevent several types of cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we show that celecoxib suppressed the self-renewal and drug-pumping functions in HCC cells. Besides, celecoxib depleted CD44 + /CD133 + hepatic cancer stem cells (hCSC). Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and CD133 overexpression did not reverse the celecoxib-induced depletion of hCSC. Also, celecoxib inhibited progression of rat Novikoff hepatoma. Moreover, a 60-day celecoxib program increased the survival rate of rats with hepatoma. Histological analysis revealed that celecoxib therapy reduced the abundance of CD44 + /CD133 + hCSCs in hepatoma tissues. Besides, the hCSCs depletion was associated with elevated apoptosis and blunted proliferation and angiogenesis in hepatoma. Celecoxib therapy activated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and up-regulated PTEN, thereby inhibiting Akt and disrupting hCSC expansion. PTEN gene delivery by adenovirus reduced CD44/CD133 expression in vitro and hepatoma formation in vivo. This study suggests that celecoxib suppresses cancer stemness and progression of HCC via activation of PPARγ/PTEN signaling.
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