In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of curcumin on cell activities of gastric cancer (GC), and the connection between curcumin and P53, as well as, PI3K signaling. This study was conducted with two cell lines SGC-7901 and BGC-823, both were exposed to curcumin at the concentrations of 0, 10, 20, and 40 μm. MTT assay, flow cytometry (FCM) assay, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to study the underlying mechanisms of curcumin in respective of proliferation, apoptosis, and autophagy. Western blot assay was also employed to detect impacts of curcumin on tophosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3K) and P53 signaling pathways-related proteins. MTT assay displayed that curcumin inhibited GC cell proliferation. FCM results indicated that curcumin induced the apoptosis of GC cells. TEM revealed that curcumin induced autophagy in GC cells. Western blot results showed that curcumin activated P53 signaling pathway and inhibited PI3K signaling pathway. Curcumin may inhibit proliferation and induce the autophagy and apoptosis in GC cells. Additionally, curcumin activated the P53 signaling pathway by up-regulating P53 and P21, which also inhibited PI3K pathway through down-regulating PI3K, p-Akt, and p-mTOR.

BackgroundTo examine the microbial profiles in parenchyma tissues in bladder cancer.MethodsTissue samples of cancerous bladder mucosa were collected from patients diagnosed with bladder cancer (22 carcinoma tissues and 12 adjacent normal tissues). The V3‐V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was PCR amplified, followed by sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Bioinformatics analysis for microbial classification and functional assessment was performed to assess bladder microbiome diversity and variations.ResultsThe predominant phylum in both tissues was Proteobacteria. The cancerous tissues exhibited lower species richness and diversity. Beta diversity significantly differed between the cancerous and normal tissues. Lower relative abundances of the microbial genera Lactobacillus, Prevotella_9, as well as Ruminococcaceae were observed, whereas those of Cupriavidus spp., an unknown genus of family Brucellaceae, and Acinetobacter, Anoxybacillus, Escherichia‐Shigella, Geobacillus, Pelomonas, Ralstonia, and Sphingomonas were higher in the cancerous tissues. These findings indicate that these genera may be potentially utilized as biomarkers for bladder cancer. PICRUSt analysis revealed that several pathways involved in the metabolism of harmful chemical compounds were enriched in the cancer tissues, thereby providing evidence that environmental factors are strongly associated with bladder cancer etiology.ConclusionThis is the first study that has described and analyzed the dysbiotic motifs of urinary microbiota in the parenchymatous tissues of bladder cancer via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our results suggest that changes in the bladder microbiome may serve as biomarkers for bladder cancer, possibly assisting in disease screening and monitoring.

Background The prognosis of bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA) varies greatly among patients, and conventional pathological predictors are generally inadequate and often inaccurate to predict the heterogeneous behavior of BLCA. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value and function of TOP2A in BLCA. Methods TOP2A expression level was examined by RNA-sequencing, quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry from 10, 40 and 209 BLCA samples, respectively. Public databases were analyzed for validation. Cell proliferation, migration, invasion assays were performed to explore potential functions of TOP2A in BLCA. Flow cytometry was performed for cell cycle and apoptosis analysis. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression models were performed to identify independent risk factors for the prognosis of BLCA. Results We found TOP2A was significantly upregulated in BLCA samples, especially for high-grade and advanced stage tumors, compared with matched normal epithelial tissue. Univariable COX regression analysis revealed high TOP2A expression was significantly associated with poorer cancer-specific, progression-free and recurrence-free survival, but not independently of clinical characteristics in the multivariable models. Knockdown of TOP2A remarkably inhibited the proliferation of BLCA cells and non-cancerous urothelial cells. Furthermore, migration and invasion capacity of BLCA cells were strongly suppressed after TOP2A knockdown. Moreover, flow cytometry suggested TOP2A had anti-apoptotic function, and knockdown of TOP2A could induce resistance to doxorubicin in J82 cells. Conclusions In our study, TOP2A was overexpressed in BLCA and could serve as a prognostic biomarker for BLCA. Moreover, TOP2A is functionally important for the proliferation, invasion and survival of BLCA cells. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-019-5814-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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