BackgroundThe deregulation of microRNAs has been reported to play a pivotal role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MiR-126-3p has been reported to be associated with poor prognosis in HCC. However the underlying mechanism of miR-126-3p in HCC remains unclear.MethodsThe expression levels of miR-126-3p in HCC tissues and cells were detected by RT-PCR. Transwell assay and capillary tube formation assay were applied to assess the metastasis and angiogenesis in vitro. Nude mice subcutaneous tumor model was used to perform in vivo study. Dual- luciferase reporter assay was conducted to confirm the direct binding of miR-126-3p and target genes. The changes of biomarker protein levels were examined by western blot and Immunohistochemistry.ResultsWe observed that the miR-126-3p expression levels in HCC tissues and cells were significantly down-regulated. Through gain- and loss- of function studies, we showed that miR-126-3p dramatically inhibited HCC cells from migrating and invading extracellular matrix gel and suppressed capillary tube formation of endothelial cells in vitro. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-126-3p significantly reduced the volume of tumor and microvessel density in vivo. LRP6 and PIK3R2 were identified as targets of miR-126-3p. Silencing LRP6 and PIK3R2 had similar effects of miR-126-3p restoration on metastasis and angiogenesis individually in HCC cells. Furthermore, the miR-126-3p level was inversely correlated with LRP6 and PIK3R2 in HCC tissues. In addition, the rescue experiments indicated that the metastasis and angiogenesis functions of miR-126-3p were mediated by LRP6 and PIK3R2.ConclusionOur results demonstrates that deregulation of miR-126-3p contributes to metastasis and angiogenesis in HCC. The restoration of miR-126-3p expression may be a promising strategy for HCC therapy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12967-014-0259-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

No abstract

Exploring local pH in micro/nanoscale is fundamentally important for understanding microprocesses including the corrosion of metal and the metabolism of cell. Regular fluorescence pH probes and potentiometric electrodes show either low signal intensity or lack of spatial resolution when being applied in a micro/nanoenvironment. Here, we developed a nanoscale reversible pH probe based on the plasmonic coupling effect of i-motif modulated gold nanoparticle (AuNP) assembly. The pH probe shows a reversible and highly sensitive response to pH variation between 4.5 and 7.5. Introduction of morpholino oligomers (MO), a neutral analog of DNA, into the assembly endows the pH probe with high stability even under low salt concentration. The intense optical signal of a AuNP enables local pH to be read out not only in the micro/nanofluidic channel but also on a single i-motif-MO-AuNP assembly. Recording of the strong plasmonic resonance scattering spectrum of AuNP provides a promising method for extracting chemical information in nanospace of biological systems.

A procedure for the detection and removal of haze from dense hazy images has been proposed. It involves the analysis on the content of low-spatial-frequency information of a scene. The image contaminated by haze is decomposed into different spatial frequency layers by the wavelet transform, by which the hazy parts of the image are focused on the low-frequency components. A dehazing method combining both the airlight and direct transmission is employed to specially dehaze the low-frequency parts. The high-frequency parts are processed by a transfer function to enhance the clarity of the hazy image. Finally, a dehazed image with high clarity is obtained by image construction which employs the low- and high-frequency components. Experiments and analyses demonstrate the good performance of the scheme in terms of improving the contrast and clarity of hazy images. Particularly, it works well in improving the visual range of images captured in hazy weather conditions.

In this paper, a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) spatial diversity antenna with dual band-notches designed on an FR4 substrate is proposed and experimentally investigated. The antenna consists of two radiating elements fed by two tapered microstrip lines. Two inverted L-shaped slits are used to introduce notches at WLAN (5.15-5.85 GHz) and IEEE INSAT/Super-Extended C-band (6.7-7.1 GHz). An isolation of more than 15 dB is achieved through the whole working band (2.9-10.8 GHz) by introducing a T-shaped decoupling structure on the ground plane. Furthermore, the envelope correlation coefficient (ECC), diversity gain (DG), multiplexing efficiency, TARC, peak gain and radiation patterns of the MIMO antenna are also discussed. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed UWB MIMO antenna is a good candidate for UWB diversity applications.

Background Myb-binding protein 1A (Mybbp1a) is a nucleolar protein that can regulate rRNA metabolism, the stress response and carcinogenesis. However, the function of Mybbp1a in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unclear. We aimed to determine the role of Mybbp1a in HCC and the underlying mechanism. Methods We investigated the function of Mybbp1a in HCC cell models and the xenograft mouse model. The relationship between Mybbp1a and IGFBP5 was found through expression profile chip. The molecular mechanism of Mybbp1a regulating IGFBP5 was proved through CO-IP, CHIP, Bisulfite Sequencing and Pyrosequencing. Findings In this study, we observed that Mybbp1a was overexpressed in HCC tissues and associated with the poor prognosis of HCC patients. Suppression of Mybbp1a led to a reduction in the proliferation and migration ability of HCC cells through inhibiting the IGF1/AKT signaling pathway. Further study found that Mybbp1a could form a complex with DNMT1 and induce aberrant hyper-methylation of CpG islands of IGFBP5, which inhibits secretion of IGFBP5 and then activates IGF1/AKT signaling pathway. Interpretation These findings extend our understanding of the function of Mybbp1a in the progression of HCC. The newly identified Mybbp1a may provide a novel biomarker for developing potential therapeutic targets of HCC. Fund Science Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (No. 2015C03034), National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (No. 2016138643), Innovative Research Groups of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81721091), Major program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91542205).

BackgroundHepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) is a rare angiogenic tumor with no recognized effective treatment. Treatment options used worldwide include liver transplantation (LT), liver resection (LR), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), chemotherapy, and observation. The aim of this study was to describe the efficacy of different treatment options used for HEHE at our center.MethodsThe medical charts of 12 patients with HEHE (9 women and 3 men) who were diagnosed and treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, China, between January 2011 and December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed.ResultsThe patients were diagnosed by postoperative histopathology or fine needle aspiration biopsy. Two patients with diffuse lesions received LT and were alive without recurrence at the last follow-up. Three patients received LR as the initial treatment, and all of them developed recurrence during the follow-up period. One patient received RFA and remained free of disease, while the remaining six patients opted for simple observation rather than treatment. One of the patients who received LR passed away because of tumor recurrence within 32 months after surgery; the other patients showed no significant disease activity after treatments for their recurrent lesions. As of April 2018, the mean follow-up duration was 39.6 ± 20.1 months (15–82 months).ConclusionsThere are multiple strategies for HEHE. Considering its indolent course, initial observation for assessment of the lesion behavior may aid in the selection of appropriate treatment. Surgery or LT is suitable for patients with disease progression during the observation period. However, our sample size was small, and further studies are required to gather more information that can aid in optimal treatment selection.