The novel association between the ST2/IL-33 system and IBD seems to identify that variations in this axis might regulate the inflammatory process in these diseases.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. The cancer incidence rate in Chile is 133.7/100,000 inhabitants and it is the second cause of death, after cardiovascular diseases. Most of the antineoplastic drugs are metabolized to be detoxified, and some of them to be activated. Genetic polymorphisms of drug-metabolizing enzymes can induce deep changes in enzyme activity, leading to individual variability in drug efficacy and/or toxicity. The present research describes the presence of genetic polymorphisms in the Chilean population, which might be useful in public health programs for personalized treatment of cancer, and compares these frequencies with those reported for Asian and Caucasian populations, as a contribution to the evaluation of ethnic differences in the response to chemotherapy. We analyzed 23 polymorphisms in a group of 253 unrelated Chilean volunteers from the general population. The results showed that CYP2A6*2, CYP2A6*3, CYP2D6*3, CYP2C19*3, and CYP3A4*17 variant alleles are virtually absent in Chileans. CYP1A1*2A allele frequency (0.37) is similar to that of Caucasians and higher than that reported for Japanese people. Allele frequencies for CYP3A5*3(0.76) and CYP2C9*3(0.04) are similar to those observed in Japanese people. CYP1A1*2C(0.32), CYP1A2*1F(0.77), CYP3A4*1B(0.06), CYP2D6*2(0.41), and MTHFR T(0.52) allele frequencies are higher than the observed either in Caucasian or in Japanese populations. Conversely, CYP2C19*2 allelic frequency (0.12), and genotype frequencies for GSTT1 null (0.11) and GSTM1 null (0.36) are lower than those observed in both populations. Finally, allele frequencies for CYP2A6*4(0.04), CYP2C8*3(0.06), CYP2C9*2(0.06), CYP2D6*4(0.12), CYP2E1*5B(0.14), CYP2E1*6(0.19), and UGT2B7*2(0.40) are intermediate in relation to those described in Caucasian and in Japanese populations, as expected according to the ethnic origin of the Chilean population. In conclusion, our findings support the idea that ethnic variability must be considered in the pharmacogenomic assessment of cancer pharmacotherapy, especially in mixed populations and for drugs with a narrow safety range.

The incidence and mortality rates of prostate cancer (PCa) are increasing, and PCa is almost the second-leading cause of cancer-associated mortality in men. During tumor progression, epithelial cells decrease the number of adhesion molecules, change their polarity and position, rearrange their cytoskeleton and increase their migratory and invasive capacities. These changes are known under the concept of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is characterized by an upregulation of certain transcription factors, including SNAIL1, which represses genes that are characteristic of an epithelial phenotype, including E-cadherin, and indirectly increase the expression levels of genes, which are associated with the mesenchymal phenotype. It has been suggested that the transcription factor, SNAIL1, decreases the proliferation and increases the migratory and invasive capacities of PCa cell lines. The present study was performed using LNCaP and PC3 cell lines, in which the expression levels of SNAIL1 were increased or silenced through the use of lentiviral vectors. The expression levels of EMT markers were quantified using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. In addition, cell survival was analyzed using an MTS assay; cell proliferation was examined using an antibody targeting Ki-67; migration on plates with 8 µm pores to allow the passage of cells; and invasiveness was analyzed using a membrane chamber covered in dried basement membrane matrix solution. The levels of apoptosis were determined using a Caspase 3/7 assay containing a substrate modified by caspases 3 and 7. The results demonstrated that the overexpression and silencing of SNAIL1 decreased cell proliferation and survival. However, the overexpression of SNAIL1 decreased apoptosis, compared with cells with the SNAIL1-silenced cells, in which cell apoptosis increased. The migration and invasive capacities increased in the cells overexpressing SNAIL1, and decreased when SNAIL1 was silenced. In conclusion, PCa cells overexpressing SNAIL1 exhibited characteristics of an EMT phenotype, whereas the silencing of the SNAIL1 transcriptional repressor promoted an epithelial-like phenotype, with decreased migration and invasion, characteristic of mesenchymal cells.

Perinatal Asphyxia (PA) is a leading cause of motor and neuropsychiatric disability associated with sustained oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and cell death, affecting brain development. Based on a rat model of global PA, we investigated the neuroprotective effect of intranasally administered secretome, derived from human adipose mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-S), preconditioned with either deferoxamine (an hypoxia-mimetic) or TNF-α+IFN-γ (pro-inflammatory cytokines). PA was generated by immersing fetus-containing uterine horns in a water bath at 37 °C for 21 min. Thereafter, 16 μL of MSC-S (containing 6 μg of protein derived from 2 × 105 preconditioned-MSC), or vehicle, were intranasally administered 2 h after birth to asphyxia-exposed and control rats, evaluated at postnatal day (P) 7. Alternatively, pups received a dose of either preconditioned MSC-S or vehicle, both at 2 h and P7, and were evaluated at P14, P30, and P60. The preconditioned MSC-S treatment (i) reversed asphyxia-induced oxidative stress in the hippocampus (oxidized/reduced glutathione); (ii) increased antioxidative Nuclear Erythroid 2-Related Factor 2 (NRF2) translocation; (iii) increased NQO1 antioxidant protein; (iv) reduced neuroinflammation (decreasing nuclearNF-κB/p65 levels and microglial reactivity); (v) decreased cleaved-caspase-3 cell-death; (vi) improved righting reflex, negative geotaxis, cliff aversion, locomotor activity, anxiety, motor coordination, and recognition memory. Overall, the study demonstrates that intranasal administration of preconditioned MSC-S is a novel therapeutic strategy that prevents the long-term effects of perinatal asphyxia.

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Syndecan 1 (SDC-1) is a cell surface proteoglycan with a significant role in cell adhesion, maintaining epithelial integrity. SDC1 expression is inversely related to aggressiveness in prostate cancer (PCa). During epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), loss of epithelial markers is mediated by transcriptional repressors such as SNAIL, SLUG, or ZEB1/2 that bind to E-box promoter sequences of specific genes. The effect of these repressors on SDC-1 expression remains unknown. Here, we demonstrated that SNAIL, SLUG and ZEB1 expressions are increased in advanced PCa, contrarily to SDC-1. SNAIL, SLUG and ZEB1 also showed an inversion to SDC-1 in prostate cell lines. ZEB1, but not SNAIL or SLUG, represses SDC-1 as demonstrated by experiments of ectopic expression in epithelial prostate cell lines. Inversely, expression of ZEB1 shRNA in PCa cell line increased SDC-1 expression. The effect of ZEB1 is transcriptional since ectopic expression of this gene represses SDC-1 promoter activity and ZEB1 binds to the SDC-1 promoter as detected by ChIP assays. An epigenetic mark associated to transcription repression H3K27me3 was bound to the same sites that ZEB1. In conclusion, this study identifies ZEB1 as a key repressor of SDC-1 during PCa progression and point to ZEB1 as a potentially diagnostic marker for PCa.

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