Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. However, there is no effective treatment for HCC. It has been shown that sustained activation of telomerase is essential for the growth and progression of HCC, suggesting that telomerase is a rational target for HCC therapy. Here, we investigated the effects of siRNA-mediated knockdown of hTERT, the catalytic and rate-limiting subunit of telomerase, on the sensitivity of HCC cells to cisplatin. While silencing of hTERT and the resultant inhibition of telomerase activity by infection with the recombinant adenovirus expressing a hTERT siRNA (Ad-si/hTERT) alone did not affect the proliferation and viability of SMMC7721 and HepG2 HCC cells within five days, co-administration of Ad-si/hTERT, but not the empty adenovirus vector, with cisplatin caused much greater extent of apoptosis in vitro under the same conditions and induced significantly more robust inhibition of SMMC7721 and HepG2 tumors growth in a mouse tumor xenograft model than cisplatin monotherapy. Our results demonstrated the synergistic effect between hTERT siRNA and cisplatin in the suppression of HCC progression and indicated that the combination of hTERT-specific siRNA and cisplatin could be an effective therapy for HCC.
A real-time measurement method for the retardation of an eighth-wave plate is proposed. The collimated laser beam is split using a Glan Taylor polarizer with two side escape windows. The reflected sub-beam is detected using a detector, whereas the transmitted sub-beam passes through the quarter-wave plate and the eighth-wave plate of interest. Then, it is reflected by the mirror and passes reversely through the eighth-and quarter-wave plates. Finally, it is analyzed using the Glan Taylor polarizer and detected using another detector. With two detection signals, the retardation is resolved and found to be independent of the fast-axis direction, initial intensity, and circuit parameters. In the experiment, a crystal quartz sample is measured at different fast-axis angles. The standard deviation of the retardation is 0.9 o . The usefulness of the method is verified.
A real-time method to measure full field retardation near quarter wavelength is proposed. The circularly polarized beam passes through a sample with a large aperture. The measuring beam then goes through a quarter-wave plate and is then split by a Wollaston prism. An image with two sub-images is then detected by a high-speed image sensor. The full field retardation near quarter wavelength can be obtained in real time by processing the image. The measured retardation is independent of the fast axis angle of the sample and the fluctuation of the initial intensity. In experiments, a wedge waveplate is measured with different fast axis angle and initial intensity, and the full field retardations are acquired. The maximum and standard deviation of the full field retardation is 1.5° and 0.4°. The validity of the method is verified.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.