Here, we report a natural chemical Matrine, which exhibits anti-melanoma potential with its PTEN activation mechanism. Matrine effectively inhibited proliferation of several carcinoma cell lines, including melanoma V600EBRAF harboring M21 cells. Flow cytometry analysis showed Matrine induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in M21 cells dose-dependently. Apoptosis in M21 cells induced by Matrine was identified by Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) analysis and Annexin-V/FITC staining. Molecular mechanistic study suggested that Matrine upregulated both mRNA level and protein expression level of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN), leading to inhibition of the PI3K/Akt pathway. Downregulation of phosphor-Aktser473 by Matrine activated p21 and Bax, which contributed to G0/G1 cell cycle and apoptosis. Besides, Matrine enhanced the PI3K/Akt inhibition effects to inhibit the cell proliferation with PI3K inhibitor, LY2940002. In summary, our findings suggest Matrine is a promising antitumor drug candidate with its possible PTEN activation mechanisms for treating cancer diseases, such as melanomas.
Long noncoding RNA (LncRNA) zinc finger protein multitype 2 antisense RNA 1 (ZFPM2-AS1) is highly expressed in a variety of tumors and is involved in promoting the malignant biological behaviors of cancer cells. However, the mechanism of ZFPM2-AS1 in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be explored. The ZFPM2-AS1 expression in HCC was measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR); cell counting kit-8, 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU), and transwell assays were used to confirm the biological functions of ZFPM2-AS1 in regulating the malignant biological behaviors of HCC cells; the luciferase reporter gene assay was employed to detect whether ZFPM2-AS1 could bind to microRNA (miR)-576-3p; the regulatory relationship between ZFPM2-AS1 and miR-576-3p was probed by qRT-PCR; the effects of ZFPM2-AS1 and miR-576-3p on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) were detected by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The expression of ZFPM2-AS1 in HCC tissues, compared with that in normal liver tissues, was significantly upregulated. Knockdown of ZFPM2-AS1 markedly inhibited HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion while the overexpression of ZFPM2-AS1 worked oppositely. miR-576-3p could reverse the effects of ZFPM2-AS1 on the biological behaviors of HCC cells. Besides, ZFPM2-AS1 could bind to miR-576-3p and positively regulate the expression of HIF-1α, a target gene of miR-576-3p, by adsorbing miR-576-3p. ZFPM2-AS1 is abnormally highly expressed in HCC and facilitates proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC cells by adsorbing miR-576-3p and upregulating HIF-1α expression.
The rapid growth of China’s economy has greatly accelerated the process of urbanization during China’s reform periods. Urbanization has significantly caused land use and land cover (LULC) changes and thus has impacts on the local climate and ecosystem. This study chooses Quanzhou, a fast-developing city of southeast China, as an example to detect and quantify the LULC and ecological changes from 1989 to 2018 by using the remotely sensed technique. The LULC of Quanzhou was derived from the four Landsat images taken in 1989, 1999, 2007 and 2018, and the land-use-degree ratio index and land-use–change method were used to estimate the change of land use. The remote sensing based ecological index (RSEI) was used to detect the ecological changes of the city. The built-up land expansion intensity and annual built-up land expansion rate were carried out for seven districts of Quanzhou. The results show that the urban area of Quanzhou has drastically grown by 192.99 km2 at the expense of forest, water, and cropland land during the 1989~2018 period. Moreover, the built-up land of seven districts had expanded at the average rate of 0.027~0.154 per year and the built-up expansion intensity was higher than 0.59. The average RSEI value of Quanzhou city dropped from 0.78 in 1989 to 0.34 in 2018, which suggested an overall decline in ecological quality. The proportion of areas with an RSEI rating good decreased from 30.84% to 11.52% while the proportion of areas with rating bad increased from 4.73% to 19.11% during the past 29 years. This study has shown the built-up land expansion intensity is negatively correlated with the ecological quality change, and the increase in built-up land can greatly accelerate the decline of the ecological quality. Government policies play a profound impact on land use changes, urbanization and eco-environment changes. Therefore, the policy decision-makers should take enough action and consider integrating the concept of ecology to enable the healthy and sustainable development of the city.
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