BackgroundAssembling evidences suggested that aberrant expression of tissue differentiation-inducing non-protein coding RNA (TINCR) intimately associated with variety of human cancer. However, the expression pattern and involvement of TINCR in breast cancer has not been fully investigated. Here we set out to analyze expression of TINCR in breast cancer and elucidate its mechanistic involvement in tumor incidence and progression.MethodsThe expression of TINCR was determined by q-PCR. SP1 binding sites were analyzed by ChIP-qPCR. The relative transcription activity was measured with luciferase reporter assay. Cell viability was measured with CCK-8 method. Clonogenic capacity was evaluated by soft agar assay. Cell apoptosis was analyzed by Annexin V/7-AAD staining. The migration and invasion were determined by trans-well assay and wound healing. The tumor growth in vivo was evaluated in xenograft mice model. Protein expression was quantified by immunoblotting.ResultsTINCR was aberrantly up-regulated by SP1, which in turn stimulated cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth and suppressed cell apoptosis in breast cancer. TINCR silencing significantly suppressed migration and invasion in vitro and xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Mechanistically, TINCR modulated KLF4 expression via competing with miR-7, which consequently contributed to its oncogenic potential. MiR-7 inhibition severely compromised TINCR silencing-elicited tumor repressive effects.ConclusionOur data uncovered a crucial role of TINCR-miR-7-KLF4 axis in human breast cancer.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4255-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Acteoside is one kind of phenylethanoid glycoside, which has shown a lot of biological activities. This article reviewed the study progress of acteoside, such as distribution, preparation, identification, and bioactivities.

Modulation of autophagy has been increasingly regarded as a promising cancer therapeutic approach. In this study, we screened several ginsenosides extracted from Panax ginseng and identified ginsenoside Ro (Ro) as a novel autophagy inhibitor. Ro blocked the autophagosome-lysosome fusion process by raising lysosomal pH and attenuating lysosomal cathepsin activity, resulting in the accumulation of the autophagosome marker MAP1LC3B/LC3B and SQSTM1/p62 (sequestosome 1) in various esophageal cancer cell lines. More detailed studies demonstrated that Ro activated ESR2 (estrogen receptor 2), which led to the activation of NCF1/p47(PHOX) (neutrophil cytosolic factor 1), a subunit of NADPH oxidase, and subsequent reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Treatment with siRNAs or inhibitors of the ESR2-NCF1-ROS axis, such as N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), diphenyleneiodonium chloride (DPI), apocynin (ACN), Tiron, and Fulvestrant apparently decreased Ro-induced LC3B-II, GFP-LC3B puncta, and SQSTM1, indicating that ROS instigates autophagic flux inhibition triggered by Ro. More importantly, suppression of autophagy by Ro sensitized 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu)-induced cell death in chemoresistant esophageal cancer cells. 5-Fu induced prosurvival autophagy, and by inhibiting such autophagy, siRNAs against BECN1/beclin 1, ATG5, ATG7, and LC3B enhanced 5-Fu-induced autophagy-associated and apoptosis-independent cell death. We observed that Ro potentiates 5-Fu cytotoxicity via delaying CHEK1 (checkpoint kinase 1) degradation and downregulating DNA replication process, resulting in the delayed DNA repair and the accumulation of DNA damage. In summary, these data suggest that Ro is a novel autophagy inhibitor and could function as a potent anticancer agent in combination therapy to overcome chemoresistance.

The alterations induced in gut microbiota by tacrolimus may affect immune function and organ transplantation. Mice were treated with high-dose tacrolimus for 14 days. The fecal microbiota were analyzed by pyrosequencing the 16S rRNA genes, and the effect on metabolism was predicted using the sequence data. The subgroups of T cells in the serum, gut-associated lymphoid tissue, and draining lymph nodes were determined by flow cytometry. Tacrolimus treatment significantly altered the relative abundance of Allobaculum, Bacteroides, and Lactobacillus and CD4 CD25 FoxP3 regulatory T cells in the colonic mucosa and the circulation. These were significantly increased after either tacrolimus treatment or treatment by fecal microbiota transfer from tacrolimus-treated donors. Further, treatment with low-dose tacrolimus plus fecal microbiota transfer from high-dose tacrolimus-altered mice increased skin allograft survival rate in a skin transplantation model. Thus, high-dose tacrolimus alters the compositions and taxa of the gut microbiota. Administration of these conditioned gut microbiota plus low-dose tacrolimus resulted in regulation of colonic and systemic immune responses and an increased allograft survival rate. This study demonstrated a new strategy for controlling allograft rejection by combining an immunosuppressive agent with gut microbiome transplantation.

Considerable evidence suggests that depression is related to interhemispheric functional coordination deficits. For depression, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most rapid and effective therapy, but its underlying mechanism remains unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the impact of ECT on the interhemispheric functional coordination in depression patients. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to observe the change of interhemispheric functional coordination with the method of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) in 11 depressed patients before and after ECT, compared with 15 healthy controls. The results showed that, compared with depression patients before ECT, VMHC was significantly increased in superior frontal gyri (BA 8), middle frontal gyri (two clusters: BA 8/9 and BA 10) and angular gyri (BA 39) in depression patients after ECT. Compared with healthy controls, VMHC in those areas was significantly lower in the middle frontal gyri (BA 8/9) and angular gyri (BA 39) in depression patients before ECT, but no significant difference was observed in the superior frontal gyri (BA 8) and middle frontal gyri (BA 10). There was no significant correlation between the changes of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores and changed VMHC values in those four areas in depression patients. The results suggest that ECT selectively modulated interhemispheric functional coordination in depression patients. Such may play an important mechanistic role in the treatment of depression, and may afford a useful avenue for optimizing treatment.

Objective: To present a single center experience in managing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) in Chinese renal transplant (RTx) recipients. Methods: In a cohort of 1429 patients who received RTx operation, 27 patients (six males and 21 females) were pathologically diagnosed with TCC in their native urologic system. The data were analyzed retrospectively. Results: The incidence of TCC was 1.89% and accounted for 41.5% of the patients with post-transplant de novo malignancies among 1429 recipients. Among the 27 recipients with TCC, 77.8% were female, 59.3% had taken a Chinese herb that contains aristolochic acid for at least 2 months before RTx, 51.9% had painless gross hematuria, while 40.7% had microscopic hematuria and/or repeated urologic infection. Two patients were found to have asymptomatic hydronephrosis during a routine check-up. The patients with upper tract carcinoma underwent simultaneous bilateral nephroureterectomy or unilateral nephroureterectomy and bladder cuff resection. Transurethral resection of the bladder tumor was carried out in patients with concomitant or solitary superficial bladder lesions. Intravesical chemotherapy was started and immunosuppressants were adjusted in all patients immediately after the surgery. Tumor recurrence in the bladder was noted in five patients. In one patient, residual and/or recurrent carcinoma in the contralateral pelvis was detected. Conclusions: Transitional cell carcinoma is the predominant malignancy in Chinese RTx recipients. Female sex, the Chinese herb containing aristolochic acid and immunosuppression are markedly associated with the development of TCC. Risk-adapted screening, strict follow up, standard surgical intervention and dose reduction of immunosuppressants are very important for early diagnosis and treatment of TCC.

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