Background: Hexokinase 2 (HK2) is frequently overexpressed in malignant tumors. Results: miR-143 down-regulates HK2 and inhibits glucose metabolism and cancer progression. Conclusion: miR-143 is an essential regulator of cancer glycolysis via targeting HK2. Significance: Discovering the important role of miRNA in cancer metabolism may provide potential targets for cancer therapy.

PurposeWe previously showed that 90% (47 of 52; 95% CI, 0.79 to 0.96) of lung adenocarcinomas from East Asian never-smokers harbored well-known oncogenic mutations in just four genes: EGFR, HER2, ALK, and KRAS. Here, we sought to extend these findings to more samples and identify driver alterations in tumors negative for these mutations.Experimental DesignWe have collected and analyzed 202 resected lung adenocarcinomas from never smokers seen at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center. Since mutations were mutually exclusive in the first 52 examined, we determined the status of EGFR, KRAS, HER2, ALK, and BRAF in stepwise fashion as previously described. Samples negative for mutations in these 5 genes were subsequently examined for known ROS1 fusions by RT-PCR and direct sequencing. Results152 tumors (75.3%) harbored EGFR mutations, 12 (6%) had HER2 mutations, 10 (5%) had ALK fusions all involving EML4 as the 5′ partner, 4 (2%) had KRAS mutations, and 2 (1%) harbored ROS1 fusions. No BRAF mutation were detected.ConclusionThe vast majority (176 of 202; 87.1%, 95% CI: 0.82 to 0.91) of lung adenocarcinomas from never smokers harbor mutant kinases sensitive to available TKIs. Interestingly, patients with EGFR mutant patients tend to be older than those without EGFR mutations (58.3 Vs 54.3, P = 0.016) and patient without any known oncogenic driver tend to be diagnosed at a younger age (52.3 Vs 57.9, P = 0.013). Collectively, these data indicate that the majority of never smokers with lung adenocarcinoma could benefit from treatment with a specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor.

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This tutorial review highlights the recent progress in copper-catalysed radical asymmetric 1,2-difunctionalization of alkenes.

ONYX-015 is an attractive therapeutic adenovirus for cancer because it can selectively replicate in tumor cells and kill them. To date, clinical trials of this adenovirus have demonstrated marked safety but not potent enough when it was used alone. In this paper, we put forward a novel concept of Gene-ViroTherapy strategy and in this way, we constructed an armed therapeutic oncolytic adenovirus system, ZD55-gene, which is not only deleted of E1B 55-kD gene similar to ONYX-015, but also armed with foreign antitumor gene. ZD55-gene exhibited similar cytopathic effects and replication kinetics to that of ONYX-015 in vitro. Importantly, the carried gene is expressed and the expression level can increase with the replication of virus. Consequently, a significant antitumoral efficacy was observed when ZD55-CD/5-FU was used as an example in nude mice with subcutaneous human SW620 colon cancer. Our data demonstrated that ZD55-gene, which utilizing the Gene-ViroTherapy strategy, is more efficacious than each individual component in vivo.

A novel asymmetric radical aminotrifluoromethylation of alkenes has been developed for the first time, providing straightforward access to densely functionalized CF3-containing azaheterocycles bearing an α-tertiary stereocenter with excellent enantioselectivity. The key to success is not only the introduction of a Cu(I)/chiral phosphoric acid dual-catalytic system but also the use of urea with two acidic N-H as both the nucleophile and directing group. The utility of this method is illustrated by facile transformations of the products into other important compounds useful in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry.

[reaction: see text] Phosphine gold(I) complexes catalyzed isomerization of terminal alkenes and hydroamination of unactivated alkenes under thermal and microwave-assisted conditions. This is the first example of the use of microwave radiation as a heat source for gold(I)-catalyzed organic reactions.

Introduction Somatic LKB1 mutations are found in lung adenocarcinomas at different frequencies in Caucasian and East Asian (Japanese and Korean) populations. This study was designed to characterize the frequency of LKB1 mutations, their relationship to EGFR and KRAS mutations, and their associated clinicopathologic characteristics in Chinese patients. Methods Two hundred thirty-nine lung adenocarcinomas consecutively collected from October 2007 to July 2009 were dissected into 3 to 4 small (3 mm) pieces for histopathological analyses of tumor content. Genomic DNA and/or cDNA from 86 samples with more than 70% tumor content were used for sequencing of LKB1 (exons 1–9), EGFR (exons 18–21), and KRAS (exon 2). LKB1 germline mutation status was determined by sequencing of genomic DNA from matched histologically distant lung tissues that are histologically normal. Results 6.9% of lung adenocarcinomas harbored LKB1 somatic mutations. A total of 10.5% of patients had an LKB1 germline polymorphism, F354L. Interestingly, in two of these patients, tumors displayed loss of heterozygosity at this allele. EGFR kinase domain and KRAS mutations were found in 66.3% and 2.3% of Chinese lung adenocarcinomas, respectively. Concurrent LKB1 and EGFR somatic mutations were observed in one patient. Both KRAS-mutant tumors harbored LKB1 mutations. Conclusions These data provide important clinical and molecular characteristics of lung adenocarcinomas from Chinese patients.