Connexin 43 (Cx43) can be modified and regulated by small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO)1; however, its role in liver cancer stem cells is poorly understood. In this study, we found a significant difference in the expression of Cx43 and SUMO1 between cancer stem cells and non-cancer stem cells in liver cancer. In liver cancer stem cells, Cx43 was almost absent, although the level of SUMO1 was significantly higher than that in non-cancer stem cells. Further experiments confirmed that the conjugated site of Cx43 by SUMO1 was located in Lys-144 and Lys-237, both of which are highly conserved among species. By the co-expression of Cx43 and SUMO1 in cancer stem cells, the gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) of liver cancer stem cells was obviously improved. Using this feature, we verified whether it could effectively increase the sensitivity of cancer stem cells to the herpes simplex virus 1 thymidine kinase (HSVtk) gene in combination with ganciclovir (GCV), a conventional chemotherapeutic drug, in vitro and in vivo. As expected, increasing the expression of Cx43 SUMOylation in liver cancer stem cells effectively enhanced their sensitivity to HSVtk/GCV. On the whole, this study revealed a novel method which may be used to effectively restore GJIC in cancer stem cells in liver cancer, which enhances their sensitivity to conventional chemotherapeutic drugs.
Background: The application of perforator flap is becoming wide. The most common postoperative complication is venous congestion but traditional treatments’ effect is limited. A new method called negative pressure wound therapy(NPWT) was introduced to improve wound healing. Many scholars have tried this method with continuous mode and achieved good outcomes. In this paper, we tried a different mode(intermittent) of negative pressure wound therapy on congested perforator flaps after a mesh incision, and we expected this paper could provide information for follow-up clinical research.Case presentation: A retrospective research of 6 patients (6 perforator flaps) who had been suffered from venous congestion from June, 2016 to June, 2019 was performed. All flaps were treated by intermittent negative pressure wound therapy after a mesh incision. Among 6 flaps, 4 of them were totally survived while the other 2 of them were mostly survived.Conclusions: Intermittent negative pressure wound therapy combined with a mesh incision can be a safe option to rescue perforator flaps with venous congestion. This technique has a certain success rate and clinical application value.
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.