The protective property of propolis across a wide spectrum of diseases has long been realized, yet the anti-tumor efficacy of this bioactive substance from Philippine stingless bees has remained poorly understood. Here, we showed the tumor-suppressing potential of crude ethanolic extract of Philippine stingless bee propolis (EEP) in in vitro models of gastric cancer highlighting the first indication of remarkable subtype specificity towards differentiated-type human gastric cancer cell lines but not the diffuse-type. Mechanistically, this involved the profound modulation of several cell cycle related gene transcripts, which correlated with the prominent cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. To reinforce our data, a unique differentiated-type gastric cancer model, A4gnt KO mice, together with age-matched 60 week-old C57BL/6 J mice were randomly assigned to treatment groups receiving distilled water or EEP for 30 consecutive days. EEP treatment induced significant regression of gross and histological lesions of gastric pyloric tumors that consistently corresponded with specific transcriptional regulation of cell cycle components. Also, the considerable p21 protein expression coupled with a marked reduction in rapidly dividing BrdU-labeled S-phase cells unequivocally supported our observation. Altogether, these findings support the role of Philippine stingless bee propolis as a promising adjunct treatment option in differentiated-type gastric cancer.

This study focused on historical changes in the manufacturing process of Odawara kamaboko to investigate the mechanism of the disintegration of deepsea boneˆsh Pterothrissus gissu surimi gel. A comparison of P. gissu surimi gels prepared under various conditions suggested that heat treatment at~35°C in theˆrst heating step predominantly causes the disintegration, compared with meat storage conditions. Protein identiˆcation through

In healthy cells, proteolysis is orderly executed to maintain basal homeostasis and normal physiology. Dyscontrol in proteolysis under severe stress condition induces cell death, but the dynamics of proteolytic regulation towards the critical phase remain unclear. Teleosts have been suggested an alternative model for the study of proteolysis under severe stress. In this study, horse mackerel (Trachurus japonicus) was used and exacerbated under severe stress conditions due to air exposure. Although the complete genome for T. japonicus is not available, a transcriptomic analysis was performed to construct a reference protein database, and the expression of 72 proteases were confirmed. Quantitative peptidomic analysis revealed that proteins related to glycolysis and muscle contraction systems were highly cleaved into peptides immediately under the severe stress. Novel analysis of the peptide terminome using a multiple linear regression model demonstrated profiles of proteolysis under severe stress. The results indicated a phase transition towards dyscontrol in proteolysis in T. japonicus skeletal muscle during air exposure. Our novel approach will aid in investigating the dynamics of proteolytic regulation in skeletal muscle of non-model vertebrates.

Obesity is a global public health problem and a risk factor for several metabolic disorders as well as cancer. In this study, we investigated the effects of L-fucose on lipid metabolism through chronic and acute in vivo experiments in mice. In the chronic test, mice were fed a high-calorie diet (HCD) containing 0.0001%, 0.001%, 0.01%, and 0.1% L-fucose for one month. The L-fucose supplementation inhibited body weight and visceral fat mass gain in HCD-fed mice. The results of the acute test showed that L-fucose increased the ratio of serum high molecular weight adiponectin and enhanced glucose and lipid catabolism. Furthermore, L-fucose also decreased the expression of adipogenic genes (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and cluster of differentiation 36). In conclusion, this study provides a new approach to combat obesity and the related diseases.

Surimi gel is a commonly found gelled product in Japan. Disintegration of the surimi gel is mainly caused by proteolytic degradation of the myosin heavy chain (MHC) under an inappropriate heating process. Many studies have reported the decrease in MHC in the disintegrated surimi gel but the mechanistic details of this degradation remain unclear. This study employed peptidomic analysis of disintegrated surimi gels from deep-sea bonefish Pterothrissus gissu to reveal the MHC cleavage causing gel disintegration. More peptides derived from an MHC rod were found in the disintegrated P. gissu surimi gels than in the integrated gel. Most MHC peptides were derived from the Src homology 3 domain or near the skip residues. The results of the terminome analysis suggest that the catalytic type of the proteases is responsible for light meromyosin cleavage activated at ∼35 °C. These results showed the temperature-dependent cleavage of the MHC rod, causing disintegration of the P. gissu surimi gel.