There is increasing evidence that self-renewal capacity of cancer cells is critical for carcinogenesis; hence, it is vital to examine the expression and involvement of self-renewal regulatory genes in these cells. Here, we reported that Oct4, a well-known regulator of self-renewal in embryonic stem cells, was highly expressed in human gliomas and glioma cell lines, and the expression levels were increased in parallel with increasing glioma grades. In in vitro cell cultures, Oct4 was only expressed in rat C6 glioma cells and rat neural stem cells but not in rat brain differentiated cells. Downregulation of Oct4 expression by RNA interference in C6 cells was associated with reduced cell proliferation and colony formation. Further analysis revealed that Oct4 could upregulate phosphorylation of Stat3 to promote tumor cell proliferation. Overexpression of Oct4 in C6 cells increased the expression of nestin but decreased the expression of GFAP suggesting that Oct4 might inhibit the differentiation of glioma cells. Our findings may provide further evidence for the stem cell theory of carcinogenesis. In contrast, the results might also imply that Oct4 contributes to the existence of undifferentiated cells in gliomas.

Andrographolide (Andro), a major bioactive component obtained from Andrographis paniculata Nees, has exerted wide antioxidant as well as cytoprotective properties. However, whether Andro treatment could retard the progress of diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) remains unknown. In this study, we evaluated the effects of Andro against diabetes-induced myocardial dysfunction and explored the underlying mechanism in STZ-induced diabetic mice. As a result, treatment with Andro dose dependently suppressed cardiac inflammation and oxidative stress, accompanied by decreasing cardiac apoptosis, which subsequently ameliorated cardiac fibrosis and cardiac hypertrophy. Further, Andro blocked hyperglycemia-triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation by suppressing NADPH oxidase (NOX) activation and augmenting nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression both in vitro and in vivo. Our results suggest that the cardioprotective effects afforded by Andro treatment involve the modulation of NOX/Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress and NF-κB-mediated inflammation. The present study unravels the therapeutic potential of Andro in the treatment of DCM by attenuating oxidative stress, inflammation, and apoptosis.

Compared to NPCs, NPSCs harvested by differential adhesion method displayed a higher positive rate of stem cell surface markers and showed superior regenerative effectiveness for treating IDD in rabbit models. Therefore, NPSCs are potential candidates for cell therapy for the regeneration of the IVD.

In some cases of breast cancer, diagnosis of triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC) requires further fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for determining human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status. However, few cases undergo FISH in China, leading to difficulty regarding subsequent treatment decisions. Here, we used immunohistochemical analysis to explore expression of fascin‐1, an actin‐bundling protein, as a diagnostic marker of TNBC. A total of 457 cases of breast cancer were divided into four molecular subtypes, including 82 cases (17.9%) of TNBC, 81 (17.7%) of HER2‐enriched, 185 (40.5%) of luminal A, and 109 (23.9%) of luminal B. Positive fascin‐1 expression was seen in 144 cases (31.5%), including 77 (16.8%) strong positive cases. Rates of positive and strong positive expression of fascin‐1 were significantly higher in cases of TNBC than in the other molecular subtypes. In all cases of breast cancer, the sensitivities and specificities of positive and strong positive fascin‐1 expression for predicting TNBC were 87.8% and 80.8%, and 78.0% and 96.5%, respectively. In cases of hormone receptor–negative breast cancer, the sensitivities and specificities of positive and strong positive fascin‐1 expression for predicting TNBC were 87.8% and 61.7%, and 78.0% and 92.6%, respectively. In 24 cases with estrogen receptor (ER)‐, PR‐, and HER2 2 +  equivocal status who underwent FISH, the sensitivity and specificity of strong positive fascin‐1 expression for predicting TNBC were 71.4% and 90.0%. These results suggest that strong positive fascin‐1 expression can be used as a diagnostic marker of TNBC.