Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a critical role in both cancer initiation and relapse as they are resistant to most cytotoxic agents and able to proliferate indefinitely. The plant alkaloid oxymatrine has many biological activities including the ability to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, which makes it a potentially useful agent for targeting cancer cells. In order to determine whether it has beneficial pharmacological properties to eradicate CSCs, we analyzed the effects of oxymatrine on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Cancer stem-like cells’ (side population, SP) identification and sorting were performed. The inhibitory effect of oxymatrine was evaluated on the sorted SP and non-SP cells. The results indicated that oxymatrine caused a dose-dependent reduction in the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and a decrease in SP cells. Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was also examined by analyzing the expression of total β-catenin and phosphorylated β-catenin in cytoplasm, and the results showed that the growth inhibitory effects of oxymatrine treatment on MCF-7 cells may be due to the inhibition of SP and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Further work is warranted to explore whether oxymatrine may be a useful novel therapeutic drug for targeting breast CSCs.
OBJECTIVE: To observe the repair effect of Schwann cells (SCs) modified by microgene pSVPoMcat on injured spinal cord in rats. METHODS: Semi-transection injury at the level of T(8) of spinal cord was made with cutting method on 120 Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. Then 40 rats implanted with SCs modified by microgene pSVPoMcat were taken as Group A, 40 rats implanted with simple SCs as Group B and the other 40 rats were taken as the control group (Group C). The functional recovery of the rats was observed through combined behavioral score (CBS) and cortical somatosensory evoked potential (CSEP), and the expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) was measured with in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry. At 3 months after operation, the rats were examined with magnetic resonance image (MRI), and the neurofilaments (NF) of the axons were stained with immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: GFAP expression in Group A was significantly lower than that of the other 2 groups. MRI showed that the spinal signals in the injured area recovered fundamentally in Group A, didn't recover in Group B and malacia focus was found in Group C, which was same as the results of NF staining. Wave amplitudes in incubation periods in Group A and Group B tended to recover. It recovered to the normal level in Group A, which was similar to the results of CBS. CONCLUSIONS: SCs modified by microgene pSVPoMcat can inhibit GFAP expression, improve the growth of the axons and the functional recovery of neurons after spinal cord injury. 相似文献