Suppression of human hepatocellular cancer cell proliferation by Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes via induction of apoptosis

Introduction

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a type of malignancy with high incidence and poor prognosis. Brucea javanica is extracted from Simaroubaceae plants. It is found to have low toxicity but high anti-cancer efficiency. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes (BJOL) on human hepatocellular cancer cell line HepG2. The related molecular mechanisms were determined.

Material and methods

Morphologic changes of HepG2 cells were observed by transmission electron microscope after treatment with BJOL in vitro. Cell proliferation was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay after cell treatment with different doses of BJOL. Flow cytometry was performed. Nude mice were divided into 4 groups randomly and treated with different doses of BJOL. The apoptosis hepatocellular carcinoma was detected by TUNEL.

Results

Proliferation of HepG2 was inhibited significantly by BJOL in a dose-dependent manner (2.5 mg/l or 5 mg/l). Compared with the animal models treated with the negative control, the animal models in the BJOL group had higher weight and lower metastasis rates (p < 0.01). The rate of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue of the BJOL groups was increased when compared with the control group (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes inhibits proliferation of HepG2. The effect appears to be dose-dependent, possibly by inducing apoptosis of cancer cells.     

Hepatectomy in Elderly Patients: Does Age Matter?

Background

With the increase in average life expectancy in recent decades, the proportion of elderly patients requiring liver surgery is rising. The aim of the meta-analysis reported here was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of hepatectomy in elderly patients.

Methods

An extensive electronic search was performed for relevant articles that compare the outcomes of hepatectomy in patients ≥70 years of age with those in younger patients prior to October 2012. Analysis of pooled data was performed with RevMan 5.0.

Results

Twenty-eight observational studies involving 15,480 patients were included in the analysis. Compared with the younger patients, elderly patients experienced more complications (31.8 vs 28.7 %; P = 0.002), mainly as a result of increased cardiac complications (7.5 vs 1.9 %; P < 0.001) and delirium (11.7 vs 4.5 %; P < 0.001). Postoperative major surgical complications (12.6 vs 11.3 %; P = 0.55) and mortality (3.6 vs 3.3 %; P = 0.68) were comparable between elderly and younger patients. For patients with malignancies, both the 5-year disease-free survival (26.5 vs 26.3 %; P = 0.60) and overall survival (39.5 vs 40.7 %; P = 0.29) did not differ significantly between the two groups.

Conclusions

Postoperative major surgical complications, mortality, and long-term results in elderly patients seem to be comparable with those in younger patients, suggesting that age alone should not be considered a contraindication for hepatectomy.     

APL非骨水泥柄人工髋关节置换治疗老年人股骨粗隆间骨折

目的：总结采用APL非骨水泥柄人工髋关节假体置换治疗老年股骨粗隆间骨折的疗效。方法：2011年10月,2014年1月,我们采用施乐辉APT。柄人工髋关节置换术治疗老年人股骨粗隆间骨折49例,男21例,女28例;摔倒32例,车祸12例,高处跌落5例。按evans分型,Ⅲ型20例,Ⅳ型24例,V型5例。49例病人中30例患有多种内科疾患,如高血压、冠心病、糖尿病、脑血栓、慢性支气管炎肺气肿、肺心病等,术后随访时间2个月～2年,平均17个月。结果：术后x片示假体位置良好,且髋关节恢复正常活动,全部病人均如期出院,在院期间均无严重并发症出现。出院后随访,49例病人中无髋关节脱位、松动及感染,均保留了行走功能,大部分（36例）达到了骨折前的行走水平。结论：APL柄非骨水泥柄人工假体置换在治疗尤其是老年人不稳定股骨粗隆间骨折方面,短期在死亡率,并发症,早期康复方面具有明显优势     

野外环境下药品贮藏存在的问题与应对措施

目的 改善药品保存现状,保证官兵用药安全。方法 根据野外作战的环境特点,分析影响药品质量的因素。结果 药品质量受环境温度、湿度、空气、光线等影响较大,尤其是部队在野外遂行任务时,条件复杂多变,环境指标人为无法控制,若不能很好地贮藏,就容易出现质量问题。结论 药品作为一种特殊物资,在医疗保障工作中有着不可替代的作用,质量过硬的药品可以促进患者伤病早日康复,提高保障能力,进而提升部队的战斗力。     

Polymer semiconductors incorporating head-to-head linked 4-alkoxy-5-(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thiazole

Head-to-head linked bithiophenes with planar backbones hold distinctive advantages for constructing organic semiconductors, such as good solubilizing capability, enabling narrow bandgap, and effective tuning of frontier molecular orbital (FMO) levels using minimal thiophene numbers. In order to realize planar backbone, alkoxy chains are typically installed on thiophene head positions, owing to the small van der Waals radius of oxygen atom and accompanying noncovalent S⋯O interaction. However, the strong electron donating alkoxy chains on the electron-rich thiophenes lead to elevated FMO levels, which are detrimental to material stability and device performance. Thus, a new design approach is needed to counterbalance the strong electron donating property of alkoxy chains to bring down the FMOs. In this study, we designed and synthesized a new head-to-head linked building block, 4-alkoxy-5-(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)thiazole (TRTzOR), using an electron-deficient thiazole to replace the electron-rich thiophene. Compared to previously reported 3-alkoxy-3′-alkyl-2,2′-bithiophene (TRTOR), TRTzOR is a weaker electron donor, which considerably lowers FMOs and maintains planar backbone through the noncovalent S⋯O interaction. The new TRTzOR was copolymerized with benzothiadiazoles with distinct F numbers to yield a series of polymer semiconductors. Compared to TRTOR-based analogous polymers, these TRTzOR-based polymers have broader absorption up to 950 nm with lower-lying FMOs by 0.2–0.3 eV, and blending these polymers with PC₇₁BM leads to polymer solar cells (PSCs) with improved open-circuit voltage (V_oc) by ca. 0.1 V and a much smaller energy loss (E_loss) as low as 0.59 eV. These results demonstrate that thiazole substitution is an effective approach to tune FMO levels for realizing higher V_ocs in PSCs and the small E_loss renders TRTzOR a promising building block for developing high-performance organic semiconductors.

A new head-to-head linked thienylthiazole was synthesized, enabling polymer semiconductors with low energy loss of 0.59 eV in solar cells.     

Antibody-targeted lymphokine-activated killer cells inhibit liver micrometastases in severe combined immunodeficient mice

Animal models for hepatic metastases can facilitate the investigation of lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell-based immunotherapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of ccM4 antibody-targeted LAK cells in inhibiting hepatic micrometastases. Hepatic micrometastases were generated after the intrasplenic injection of HM7 colon carcinoma cells. TAG72 expression was detected in these hepatic micrometastases using ccM4 antibody. The ccM4 antibody was conjugated onto LAK cells by treatment with 17.5% polyethylene glycol 8000. After the intrasplenic injection of HM7 cells, severe combined immunodeficient mice were randomized into five groups (i–v) and received either 10⁷ ccM4-LAK cells plus 1000 U interleukin 2 (IL-2; group i), LAK cells plus 50 μg ccM4 and IL-2 (group ii), LAK cells plus IL-2 (group iii), IL-2 alone (group iv), or only phosphate-buffered saline (group v). The ccM4-LAK cells retained cytolytic activity and acquired TAG72-binding reactivity. The results showed that group i had significantly fewer hepatic metastases compared with group ii or group iii (P < 0.05) and even fewer hepatic metastases compared with group iv or group v (P < 0.001). These results show that ccM4 antibody-targeted LAK cells significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo; thus, they can be potentially useful in treatment of hepatic micrometastases.     

Differential Expression and Significance of Endoplasmic Reticulum Golgi Intermediate Compartment 1 in Precancerous Gastric Lesions and Gastric Cancer

Background

We investigated the expression of endoplasmic reticulum Golgi intermediate compartment 1 (ERGIC1) in precancerous gastric lesions and gastric cancer and the function of ERGIC in human gastric cancer cell lines.