XIN ZHU^1,2,#, BIN XIAO^3,#,*, WENWU ZHANG^3,4, XIAOYU SONG³, WEI GONG⁵, LINHAI LI^3,*, XINPING CHEN^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.10, pp. 2265-2281, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.029195

Abstract Background: The protein encoded by ring finger protein 157 (RNF157) is known to function as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. However, whether the level of RNF157 expression in breast cancer correlates with prognosis and immune cell infiltration among breast cancer patients remains to be further explored. Methods: In this study, publicly available datasets were used for evaluating RNF157 expression in different tumors compared with normal samples. Several independent datasets were screened for investigating the relationship between RNF157 and breast cancer survival, different mutation profiles, and tumor immune cell infiltration. We conducted a pathway enrichment analysis to identify signaling pathways associated with… More >

AN-SOO JANG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.8, pp. 1703-1708, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.028975

Abstract Exposure to air pollutants such as PM₁₀, PM_2.5, PM_0.1, O₃, CO, NO₂, and SO₂, and biological pollutants are important factors causing the evolution and furtherance of obstructive lung diseases (OLD), including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Asthma is the most frequent chronic inflammatory airway disease, characterized by breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness, and cough, together with the presence of exaggerated expiratory airflow fluctuation that varies over time. COPD is a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms such as dyspnea, cough, expectoration, and/or exacerbations due to abnormalities of the airways and/or alveoli that cause persistent, often progressive, airflow… More >

JINGYAO XU^1,#, SHUANGLI HAO^1,#, KAIYUE HAN^1,#, WANXI YANG^1,*, HONG DENG^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.4, pp. 773-788, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.026618

Abstract As a pathway that plays a role in nutrient absorption, anabolic response, cell growth and survival, the important role of AKT/mTOR in tumorigenesis has also come to light. For cancer patients, most deaths are caused by the growth of metastatic tumors outside the primary focus. Therefore, migration and invasion in the late stage of tumor progression are the main unresolved issues in the study of tumor pathogenesis, and AKT/mTOR has been found to participate in the migration and invasion of cancer cells, which means that the study of this pathway may contribute to a solution for the problem. Because of… More >

Huasong Liu^*1, Jun Zhang^*1, Xiangyu Luo^*, Min Zeng^*, Liqiang Xu^*, Qunxian Zhang^*, Hua Liu^*, Jialong Guo^*, Lanlan Xu^†

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.1, pp. 65-73, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504019X15656904013079

Abstract Emerging evidence has demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) mediate the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) via various pathophysiological pathways. This study explored the impact of the lncRNA FOXD2-AS1 on cisplatin resistance in ESCC and its possible mechanisms. Upregulation of FOXD2-AS was detected in patients with ESCC and ESCC cells that are resistant to cisplatin. In an in vitro assay, knockdown of FOXD2-AS1 noticeably inhibited cell invasion and growth, triggered cell death, and repressed the stimulation of the Akt/mTOR axis in cisplatin-resistant ESCC cells (TE-1/DDP). Conversely, the overexpression of FOXD2-AS1 remarkably increased cell invasion and growth, repressed cell… More >

DONGMEI GAO^1,#, JIAOE CHEN^2,#, HONGZHANG LI^2,*, JUN ZHAO^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.10, pp. 2275-2280, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.021008

Abstract Introduction: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is reported to be involved in the occurrence of many human diseases. To further investigate the biological changes of HCMV, we analyzed the relevant factors that affect the autophagy caused by HCMV infection. Methods: Firstly, we cultured human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HELF) cells with HCMV infection, and evaluated the effects of HELF cells infected with different viruses through Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA), Real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), Acridine orange (AO) staining and Western blotting (WB) experiments. Results: Through the above experiments, we found that the combined treatment of HCMV infection and carbamazepine, rapamycin and si-mTOR… More >

RONGXUE WEI¹, CHUNCHUN HAN^1,*, FENGJIANG YE¹, SHOUHAI WEI², FANG HE¹, HEHE LIU¹, LIANG LI¹, HONGYONG XU¹, SHENQIANG HU¹, XIANYIN ZENG²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.1, pp. 171-183, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.015409

Abstract In order to explore the role of forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) in the lipid metabolism and cell proliferation, goose primary hepatocytes were isolated and incubated with insulin or PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway dual inhibitor NVP-BEZ235, and then transfected with FoxO1 interference plasmid. The related parameters of lipid metabolism and cell proliferation were measured. The results firstly showed that FoxO1 interference increased the intracellular TG and lipids concentration (P < 0.05); and increased the proliferative index (PI), cell DNA synthesis, protein expression of Cyclin D1 in goose primary hepatocytes (P < 0.05). Secondly, the co-treatment of insulin and FoxO1 interference increased the… More >

Xiaona Li^1,*, Sijia Wang¹, Jie Song¹, Yixian Qin², Jizhong Yang³, Rui He^4,*, Weiyi Chen¹

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.18, No.1, pp. 11-19, 2021, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2021.014071

Abstract The cornea is a load-bearing tissue. Lower biomechanical properties in the local tissue of keratoconic cornea evoke mechanical stress increase. Inflammatory cytokines have been shown to be over-expressed in patients with keratoconus. However, how mechanical stimuli are involved in the production of inflammatory cytokines in keratoconus remains unclear. The objective of the study is to determine the role of mechanical stretch in the regulation of inflammatory cytokines and the underlying mechanisms in keratoconus. Human keratoconic fibroblasts (hKCFs) were subjected to 12% cyclic mechanical stretch at 0.1 Hz or in static conditions as controls. N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate and… More >

Xing Chen, Wu Zhou, Qinghua Hu, Lingjin Huang

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.3, pp. 396-402, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12733

Abstract Objective: This study explores the role of the Notch3‐HES5 signal pathway in mono‐ crotaline‐induced pulmonary hypertension (PH) using rat models.
Method: Sprague Dawley rats (n = 45) were randomly grouped into normal group, control group, and model group. Rats in the model group were used to establish the PH rat model. Four weeks after model establishment, right catheterization was used to measure the mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) and right ventricular sys‐ tolic pressure (RVSP) to analyze hemodynamic changes. The severity of PH was as‐ sessed by the right ventricular hypertrophy index (RVHI) and percentage of media thickness (MT%). The… More >