BACKGROUND Previous studies have demonstrated that claudin-6 functions as a cancer suppressor in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The growth inhibitory effect could be attributed to inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis. The purpose of the current study was to examine the involvement of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) in the anticancer effect of claudin-6. ME...

BACKGROUND Enhanced platelet-derived growth factor receptor a (PDGFRα) signaling pathway activity leads to cardiac fibrosis. However, because of the pleiotropic effects of PDGFR signaling, its role in mediating the cardiac fibrotic response remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the regulatory effect of c-Kit in cardiac fibroblasts activated by PDGFRa signaling. MATERIAL AND...

Increasing evidence demonstrates that dysregulation of XBP1 function contributes to tumorigenesis in some cancers. However, little is known about the role of XBP1 in the progression of osteosarcoma (OS). The expression of XBP1 in OS samples was measured by quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting assays. Cell cycle analysis and cell counting kit 8 (CCK8) assays were performed to determine the e...

Background: Cisplatin (DDP)-based chemotherapy is the mainstay of first-line therapeutic strategy for the treatment of advanced non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC). However, the anticancer efficacy of DDP is often limited by the existence or development of chemoresistance. Thus, we investigated the effect of interferon-γ on DDPresistant A549 cell. Methods: Semi-quantitative RT–PCR was used to comp...

BACKGROUND The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) repressor (AHRR), a member of growing superfamily, is a basic-helix-loop-helix/Per-AHR nuclear translocator (ARNT)-Sim (bHLH-PAS) protein. Recently, AHRR has been proposed to function as a putative new tumor suppressor gene based on some relevant studies in multiple types of human cancers. This current study aims to investigate AHHR expression and ...

Studies of rice protein expression have increased considerably with the development of rice functional genomics. In order to obtain reliable expression results in western blotting, information on appropriate reference proteins is necessary for data normalization. To date, no published study has identified and systematically validated reference proteins suitable for the investigation of rice pro...

The aim of this work was investigate the association of P120 catenin expression with the clinicopathologic features and prognosis of pancreatic carcinoma. RT-PCR was performed to investigate the expression of P120 catenin mRNA and western blotting were performed to investigate the expression of P120 catenin protein in 52 patients with pancreatic carcinoma. The relationships between P120 catenin...

OBJECTIVES In this study, we characterized human dental pulp cells (HDPCs) obtained by different culture methods to establish the most suitable methodology for dental tissue engineering and regenerative endodontic applications. MATERIALS AND METHODS HDPCs were isolated by the outgrowth method (HDPCs-OG), the enzymatic digestion method (collagenase/dispase/trypsin, HDPCs-ED), or the combinatio...

The aim of this study was to explore the degree of degeneration of endplate chondrocytes in different tension regions induced by intermittent cyclic mechanical tension (ICMT) in vitro. Rat endplate chondrocytes were harvested and treated with 10% ICMT for 8 h/day with a frequency of 0.5 Hz. A cartilage degeneration model was induced using an FX‑5000T cell strain‑loading system. The experiment w...

We investigated in vitro the effect of low-frequency and low-energy ultrasound (LFLEU) on apoptosis of an overexpressed HSP27 human aortic smooth muscle cell (HASMC) line. A frequency of 42.6 kHz was used in all experiments. HASMC were exposed to ultrasound and cell viability was evaluated by MTT reduction. Overexpressed HSP27-HASMC was constructed on a pcDNA3.1 vector. Apoptosis was determined...