Cumulative findings have demonstrated that the dysregulation of tumor suppressor genes may be implicated in cigarette smoke-induced carcinogenesis. Activating enhancer-binding protein 2 (AP-2) is a eukaryotic transcriptional factor that plays a significant role in embryonic development and tumorigenesis. The vertebrate AP-2 family consists of AP-2α, AP-2β, AP-2γ, AP-2δ and AP-2ε. Previous studi...

The present study explored the mechanism of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)‑2α in proliferation and apoptosis of the osteosarcoma cell line, MG‑63. Cells were treated with small interfering RNA (siRNA) against HIF‑2α (silenced group) or without siRNA (control group). Cell viability of MG‑63 in the silenced and the control groups was determined by MTT assay; cell apoptosis was measured by flow cy...

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the immunohistochemical expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α and dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters Ktrans and kep in prostate cancer. Therefore, 15 patients with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer underwent a pre-operative 3T DCE-MRI scan. Immunohistochemical analysis of ...

The involvement of estrogen (E2) and hypoxia in tumor progression is well established. Hypoxia has been reported to activate and degrade estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, E2 has been shown to regulate hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α protein, but its role in HIF-2α regulation remains largely unexplored. In this study, we found that both HIF-2α mRNA and protein ...

Hypoxia-inducible factor-2α (HIF-2α) plays an important role in increasing cancer progression and distant metastasis in a variety of tumour types. We aimed to investigate its biological function and clinical significance in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). A total of 283 paired PDAC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were collected from patients who underwent surgery or biopsy at...

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) constitute a major component of the leukocyte infiltrate of most solid tumors, and they usually exhibit a proangiogenic phenotype which facilitates tumor growth in most circumstances. However, the precise mechanisms regulating the proangiogenic properties of TAMs remain largely unclear. In the present study, we found that the expression of hypoxia-inducible f...

OBJECTIVE Hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α), encoded by Epas1, causes osteoarthritic cartilage destruction by regulating the expression of matrix-degrading enzymes. We undertook this study to explore the role of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT or visfatin) in HIF-2α-mediated osteoarthritic cartilage destruction. METHODS The expression of HIF-2α, NAMPT and matrix-degrading enz...

AIMS Aspirin has been used for the secondary prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease for several decades. We investigated the roles of transcriptional factor activator protein 2α (AP-2α) in the beneficial effects of aspirin in the growth and vulnerability of atherosclerotic plaque. METHODS AND RESULTS In mice deficient of apolipoprotein E (Apoe-/-), aspirin (20, 50 mg/kg/day) suppr...

The mechanisms that are essential for the maintenance of nutrient status in breast milk are unclear. Our data demonstrate that the intestine via hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α is an essential regulatory mechanism for maintaining the quality of breast milk. During lactation, intestinal HIF-2α is highly increased, leading to an adaptive induction of apical and basolateral iron transport genes....

Four new triterpenoids which were identifed as 2α,3β,6β,19α-tetrahydroxy- oleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-3α,19α-di-hydroxyoleanolic acid (2), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-3α,19α-dihydroxyursolic acid (3), 2α,3α,6β,19α-tetrahydroxyursolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), were isolated from the aerial parts of Callicarpa kwangtungensis together with three kn...