Jentashapir Journal of Cellular and Molecular Biology
Volume:13 Issue: 4, Dec 2022

 Treating gastric cancer and antibacterial remains a major challenge. There have been many reports about the positive effects of carvacrol and anti-cancer peptides contributing to cancer inhibition and antibacterial activities.

 This study aimed to determine antibacterial and anti-cancer effects of modified carvacrol against AGS gastric cancer cell line by adopting the flow cytometry technique.

 The treatment of cells with modified carvacrol containing anti-cancer peptide was used to evaluate the apoptosis effect against the AGS cell line. The treatment of AGS cells was performed by adopting flow cytometry in order to evaluate the apoptosis. Disc diffusion and MIC methods were used to determine the antibacterial effects.

 The results showed that cells treated with carvacrol and anti-cancer peptide at a concentration of 0.125 µg/mL induced a 31-fold apoptotic effect. Phosphate buffered saline was used as the control group for the treatment that induced a 63% apoptotic effect on the AGS cell line. The results of antibacterial activity suggested that the modified carvacrol had antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 6 µg/mL, Growth inhibition zone with diameter of 20mm) and Escherichia coli (12 µg/mL, Growth inhibition zone with diameter 16). The results also revealed that the minimum inhibitory concentration of the compound was 6 µg/mL for Staphylococcus aureus, while this value was 12 µg/mL for Escherichia coli.

 Since the anti-cancer properties of modified carvacrol mixture with anti-cancer peptide induced 1.25 times more than phosphate-buffered saline, the above combination may have been used to treat and induce apoptotic activity against gastric cancer cell lines.

 Gastric cancer is one of the most prevalent human malignancy-related death worldwide, which is usually diagnosed at the advanced stages resulting in metastasis. Recent studies have revealed that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are known as non-coding RNAs, play a significant role in creating variety of molecular pathways (e.g., growth, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis) and negatively contribute to many unusual processes, including human cancers. The HOX antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) is one of the novel non-coding RNAs which has recently emerged as a promoter of metastasis in different types of human cancers through epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a cellular process where an epithelial cell could change its phenotype to mesenchymal condition, which plays a crucial role in promoting cell invasion, angiogenesis, and metastases.

 This study aimed to explore the effect of HOTAIR gene silencing on the expression levels of two main markers of EMT signaling pathway, fibronectin (FN1) and claudin4 (CLDN4) in MKN45 cellular model of gastric cancer. The MKN45 cells were subjected to HOTAIR specific siRNA for 48 hours, and the extracted RNAs were subjected to cDNA synthesis and real-time PCR. The expression change was calculated using 2-ΔΔct.

 Our findings showed that FN1 and CLDN4 were upregulated in MKN45 cells. Following the transfection of cell by HOTAIR siRNA, both FN1 and CLDN4 genes were significantly downregulated.

 HOTAIR long non-coding RNA may have regulated the expression levels of FN1 and CLDN4 genes in EMT signaling pathway. However, it was recommended that further experimental analyses should be carried out to confirm this observation. In other word, our study result may not have been applied as a therapeutic access until additional experiments were conducted.

 Broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance genes are one of the most common developing resistance genes worldwide. Accordingly, it is of paramount importance to study the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase genes to report them to physicians to select the most appropriate treatment.

 This study aimed to detect three genes of ESBL such as TEM, AmpC, and KPC simultaneously.

 Primers were designed for ESBL genes such as TEM, AmpC, and KPC with Genscript software. In this study, control-positive genes were used for the PCR set-up. Fifty isolates of Escherichia coli isolated in the Baqiyatallah Hospital were confirmed and checked by Multiplex PCR.

 This study revealed that TEM, AmpC, and KPC primers could detect positive control genes. The sensitivity and specificity of the multiplex PCR technique for these genes were 0.001 ng and 100%, respectively.

 This study revealed that a Multiplex PCR with a sensitivity of 0.001 ng and 100% specificity can detect ESBL genes precisely. Accordingly, the rapid and precise detection of the antibiotic resistance genes and the recommendation of an appropriate treatment pattern can decrease the distribution of antibiotic resistance occurrence and economic cost.

 The ventral striatum is an integrated drug reward and addiction center.

 We aimed to examine changes in pro-inflammatory cytokines and subsequent changes in the expression of biologically relevant genes to addiction and neuroinflammation in the ventral striatum in response to frequent morphine exposure.

 Sixteen male Wistar rats were divided into two experimental groups, a control, and a morphine-treated group, receiving eight days of twice-daily injections of either saline or morphine sulfate (10 mg/kg).

 The results revealed that frequent morphine treatment increased both gene and protein levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin 1-β, and interleukin 6 in the ventral striatum. Frequent morphine treatment also induced significant upregulations in the mRNA levels of mu-opioid receptor, dopamine D1 receptor (Drd1), Fos, nuclear factor- kappa B, and pre-miRNAs expression including, mir-124, mir-133b, mir-339, mir-365, and Let-7c1 in the ventral striatum. On the contrary, frequent morphine injection significantly downregulated mRNA levels of toll-like receptor 4, cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors, Drd2, Il1r, Il6r, tnfr, protein kinase Cγ, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα, nitric oxide synthase, cAMP-response element-binding protein as well as p38 and Jnk3 MAP kinases in the ventral striatum. However, no group differences were detected in the expression of Erk1 and mir-219 in the ventral striatum.

 It can be concluded that dysregulations in pro-inflammatory cytokines and, subsequently, in the downstream signaling pathways impair physiological functions of the ventral striatum following chronic morphine exposure, affecting reward pathways and the expression of morphine tolerance and dependence.

 Recent studies have demonstrated that adipose mesenchymal stem cells (AMSCs)-derived secretome (AMSC-Se) has anticancer impacts.

 This study investigated the cytotoxic impacts of AMSC-Se on a colon carcinoma cell (HT-29) line.

 The colon cancer cells were exposed to 50 or 100 µg/mL ASMC-Se for 24 hours. MTT test had used to examine the impacts of ASMC-Se on the survival rates of the cells. Caspase activity, mRNA, and protein expression of Bax and Bcl-2 had evaluated to determine apoptosis.

 ASMC-Se could diminish the survival of the cells concentration-dependently. The mRNA and protein expression of Bax was concentration-dependently elevated, while Bcl-2 expression decreased in the ASMC-Se group compared to the control concentration-dependently (P < 0.05). The caspase-3 and caspase-9 activities were concentration-dependently enhanced (P < 0.05), while the caspase-8 activity did not change with the AMSC-Se.

 These findings indicate that AMSC-Se effectively prevents cell growth and induces apoptosis by stimulating the intrinsic apoptotic pathway in these cells.

 Colon cancer has been a rising health concern in the modern world for quite some time. Considering the harmful side effects of chemotherapy, the most common treatment for this cancer, new treatment methods are required to lessen the side effects of treatment on patients. Traditional and herbal medicine can help in this effort.

 Our study investigated the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of Linum usitatissimum seed aqueous extract on colon cancer and the expression of apoptotic genes compared to normal cell lines to reduce chemotherapy's harmful and irreversible side effects on colon cancer patients.

 MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of our extract on LS174T and COLO205 cells. Cancer and normal cell lines were treated with 2, 4, 6, and 8 mg/mL of LU extract for 24 and 48 hours. RNA extraction was performed, and mRNAs were reverse transcribed to cDNAs using RT-PCR. qPCR was then performed to assess the expression of BAX and BAD genes.

 MTT assay concluded that this extract has a good cytotoxic effect on LS174t and COLO205 cell lines and can decrease cell viability, while no significant decrease in cell viability was observed in normal cells. For qPCR assay, the cells were treated with 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/mL of LU extract for two days. The qPCR analysis revealed that the expression of pro-apoptotic BAX and BAD was significantly decreased following treatment with our extract, while the expression of these genes showed no significant changes in normal cell lines after the same treatment.

 These results show that the components within L. usitatissimum seed aqueous extract have antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic properties. This extract can successfully decrease the population of LS174t and COLO205 cells while increasing the expression of pro-apoptotic BAX and BAD in these cell lines. The results also demonstrate that normal non-cancerous cells are unharmed by this extract. These results hint at some potential anti-cancer properties of L. usitatissimum seed aqueous extract.