Abstract Background: Diosmetin is a bioflavonoid compound naturally abundant in citrus fruits. It is found to perform a variety of activities, while its antitumor property in osteosarcoma, a malignant tumor with unmet clinical treatment, remained unknown. Methods: Colony formation assay, cell cycle analysis and apoptosis analysis were conducted respectively to observe the effect of diosmetin on cell proliferation and apoptosis in human osteosarcoma cells. Western blot and immunoprecipitation were used to detect the expression of apoptotic molecules and activation of STAT3/c-Myc pathway in Saos-2 and U2SO cells. Results: Diosmetin significantly inhibited cell proliferation, induced cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and promoted cell apoptosis in both Saos-2 and U2SO cells. Moreover, Diosmetin downregulated the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL while upregulated the levels of pro-apoptotic proteins including cleaved Caspase-3, cleaved-PARP and Bax. Furthermore, diosmetin dose-dependently inhibited STAT3 phosphorylation, reduced the expression of its downstream protein c-Myc and impeded the interaction between STAT3 molecules. Conclusions: These results suggest that diosmetin exerts anti-osteosarcoma effects by suppressing cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis via inhibiting the activation of STAT3/c-Myc signaling pathway, which provide the possibility for diosmetin to be a chemotherapeutic candidate for osteosarcoma.

Abstract Background: Gastric cancer is a common malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality worldwide, which seriously affects human health. Gramicidin is a short peptide antibiotic which could be used for treating infection induced by bacteria or fungi. However, the anti-cancer effect of gramicidin on gastric cancer cells and its underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. Results: Gastric cancer cells SGC-7901, BGC-823 and normal gastric mucosal cells GES-1 were treated with different concentrations of gramicidin respectively. The results of CCK-8 experiment revealed cellular toxicity of gramicidin to cancer cells while cell colony formation assay showed that gramicidin significantly inhibited the proliferation of gastric cancer cells, but had little effect on normal gastric mucosal cells. In addition, the wound healing assay showed that gramicidin inhibited the migration of SGC-7901 cell. Meanwhile, apoptosis and cell cycle analysis revealed that gramicidin induced cell apoptosis with G2/M cell cycle inhibition. Furthermore, western blot analysis demonstrated that gramicidin down-regulated the expression of cyclinD1 and Bcl-2 as well as the FoxO1 phosphorylation. Conclusions: The current study illustrated the anti-tumor activity of gramicidin on gastric cancer cells, providing a possibility for gramicidin to be applied in clinical practice for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Abstract Background Gastric cancer occupies the fourth highest morbidity rate of cancers worldwide. Clinical therapies of gastric cancer remain limited because of uncertainty of mechanisms and shortness of effective medicine. Thus, new drug candidates for gastric cancer treatment is urgently needed. Results In this study, CMPD1 as a wildly used MK2 phosphorylation inhibitor was employed to find its impact on gastric cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle using colony formation assay and flow cytometry analysis. Along with its anti-proliferation effect on gastric cancer cell line MKN-45 and SGC7901, CMPD1 also induced massive apoptosis and significant G2/M phase arrest in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner in MKN-45 cells respectively. Furthermore, Western blot confirmed that the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 was decreased while BAX, cytochrome c release and cleaved PARP were increased. In addition, oncogene c-Myc was downregulated in response to CMPD1 treatment. Conclusions Our results demonstrated that CMPD1 has anti-tumor effect on human gastric cancer cell line MKN- 45 possibly via downregulating oncogene c-Myc expression and CMPD1 could be applied as a potential candidate for treating gastric malignancy. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first report of anti-tumor effect of CMPD-1 on human gastric cancer cells.

Manganese vanadate microtubes have been synthesized by a facile polyvinyl pyrrolidone-assisted hydrothermal route. X-ray diffraction pattern confirms that the microtubes are composed of monoclinic MnV2O6, tetragonal V2O5 and orthorhombic MnO2 phases. The outer diameter and inner diameter of the microtubes are about 300 nm-3 µm and 200 nm-1 µm, respectively. The tube wall thickness of the microtubes is about 50 nm-1 µm. The possible formation process of the manganese vanadate microtubes has been proposed as a polyvinyl pyrrolidone-assisted growth mechanism.

Single crystalline Ca2Ge7O16 nanowires have been synthesized using CaO and GeO2 as the raw materials. Various factors that affect the formation and size of the Ca2Ge7O16 nanowires have been analyzed. The obtained products are characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the calcium germanate nanowires are composed of orthorhombic Ca2Ge7O16 phase with the length and diameter of several dozens of micrometers and about 50 nm, respectively. Hydrothermal temperature plays an important role on the formation and growth of the Ca2Ge7O16 nanowires. The formation process of the Ca2Ge7O16 nanowires is initially interpreted according to the shape evolution of the products obtained from different growth conditions.

Thymosin alpha 1 (Tα1) has been shown to have beneficial effects on numerous immune system parameters, but little is known about the effects of Tα1 on patients with gastric carcinoma. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Tα1 on subpopulations of Th1, Th2, Th17, and regulatory T cells (Tregs) in vitro, and to evaluate its efficacy as an immunoregulatory factor in patients with gastric carcinoma. We compared the effect of Tα1 on the frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, especially the CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Tregs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from gastric carcinoma patients (N = 35) and healthy donors (N = 22). We also analyzed the changes in the proliferation of PBMCs in response to treatment with Tα1, and examined the production of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines by PBMCs and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. The treatment of PBMCs from gastric cancer patients, with Tα1 (50 µg/mL) alone increased the percentage of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ (suppressive antitumor-specific Tregs) from 1.68 ± 0.697 to 2.19 ± 0.795% (P < 0.05). Our results indicate that Tα1 increases the percentage of Tregs and IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6 in vitro.

Magnesium oxide and magnesium aluminate (MgAl2O4) spinel (MAS) powders have been synthesized by a simple aqueous sol-gel process using citrate polymeric precursors derived from magnesium chloride, aluminium nitrate and citrate. The thermal decomposition of the precursors and subsequent formation of cubic MgO and MAS were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TG-DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR). The single phase cubic MgO powder and MAS powder form after heat treatment at 800 and 1200 °C, respectively. The particle size of the MgO and MAS powders is about 100 nm and several micrometers, respectively. Ball milling eliminates the size of MgO and MgAl2O4 spinel powders by decreasing the conglomeration of the powders.