Cancers claim millions of lives each year. Early detection that can enable a higher chance of cure is of paramount importance to cancer patients. However, diagnostic tools for many forms of tumors have been lacking. Over the last few years, studies of chimeric RNAs as biomarkers have emerged. Numerous reports using bioinformatics and screening methodologies have described more than 30,000 expressed sequence tags (EST) or cDNA sequences as putative chimeric RNAs. While cancer cells have been well known to contain fusion genes derived from chromosomal translocations, rearrangements or deletions, recent studies suggest that trans-splicing in cells may be another source of chimeric RNA production. Unlike cis-splicing, trans-splicing takes place between two pre-mRNA molecules, which are in most cases derived from two different genes, generating a chimeric non-co-linear RNA. It is possible that trans-splicing occurs in normal cells at high frequencies but the resulting chimeric RNAs exist only at low levels. However the levels of certain RNA chimeras may be elevated in cancers, leading to the formation of fusion genes. In light of the fact that chimeric RNAs have been shown to be overrepresented in various tumors, studies of the mechanisms that produce chimeric RNAs and identification of signature RNA chimeras as biomarkers present an opportunity for the development of diagnoses for early tumor detection.

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is important in the regulation of metabolic diseases and has emerged as a promising signaling target. Previously, we reported the PTP1B inhibitory activity of Rheum undulatum (RU). In the present study, we investigated the metabolic regulatory effects of RU in a high-fat diet (HFD) model. RU treatment significantly blocked body weight gain, which was accompanied by a reduction of feed efficiency. In addition, it led to a reduction of liver weight mediated by overexpression of PPAR${\alpha}$ and CPT1 in the liver, and an increase in the expression of adiponectin, aP2, and UCP3 in adipose tissue responsible for the reduction of total and LDL-cholesterol levels. Chrysophanol and physcion from RU significantly inhibited PTP1B activity and strongly enhanced insulin sensitivity. Altogether, our findings strongly suggest that 2 compounds are novel PTP1B inhibitors and might be considered as anti-obesity agents that are effective for suppressing body weight gain and improving lipid homeostasis.

Methylglyoxal (MG) was identified as an intermediate in non-enzymatic glycation and increased levels were reported in patients with diabetes. In this study, we evaluated the effects of MG on the modification of ferritin. When ferritin was incubated with MG, covalent crosslinking of the protein increased in a time- and MG dose-dependent manner. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, $N-acetyl-_L-cysteine$ and thiourea suppressed the MG-mediated ferritin modification. The formation of dityrosine was observed in MG-mediated ferritin aggregates and ROS scavengers inhibited the formation of dityrosine. During the reaction between ferritin and MG, the generation of ROS was increased as a function of incubation time. These results suggest that ROS may play a role in the modification of ferritin by MG. The reaction between ferritin and MG led to the release of iron ions from the protein. Ferritin exposure to MG resulted in a loss of arginine, histidine and lysine residues. It was assumed that oxidative damage to ferritin caused by MG may induce an increase in the iron content in cells, which is deleterious to cells. This mechanism, in part, may provide an explanation or the deterioration of organs under diabetic conditions.

Geft is a guanine nucleotide exchange factor, which can specifically activate Rho family of small GTPase by catalyzing the exchange of bound GDP for GTP. Geft is highly expressed in the excitable tissue as heart and skeletal muscle and plays important roles in many cellular processes, such as cell proliferation, migration, and cell fate decision. However, the in vivo role of Geft remains unknown. Here, we generated a Geft conditional knockout mouse by flanking exons 5-17 of Geft with loxP sites. Cre-mediated deletion of the Geft gene in heart using Mef2c-Cre transgenic mice resulted in a dramatic decrease of Geft expression. Geft knockout mice develop normally and exhibit no discernable phenotype, suggesting Geft is dispensable for the development of the second heart field in mouse. The Geft conditional knockout mouse will be a valuable genetic tool for uncovering the in vivo roles of Geft during development and in adult homeostasis.

CD99 is known to be involved in the regulation of cell-cell adhesion. However, it remains unclear whether CD99 controls cell-extracellular matrix adhesion. In this study, the effects of CD99 activation on cell-extracellular matrix adhesion were investigated. It was found that engagement of CD99 with the stimulating antibody YG32 downregulated the adhesion of MCF-7 cells to fibronectin, laminin and collagen IV in a dose-dependent manner. The CD99 effect on cell-ECM adhesion was inhibited by overexpression of the dominant negative form of CD99 or CD99 siRNA transfection. Treatment of cells with $Mn^{2+}$ or by ${\beta}_1$ integrin-stimulating antibody restored the inhibitory effect of CD99 on cell-ECM adhesion. Cross-linking CD99 inactivated ${\beta}_1$ integrin through conformational change. CD99 activation caused dephosphorylation at Tyr-397 in FAK, which was restored by the ${\beta}_1$ stimulating antibody. Taken together, these results provide the first evidence that CD99 inhibits cell-extracellular matrix adhesion by suppressing ${\beta}_1$ integrin affinity.

We report here that an ethanol extract of Tetracera scandens, a Vietnamese medicinal plant, has anti-HIV activity and possesses strong inhibitory activity against HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RTase). Using a MT-4 cell-based assay, we found that the T. scandens extract inhibited effectively HIV virus replication with an $IC_{50}$ value in the range of 2.0-2.5 ${\mu}g$/ml while the cellular toxicity value (CC50) was more than 40-50 ${\mu}g$/ml concentration, thus yielding a minimum specificity index of 20-fold. Moreover, the anti-HIV efficacy of the T. scandens extract was determined to be due, in part, to its potent inhibitory activity against HIV-1 RTase activity in vitro. The inhibitory activity against the RTase was further confirmed by probing viral cDNA production, an intermediate of viral reverse transcription, in virus-infected cells using quantitative DNA-PCR analysis. Thus, these results suggest that T. scandens can be a useful source for the isolation and development of new anti-HIV-1 inhibitor(s).

Receptor activator of NF-${\kappa}B$ ligand (RANKL) triggers the differentiation of bone marrow-derived monocyte/macrophage precursor cells (BMMs) of hematopoietic origin into osteoclasts through the activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and transcription factors. Recently, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzymes were shown to be closely associated with RANKL-mediated osteoclast differentiation. Although glutaredoxin2 (Glrx2) plays a role in cellular redox homeostasis, its role in RANKL-mediated osteoclastogenesis is unclear. We found that Glrx2 isoform b (Glrx2b) expression is induced during RANKLmediated osteoclastogenesis. Over-expression of Glrx2b strongly enhanced RANKL- mediated osteoclastogenesis. In addition, Glrx2b-transduced BMMs enhanced the expression of key transcription factors c-Fos and NFATc1, but pre-treatment with SB203580, a p38-specific inhibitor, completely blocked this enhancement. Conversely, down-regulation of Glrx2b decreased RANKL- mediated osteoclastogenesis and the expression of c-Fos and NFATc1 proteins. Also, Glrx2b down-regulation attenuated the RANKL-induced activation of p38. Taken together, these results suggest that Glrx2b enhances RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis via p38 activation.

Camellia japonica oil (CJ oil) has been used traditionally in East Asia to nourish and soothe the skin as well as help restore the elasticity of skin. CJ oil has also been used on all types of bleeding instances. However, little is known about its anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, the anti-inflammatory effects of CJ oil and its mechanisms of action were investigated. CJ oil inhibited LPS-induced production of NO, $PGE_2$, and TNF-${\alpha}$ in RAW264.7 cells. In addition, expression of COX-2 and iNOS genes was reduced. To evaluate the mechanism of the anti-inflammatory activity of CJ oil, LPS-induced activation of AP-1 and NF-${\kappa}B$ promoters was found to be significantly reduced by CJ oil. LPS-induced phosphorylation of $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$, ERK, p38, and JNK was also attenuated. Our results indicate that CJ oil exerts anti-inflammatory effects by downregulating the expression of iNOS and COX-2 genes through inhibition of NF-${\kappa}B$ and AP-1 signaling.

Participates in actin remodeling through Rac and receptor endocytosis via Rab5. Here, we used yeast two-hybrid system with Eps8 as bait to screen a human brain cDNA library. ITSN2 was identified as the novel binding factor of Eps8. The interaction between ITSN2 and Eps8 was demonstrated by the in vivo co-immunoprecipitation and colocalization assays and the in vitro GST pull-down assays. Furthermore, we mapped the interaction domains to the region between amino acids 260-306 of Eps8 and the coiled-coil domain of ITSN2. In addition, protein stability assays and immunofluorescence analysis showed ITSN2 overexpression induced the degradation of Eps8 proteins, which was markedly alleviated with the lysosome inhibitor NH4Cl treatment. Taken together, our results suggested ITSN2 interacts with Eps8 and stimulates the degradation of Eps8 proteins.

Cyst formation is a major characteristic of ADPKD and is caused by the abnormal proliferation of epithelial cells. Renal cyst formation disrupts renal function and induces diverse complications. The mechanism of cyst formation is unclear. mIMCD-3 cells were established to develop simple epithelial cell cysts in 3-D culture. We confirmed previously that Mxi1 plays a role in cyst formation in Mxi1-deficient mice. Cysts in Mxi1 transfectanted cells were showed by collagen or mebiol gels in 3-D cell culture system. Causative genes of ADPKD were measured by q RT-PCR. Herein, Mxi1 transfectants rarely formed a simple epithelial cyst and induced cell death. Overexpression of Mxi1 resulted in a decrease in the PKD1, PKD2 and c-myc mRNA relating to the pathway of cyst formation. These data indicate that Mxi1 influences cyst formation of mIMCD-3 cells in 3-D culture and that Mxi1 may control the mechanism of renal cyst formation.

Autophagy has been suggested as a possible mechanism for non-apoptotic death despite evidence from many species that autophagy represents a survival strategy of cells under stress. From our previous findings that supranutritional doses of sodium selenite induced apoptosis in human leukemia cells, now we show autophagic cell death occurred after selenite exposure in HL60, suggested an alternative mechanism for the potential therapeutic properties of selenite. Additionally, Death-associated Protein Kinase (DAPK) performed a significantly increased expression during this process, concomitantly with gradually decreased phosphorylation at $Ser^{308}$. We further reveal that the up-regulation of DAPK which depends on selenite-activated ERK had no effect on autophagy. However, activation of DAPK via PP2A-mediated dephosphorylation at $Ser^{308}$ serves as a new strategy for autophagy induction. In conclusion, these results indicate that PP2A-mediated activated DAPK sensitizes HL60 cells to selenite, ultimately triggers autophagic cell death pathway to commit cell demise.

Enzymatic oxidation of commercially available pyrogallol was efficiently transformed to an oxidative product, purpurogallin. Purpurogallin plays an important role in inhibiting glutathione S-transferase, xanthine oxidase, catechol O-methyltransferase activities and is effective in the cell protection of several cell types. However, the anti-inflammatory functions of purpurogallin are not well studied. Here, we determined the effects of purpurogallin on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-mediated proinflammatory responses. The results showed that purpurogallin inhibited LPS-mediated barrier hyper-permeability, monocyte adhesion and migration and such inhibitory effects were significantly correlated with the inhibitory functions of purpurogallin on LPS-mediated cell adhesion molecules (vascular cell adhesion molecules, intracellular cell adhesion molecule, E-selectin). Furthermore, LPS-mediated nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$) and tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) releases from HUVECs were inhibited by purpurogallin. Given these results, purpurogallin showed its anti-inflammatory activities and could be a candidate as a therapeutic agent for various systemic inflammatory diseases.