• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3811-3816
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• 2015

Background: Hairy and enhancer of split 1 (Hes-1) protein is a downstream target of Notch signaling and is a basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor. However, definitive evidence for a role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells has not been reported. Here, Hes-1 was revealed to an important component of the Notch signaling cascade in HCC cell lines possessing different potential for lung metastasis. Materials and Methods: RNAi mediated by plasmid constructs was used to analyze the role of Hes-1 in MHCC-97L HCC cells by assessing proliferation, apoptosis, cell migration and matrigel invasion following transfection. Hes-1 protein expression analysis in HCC tissue was also conducted by immunohistochemistry. Results: Our studies revealed that Hes-1 was decreased in HCC cell lines with higher lung metastasis potential at both the mRNA and protein levels. Down-regulation of the Hes-1 gene in MHCC-97L cells resulted in increased cell proliferation, reduced apoptosis and increased migration and invasion. Conclusions: Hes-1 has potential prognostic value in post-surgical HCC patients and may be an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival and tumor recurrence. These findings have important implications for understanding the mechanisms by which Hes-1 participates in tumor proliferation and invasion.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 1996

Imidacloprid and a series of the related compounds were synthesized, and influence of 3-N substituents(R) on the insecticidal activities against Brown plant hopper(Nilaparvata lugens) and Green peach aphid(Myzus persicae) were examined quantitatively from the structure-activities relationships(Shh) techniques. The results indicated that the molecular hydrophobicity$({\pi})$ and inductive substituent constant$({\sigma}^{\ast})$ of substituents(R) at 3-nitrogen position on the imidazolidine ring were important factors. Variations in the potency were parabolically related to the both constants. In case of Brown plant hopper, optimum value of ${\pi}$ constant was 0.52, whereas the value of ${\sigma}^{\ast}$ constant against Green peach aphid was 1.17, respectively. Among them, the strong electron withdrawing groups$({\sigma}^{\ast}>0)$ such as methyl and benzenesulfonyl group(7 & 8) showed lower insecticidal activity and non-substituted, 1(imidacloprid) showed the best insecticidal activity. It seems that the intramolecular associated(H-bond) form between 2-N-nitro group and 3-imid group may contribute to the higher insecticidal activity to the both sucking insects. And in aqueous solution, 1 showed higher residual activity below pH 6.0, and the half-life$(T_{1/2})$ was about 6 month at pH 7.0 $(ca.\;k_{obs.}:5{\times}10^{-8}sec.^{-1})$ and $45^{\circ}C$.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.173-181
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• 2009

One of the most extensively studied populations of multipotent adult stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). MSCs derived from the human umbilical cord vein (HUC-MSCs) are morphologically and immunophenotypically similar to MSCs isolated from bone marrow. HUC-MSCs are multipotent stem cells, differ from hematopoietic stem cells and can be differentiated into neural cells. Since neural tissue has limited intrinsic capacity of repair after injury, the identification of alternate sources of neural stem cells has broad clinical potential. We isolated mesenchymal-like stem cells from the human umbilical cord vein, and studied transdifferentiation-promoting conditions in neural cells. Dopaminergic neuronal differentiation of HUC-MSCs was also studied. Neural differentiation was induced by adding bFGF, EGF, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in N2 medium and N2 supplement. The immunoreactive cells for $\beta$-tubulin III, a neuron-specific marker, GFAP, an astrocyte marker, or Gal-C, an oligodendrocyte marker, were found. HUC-MSCs treated with bFGF, SHH and FGF8 were differentiated into dopaminergic neurons that were immunopositive for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) antibody. HUC-MSCs treated with DMSO and BHA rapidly showed the morphology of multipolar neurons. Both immunocytochemistry and RT-PCR analysis indicated that the expression of a number of neural markers including NeuroD1, $\beta$-tubulin III, GFAP and nestin was markedly elevated during this acute differentiation. While the stem cell markers such as SCF, C-kit, and Stat-3 were not expressed after neural differentiation, we confirmed the differentiation of dopaminergic neurons by TH/$\beta$-tubulin III positive cells. In conclusion, HUC-MSCs can be differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and these findings suggest that HUC-MSCs are alternative cell source of therapeutic treatment for neurodegenerative diseases.