Project description:To evaluate the effect of incorporating the polyphenol, curcumin, into nanodisk (ND) particles on its biological activity.Curcumin-NDs formulated with different scaffold proteins were incubated with cultured glioblastoma multiforme cells.When ApoE was employed as the ND scaffold protein, enhanced curcumin uptake was observed. Furthermore, ApoE curcumin-NDs induced greater cell death than either free curcumin or ApoAI curcumin-NDs. A total of 1 h after exposure of glioblastoma multiforme cells to ApoE curcumin-NDs, significant curcumin uptake was detected while ApoE was localized at the cell surface. After 2 h, a portion of the curcumin had migrated to the nucleus, giving rise to enhanced fluorescence intensity in discrete intranuclear sites.ApoE-mediated interaction of curcumin-NDs with glioblastoma multiforme cells leads to enhanced curcumin uptake and increased biological activity.
Project description:The major bottleneck in the current chemotherapy treatment of cancer is the low bioavailability and high cytotoxicity. Targeted delivery of drug to the cancer cells can reduce the cytotoxicity and increase the bioavailability. In this context, microbubbles are currently being explored as drug-delivery vehicles to effectively deliver drug to the tumors or cancerous cells. Microbubbles when used along with ultrasound can enhance drug uptake and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. Several potential anticancer molecules exhibit poor water solubility, which limits their use in therapeutic applications. Such poorly water soluble molecules can be coadministered with microbubbles or encapsulated within or loaded on the microbubbles surface, to enhance the effectiveness of these molecules against cancer cells. Curcumin is one of such potential anticancer molecules obtained from the rhizome of herbal spice, turmeric. In this work, curcumin-loaded protein microbubbles were synthesized and examined for effective in vitro delivery of curcumin to HeLa cells. Microbubbles in the size range of 1-10 μm were produced using perfluorobutane as core gas and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as shell material and were loaded with curcumin. The amount of curcumin loaded on the microbubble surface was estimated using UV-vis spectroscopy, and the average curcumin loading was found to be ∼54 μM/108 microbubbles. Kinetics of in vitro curcumin release from microbubble surface was also estimated, where a 4-fold increase in the rate of curcumin release was obtained in the presence of ultrasound. Sonication and incubation of HeLa cells with curcumin-loaded BSA microbubbles enhanced the uptake of curcumin by ∼250 times. Further, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay confirmed ∼71% decrease in cell viability when HeLa cells were sonicated with curcumin-loaded microbubbles and incubated for 48 h.
Project description:Gene expression analysis study in curcumin treated (20µM curcumin treated Y79 cells) and control Y79 cells (Suspension Y79 cells). Source were Y79 retinoblastoma cell line from human.
Project description:Background: Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most prevalent endocrine malignancy, and is categorized into well-differentiated and aggressive anaplastic types. Novel therapeutic modalities are needed for TC. Nanomedicine is a promising strategy for the development of precision medicine. In this context, we investigated the use of nanogels (NGs) to deliver agents with different physicochemical properties, specifically the hydrophilic agent doxorubicin (DOX) and the hydrophobic compound curcumin (CUR), in TC cell lines. Methods: Nα-9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF) peptide-based NGs loaded with DOX and CUR were formulated using the solvent-switch method. DOX-loaded NGs were previously characterized. CUR-loaded NGs were characterized through rheology, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Confocal microscopy, q-RT-PCR, and ATP lite assays were performed to evaluate the uptake and delivery of DOX- and CUR-loaded NGs on TC cell lines. Results: CUR-loaded NGs exhibited a mean diameter of approximately 204.3 nm and a zeta potential of -34.6 mV, indicative of a good stability. In vitro release studies revealed a sustained release profile of CUR over 72 h. Functional analyses demonstrated that Fmoc-FF-loaded NGs were internalized into TC cell lines. They were primarily localized in the cytoplasm rather than in early endosomes, thereby ensuring intracellular stability. Furthermore, Fmoc-FF NGs reduced the nuclear uptake kinetics of DOX in TC cells, suggesting a potential reduction in dose-limiting toxicity. Comparative studies with CUR-loaded NGs revealed similar internalization and delayed nuclear uptake, highlighting the efficacy of Fmoc-FF NGs in delivering hydrophobic agents. Conclusions: Overall, the data suggest that Fmoc-FF NGs represent a promising strategy for delivering agents with diverse physicochemical properties in TC, enhancing their efficacy and safety and warranting further investigation.
Project description:MicroRNAs are important negative regulators of protein coding gene expression, and have been studied intensively over the last few years. To this purpose, different measurement platforms to determine their RNA abundance levels in biological samples have been developed. In this study, we have systematically compared 12 commercially available microRNA expression platforms by measuring an identical set of 20 standardized positive and negative control samples, including human universal reference RNA, human brain RNA and titrations thereof, human serum samples, and synthetic spikes from homologous microRNA family members. We developed novel quality metrics in order to objectively assess platform performance of very different technologies such as small RNA sequencing, RT-qPCR and (microarray) hybridization. We assessed reproducibility, sensitivity, quantitative performance, and specificity. The results indicate that each method has its strengths and weaknesses, which helps guiding informed selection of a quantitative microRNA gene expression platform in function of particular study goals.
Project description:Purpose: Next Generation sequencing (NGS) has revolutionized system-based cellular pathway analysis. The aim of this study was to infect differentially expressed genes for the BV2 phenotype with cur-transformed PRV and to predict possible molecular mechanisms involved in phenotypic transformation.Methods: The BV2 cells in the three treatment groups were sequenced by Illumina sequencing platform, and three repeated mRNA maps of BV2 cells were obtained. The cells were divided into control group: normal BV2 cells were cultured for 48 hours; PRV infection group: BV2 cells were infected with 1.66×106TCID50 PRV for 48h; CUR treatment group: BV2 cells were infected with 1.66×106TCID50 PRV for 24h and then treated with 20μM CUR for 24h.Results:The number of differentially expressed genes in PRV group and CON group was 306, including 242 biologically significant up-regulated genes and 64 biologically significant down-regulated genes. The number of differentially expressed genes in PRV+CUR group and PRV group was 5073, among which 2661 were biologically significant up-regulated genes and 2412 were biologically significant down-regulated genes. Compared with CON group, 1785 differentially expressed genes were found in PRV+CUR group, including 788 biologically significant up-regulated genes and 997 biologically significant down-regulated genes.Conclusions: Bioinformatics analysis of transcriptome characteristics and differentially expressed genes of BV2 in different phenotypes after PRV infection and CUR treatment showed that glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, Alzheimer's disease and fatty acid synthesis pathway may be involved in the process of BV2 activation into M1 type. Glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, insulin signaling pathway, NF-κB pathway, AMPK pathway, oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid synthesis may be involved in the phenotypic transformation of PRV-infected BV2 with CUR. Among them, AMPK may influence phenotypic transformation by controlling the transformation of energy metabolism.
Project description:The aim of this work was to elucidate the role of the lncRNA LINC00707 in HaCaT cells and study whether its downregulation mimics the effects of TGFβ treatment. To this end we used the HaCaT cells that were either transfected with a non-targeting shRNA (shC) and treated with TGFβ1 for 24 h (shC+TGFβ) or stably transfected with two different shRNAs targeting LINC00707 (shLINC00707#2 and shLINC00707#3). Then we analysed gene expression using Ion torrent AmpliseqTM.
Project description:Curcumin (CUR) is a natural phenolic product used as a high-efficiency and low-toxicity anticancer drug and photosensitizer. However, it has a poor aqueous solubility and a lack of target specificity, which limits its clinical applications. Hence, we developed a folate-conjugated polymeric micelle to enhance the efficient delivery of CUR for effective cancer cell targeting and anticancer efficiency. A series of biocompatible folate-conjugated poly(2-(methacryloyloxy)ethylphosphoryl- choline)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) (FPM) was synthesized with different hydrophobic lengths and folate contents. The prepared CUR-loaded micelles (CUR-FPM) possessed several superior properties, including an excellent drug loading capacity (6.3 ± 1.2%), improved CUR aqueous stability, fast-sustained CUR release in an acidic environment, and efficient intracellular production of reactive oxygen species. The in vitro cytotoxicity demonstrated that the CUR-FPM micelles efficiently suppressed the growth of HeLa cells (folate-receptor overexpression) compared to that of HT-29 cells, and a competition study showed less cytotoxic effect when free folic acid blocked the folate receptor, indicating the folate conjugation played the role of targeting the specific cells well. Moreover, the CUR-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) by CUR-FPM micelles under irradiation further inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells. All these results indicate that the CUR-FPM micelles could be a promising delivery system for folate-overexpressing cancer cells, complementary chemotherapy, and CUR-mediated photodynamic therapy.
Project description:Gene expression analysis study in curcumin treated (20µM curcumin treated Y79 cells ) and control Y79 cells (Suspension Y79 cells). Source were Y79 retinoblastoma cell line from human. Organism used: Homo sapiens ï Slides: Gene Expression Whole Human Genome 4x44k ï Starting material: Cells in RNA later ï RNA Samples used: :Control Y79 and Treated_Curcumin ï Labeling kit: Agilents Low input RNA linear amplification Kit one color Labeling Method: T7 promoter based-linear amplification to generate labeled complementary RNA ï Total RNA and cRNA Purification Kit: Qiagenâs RNeasy minikit ï Hybridization Kit: Agilentâs In situ Hybridzation kit Hybridization protocol The fragmented cRNA were mixed with 25ul of 2x GE Hybridization Buffer (Agilent). About 45ul of the resulting mixture was applied to the Microarray and hybridized at 65degC for 17 hours in an Agilent Microarray Hybridization Chamber (SureHyb: G2534A) with Hybridization Oven. After hybridization, slides were washed with Agilent Gene expression Wash Buffer I for 1 minute at room temperature followed by a 1 min wash with Agilent Gene expression Wash Buffer II for 37C. Slides were finally rinsed with Acetonitrile for cleaning up and drying. Scan protocol Laser detection of Cyanine 3 and Cyanine 5 fluorescence is performed using a confocal scanning instrument containing two tuned lasers, which excite Cyanine dyes at the appropriate wavelengths. Description Microarrays were scanned on an Agilent scanner (G2565AA) at 100% laser power, 30% PMT.Data extraction was carried out with Agilent Feature Extraction software (version 9.1), and normalization was done using linear per array algorithm according to the manufacturerâs protocol. Data processing Feature extracted data was analyzed using GeneSpring GX v 7.3.1 software from Agilent. Normalization of the data was done in GeneSpring GX using the recommended one color Per Chip and Per Gene Data Transformation: Set measurements less than 0.01 to 0.01, Per Chip: Normalize to 50th percentile, Per Gene: Normalize to Specific Samples. Further quality control of normalized data was done using correlation based condition tree to eliminate bad experiments. Differentially regulated Genes were filtered with cutoff of > 1.5 for Up regulation and < 0.55 for Down Regulation were obtained. Differentially regulated genes were clustered using gene tree to identify significant gene expression patterns.
Project description:This study consists of 10 whole genome RNA-seq profiles which have been generated from blood samples collected from ten different volunteers in the Personal Genome Project UK