The overexpression of Aurora kinase A (AURKA), a member of serine/threonine kinase family, has been observed in various types of human cancers. However, the role of AURKA in osteosarcoma (OS), the most common type of primary malignancy arising from bone, has not been clarified. We used AURKA-specific lentivirus-delivered short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to significantly and sustainably silence the endogenous AURKA expression in human OS cells SAOS-2 and U2OS. We found that AURKA downregulation in OS cells prominently decreased colony formation ability in vitro and tumorigenesis ability in vivo. We further evaluated the effect of AURKA silence on cell viability by MTT assay, cell apoptosis and cell cycle by flow cytometer detection. The results showed that AURKA silence inhibited cell viability by inducing cell apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest in OS cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that AURKA plays a crucial role on OS growth by inhibiting cell apoptosis and propelling cell cycle. Inhibition of AURKA by lentivirus-delivered specific shRNA showed the therapeutic potential in treatment of osteosarcoma.

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. AbstractThe extracts of nine selected Nigerian medicinal plants were investigated on Trypanosoma brucei brucei infected mice. The antiinflammatory properties of hexane fraction of the most promising U. chamae extract was assessed by acute oedema of the mice paw model while the modulatory effect of the extract on Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity (DTH) response on in vivo leucocytes mobilization was evaluated. 'Dose-probing acute toxicity tests' established an oral and intraperitoneal LD 50 for T. ivorensis stem bark as >1600 < 5000 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg respectively, while the oral LD 50 of Uvaria. chamae was >5000 mg/kg. Extracts of Khaya senegalensis, Harungana madagascariensis, Terminalia ivorensis, Curcuma longa, Ocimum gratissimum and Alcornea cordifolia showed weak anti-trypanosomal effect and did not exhibit significant clearance in parasitemia at the test dose administered compared with the positive control (Diminal®). However, the leaf extract of U. chamae and its hexane fraction demonstrated a significant response (P < 0.01). The fraction at 1000 mg/kg inhibited oedema by 107%. Uvaria. chamae demonstrated both antitrypanosomal and anti-inflammatory properties by increasing the survival time of infected mice due to reduction in parasitemia caused by T. brucei brucei.

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Three-dimensional Ce-doped ZnO was synthesized via coprecipitation and roasting processes. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, specific surface area (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method), and photoluminescence spectra. Also, the photocatalytic activities of ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO were investigated in ultraviolet light for degradation of methylene blue solution. The results indicated that the concentration of NaOH and the doping amount of Ce showed great influence on morphology, structures, and properties of Ce-doped ZnO. When the (Ce 3+ +Zn 2+)/OH 2 was 1:2.5 and the concentration of Ce was 2 mol%, the morphology of the Ce-doped ZnO was microspheres with superstructures assembled by large amounts of interleaving nanosheets. The morphology transformed from microspheres with superstructures to amorphous by changing the ratio of (Ce 3+ +Zn 2+)/OH 2 from 1:2 to 1:3. The photoluminescence spectra indicated that the recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs of Ce-doped ZnO was suppressed. The prepared Ce-doped ZnO showed much enhanced photocatalytic property than pure ZnO. When the doping concentration of Ce was 2 mol%, the Ce-doped ZnO photocatalysts showed best photocatalytic activity with 99.10% degradation of methylene blue solution after 2 h.