The level of plasma diamine oxidase (DAO) activity is associated with the maturation and integrity of small intestinal mucosa. This study in rats investigated whether a decreased level of plasma DAO could reflect the severity of mucosal injury due to intravenous 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) treatment. The beneficial effect of soluble dietary fiber (SDF) on preventing diarrhea after 5-FU treatment was also examined. To induce diarrhea, 5-FU (50 mg/kg/day for four days) was administered via the tail vein with or without SDF supplementation. After 5-FU treatment, the majority of rats developed moderate to severe diarrhea, and levels of plasma DAO activity significantly decreased compared to those of control group (P < 0.05). Scanning electron microscopy revealed disarrangement of the small intestinal villi. Contrarily, the rats supplemented with SDF had diarrhea less frequently (50.0 vs. 91.7 %, P = 0.025) on day five, and DAO activity levels were significantly higher than in those rats administered 5-FU alone (8.25 ± 5.34 vs. 5.50 ± 4.32, P = 0.023). In conclusion, plasma DAO activity decreases in response to severe intestinal mucosal injury after 5-FU treatment, and SDF supplementation might be a practical and useful treatment for reducing the intestinal toxicity of 5-FU.

The cell‐adhesion glycoprotein PODXL is associated with an aggressive tumor phenotype in several forms of cancer. Here, we report that high PODXL expression was an independent predictor of worse overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients, and that PODXL promoted pancreatic cancer cell motility and invasion by physically binding to the cytoskeletal protein gelsolin. Suppression of PODXL or gelsolin decreased membrane protrusions with abundant peripheral actin structures, and in turn inhibited cell motility and invasion. Transfection of a PODXL‐rescue construct renewed the expression of gelsolin bound to peripheral actin structures in cell protrusions, and abrogated the decreased cell protrusions caused by the knockdown of PODXL. Furthermore, transfection of a PODXL‐rescue construct into pancreatic cancer cells in which both PODXL and gelsolin were suppressed failed to increase the formation of the protrusions. Thus, PODXL enhances motility and invasiveness through an increase in gelsolin–actin interactions in cell protrusions.

This study strongly suggests that perioperative supplementation of a branched-chain amino acid-enriched nutrient-mixture is clinically beneficial in reducing the morbidity associated with postoperative complications and in shortening the duration of hospitalization of patients with chronic liver disease who undergo liver resection for HCC.

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