PC (pancreatic cancer) is the fourth most common cause of death due to cancer worldwide. The incidence and mortality rates have been increasing year by year worldwide, and this review has analyzed the most recent incidence and mortality data for pancreatic cancer occurrence in China. Several possible risk factors have been discussed here, involving known established risk factors and novel possible risk factors. The development of this cancer is a stepwise progression through intraepithelial neoplasia to carcinoma. Though early and accurate diagnosis is promising based on a combination of recent techniques including tumor markers and imaging modalities, lacking early clinical symptoms makes the diagnosis late. Correct staging is critical because treatment is generally based on this parameter. Treatment options have improved throughout the last decades. However, surgical excision remains the primary therapy and efficacy of conventional chemoradiotherapy for PC is limited. Recently, some novel new therapies have been developed and will be applied in clinics soon. This review will provide an overview of pancreatic cancer, including an understanding of the developments and controversies.

MYB transcription factors have been demonstrated to play key regulatory roles in plant growth, development and abiotic stress response. However, knowledge concerning the involvement of rice MYB genes in salinity and drought stress resistance are largely unknown. In the present study, we cloned and characterized the OsMYB6 gene, which was induced by drought and salinity stress. Subcellular localization of OsMYB6-YFP fusion protein in protoplast cells indicated that OsMYB6 was localized in the nucleus. Overexpression of OsMYB6 in rice did not suggest a negative effect on the growth and development of transgenic plants, but OsMYB6 -overexpressing plants showed increased tolerance to drought and salt stress compared with wild-type plants, as are evaluated by higher proline content, higher CAT and SOD activities, lower REL and MDA content in transgenic plants under drought and salt stress conditions. In addition, the expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes were significantly higher in OsMYB6 transgenic plants than that in wild-type plants under drought and salt stress conditions. These results indicate that OsMYB6 gene functions as a stress-responsive transcription factor which plays a positive regulatory role in response to drought and salt stress resistance, and may be used as a candidate gene for molecular breeding of salt-tolerant and drought-tolerant crop varieties.

Exercise and dietary intervention are currently available strategies to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), while the underlying mechanism remains controversial. Emerging evidence shows that lipophagy is involved in the inhibition of the lipid droplets accumulation. However, it is still unclear if exercise and dietary intervention improve NAFLD through regulating lipophagy, and how exercise of skeletal muscle can modulate lipid metabolism in liver. Moreover, NAFLD is associated with aging, and little is known about the effect of lipid accumulation on aging process. Here in vivo and in vitro models, we found that exercise and dietary intervention reduced lipid droplets formation, decreased hepatic triglyceride in the liver induced by high-fat diet. Exercise and dietary intervention enhanced the lipophagy by activating AMPK/ULK1 and inhibiting Akt/mTOR/ULK1 pathways respectively. Furthermore, exercise stimulated FGF21 production in the muscle, followed by secretion to the circulation to promote the lipophagy in the liver via an AMPK-dependent pathway. Importantly, for the first time, we demonstrated that lipid accumulation exacerbated liver aging, which was ameliorated by exercise and dietary intervention through inducing lipophagy. Our findings suggested a new mechanism of exercise and dietary intervention to improve NAFLD through promoting lipophagy. The study also provided evidence to support that muscle exercise is beneficial to other metabolic organs such as liver. The FGF21-mediated AMPK dependent lipophagy might be a potential drug target for NAFLD and aging caused by lipid metabolic dysfunction.

Tumor metastasis occurs naturally in pancreatic cancer, and the efficacy of chemotherapy is usually poor. Precision medicine, combining downregulation of target genes with chemotherapy drugs, is expected to improve therapeutic effects. Therefore, we developed a combined therapy of microRNA‐21 antisense oligonucleotides (ASO‐miR‐21) and gemcitabine (Gem) using a targeted co‐delivery nanoparticle (NP) carrier and investigated the synergistic inhibitory effects on pancreatic cancer cells metastasis and growth. Polyethylene glycol–polyethylenimine–magnetic iron oxide NPs were used to co‐deliver ASO‐miR‐21 and Gem. An anti‐CD44v6 single‐chain variable fragment (scFvCD 44v6) was used to coat the particles to obtain active and targeted delivery. Our results showed that the downregulation of the oncogenic miR‐21 by ASO resulted in upregulation of the tumor‐suppressor genes PDCD4 and PTEN and the suppression of epithelial–mesenchymal transition, which inhibited the proliferation and induced the clonal formation, migration, and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro. The co‐delivery of ASO‐miR‐21 and Gem induced more cell apoptosis and inhibited the growth of pancreatic cancer cells to a greater extent than single ASO‐miR‐21 or Gem treatment in vitro. In animal tests, more scFvCD 44v6‐PEG‐polyethylenimine/ASO‐magnetic iron oxide NP/Gem accumulated at the tumor site than non‐targeted NPs and induced a potent inhibition of tumor proliferation and metastasis. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to observed tumor homing of NPs. These results imply that the combination of miR‐21 gene silencing and Gem therapy using an scFv‐functionalized NP carrier exerted synergistic antitumor effects on pancreatic cancer cells, which is a promising strategy for pancreatic cancer therapy.