Overall, the results of this study indicated that taking probiotic supplements for 8 weeks among patients with RA had beneficial effects on DAS-28, insulin levels, HOMA-B and hs-CRP levels.

No abstract

Many metastatic cancers recapitulate the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) resulting in enhanced cell motility and invasiveness. The EMT is regulated by several transcription factors, including the zinc finger protein SNAI2, also named Slug, which appears to exert additional functions during development and cancer progression. We have studied the function of SNAI2 in prostate cancer cells. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis showed strong SNAI2 expression particularly in the PC-3 and PC3-16 prostate carcinoma cell lines. Knockdown of SNAI2 by specific siRNA induced changes in EMT markers and inhibited invasion of both cell lines into a matrigel matrix. SNAI2 siRNA-treated cells did not tolerate detachment from the culture plates, likely at least in part due to downregulation of integrin alpha6beta4. SNAI2 knockdown disturbed the microtubular and actin cytoskeletons, especially severely in PC-3 cells, resulting in grossly enlarged, flattened, and sometimes multinuclear cells. Knockdown also decreased cell proliferation, with a prominent G0/G1 arrest in PC3-16. Together, our data imply that SNAI2 exerts strong effects on the cytoskeleton and adhesion of those prostate cancer cells that express it and is necessary for their proliferation and invasiveness.

In conclusion, PlncRNA-1 and TUG1 genes may play a critical role in GC progression and may serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers in GC patients.

The RNA-binding protein Musashi1 (MSI1) is a marker of progenitor cells in the nervous system functioning as a translational repressor. We detected MSI1 mRNA in several bladder carcinoma cell lines, but not in cultured normal uroepithelial cells, whereas the paralogous MSI2 gene was broadly expressed. Knockdown of MSI1 expression by siRNA induced apoptosis and a severe decline in cell numbers in 5637 bladder carcinoma cells. Microarray analysis of gene expression changes after MSI1 knockdown significantly up-regulated 735 genes, but down-regulated only 31. Up-regulated mRNAs contained a highly significantly greater number and density of Musashi binding sites. Therefore, a much larger set of mRNAs may be regulated by Musashi1, which may affect not only their translation, but also their turnover. The study confirmed p21CIP1 and Numb proteins as targets of Musashi1, suggesting additionally p27KIP1 in cell-cycle regulation and Jagged-1 in Notch signalling. A significant number of up-regulated genes encoded components of stress granules (SGs), an organelle involved in translational regulation and mRNA turnover, and impacting on apoptosis. Accordingly, heat shock induced SG formation was augmented by Musashi1 down-regulation. Our data show that ectopic MSI1 expression may contribute to tumorigenesis in selected bladder cancers through multiple mechanisms and reveal a previously unrecognized function of Musashi1 in the regulation of SG formation.