Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to be implicated in the complex network of cancer including malignant melanoma and play important roles in tumorigenesis and progression. However, their functions and downstream mechanisms are largely unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether BRAF-activated non-coding RNA (BANCR), a novel and potential regulator of melanoma cell, participates in the proliferation of malignant melanoma and elucidate the underlying mechanism in this process. We found that BANCR was abnormally overexpressed in human malignant melanoma cell lines and tissues, and increased with tumor stages by quantitative PCR. BANCR knockdown induced by shRNA transfection significantly inhibited proliferation of tumor cells and inactivated MAPK pathway, especially by silencing the ERK1/2 and JNK component. Moreover, combination treatment of BANCR knockdown and suppression ERK1/2 or JNK (induced by specific inhibitors U0126 or SP600125 respectively) produced synergistic inhibitory effects in vitro. And the inhibitory effects induced by ERK1/2 or JNK could be rescued by BANCR overexpression. By tumorigenicity assay in BALB/c nude mice, we further found that BANCR knockdown inhibited tumor growth in vivo. In addition, patients with high expression of BANCR had a lower survival rate. Taken together, we confirmed the abnormal upregulation of a novel lncRNA, BANCR, in human malignant melanoma. BANCR was involved in melanoma cell proliferation both in vitro and in vivo. The linkage between BANCR and MAPK pathway may provide a novel interpretation for the mechanism of proliferation regulation in malignant melanoma.

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Twelve new xanthones (1-12), a pair of new natural products (13 and 14), and 18 known related compounds were isolated from the resin of Garcinia hanburyi. The structures of 1-14 were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analyses. A cytotoxic assay of the isolated compounds revealed that, with the exception of 2, these compounds were active against the HeLa tumor cell line.

Melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer with a rapid progression and a limited efficiency of therapeutics. Recently, studies have identified some microRNAs playing important roles in the development of melanoma. Syndecan-1 (Syn-1), dysregulated in many cancers, plays important roles in tumor progression by controlling cell proliferation. In this study, we investigated whether microRNA-143 (miR-143) is involved in the regulation of Syn-1 and thus plays a functional role in melanoma. We found that miR-143 expression was significantly lower in melanoma tissues than in normal tissues and its low expression was closely related to clinical stages of melanoma. Further experiments showed that consistent with the inhibitory effects induced by knockdown of Syn-1, overexpression of miR-143 suppressed cell proliferation, promoted G1 phase arrest and induced apoptosis in melanoma. Downregulation of miR-143 apparently produced opposite effects. Combined treatment of miR-143 overexpression and Syn-1 knockdown induced remarkable synergistic effects, while reconstitution of miR-143-resistant Syn-1 reversed the inhibitory activity of miR-143. Moreover, miR-143 level was inversely correlated with Syn-1 expression in melanoma cells. miR-143 directly targeted the 3′-untranslated regions of Syn-1 mRNA and they were in the same Argonaute2 complex. Taken together, this study revealed a link between miRNA-143 and Syn-1 in the pathogenesis of melanoma. MiR-143 plays an important role in the regulation of cell growth in melanoma. Restoration of miR-143 expression may represent a promising and efficient therapeutic approach for targeting malignant melanoma.

High performance hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics with excellent densification and mechanical properties were successfully fabricated by digital light processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. It was found that the sintering atmosphere of wet CO2 can dramatically improve the densification process and thus lead to better mechanical properties. HA ceramics with a relative density of 97.12% and a three-point bending strength of 92.4 MPa can be achieved at a sintering temperature of 1300 , which makes a solid foundation for application ℃ in bone engineering. Furthermore, a relatively high compressive strength of 4.09 MPa can be also achieved for a DLP-printed p-cell triply periodic minimum surface (TPMS) structure with a porosity of 74%, which meets the requirement of cancellous bone substitutes. A further cell proliferation test demonstrated that the sintering atmosphere of wet CO2 led to improve cell vitality after 7 days of cell culture Moreover, with the possible benefit from the bio-inspired structure, the 3D-printed TPMS structure significantly improved the cell vitality, which is crucial for early osteogenesis and osteointegration.