No abstract

Microcystins (MC), cyanobacterial peptide hepatotoxins, comprise more than 100 different variants. They are rather polar molecules but some variants contain hydrophobic amino acid residues in the highly variable parts of the molecule. In MC-LF and MC-LW, the more hydrophobic phenylalanine (F) and tryptophan (W), respectively, have replaced arginine (R) in MC-LR. Depending on the structure, microcystins are expected to have different in vivo toxicity and bioavailability, but only a few studies have considered the toxic properties of the more hydrophobic variants. The present study shows that MC-LF and MC-LW have more pronounced cytotoxic effects on Caco-2 cells as compared to those of MC-LR. Treatment of Caco-2 cells with MC-LW and especially MC-LF showed clear apoptotic features including shrinkage and blebbing, and the cell–cell adhesion was lost. An obvious reduction of cell proliferation and viability, assessed as the activity of mitochondrial dehydrogenases, was observed with MC-LF, followed by MC-LW and MC-LR. Cytotoxicity was quantified by measuring lactate dehydrogenase leakage. The more hydrophobic MC-LW and MC-LF induced markedly enhanced lactate dehydrogenase leakage compared to controls and MC-LR, indicating that the plasma membrane was damaged. All of the three toxins examined inhibited protein phosphatase 1, with MC-LF and MC-LW to a weaker extent compared to MC-LR. The higher toxic potential of the more hydrophobic microcystins could not be explained by the biophysical experiments performed. Taken together, our data show that the more hydrophobic microcystin variants induce higher toxicity in Caco-2 cells.

No abstract

Preoperative diagnostics of ovarian neoplasms rely on ultrasound imaging and the serum biomarkers CA125 and HE4. However, these markers may be elevated in non-neoplastic conditions and may fail to identify most non-serous epithelial cancer subtypes. The objective of this study was to identify histotype-specific serum biomarkers for mucinous ovarian cancer. The candidate genes with mucinous histotype specific expression profile were identified from publicly available gene-expression databases and further in silico data mining was performed utilizing the MediSapiens database. Candidate biomarker validation was done using qRT-PCR, western blotting and immunohistochemical staining of tumor tissue microarrays. The expression level of the candidate gene in serum was compared to the serum CA125 and HE4 levels in a patient cohort of prospectively collected advanced ovarian cancer. Database searches identified REG4 as a potential biomarker with specificity for the mucinous ovarian cancer subtype. The specific expression within epithelial ovarian tumors was further confirmed by mRNA analysis. Immunohistochemical staining of ovarian tumor tissue arrays showed distinctive cytoplasmic expression pattern only in mucinous carcinomas and suggested differential expression between benign and malignant mucinous neoplasms. Finally, an ELISA based serum biomarker assay demonstrated increased expression only in patients with mucinous ovarian cancer. This study identifies REG4 as a potential serum biomarker for histotype-specific detection of mucinous ovarian cancer and suggests serum REG4 measurement as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for postoperative follow-up of patients with mucinous ovarian cancer.