Aims: In the NOD-like receptor (NLR) family, the pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is closely related to the progression of atherosclerosis. This study aimed to assess the effects of curcumin on NLRP3 inflammasome in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced macrophages and explore its underlying mechanism.Methods: Human monocytic THP-1 cells were pretreated with curcumin for 1 h and subsequently induced with PMA for 48 h. Total protein was collected for Western blot analysis. Cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β release and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65 translocation were detected by ELISA assay and cellular NF-κB translocation kit, respectively.Results: Curcumin significantly reduced the expression of NLRP3 and cleavage of caspase-1 and IL-1β secretion in PMA-induced macrophages. Moreover, Bay (a NF-κB inhibitor) treatment considerably suppressed the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome in PMA-induced THP-1 cells. Curcumin also markedly inhibited the upregulation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), phosphorylation level of IκB-α, and activation of NF-κB in PMA-induced macrophages. In addition, purinergic 2X7 receptor (P2X7R) siRNA was administered, and it significantly decreased NLRP3 inflammasome expression in PMA-induced macrophages. Furthermore, curcumin reversed PMA-stimulated P2X7R activation, which further reduced the expression of NLRP3 and cleavage of caspase-1 and IL-1β secretion. Silencing of P2X7R using siRNA also suppressed the activation of NF-κB pathway in PMA-induced macrophages, but P2X7R-silenced cells did not significantly decrease the expression of TLR4 and MyD88.Conclusion: Curcumin inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome through suppressing TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and P2X7R pathways in PMA-induced macrophages.

The miR-17-92 cluster and its paralogs were significantly elevated in patients with colon cancer, and heightened expression of miR-17 was associated with poor survival. Moreover, miR-17 and TNM staging were both identified as significant, but independent, prognostic biomarkers in colon cancer.

The over-expression of tissue factor (TF) and its roles in colon cancer progression have attracted much attention. However, the mechanisms regulating TF expression have not yet been shown in detail. In this study, we over-expressed miR-19a, miR20a and miR-106b in colon cancer cells, and evaluated their impact on TF expression and cellular function. We provide evidence demonstrating that miR-19a inhibited TF expression in vitro. Luciferase reporter assay confirmed that TF was a direct target of miR-19a because the miR-19a mediated repression of luciferase activity was abolished by mutation of the putative binding site. Moreover, miR-19a suppressed colon cancer cell migration and invasion. This effect was due to the indirect down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase 9. Finally, we investigated the relevance of TF and miR-19a expression in a total of 48 paired colon cancer samples and revealed that miR-19a was inversely correlated with TF expression in stages I and II cases. Therefore, our results suggested that miR-19a was capable of suppressing TF expression in vitro and inhibiting cell migration and invasion. Although it was not the unique mechanism responsible for the expression of TF in vivo, miR-19a was inversely correlated with TF expression in early stage colon cancer patients.

We demonstrate here a facile one-pot interfacial synthesis of Au nanoparticles and Au-polyaniline nanocomposites through the polymerization of aniline by HAuCl 4 , and the nanocomposites are efficient catalysts for the reduction of rhodamine B.

Anti-müllerian hormone (AMH) is expressed in male embryos and represses development of müllerian ducts during testis differentiation in mammals, birds and reptiles. Amh orthologues have been identified in teleosts despite them lacking müllerian ducts. Previously we found sexually dimorphic aromatase activity in tilapia brains before ovarian differentiation. This prompted us to search for further dimorphisms in tilapia brains during sex differentiation and see whether amh is expressed. We cloned the tilapia amh gene and found that it contains 7 exons but no spliced forms. The putative protein presents highest homologies with Amh proteins of pejerrey and medaka as compared to other Perciformes. We analysed amh expression in adult tissues and found elevated levels in testes, ovary and brain. Amh expression was dimorphic with higher levels in XY male brains at 10–15 dpf, when the gonads were still undifferentiated and gonadal amh was not dimorphic. Male brains had 2.7-fold higher amh expression than gonads. Thereafter, amh levels decreased in the brain while they were up-regulated in differentiating testes. Our study indicates that amh is transcribed in male brains already at 10 dpf, suggesting that sexual differentiation may be occurring earlier in tilapia brain than in gonads.