No abstract

Bioactive peptides, either derived from nature resources or synthesized by rational design, have been demonstrated potential for therapeutic agents against numerous human diseases, including cancer. However, the mechanism of therapeutic peptides against cancer has not been well elucidated. Here we show that PGPIPN, a hexapeptide derived from bovine β-casein, inhibited the proliferation of human ovarian cancer cells line SKOV3 as well as the primary ovarian cancer cells in vitro. Consistently, PGPIPIN also decreased tumor growth rate in xenograft ovarian cancer model mice in a dose-dependent manner. Further study demonstrated that the anti-tumor effect of PGPIPN is partially through promoting cell apoptosis by inhibiting BCL2 pathway. Thus, our study suggests that PGPIPN is a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of ovarian cancer or other types of cancer.

The ability to simultaneously detect JAK2 V617F and MPL W515K/L mutations would substantially improve the early diagnosis of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) and decrease the risk of arterial thrombosis. The goal of this study is to achieve a point of care testing platform for simultaneous analysis of major genetic alterations in MPN. Here, we report a microfluidic platform including a glass capillary containing polypropylene matrix that extracts genomic DNA from a drop of whole blood, a microchip for simultaneous multi-gene mutation screening, and a handheld battery-powered heating device. The µmLchip system was successfully used for point-of-care identification of the JAK2 V617F and MPL W515K/L mutations. The µmLchip assays were then validated by mutation analysis with samples from 100 MPN patients who had previously been analyzed via unlabeled probe melting curve analysis or real-time PCR. The results from the µmLchip were in perfect agreement with those from the other methods, except for one discrepant result that was negative in the unlabeled probe melting curve analysis but positive in the µmLchip. After T-A cloning, sequences of cloned PCR products revealed JAK2 V617F mutation in the sample. The portable microfluidic platform may be very attractive in developing point-of-care diagnostics for MPL W515K/L and JAK2 V617F mutations.

No abstract