A method for determination of quercetin in 8 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines by capillary electrophoresis(CE) with microwave assisted extraction(MAE) was developed. These medicines include Hypericum periforatum, Semen cuscuta, Flos sophorae buds, Flos sophorae flowers, Herba euphorbiae humifusae, Acanthopanax, Ginkgo biloba L. leaves and Rhododendron dauricuml. The method is simple, rapid and with satisfactory recoveries and good reproducibilities.
To use a newly developed wavelength modulation surface plasmon resonance （SPR） biosensor, an experimental protocol was developed to investigate the interaction of ginsenosides with serum albumin. With a known concentration of the ginsenosides, bound percentages of the ginsenosides with human serum albumin （HSA） or bovine serum albumin （BSA） were obtained. SPR technique could require no labeling and this method provided the detailed information on association and disassociation of molecules in real time. The results indicate that the sensitivity of wavelength modulation SPR biosensor is sufficient for detection and characterization of binding events involving low-molecular weight compounds and their immobilized protein targets.
Ret finger protein（RFP） is a member of the tripartite motif family, which is characterized by a conserved RING finger of motif, a B-box, and a coiled-coil domain（they are called RBCC generally）. Although RFP was known to be an oncogene when its RBCC moiety was connected with a tyrosine kinase domain by DNA rearrangement, its biological function was not well defined. In this study, by using real-time RT-PCR, the RFP expressions in human and mouse normal tissues, and in the cervical squamous cell carcinoma, endometrial adenocarcinoma, gastric adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and brain cancer tissues were analyzed. The result of the study proved that the highest level of mRNA reverse transcription appeared in the normal testical tissue, whereas that in other normal tissues of human and mice were low. The mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP was higher in the endometrial adenocarcinoma tissue than in the cervical squamous cell carcinoma tissue; the mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP in the gastric adenocarcinoma tissue was significantly higher than that in the esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissue. It was also found that the mRNA reverse transcription level of RFP in the brain cancer tissue was higher than that in the normal brain tissue. These results suggested that RFP could possibly be a useful molecular target for the development of new therapeutics for malignant tumors.
CT9 is a recently cloned cancer-testis antigen, which is a member of the bromodomain and extraterminal family. Each member of this protein family contains two N-terminal bromodomain motifs. We investigated the distribution of CT9 in different tissues and the possibility for it to be used as a potential therapeutic target in cancer treament. By using the real-time RT-PCR method and 18SrRNA as an internal standard, we analyzed the CT9 expression in several normal human tissues and in the tissues of patients suffering from cancer. The result of this study shows that the highest level of mRNA is only present in testis tissue because the CT9 expression has not been detected in other normal tissues. In 6 of 10 cases of gastric adenocarcinoma, in 3 of 10 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, in 2 of 9 cases of endometrial carcinoma and only in 1 of 12 cases of brain cancer, the low level expression of CT9 was detected. In none of the 12 cases of cervical squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of CT9 was detected. Since the high level expression of CT9 is only found in the normal testis tissue, but the low expression in cancer tissues, for example tissues of cervical squamous cell carcinoma, brain cancer, endometfial adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, we conclude that CT9 cannot be used as a cancer therapeutic target molecule for cervical squamous cell carcinoma, brain cancer, endometrial adenocarcinoma, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
JIN Xiang-qunZHANG Jing-minXU HuiZHOU YanWANG Guang-shuZHAO Yan-qiuZHANG Han-qi
