ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) on apoptosis and proliferation of breast cancer SK-BR-3 cells. MethodsSK-BR-3 cells were treated with different concentrations (0, 10, 30, 50 μmol/L) of PEITC respectively. The proliferation capacity of SK-BR-3 cells was detected by MTT and BrdU staining methods. The cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL and flow cytometry methods. The protein and mRNA expressions levels of indexes related apoptosis such as Bcl-2, Bax, and MCL-1 and indexes related endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) such as PERK, eIF2α, CHOP, IRE1α, ATF6α were detected by Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), respectively. ResultsCompared with the control group (0 μmol/L PEITC treatment group), the results of MTT and BrdU staining methods showed that the proliferations of SK-BR-3 cells in the 10, 30 and 50 μmol/L PEITC treatment group were decreased in turn with the increase of concentration. The results of TUNEL and flow cytometry methods showed that the apoptosis rates of SK-BR-3 cells in the 10, 30 and 50 μmol/L PEITC treatment group were increased in turn with the increase of concentration. The results of Western blot and qRT-PCR methods showed that the protein and mRNA expression levels of anti-apoptotic indexes (Bcl-2, MCL-1) were decreased with the increase of concentration, while the expression levels of protein and mRNA of the pro-apoptotic index (Bax) and ERS-related indexes (PERK, eIF2α, CHOP, IRE1α, ATF6α) increased with the increase of concentration. ConclusionFrom the preliminary results of this study, PEITC can promote the apoptosis of breast cancer SK-BR-3 cells and inhibit cell proliferation, which might be achieved by regulating the expression levels of indexes related apoptosis and ERS.
ObjectiveTo explore the independent factors related to clinical severe events in community acquired pneumonia patients and to find out a simple, effective and more accurate prediction method.MethodsConsecutive patients admitted to our hospital from August 2018 to July 2019 were enrolled in this retrospective study. The endpoint was the occurrence of severe events defined as a condition as follows intensive care unit admission, the need for mechanical ventilation or vasoactive drugs, or 30-day mortality during hospitalization. The patients were divided into severe event group and non-severe event group, and general clinical data were compared between two groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent predictors of adverse outcomes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to calculate and compare the area under curve (AUC) of different prediction methods.ResultsA total of 410 patients were enrolled, 96 (23.4%) of whom experienced clinical severe events. Age (OR: 1.035, 95%CI: 1.012 - 1.059, P=0.003), high-density lipoprotein (OR: 0.266, 95%CI: 0.088 - 0.802, P=0.019) and lactate dehydrogenase (OR: 1.006, 95%CI: 1.004 - 1.059, P<0.001) levels on admission were independent factors associated with clinical severe events in CAP patients. The AUCs in the prediction of clinical severe events were 0.744 (95%CI: 0.699 - 0.785, P=0.028) and 0.814 (95%CI: 0.772 - 0.850, P=0.025) for CURB65 and PSI respectively. CURB65-LH, combining CURB65, HDL and LDH simultaneously, had the largest AUC of 0.843 (95%CI: 0.804 - 0.876, P=0.022) among these prediction methods and its sensitivity (69.8%) and specificity (81.5%) were higher than that of CURB65 (61.5% and 76.1%) respectively.ConclusionCURB65-LH is a simple, effective and more accurate prediction method of clinical severe events in CAP patients, which not only has higher sensitivity and specificity, but also significantly improves the predictive value when compared with CURB65.