To study the roles of transforming growth factor (TGF) beta(1), PDGF and losartan on regulation of collagen gene promoter.

To explore the effect and mechanism of sodium butyrate on expression of human clotting factor VIII in vitro.

To investigate effect of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) on Fas expression and Fas-mediated apoptosis in tumor cell lines.

Escape from transforming growth factor-beta(TGF-beta)-induced inhibition of growth and proliferation may contribute to tumorigenesis. Smad7 is inhibitory Smads of TGF-beta s signal transduction pathway and prevents TGF-beta signaling. The disorder of Smad7 may lead to the perturbation of TGF-beta signal pathway. In this study, The authors analyzed the expression of Smad7 mRNA and the regulation of Smad7 gene by TGF-beta 1 in the process of malignant transformation of BEP2D cells to investigate the mechanism of cells malignant transformation.

It is still unclear whether overexpression of mdr-1 gene play a role in the chemotherapy resistance of lymphoma. This study was designed to investigate P-glycoprotein(P-gp) and mdr-1 mRNA levels of lymphoma and to observed the impact of P-gp level upon chemotherapy response.

To investigate the regulation mechanism of apoptosis induced by the antisense bcl-2 treatment.

To observe the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on the outcome of myofibroblasts in burn wounds, and to further explore the mechanism of bFGF on wound healing.

To investigate the molecular biological mechanism of endothelial cell proliferation induced by bFGF.

Treatment with anti-cancer agents has failed to achieve satisfactory results in hepatocellular carcinoma. In the process of hepatocarcinogenesis, Ras has been shown to play an important role. Ras requires a farnesyl moiety for activation. It has been found that farnesyltransferase inhibitor Manumycin inhibits farnesyl protein transferase, which catalyzes farnesylation. This study was designed to investigate the antitumor effect of Manumycin in human hepatoma cell line HepG2 and try to clarify its influence on Ras pathway.

Recently it was found that alpha1,3-fucosyltransferase (FUT9) was an essential enzyme involved in the synthesis of Le(X) oligosaccharide. In this article, the expression of FUT9 gene at different hormonal levels and the regulating mechanism of Le(X) synthesis in human endometrium were investigated by using RT-PCR Immuno histochemistry staining and Western blotting. FUT9 mRNA was detected with human endometrium, and the levels of mRNA in secretory endometrium and in proliferative endometrium from patients who had taken mifepristone before operation, were higher than tha t of proliferative endometrium (P<0.01). Le(X) antigen was mainly located on the surface of epithelium. The floating level of Le(X) antigen expression was similar to that of FUT9 gene. There were three (33 kD, 35 kD and 85 kD) LeX carrying proteins expressed in human endometrium, mifepristone treatment made 35 kD b and disappear. The results indicate that FUT9 gene is obviously expressed in human endometrium and can be upregulated by progesterone, and ovary hormones regulate the expression of Le(X) at the level of transcription.

The iron response element (IRE) is a highly conserved RNA stem loop structure. It is the binding site of iron regulatory protein (IRP). IRP binding to IRE is regulated by cellular iron. When cells are derived of iron, IRP binds IRE. If IRE is located at 5'UTR, IRP binding will inhibit translation initiation, else if IRE is at 3'UTR, IRP binding will stabilize mRNA and prevent it from degradation. So far all known IREs have C at the 1 position and G at the 5 position of the loop (C1G5 type). In vitro studies suggest that the U1A5 type IRE, which has U and A at the 1 and 5 loop position respectively, binds well to IRP. However, U1A5 type's in vivo existence is still elusive. IRE-IRP binding is involved in the regulation of iron metabolism, oxidative stress and possibly aging. Here we use an improved computation method performing a comprehensive search of IRE in human and mouse genes. We try to catalog potential human and mouse IRE containing genes, at the same time identify potential U1A5 IREs.

To investigate the effects of various carotenoids on the proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis and expression of bcl-2 gene in breast cancer cell MCF-7.

Chilling-sensitive rice varieties acquire chilling tolerance when their roots are exposed to water stress for short time. Caffeine-sensitive calcium signal was involved in this procedure. By using total RNA differential display, a chilling induced cDNA(ICT: induction of chilling treatment) was isolated from roots of chilling-sensitive rice variety. It was determined that it is a novel cDNA by homology searching. The transcript level of ict mRNA is up-regulated under chilling stress, it is decreased to low level when the samples were transferred to standard culture conditions. Pre-treated with mannitol for two hours is beneficial to inducing ICT level of expression. This chilling induction was inhibited by caffeine, suggesting that it may play a putative role in signal transduction of caffeine-sensitive calcium.

To elucidate the mechanism by which harringtonine (HT) induces apoptosis in K562 cell line.

To investigate differential gene expression in apoptotic cells induced by As(2)O(3), and identify novel apoptosis-related genes.

To investigate the effect of recombinant human hepatopoietin (rhHPO) and partial hepatectomy on rapidly induced expression of immediate early gene.

Peptide nucleic acid(PNA) is a kind of artificial DNA mimic. PNA hybridizes with DNA or RNA by means of Watson-Crick's base-pairs complementary with high stability, affinity and selectivity. PNA not only regulates. DNA replication, but also adjusts DNA transcription (or reverse transcription) and translation. Many applications have been explored as a new kind of molecular biological tool and a gene-targeting strategy.

An analysis of the induction of sesquitèrpene cyclase gene expression and antioxidant enzymes in Capsicum annuum by exongenous salicyclic acid (SA) pointed out that the sesquiterpene cyclase gene expression in detached pepper leaves was induced by 0.5-4 mmol.L-1 of exongenous SA, whereas the enzyme activity and accumulation of cyclase mRNA were much lower, and it took a longer time (36 h) for the gene to be induced to express after SA treatment, comparing to other elicitors such as UV and fungi treatment. The activities of SOD and POD were enhanced, while the CAT activity was inhibited to some degree. Consequently, H2O2 content was increased in SA treated pepper leaves. H2O2 accumulation was related to the integrated influences from antioxidant enzymes.

To study the effect of combination of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and retinoic acid (RA) on the proliferation and differentiation of HL-60 cells and its mechanisms.