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Induction of cell differentiation and promotion of endocan gene expression in stomach cancer by melatonin

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Abstract

The pineal hormone melatonin has been shown to have anticancer therapeutic properties in patients with gastric cancer, the mechanisms, however, remain largely unknown. The present study examined the effects of melatonin on cell differentiation related factors, namely, endocan, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase, in gastric adenocarcinoma cell line SGC7901. Expression of endocan was significantly decreased in tissue of gastric cancer as compared to normal stomach tissue, as determined by immunohistochemical staining, and there is correlation between the degree of the decrease of endocan expression and the degree of differentiation of the cancer. Treatment of cultured gastric adenocarcinoma cells with 10−4 mol/l melatonin significantly increased the gene expression of endocan and down-regulated the activity of alkaline phosphatase and lactate dehydrogenase, two enzymes that promote de-differentiation in gastric tissue; and there was a negative correlation between the level of endocan expression and the activities of differentiation marker enzymes in the melatonin treated cancer cells. Gastric cancer cells treated with melatonin show more differentiated morphologic phenotype as compared the untreated cells. The findings indicate that melatonin may play its anticancer role in gastric adenocarcinoma by acting as a differentiation inducer.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (No. 090413116) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30971226).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Sumei Zhang, Li Zuo, Wei Wei & Yuan Wang

  2. Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Department of Biochemistry, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Sumei Zhang, Li Zuo, Qing Zhou & Yuan Wang

  3. Department of Respiratory Disease, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Shuyu Gui

  4. Key Laboratory of Anti-inflammatory and Immunological Pharmacology, Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Gene Resource Utilization for Severe Disease of Anhui Province, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Sumei Zhang, Li Zuo, Qing Zhou & Yuan Wang

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  1. Sumei Zhang
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  2. Li Zuo
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  3. Shuyu Gui
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  4. Qing Zhou
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  5. Wei Wei
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  6. Yuan Wang
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Correspondence to Yuan Wang.

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Sumei Zhang and Li Zuo contributed equally to this work.

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Zhang, S., Zuo, L., Gui, S. et al. Induction of cell differentiation and promotion of endocan gene expression in stomach cancer by melatonin. Mol Biol Rep 39, 2843–2849 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1043-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1043-4

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