Recently, the prevalence of hyperlipidemia has been increasing, and consequently, the need to identify safe and effective treatments to control this chronic disease has also increased. The beneficial effects of probiotics have been revealed by several studies over the past few years, including their effects on hypertriglyceridemia. However, the mechanisms of action of probiotics are still unclear. The anti-obesity effects of Lactobacillus plantarum Q180 on lipid accumulation have already been demonstrated using an in vitro HepG2 cell model, and therefore, we investigated its efficacy and mechanism of action. Lipid accumulation was induced in HepG2 cells by palmitic acid treatment and then the cells were incubated with L. plantarum Q180 lysate or supernatant to investigate changes in lipid accumulation and expression of lipid metabolism-related genes. The results showed that the L. plantarum Q180-treated group exhibited significantly lower levels of lipid accumulation and mRNA expression of lipid synthesis- and adipogenesis-related genes than the palmitic acid-treated group did. These results indicate that L. plantarum Q180 may contribute to alleviating hypertriglyceridemia by inhibiting lipid synthesis.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) is essential for proliferation of eukaryotic cells, andwas identified as diagnotic marker in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, cervical and endometrial cancer, but relatively little is known about thein vivo and in vitro expression patterns of eIF-5A in oral premalignant and malignant lesions mirror the expression levels observed in vitro with cells derived from normal oral mucosa, immortalized oral keratinocytes (IHOK) and primary and metastatic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). We used an oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progression model composed of cell lines and tissue specimens to characterize expression patterns by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. eIF-5A and PCNA levels are elevated in IHOKand primary and metastatic OSCC cella as compatred to normal human oral keraitinocytes. eIF5A and PCNA expression was l imited to basal cells of normal oral mucosa. eIF-5A and PCNA expression is increased in dysplastic epithelium spreading to more superficial layers, and its expression levels correlated significantly with the degree of dysplasia. Well and moderately differentiated OSCC showed strong expression of eIF-5A and PCNA. These results suggest that upregulated expression of eIF-5A seems to be an important epigenetic alteration that accompanies oral carcinogenic progression, and eIF-5A could be used as an biomarker for oral premalignat lesion or squamous cell carcinoma