Transient cerebral ischemia/reperfusion-induced acute lung injury in rats associated with protein kinase C alpha expression.

OBJECTIVE: The pathogenesis and development timing of acute lung injury (ALI) following cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) are not fully understood. In this study, the development timing of ALI induced by transient global cerebral I/R as well as the underlying mechanisms of action were investigated. METHODS: A cerebral I/R-induced ALI model in Wistar rats was established by electrocoagulation of bilateral vertebral arteries combined with ligation of the transient bilateral common carotid arteries. Rats were randomly divided into control and cerebral I/R groups. The latter was subdivided into 3 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h post reperfusion. Lung injury was assessed by histological examination. The mRNA and protein expression of protein kinase C alpha (PKCα) were determined using qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence analysis, respectively. RESULTS: Lung histological injury could be detected as early as 3 h after global cerebral I/R, and was significant between groups at 48 h and 72 h. Compared with the control group, mRNA expression of PKCα in the lung was enhanced in rats in the cerebral I/R groups (P<0.001), and the highest expression was observed at 48 h (P<0.001). The intensity of PKCα reactivity gradually increased starting at 3 h, and peaked at 72 h after cerebral I/R (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The lung is very susceptible to transient global cerebral I/R injury in vivo. Lung histological injury occurred within hours of cerebral I/R induction and aggregated in a very short period after cerebral I/R. Moreover, PKCα expression was implicated in the pathogenesis of cerebral I/R-induced ALI.

Diffuse cystic lung adenocarcinoma: a case report and literature review.

Lung adenocarcinoma can exhibit a variety of radiological manifestations. However, the presence of diffuse cystic lesions in both lungs is extremely rare. Here, we report a case of a middle-aged woman with a primary lung adenocarcinoma that manifested as diffuse cystic lesions in bilateral lungs. Histopathological examination ultimately confirmed the lung adenocarcinoma. The patient was treated with the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor Gefitinib and remained stable during 18 months of follow-up. Knowledge of uncommon radiological performances of lung adenocarcinoma characterized by diffuse cystic imaging is important in suggesting the diagnosis and preventing misinterpretation.

Increased osteopontin protein expression may be correlated with poor prognosis in non-small-cell lung cancer: A meta analysis.

AIM: The present meta-nalysis investigates the prognostic value of osteopontin. (OPN) expression in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer. (NSCLC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Web of Science (1945 ~ 2013), the Cochrane Library Database (Issue 12, 2013), PubMed (1966 ~ 2013), EMBASE (1980 ~ 2013), CINAHL (1982 ~ 2013), and the Chinese Biomedical Database (CBM) (1982 ~ 2013) were searched, without language restrictions, to retrieve studies related to OPN and NSCLC. We compiled carefully selected data and a meta-analysis was conducted using STATA software (Version 12.0, Stata Corporation, and College Station, Texas USA). Hazard ratios (HR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were calculated. RESULTS: Ten clinical cohort studies were selected for statistical analysis, representing a total of 1,133 NSCLC patients. The main findings of our meta-analysis are that patients who were OPN-positive had significantly shorter overall survival than OPN-negative patients. (HR = 1.47, 95%CI = 1.15. ~ 1.79,P< 0.001). Ethnicity.stratified analysis revealed a significant correlation between expression levels of OPN and poor prognosis of NSCLC patients among both Caucasians and Asians. (Asians: HR = 1.53, 95%CI = 0.95. ~ 2.11, P < 0.001; Caucasians: HR = 1.56, 95%CI = 1.08. ~ 2.03, P < 0.001; respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The present meta-analysis is consistent with the hypothesis that increased expression of OPN protein may be significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with NSCLC.

[Experimental analysis of microRNAs related to cardiac development differential expression].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the differential expression profiles of microRNAs in the knockout Pax-8 mice by miRNA microarray analysis and study the function of microRNA during cardiac development. METHODS: The knockout Pax-8 mice model was established and the total RNA derived from Pax-8 KO-/- and Pax-8 KO+/- mice heart. MicroRNA microarray containing 567 mammalian microRNA probes was used to investigate the microRNAs differential expression between Pax-8 KO-/- and Pax-8 KO+/- mice. The candidates of microRNAs were confirmed by real time RT-PCR assay. RESULTS: The heart of pax-8 KO-/- mice became spheroidal. Left ventricle enlargement, left ventricular wall and interventricular septum thickening and papillary muscles in left ventricle enlargement were found. Furthermore, many apoptotic cells were discovered in left ventricular wall and interventricular septum in pax-8 KO-/- mice. The MicroRNA microarray result displayed 10 microRNAs differential expressions, in which 2 microRNAs became down-regulated and 8 microRNAs up-regulated by more than two folds in pax-8 KO-/- mice. This was in accordance with the result of real-time RT-PCR. CONCLUSION: Some microRNAs may play important roles in cardiac development and ventricular septal defect pathogenesis.