Expression of inflammatory cytokines in ovarian epithelial cancer and their correlation.

This study investigates the expression of interleukin (IL)-17 (IL-17A and IL-17D) and its role in ovarian epithelial tumor and its correlation with the clinical characteristics. Fifty malignant ovarian epithelial tumor specimens were collected after surgery and set as group A. Ten benign epithelioma specimens and ten normal epithelial specimens were set as group B and C, respectively. The expression of IL-17A and IL-17D in the three groups was detected using the EnVision method, and the correlation of positive expression rate with pathological type, clinical stage, presence of ascites and differentiation degree was analyzed. Group A had higher expression of IL-17A and IL-17D compared to group B and C (p less than 0.05). The expression rate was in correlation to clinical stage and differentiation degree, but in no correlation to pathological type and presence of ascites. The expression rate of malignant epithelioma in the early stage was lower than that in the late stage (p less than 0.05). Lower differentiation degree indicated higher expression rate (p less than 0.05). Pathological type and presence of ascites had no remarkable influence on the expression rate (p>0.05). Study of the expression of IL-17 provides theoretical support for the clinical treatment and prognosis prediction of ovarian epithelial tumor.

[A clinical analysis of six patients with Brucella endocarditis and literature review].

Objective: To analyze the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of patients with Brucella endocarditis in order to improve the understanding and treatment of Brucella endocarditis. Methods: The clinical data including demographic characteristics, clinical features, laboratory data, echocardiography, treatment and clinical outcome of 6 patients with Brucella endocarditis were collected and analyzed. Results: In our database consisting of 211 brucellosis patients with positive blood culture, 6 patients (2.8%) with Brucella endocarditis were selected from May 2007 to December 2016 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital.The age range was 25-55 years, among whom 5 patients were men.The majority were farmers and all patients reported the history of closely contact with livestock.All of them had fever and 3 of them had arthralgia.Four patients had aortic involvement (4/6) and 2 of them presented with symptoms of left ventricular failure at admission.Blood culture of Brucella and serum agglutination test of Brucella were positive in all of them.Combined antibiotics treatments were given to all patients.Valve replacement surgery was performed in four patients, among them, three patients well recovered, one lost. Among all the patients, four were followed up continually and other two were lost. Conclusions:Brucella endocarditis has a predominance of aortic involvement and is prone to left ventricular failure.Early antibiotic treatment combined with valve-replacement surgery is effective to improve the prognosis.

Acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor expression levels in cervical cancer and their effects on tumor cell proliferation.

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play important roles in angiogenesis, wound healing, embryonic development, and endocrine signaling pathways. Increasingly, recent studies have reported aberrant FGF expression in various malignancies. However, the involvement of FGFs in cervical carcinoma pathogenesis remains unclear. We aimed to investigate expression of acidic (aFGF) and basic FGF (bFGF) in patients with this disease, and assess their effects on cervical cancer cell proliferation. Twenty cervical cancer patients and 10 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) patients were recruited, and 10 cancer-free individuals were included as controls. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were employed to detect FGF mRNA and protein levels, respectively. Furthermore, HeLa cells were treated with FGFs and subjected to thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide assays to quantify proliferation. Compared with CIN and normal cervical tissues, aFGF and bFGF mRNA and protein levels were significantly elevated in cervical carcinomas (P < 0.05). CIN tissues exhibited higher expression of these FGFs than normal tissues (P < 0.05). Moreover, their mRNA levels were increased in advanced cancer stages (P < 0.05), although no significant difference was detected between tumors of different differentiation grades in this regard (P > 0.05). HeLa cell proliferation increased in an aFGF- and bFGF-dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05), the latter exerting a more potent proliferative influence, with its effect peaking at 75 ng/mL. aFGF and bFGF were highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues and their levels positively correlated with clinical stage. Both facilitate proliferation of cervical carcinoma cells and are implicated in cancer pathogenesis and progression.

Molecular epidemiology of Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii in China between 2007 and 2013 using multilocus sequence typing and the DiversiLab system.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the molecular characteristics of 83 clinical Cryptococcus neoformans/C. gattii species complex isolated in Beijing, China, between 2007 and 2013. Restriction fragment length polymorphism of the gene URA5 (URA5-RFLP), multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and automated repetitive polymerase chain reaction (rep-PCR; DiversiLab system) were performed to genotype these cryptococcal isolates. There was an excellent correlation amongst the three methods; however, PU157 was assigned as VNII according to URA5-RFLP, while it was classified as VNI by the DiversiLab system analysis. PU157 was finally identified as VNB by seven-locus MLST analysis. Moreover, though AD hybrids could not be processed by MLST, ideal results could be obtained by the DiversiLab system. The genotype VNI accounted for 95.2% (79/83) of isolates. Besides one strain of VNB, VNIII, and VGI each, a strain of VGII was detected in our study, which was isolated from a patient from the temperate region in North China. In addition, the most common MLST sequence type (ST) was ST5, accounting for 91.6% (76/83), followed by ST31, ST63, ST182, ST295, ST296, and ST332. ST295, ST296, and ST332 were new STs. Except for isolate PU157 (VNB), identical results were obtained quickly and accurately through the DiversiLab system compared to MLST and URA5-RFLP. The discovery of VNB and VGII in the temperate climate regions of China suggested that the population structure of C. neoformans and C. gattii should be explored more extensively. Our results also showed that the DiversiLab system can be used in the genotyping of C. neoformans and C. gattii.

Predominance of Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii multilocus sequence type 5 and emergence of isolates with non-wild-type minimum inhibitory concentrations to fluconazole: a multi-centre study in China.

There are few data on the molecular epidemiology of cryptococcosis in China. Here we investigated the species distribution, molecular types and antifungal susceptibilities of 312 Cryptococcus neoformans species complex isolates from ten hospitals over 5 years. Isolates were identified by internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing and by two matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) systems. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) was used to verify species/variety and to designate molecular types. Susceptibility to six antifungal drugs was determined by the Sensititre YeastOne™ method. Cryptococcus neoformans was the predominant species (305/312 isolates (97.8%), all were ITS type 1, serotype A), of which 89.2% (272/305) were C. neoformans var. grubii MLST sequence type (ST) 5 and 6.2% (19/305) were ST31. Other C. neoformans var. grubii STs were rare but included six novel STs. Only two strains were C. neoformans var. neoformans (both serotype AD). Cryptococcus gattii was uncommon (n = 7, four ITS types) and comprised five MLST STs including one novel ST. For C. neoformans var. grubii, the proportion of isolates with non-wild-type MICs to fluconazole significantly rose in the fourth study year (from 0% (0/56 isolates) in the first year to 23.9% (17/71) in the fourth year), including five isolates with fluconazole MICs of ≥32 mg/L. The study has provided useful data on the species epidemiology and their genetic diversity and antifungal susceptibility. The proportional increase in isolates with non-wild-type MICs to fluconazole is noted.

Tumor recurrence and drug resistance properties of side population cells in high grade ovary cancer.

INTRODUCTION: The presence of subset of cancer stem cells (CSCs) called "Side population" (SP) cells has been identified in several solid tumors, responsible for treatment failure especially chemotherapy, and cancer relapse. The present study was aimed to isolate and characterize cancer stem like cells side population cells from high grade ovarian cancer. METHODS: The collected cancer samples were analyzed for presence of SP cells by FACS using Hoechst 33342 exclusion technique. Further the FACS sorted SP and non-SP cells were subjected to analysis of stem cell surface protein expression by western blot and immunocytochemistry, drug resistance and sphere formation assay. RESULTS: By FACS, we have identified 3.7% of cancer stem cell like side population cells in ovarian cancer whose prevalence was reduced to 0.5% upon treatment with verapamil an inhibitor of ABC transporter. Further, these sorted SP cells showed over expression of ABCG2 (ABC transporter), stem cell proteins such as CD144, CD44, EpCAM and antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2. Also the SP cells showed high resistance to chemotherapy drugs, have high survival rate and they are highly potential to form tumor spheres. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that ovarian cancer contain small sub-population of side population cells which shares some characteristics of stem cells. The co-expression of ABC transporters and stem cells surface markers in SP cells may associate with resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, apoptosis and also supports a role for these cells in tumor recurrence, metastasis and invasion.