[Expression and function of vascular endothelial growth factor and angiopoietins in rat brain after cerebral ischemia].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the temporal and spatial expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and angiopoietins (Ang) in rat brain after cerebral ischemia, and to elucidate the roles they played in angiogenesis and vascular permeability. METHODS: Rats were subjected to either middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) or sham operation. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of VEGF, Ang-1 and Ang-2 at different time points after ischemia. CD31 was used to label endothelial cells after MCAO. Vascular permeability was determined by Evans blue. RESULTS: VEGF was markedly increased at 2 h, had an initial peak at 12 h (0.7249 ± 0.1933, P < 0.01), and a second peak at 7 days (0.5264 ± 0.1519, P < 0.01). Ang-2 mRNA and protein significantly increased after MCAO, both of them peaked at 12 h (0.6747 ± 0.2416, P < 0.01; 1.1197 ± 0.1780, P < 0.01). In contrast, Ang-1 mRNA and protein gradually decreased after MCAO, respectively reaching a minimum at 3 d (0.3220 ± 0.1427, P < 0.01) and 1 d (0.1298 ± 0.0293, P < 0.01). Changes in the expression of these factors correlated with the progress of angiogenesis and vascular permeability. Evans blue test revealed that the vascular permeability gradually increased, and peaked at day 1 after ischemia [(6.219 ± 0.887) µg/g, P < 0.01]. CONCLUSION: Dynamic temporal changes in VEGF, Ang-1 and Ang-2 expression stimulate the cerebral angiogenesis after focal cerebral ischemia.

Expression of the androgen receptor and its correlation with molecular subtypes in 980 chinese breast cancer patients.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that androgen displays an inhibitory effect on breast cancer cell lines that express androgen receptor (AR) but not estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR). We have previously reported that approximately 1/3 of ER negative high grade invasive ductal carcinomas express AR. Thus, AR can serve as a potential therapeutic target for this group of patients. AIM: Here we investigated AR expression patterns in 980 consecutive breast carcinomas. RESULTS: We found that (1) AR was expressed more frequently (77%) than ER (61%) and PR (60%) in breast carcinomas; (2) AR expression was associated with ER and PR expression (P < 0.0001), small tumor size (P = 0.0324) and lower Ki-67 expression (P = 0.0013); (3) AR expression was found in 65% of ER negative tumors; (4) AR expression was associated with PR and Ki-67 in ER negative tumors, but not in ER positive tumors; (5) AR expression was higher in ER positive subtypes (Luminal A, Luminal B and Luminal HER2 subtypes, 80%-86%) and lower in ER negative subtypes [HER2, triple negative (TN), and TN EFGR positive subtypes; 52%-66%], with over 50% of TN tumors expressing AR. CONCLUSION: More breast carcinomas express AR than ER and PR, including significant numbers of ER negative and TN tumors, for which AR could serve as a potential therapeutic target.