[Cefoxitin plus levofloxacin for prevention of severe infection after transrectal prostate biopsy].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of cefoxitin prophylactic in reducing the incidence of severe infection after transrectal prostate biopsy (TRPB). METHODS: This retrospective study included 155 cases of TRPB with a 5-day administration of oral levofloxacin at 200 mg bid (the control group) and another 167 cases with a 3-day administration of oral levofloxacin at the same dose plus intravenous cefoxitin at 2.0 g 2 hours before TRPB (the experimental group) according to the distribution characteristics of drug-resistance bacteria in our department. The patients of the control and experimental groups were aged (68.68 ± 8.12) and (68.72 ± 7.51) years, with PSA levels of (19.78 ± 21.57) and (21.15 ± 42.63) µg/L, involving (11.68 ± 1.44) and (11.77±1.02) biopsy cores, respectively. Comparisons were made between the two groups of patients in the incidence rate of severe infection, which was defined as lower urinary track symptoms plus the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) within 7 days after TRPB. RESULTS: The incidence rate of postoperative severe infection was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control (0.6% ï¼»1/167ï¼½ vs 5.8% ï¼»9/155ï¼½, P < 0.05). Blood cultures revealed positive E-coli strains in 6 cases in the control group, including 5 ESBL-positive and 4 quinolone-resistant and amikacin-sensitive cases, all sensitive to cefoxitin, cefoperazone/sulbactam and imipenem. The only one case of severe infection was shown to be negative in blood culture. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative intravenous administration of cefoxitin according to the specific distribution characteristics of drug-resistance bacteria can significantly reduce the incidence of severe infection after TRPB.

UBE3C promotes growth and metastasis of renal cell carcinoma via activating Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common primary malignancy of the kidney and one of the most lethal genitourinary malignancies. Clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) has an extremely poor prognosis because of a high potential for tumor growth, vascular invasion, metastasis and recurrence. Unfortunately, the mechanism of RCC growth and metastasis is not well understood. In this report, we for the first time demonstrated ubiquitin protein ligase E3C (UBE3C) as a driving factor for RCC growth and metastasis. UBE3C expression was increased in ccRCC tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. ccRCC patients with high UBE3C protein expression in tumors were associated with significantly worse postoperative survival. Knockdown of UBE3C expression in ACHN cells inhibited cell proliferation, migrations and invasiveness in vitro while overexpression of UBE3C in 786-O cells exerted the opposite effects. UBE3C up-regulated ß-catenin protein levels and promoted ß-catenin nuclear accumulation, leading to the activation of the Wnt/ß-catenin signal pathway in RCC cells. Collectively, these observations suggest that UBE3C plays an important role in RCC development and progression, and UBE3C may be a novel target for prevention and treatment of ccRCC.

Chrebp regulates the transcriptional activity of androgen receptor in prostate cancer.

Androgen receptor (AR), a member of nuclear hormone receptor, plays an essential role in the initiation and progression of prostate cancer (PCa). In the present study, by way of immunoprecipitation followed by mass spectrometry (IP/MS) system, we found that carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (Chrebp), a glucose sensor in normal and cancer cells, interacted with AR in LNCaP cells. The interaction was further confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation analysis. Besides, Chrebp is required for the optimal transcriptional activity of AR in promoting the transcription of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) promoter and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression. Consistently, knockdown of Chrebp using small interfering RNA (siRNA) in LNCaP cells reduced endogenous PSA levels. Together, our study demonstrates that Chrebp interacts with AR and regulates its transcriptional activity.

Lentivirus-mediated SMO RNA interference inhibits SMO expression and cell proliferation, and affects the cell cycle in LNCaP and PC3 cancer cell lines.

Smoothened (SMO) is an important member of the Hedgehog signaling pathway. We constructed a specific recombinant lentiviral vector for RNA interference, targeting the SMO gene (NM_005631) to observe its effect on SMO expression, cell proliferation and the cell cycle in the human androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP, and in the androgen-independent prostate cancer cell line, PC3. Four siRNA sequences were designed and inserted into a lentiviral vector pGCSIL-GFP to construct four recombinant vectors. The vector with the highest interfering efficiency was co-transfected with packaging vectors (pHelper1.0 and pHelper2.0) in 293T cells to assemble lentivirus particles by liposome for infecting LNCaP and PC3 cell lines, respectively. The expression level of SMO mRNA, tumor cell proliferation and cell cycle were measured by quantitative realtime polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Sequence results showed that recombinant lentiviral vectors were constructed successfully. pGCSIL-GFP-723 had the highest interfering efficiency, named Lv-SIL-SMO723 after co-transfection, with which LNCaP and PC3 cell lines were infected. Compared with the control groups, results showed significantly decreased (P < 0.05) SMO mRNA expressions of LNCaP and PC3, lower mean percentage of S-phase cells and higher mean percentage of G(2)/M phase cells, as well as obviously slow proliferation (P < 0.01) of LNCaP in the infected group. Yet, the proliferation of PC3 was not altered (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the recombinant lentivirus particles were able to suppress SMO expression, regulate the cell cycle in the LNCaP and PC3 cell lines and markedly inhibit proliferation of LNCaP cells but not PC3 cells.