Spore Oil enhances the effect of cyclophosphamide inhibiting programmed death-1 and prolongs the survival of H22 tumor-bearing mice.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Ganoderma Lucidum Spore Oil (GLSO) on the tumor growth and survival of H22 tumor-bearing mice treated with cyclophosphamide (CTX), and explore the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Allograft H22 hepatocellular carcinoma mouse model was applied to investigate the effect of GLSO on the tumor growth and survival of animals, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to analyze the life span. Plasma biochemical examination was used to determine the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), urea (UREA) and creatinine (CRE). Western blot analysis was performed to detect Programmed Death-1 (PD-1), Programmed Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1), Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2), phosphorylated Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (p-STAT3), and Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 (STAT3) expression. RESULTS: GLSO increased the anti-tumor effect of CTX and prolonged the survival of H22 tumor-bearing mice treated with CTX. Meanwhile, GLSO increased the thymus index and showed no obvious toxicity to liver functions of animals. GLSO also decreased the level of UREA in H22 tumor-bearing mice treated with CTX. Furthermore, GLSO could inhibit the expression of PD-1 in spleen, which was independent of JAK2 expression and STAT3 phosphorylation. However, GLSO did not affect the expression of PD-L1, JAK2, and p-STAT3 in tumor tissue. CONCLUSION: GLSO could strengthen the anti-tumor effect of CTX and prolong the life span of H22 tumor-bearing mice, while the underlying mechanism might be relevant to the amelioration effect of thymus function and inhibition of PD-1 expression in spleen. Furthermore, these findings implied the promising role of GLSO in combination with CTX to extend the survival of patients in clinical chemotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma.

A rat model established by simulating genetic-environmental interactions recapitulates human Alzheimer's disease pathology.

BACKGROUND: In humans, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is typically sporadic in nature, and its pathology is usually influenced by extensive factors. The study established a rat model based on the genetic-environmental interaction. METHODS: A rat model was established by transduction of an adeno-associated virus combined with acrolein treatment. Rats were assigned to the normal control (NC), acrolein group, AAV (-) group, AAV-APP group, and AAV-APP/acrolein group. The success of model construction was verified in multiple ways, including by assessing cognitive function, examining microstructural changes in the brain in vivo, and performing immunohistochemistry. The contribution of genetic (APP mutation) and environmental (acrolein) factors to AD-like phenotypes in the model was explored by factorial analysis. RESULTS: 1) The AAV-APP/acrolein group showed a decline in cognitive function, as indicated by a reduced gray matter volume in key cognition-related brain areas, lower FA values in the hippocampus and internal olfactory cortex, and Aß deposition in the cortex and hippocampus. 2) The AAV-APP group also showed a decline in cognitive function, although the group exhibited atypical brain atrophy in the gray matter and insignificant Aß deposition. 3) The acrolein group did not show any significant changes in Aß levels, gray matter volume, or cognitive function. 4) The genetic factor (APP mutation) explained 39.74% of the AD-like phenotypes in the model factors, and the environmental factor (acrolein exposure) explained 33.3%. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic-environmental interaction rat model exhibited a phenotype that resembled the features of human AD and will be useful for research on AD.

Clinical efficacy of laparoscopic closed hernia ring combined with a patch repair for Gilbert type III indirect inguinal hernia.

Purpose: The incidence of seroma and postoperative pain after Gilbert type III inguinal hernia repair is high. To reduce postoperative complications, this study investigated the clinical efficacy of laparoscopic closed hernia ring combined with a patch repair for Gilbert type III indirect inguinal hernia. Methods: Through a prospective randomized controlled study, a total of 193 patients with Gilbert type III indirect inguinal hernia admitted to Nanchong Central Hospital affiliated with Chuanbei Medical College from May 2020 to December 2021 were selected and randomly divided into the inner ring closed group (85 patients) and the inner ring non-closed group (95 patients). The patients in both groups underwent laparoscopic tension-free repair of their inguinal hernias. General information such as operative time, postoperative hospital stay, and hospital cost were compared between the two groups, and the patients were followed up at 1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days and then 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery to compare complications such as incidence of seroma, volume of the seroma fluid, incidence of pain, and visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score. Results: There was no conversion to open procedures in any of the patients. The operation time of the closed group was significantly longer than that of the non-closed group (64.2 ± 12.2 vs. 55.3 ± 9.5 min, P < 0.01). The proportion of patients with postoperative pain in the two groups was 39 (46%) vs. 59 (62%), P = 0.029 on 7 days; 17 (20%) vs. 33 (35%), P = 0.028 on 14 days; and 6 (7%) vs. 22 (23%), P = 0.003 on 21 days in the postoperative closed group and was significantly lower than that in the non-closed group, while we found that the non-closed group had a higher VAS pain score than that of the closed group (2.36 ± 0.61 vs. 1.95 ± 0.71, P = 0.003 on 7 days and 2.12 ± 0.49 vs. 1.65 ± 0.49, P = 0.002 on 14 days) after surgery according to the statistical results of the VAS pain score. The incidence of postoperative seroma and the amount of seroma fluid decreased gradually in both groups, but when comparing the two groups, the proportion of cases of seroma in the closed group on 7 days [45 (53%) vs. 79 (83%), P < 0.01]; 14 days [23 (27%) vs. 43 (45%), P = 0.011]; and 21 days [10 (12%) vs. 29 (31%), P = 0.002] after the operation were significantly less than that in the non-closed group. For the comparison of the amount of seroma fluid between the groups, the seroma fluid volume in the non-closed group was greater than that in the closed group (34.48 ± 20.40 vs. 43.87 ± 16.40 ml, P = 0.006, 7 days) and (21.79 ± 8.42 vs. 30.74 ± 10.39 ml, P = 0.002, 14 days) after surgery. There were no differences in the length of stay, total hospital costs, or postoperative complications (urinary retention, intestinal obstruction, nausea, vomiting, bleeding, and infection) between the two groups, and the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The postoperative follow-up period was 3-20 months, and no chronic pain or recurrence occurred during the postoperative follow-up period in either group. Conclusions: Closure of the hernia ring is safe and effective for laparoscopic hernia repair for Gilbert type III inguinal hernia, and it significantly reduces the incidence of postoperative seroma and further reduces the postoperative pain without increasing the risk of postoperative infection and recurrence.

Adsorption and solidification of cadmium by calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum) in an aqueous environment: a dispersion-corrected DFT and ab initio molecular dynamics study.

Phosphogypsum is a by-product of phosphoric acid production by a wet-process and can be used to prepare adsorption materials to treat Cd(II) in sewage. Its main component is calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum). In the present study, incorporation and adsorption of cadmium on gypsum in an aqueous environment have been investigated using dispersion-corrected density functional theory, and the effect of different vacancy defects on the adsorption and doping of Cd on gypsum was also studied. The results show that Cd impurity defects can form more easily in gypsum crystals with Ca vacancy defects. The increase in both calcium vacancy defects and sulfate vacancy defects is beneficial to the incorporation of Cd in calcium sulfate dihydrate. In addition, the calcium vacancy defects on the gypsum surface can promote the adsorption of Cd(II), while sulfate vacancy defects on the gypsum surface inhibit the adsorption of Cd(II). Therefore, increasing the Ca vacancy defects of gypsum will help in improving the adsorption and curing properties of phosphogypsum for cadmium.

A boronic acid-modified C60 derivatization reagent for the rapid detection of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) is a well-known contaminant formed in food thermal processing, which could be found in a variety of foodstuffs. Due to its potential carcinogenicity, it was essential to quickly develop a rapid and high-throughput analytical method to monitor 3-MCPD in foodstuffs, which is described in this study. METHODS: 3-MCPD was extracted from foodstuffs and then was derivatized with a boronic acid-modified C60 (B-C60 ) through the boronic acid-diol reaction. Microwave heating was used to accelerate the derivatization reaction. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis was conducted using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-MS (MALDI-MS). The application of the method was validated using various smoked food samples. RESULTS: The chemical derivatization of 3-MCPD with B-C60 enabled the addition of a C60 -tag to 3-MCPD. High-throughput analysis of the sample within 0.5 h was realized. A good linear range from 0.02 to 1.5 µg mL-1 for 3-MCPD was obtained, with a detection limit of 0.005 µg mL-1 . The recoveries in spiked foodstuffs ranged from 85.4% to 115.1% with relative standard deviations of 2.0%-14.2%. This method was successfully applied to detect 3-MCPD in smoked foodstuffs. CONCLUSIONS: A quantitative method was developed for the detection of 3-MCPD in foodstuffs using B-C60 derivatization combined with MALDI-MS strategy. This proposed method may serve as a potential platform for the rapid and high-throughput analysis of 3-MCPD in foodstuffs for the purpose of food safety control.

Expression patterns and a prognostic model of m6A-associated regulators in prostate adenocarcinoma.

Aim: To study the expression patterns and prognostic value of the m6A-associated regulators in prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD). Materials & methods: The mRNA expression and clinical data were downloaded from 'The Cancer Genome Atlas database'. The m6A-associated variants were downloaded from m6AVar database, and combined with 14 common m6A regulators for subsequent analysis. One-way analysis of variance, univariate Cox regression analysis and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm were successively applied to obtain the ultimate regulators and prognostic model. Finally, consensus clustering, protein-protein interaction (PPI) and enrichment analysis were performed. Result: Nine regulators were obtained. PRAD patients could be classified into two risk groups and subclasses with significant survival differences by the prognostic model and consensus clustering, respectively. Conclusion: All these nine regulators were related to prognosis in PRAD, and could be used as clinical biomarkers.

Downregulation of ST3GAL5 is associated with muscle invasion, high grade and a poor prognosis in patients with bladder cancer.

In patients with bladder cancer (BC), the association between ST3 ß-galactoside α-2,3-sialyltransferase 5 (ST3GAL5) expression and clinical outcomes, particularly regarding muscle-invasive disease, high tumor grade and prognosis, remain unknown. In the present study, the expression of ST3GAL5 and its association with clinical outcomes in patients with BC was analyzed using various public bioinformatics databases. The difference in ST3GAL5 expression between BC and healthy bladder tissues was also evaluated using data from the Oncomine database, The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus database. The differences in ST3GAL5 expression between muscle invasive BC (MIBC) and non-muscle invasive BC (NMIBC), and high- and low-grade BC were also analyzed. Furthermore, genes that were positively co-expressed with ST3GAL5 in patients with BC were identified from the intersection between the Oncomine, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 and UALCAN databases. Enrichment analysis by Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, Reactome pathway enrichment analyses and a gene-concept network was performed using R package. Gene set enrichment analysis was also performed to assess the signaling pathways influenced by the high and low expression of ST3GAL5 in BC. The results indicated that ST3GAL5 expression was significantly lower in BC tissues compared with normal bladder tissues (P<0.05). Furthermore, ST3GAL5 expression in MIBC and high-grade BC was significantly lower compared with NMIBC and low-grade BC (P<0.05), respectively. The results from Kaplan-Meier survival analysis result demonstrated that ST3GAL5 downregulation was associated with poor survival in patients with BC (P<0.05). Taken together, these findings suggested that ST3GAL5 may be considered as an anti-oncogene in BC, could represent a potential predictive and prognostic biomarker for BC and may be a molecular target for tumor therapy.

Different Incidence of Early-Onset Gastric Carcinoma Depending on Ethnicity: Preliminary Results of a Hospital in Liangshan.

BACKGROUND: In China, the incidence of cancer has significantly decreased over the last two decades. In contrast, the incidence of gastric carcinoma (GC) has risen in young patients. METHODS: We reevaluated the histopathological results of 4,353 endoscopic gastroscopies from the Department of Pathology at No 1 Hospital of Liangshan. The ethnic groups Han and Yi were almost equally distributed in this cohort. Over a five-year period, 1407 GC were diagnosed. RESULTS: In 171 of these cases (12%), the patients were ≤40 years old (early-onset GC, EOGC). Out of this cohort, 9 patients were aged ≤25 years. 54% of these patients were male and showed marked predominance (92%) of the Yi-minority. Using the classification of Lauren, 103 GC (60%) were of diffuse type, 27 (16%) of intestinal type, and 41 (24%) of mixed type. In the remaining 1,236 cases of patients ≥41 years (88%), 1,014 patients (82%) belonged to the Yi-minority. Helicobacter pylori (HP) were found in 46% of all cases. Familial clustering was found in 14 patients (18%; in first degree relatives, 12%, and in second degree relatives, 6%). Follow-up was not possible. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the unequal manifestation of EOGC within the two ethnic groups of Han and Yi. However, familial clustering was infrequent. Further investigations are necessary to discover relevant risk factors apart from hereditary predisposition.

Development of C60-based labeling reagents for the determination of low-molecular-weight compounds by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (II): Determination of thiols in human serum.

Perturbation of thiol homeostasis in biological fluids are thought to be associated with several diseases, and reliable analytical methods for the determination of low molecular weight (LMW) thiols in human plasma or serum are thus required. In this study, a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) method is described for high throughput determination of four LMW thiols (glutathione, cysteine, homocysteine and cysteinylglycine) in human serum. It is based on the use of a bromoacetyl functionalized C60 (Br-C60) as a derivatization reagent to label thiols. The Br-C60 labeling can add an 832-Da tag to thiols, which moves thiol signals to high mass region and effectively avoids the signal interference generated by the traditional MALDI matrix below 800 Da. The labeling can be completed within 5 min under microwave-assisted condition. Thereby, the Br-C60 labeling based MALDI-TOF MS analytical method can achieve high throughput analysis of LMW thiols in serum. Good linearities of the method for the thiols in human serum were obtained in the range of 0.5-500.0 µM with correlation coefficient (R) greater than 0.9960. The limit of detection is in the range of 0.07-0.18 µM for the investigated thiols in human serum with relative standard deviations of lower than 13.5% and recoveries ranging from 81.9 to 117.1%. Using the method, four thiols in microliter serum samples of breast cancer (BC) patients were determined. The result showed that the contents of the four thiols in BC serum samples significantly changed compared to the healthy control (HC).

Upregulation of RAC3 in bladder cancer predicts adverse clinical outcome and increased tumor immune response.

The relationship between RAC3 expression and clinical outcome in bladder cancer (BLCA) was uncertain. In this study, the expression level of RAC3 in BLCA and its clinical outcome were analyzed through various independent public databases. The mRNA expression level of RAC3 in BLCA and normal bladder was evaluated from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), Oncomine, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. The protein expression of RAC3 in BLCA and normal bladder was investigated from immunohistochemical images through the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) database. Next, gene tumor immune analyses were performed. Furthermore, gene set enrichment analysis (GESA) by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment (KEGG) for RAC3 and its co-expressed genes were performed. Then, GESA was also performed to validate the KEGG pathways by the different expression of RAC3 in BLCA. The results indicated that, compared with normal bladder, the mRNA and protein expression of RAC3 in BLCA were both significantly higher than those of normal bladder tissues (P<0.05). The tumor immune analyses indicated RAC3 was associated with microsatellite instability, tumor mutational burden, tumor immune microenvironment, and immune cell infiltration level evaluation (P<0.05). The survival analysis result demonstrated that upregulation of RAC3 was associated with adverse survival in BLCA (P<0.05). Taken together, these findings suggest that RAC3 may be associated with adverse clinical outcome and increased tumor immune response in BLCA, and may be a prognostic and immunotherapy marker for BLCA.

A New Surgical Method of U-Shaped Myometrial Excavation and Modified Suture Approach with Uterus Preservation for Diffuse Adenomyosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a new surgical method of U-shaped myometrial excavation and modified suture approach with uterus preservation for diffuse adenomyosis. METHODS: From January 2012 to December 2014, 198 patients with diffuse adenomyosis were surgically treated using this novel procedure in Zhengzhou Hua-Shan Hospital. Degree of dysmenorrhea, menstrual blood volume, serum CA 125, and uterine size before and at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months after surgery were compared. RESULTS: Postoperatively, VAS score of dysmenorrhea, menstrual blood volume, serum CA 125 level, and uterine size significantly decreased at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 24 months from presurgical levels (all p < .001), but there were no differences at the follow-up time points. Two patients recurred at 18 months and 23 months after surgery, but both recovered after repeat surgery. Interestingly, 2 other patients recrudesced at 10 months and 12 months after surgery. In addition, only one patient was found to have a postoperative anaemia with fever, conservatively managed without surgery. CONCLUSION: U-shaped myometrial excavation and modified suture approach with uterus preservation is a safe and feasible surgical approach to treat diffuse adenomyosis, with favourable outcomes.

Anticoagulant effects of Rivaroxaban after surgical fixation of spinal fracture.

In recent years, the concept of treatment after surgery in the department of orthopedics has changed from hemostasis to anticoagulant. This article analyses the safety and effectiveness of anticoagulants for prophylactic anticoagulants after spinal fractures. By analyzing the incidence of bleeding and VTE in 2 weeks after operation, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (P>0.05), but the incidence of VTE in rivaroxaban group was significantly lower than that in control group. In conclusion, the rivaroxaban oral anticoagulants are stable, safe and easy to use. It significantly reduced the incidence of VTE after spinal fracture and nerve injury, and did not increase the risk of bleeding. It is an ideal type of prophylactic anticoagulant after the operation of spinal fracture, which is worthy of further clinical study.

Expression of Acid-Sensing Ion Channels in Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells and Their Role in Patients with Henoch-Schönlein Purpura Nephritis.

BACKGROUND Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are ligand-gated cation channels activated by extracellular protons. However, the role of ASICs in kidney diseases remains uncertain. This study investigated ASICs expression in kidney tissues and their role in the development of Henoch-Schönlein purpura nephritis (HSPN). MATERIAL AND METHODS The expression of ASIC subunits was examined by immunochemical techniques in the kidney tissue from HSPN patients. Acid-induced ASICs expression in cultured renal tubular epithelial cells was determined by quantitative RT-PCR analysis. The expression of K7 and K18 protein in renal tubular epithelial cells was used to evaluate acid-induced cell injury. In addition, we observed the effect of blocking ASICs on acid-induced cell injury to assess the role of ASICs in renal tubular epithelial cell injury. RESULTS The results showed that ASIC1, ASIC2, and ASIC3 proteins were obviously expressed in renal tubular cells from HSPN patients. ASIC1 expression and 24-h urine protein level were higher in the pathological grade ISKD III group than in the ISKD II group. ASIC1, ASIC2, and ASIC3 mRNA, and K7 and K18 protein expression in cultured renal tubular epithelial cells were increased when exposed to pH 6.5. K7 and K18 protein expression was closely related to ASIC1 expression, and ASICs blockers reduced K7 and K18 protein expression in tubular epithelial cells. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest ASICs are most highly expressed in renal tubular cells of HSPN patients, which is closely related to renal tubular injury. ASICs might be involved in the development of HSPN.

Apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) induced by IgA1 isolated from Henoch-Schonlein purpura children.

OBJECTIVE: It had been shown that apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells played an important role in the pathogenesis of HSP. The present study was designed to investigate the apoptosis of vascular endothelial cells induced by isolated IgA1 from sera of HSP patients. METHODS: HUVEC were cultured in 3 different types of media with IgA1 from HSP patients, normal healthy children and simply medium (blank control). Serum IgA1 was purified by jacalin affinity chromatography. The rates of apoptosis in HUVEC incubated with IgA1 were determined by the TUNEL method and flow cytometry, respectively. The expression of bax/bcl-2 and p53 was detected with the methods of Real-time PCR and Westernblot, respectively. RESULT: The results showed that the apoptosis rate of HUVEC by IgA1 isolated from HSP patients was higher than that the normal controls (14.77±2.23% vs 9.97±1.48%) and blank controls (14.77±2.23% vs 2.25±0.77%) (P <0.01). Moreover the rate of HUVEC by IgA1 from normal healthy children was higher than the blank controls (9.97±1.48% vs 2.25±0.77%) (P <0.01). In addition, the bax and P53 expression were up-regulated and the Bcl-2 expression was down-regulated in HUVEC co-cultured with IgA1 isolated from HSP patients for 24 hours. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested that IgA1 from HSP patients could induce the apoptosis of HUVEC, which might be related to the vascular endothelial injury of HSP.

Low dose of interferon-α improves the clinical outcomes of docetaxel in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer: A pilot study.

The aim of this study was to test whether a low dose of interferon-α-2b (IFN-α2b) enhances the clinical outcome of docetaxel (DXT) in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). A prospective controlled trial of 40 CRPC patients receiving 5 mg of prednisone twice daily was conducted, where patients were randomly assigned to be administered 75 mg/m2 DXT plus 3 mIU/m2 IFN-α2b (group A, n=20) or 75 mg/m2 DXT alone (group B, n=20). The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) response, tumor response, progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated. There was no statistically significant difference in PSA response rate between groups A and B (65 vs. 47.4%, P=0.341). The tumor response rate in group A was significantly greater compared with that in group B (55 vs. 21.1%, P=0.048). The median PFS was longer in group A compared with that in group B (10 vs. 8 months, P=0.043). There was no statistically significant difference in median OS between the two groups (19 vs. 17 months, P=0.348), but one patient displayed a complete tumor response in group A. In groups A and B, transient grade 3 to 4 neutropenia was observed in nine and six patients, grade 3 to 4 anemia was observed in three and five patients, and grade 3 to 4 general fatigue was observed in four and one patient(s), respectively. The proportion of patients with grade 3 to 4 toxicity was not statistically different between the two groups. A low dosage of IFN-α2b may improve the antitumor activity of DXT with an acceptable toxicity profile in patients with CRPC.

Interstitial cells of Cajal mediate excitatory sympathetic neurotransmission in guinea pig prostate.

Morphological and functional studies have confirmed that interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are involved in many enteric motor neurotransmission pathways. Recent investigations have demonstrated that human and guinea pig prostate glands possess a distinct cell type with morphological and immunological similarities to ICCs. These prostate ICCs have a close relationship with nerve bundles and smooth muscle cells. Prostate smooth muscle tone is largely induced by stimulation from the sympathetic nervous system, which releases excitatory norepinephrine (NE) to act on the α1-adrenoceptor. We have performed morphological and functional experiments to determine the role of ICCs in sympathetic neurotransmission in the guinea pig prostate based on the hypothesis that prostate ICCs act as mediators of sympathetic neurotransmission. Immunohistochemistry revealed many close points of contact between ICCs and sympathetic nerve bundles and smooth muscle cells. Double-labeled sections revealed that α1-adrenoceptor and the gap junction protein connexin 43 were expressed in prostate ICCs. Surprisingly, prostate ICCs co-expressed tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine ß-hydroxylase, two markers of sympathetic neurons. Functionally, the application of NE evoked a large single inward current in isolated prostate ICCs in a dose-dependent manner. The inward current evoked by NE was mediated via the activation of α1-adrenoceptors, because it was abolished by the non-specific α-adrenoceptor antagonist, phentolamine and the specific α1-adrenoceptor antagonist, prazosin. Thus, ICCs in the guinea pig prostate are target cells for prostate sympathetic nerves and possess the morphological and functional characteristics required to mediate sympathetic signals.

Altered microRNAs expression profiling in experimental silicosis rats.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are 19~24 nt non-coding RNA molecules that regulate expression of target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Evidence indicates that miRNAs play an essential role in physiological and pathological conditions including pulmonary development, inflammation, fibrosis and cancer. The aim of the present study is to investigate the altered miRNAs expression profile in rats with experimental silicosis. We duplicated silicosis rat model, and identify the miRNA expression pattern of silicosis rat with miRNA microarray. Compared with normal lung tissue, fourteen miRNAs were found significantly up-regulated while the other twenty-five down-regulated in silicosis samples. The differential expression of two selected miRNAs was confirmed by stem-loop real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Our results indicate that the 39 altered miRNAs may be involved in lung fibrosis of rats that were exposed to silica dust. Furthermore, the microarray results provide a solid basis for further validation, such as identification of other miRNAs that may be related to inflammation and fibrosis. The findings are paving way for silicosis early prevention, prognosis and possible therapy.

[Inhibitory effect of dihydroartemisinin on the growth of human prostate cancer PC-3M cells and its mechanism].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of dihydroartemisinin on the apoptosis of and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in prostate cancer cell line PC-3M in androgen-independent prostate cancer. METHODS: PC-3M cells were treated with different doses (0, 25, 50 and 100 micromol/L) of dihydroartemisinin for 48 hours, their growth activity analyzed by MTT colorimetric assay and flow cytometry, and changes in the activities of caspase-3 and -8 detected by colorimetric assay. The expression of VEGF mRNA was determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR, and that of the VEGF protein by Western blotting. RESULTS: Compared with the 0 micromol/L control group, the 25, 50 and 100 micromol/L dihydroartemisinin groups showed significantly increased apoptosis of PC-3M cells ([2.92 +/- 0.45]% vs [8.85 +/- 0.74]%, [12.83 +/- 0.84]% and [18.65 +/- 1.24]%, P < 0.01), and dose-dependent increase in the activities of caspase-8 ([0.47 +/- 0.05 ] U/microg vs [1.22 +/- 0.15], [1.76 +/- 0.07] and [2.91 +/- 0.24] U/microg, P < 0.01) and caspase-3 ([0.44 +/- 0.07] U/microg vs [0.95 +/- 0.08], [1.48 +/- 0.14] and [2.92 +/- 0.45] U/microg, P < 0.01). The expressions of VEGF mRNA and protein were decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Dihydroartemisinin can significantly suppress the growth of PC-3M cells, promote their apoptosis and reduce the expressions of VEGF mRNA and protein, which may serve to explain its inhibitory effect on tumor and angiogenesis.

[Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the testis and penis: clinical analysis of 5 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of male genitalia. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of 5 cases of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of male genitalia, 4 in the testis and 1 in the penis, we also analyzed the relevant literature and clinical significance of the disease. RESULTS: All the 5 cases were treated by surgery and pathologically confirmed to be non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Three of them received chemotherapy, and the other 2 (1 in the testis and 1 in the penis) underwent both chemotherapy and radiotherapy after the operation. Follow-up averaged 25 months, during which 1 of the patients died and the other 4 survived. CONCLUSION: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of male genitalia is an uncommon disease with atypical clinical presentations and poor prognosis, which occurs mostly in elderly males. Definite diagnosis of the disease mainly depends on histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Surgery with multiagent chemotherapy and radiotherapy is advisable for its treatment.