[Progress in the traceability of tumor marker detection].

Tumor markers (TM) detection is of great significance in tumor screening, monitoring and treatment intervention, which puts forward higher requirements for its detection quality. TM traceability is very important in the process of reagent production and clinical laboratory testing, which can help improving the reliability and comparability of TM testing. Based on the current principles and classification system of metrology traceability in the world, this paper reviews the quality requirements of reference materials and reference measurement methods related to protein and nucleic acid of TM, as well as the problems existing in the international convention reference measurement procedure and traceability system of TM, so as to provide a new idea for the quality assurance work of TM detection.

[Clinical characteristics of cardiomyopathies complicated with ventricular thrombosis].

Objective: To summarize the clinical characteristics of cardiomyopathy complicated with ventricular thrombosis. Methods: The clinical data of inpatients suffered from cardiomyopathy complicated with ventricular thrombosis in Fuwai Hospital between January 2015 and May 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Results: A total of 125 cases were reviewed, and 24.8% were female. Dilated cardiomyopathy was the most common disease (62.4%), followed by arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) (13.6%) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (11.2%). There were 74.4% thrombosis in left ventricle, 12.8% in right ventricle and 12.8% in biventricle. The proportions of right ventricle thrombosis were higher in ARVC than in other cardiomyopathies (52.9% vs 6.5%, P<0.01). The majority suffered from cardiac function New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class Ⅲ (45.6%) and class Ⅳ (39.2%). The ratio of NYHA Class Ⅳ was higher in female patients than in male ones (25.8% vs 10.6%, P<0.05). In lab detection, positive results of D-Dimer and N terminal-pro B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) accounted for 72.8% and 97.6%, respectively. There were 2.5% patients died in the hospital or discharged because of the worsening of illness, the chances were higher in female than male patients (9.7% vs 0, P<0.01). Among these patients, one succumbed to massive ischemic stroke caused by ventricular thrombus detachment under standard anticoagulation therapy. Conclusions: Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common cardiomyopathy complicated with ventricular thrombosis. The most common location of thrombosis is left ventricle. Right ventricle thrombosis is more common in ARVC. The majority suffer from moderate or severe cardiac dysfunction. Higer proportion of female patients suffer from anemia, severe condition and poor prognosis.

[The value of circulating tumor cells detected by chromosome centromere probe identification in diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer].

Objective: This study explored the value of circulating tumor cells (CTC) detected by chromosome 8 centromere probe in diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) as well as correlation between CTC counts and clinical pathological characteristics. Methods: We collected 136 patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC (101 males and 35 females, age ranged from 34 to 79 years), 149 patients with non-malignant pulmonary diseases (103 males and 46 females, age ranged from 24 to 80 years) and 32 healthy volunteers (5 males and 27 females, age ranged from 24 to 42 years). Detection was performed using an epithelial cell adhesion molecule-independent strategy that combined immunocytochemistry staining (ICC) of CD(45) and fluorescence in situ hybridization detection (FISH) with chromosome 8 centromere probe (CEP8). CTC was defined as 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) positive, CD(45) negative and CEP8 more than 2 positive points. Quantitative data were reported as x±s and Mann Whitney test was used to compare them. Measurement data were analyzed as contingency tables and Pearson chi-squared test was used. P values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: CTCs were detected in 114 patients (83.8%) with NSCLC, 35 patients (23.5%) with non-malignant pulmonary diseases (P<0.000 1) and 5 volunteers (15.6%). CTC counts in NSCLC patients were (5.98±0.64) per 3.2 ml and (0.60±0.13) per 3.2 ml (P<0.000 1). A receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis showed similar capability of CTC count, with CEA, in discriminating NSCLC and non-malignant diseases with an area under ROC curve of 0.854 (95% confidence interval: 0.808-0.900, P<0.001). Cutoff of 2 circulating tumor cells per 3.2 ml peripheral blood gave the highest Youden Index of 0.614 in diagnosis of NSCLC with sensitivity of 72.1% (98/136) and specificity of 89.3% (133/149). When patients with CTC≥2/3.2 ml peripheral blood or serum CEA≥5 ng/ml were considered as having NSCLC, sensitivity and specificity of this combined test were 87.5% (119/136) and 85.9% (128/149), with a higher Youden Index of 0.734. No correlation was observed between positive rate of CTC (rate of patients with CTC≥2/3.2 ml peripheral blood) and age, gender, smoking status, pathologic types, and clinical stages. Conclusions: CTC counts detected by CD(45)-FISH is higher in NSCLC patients than in non-malignant disease patients. CTC≥2/3.2 ml peripheral blood is valuable in discriminating NSCLC from nonmalignant diseases, which can be more accurate when combined with CEA.

Correlation of transformation from epithelial to mesenchymal-like morphology and endogenous bFGF levels in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.

CG-1 human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells in monolayer culture formed both cohesive, epithelial-like colonies and scattered, fibroblastic-like colonies in mixed proportions. In the presence of exogenously added bFGF (4 ng/ml), about 85% of the colonies formed were fibroblastic-like. CG-1 cells were capable of synthesizing and releasing bFGF, and, when compared by the immunological method, cells in fibroblastic-lke colonies were found to contain higher levels of endogenous bFGF than cells in the epithelial-like colonies. Furthermore, cells in the peripheral region of the epithelial-like colonies, which were fibroblastic-like in morphology, also appeared to contain higher levels of endogenous bFGF. In addition, in the presence of suramin, neutralizing antibody to bFGF, or neutralizing antibodies to bFGF and EGF, the number of cohesive colonies formed was greatly increased. Moreover, addition of the 2 M NaCl-eluted heparin-Sepharose fraction of the CG-1 cell-coditioned medium promoted the formation of dispersed colony in a dose-dependent manner. The results suggest that bFGF can regulate CG-1 cell phenotype in an autocrine manner.

Submicrostructure and typing of female genital condylomata.

Thirty biopsies from female genital condylomata were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to study structural characteristics and typing of condylomata. It was found that cytoplasmic clearing was marked in acuminate condylomata, diffuse interstitial and epithelial proliferation in nodular condylomata (flat condylomata), and invagination of the lesions into the interstitial tissue or glandular ducts in endophytic condylomata. In nodular condylomata, SEM also showed some structural features similar to those of intra-epithelial neoplasia. Microridges on the surface of squamous cells had villiform of granular changes. On the surface of a percentage of squamous or columnar cells, there were holes with a diameter of about 3 to 5 microns. A number of giant cells were seen among other cells. The cervical squamatization zone contained groups of special cells covered with dense microvilli. TEM of nodular condylomata revealed some pictures resembling active proliferation of tumor cells, such as enlarged or irregular nuclei (large N/C ratio), evaginated or invaginated nuclear membranes, condensed chromatin attached to the inner part of the nuclear membrane, transparent nucleoplasm, and frequent nucleosomes and karyokinesis. Virus particles with the morphological characteristics of HPV (naked hexagon-like particles with an average diameter of 45-50 nm) were seen in some nuclei with markedly condensed chromatin. It is suggested that HPV-induced genital condylomata, especially nodular one (flat condylomata), entail a potential progression to malignancy.