Comparison of CT findings and histopathological characteristics of pulmonary cryptococcosis in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients.

Pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) is a common fungal infectious disease, and infection can occur in patients with any immune function. To better understand PC, we compared the CT findings and histopathological results in immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients. The clinical data of 68 patients with PC were collected retrospectively and divided into the immunocompetent group and immunocompromised group. The clinical characteristics, CT manifestations and histopathological characteristics of the two groups of patients were compared. Forty-two patients (61.8%) were immunocompetent, and 26 patients (38.2%) were immunocompromised. Compared with immunocompromised patients, 57.14% (24/42) of immunocompetent patients were asymptomatic (p = 0.002). Compared with immunocompetent patients, cough (14/26, 53.9%) and fever (13/26, 50.0%) were the main symptoms in immunocompromised patients (p = 0.044, p = 0.007). Nodular lesions (97.6%, 41/42) were the most common CT type in immunocompetent patients, and the CT characteristic was a single lesion (25/42, 59.5%); the main histopathological type was nodular fibrogranuloma (30/42, 71.4%), and the main histopathological characteristic was inflammatory granuloma (31/42, 73.81%) formed by macrophage phagocytosis of Cryptococcus. Consolidation (15/26, 57.7%) was more common in the CT type of immunocompromised patients. Multiple lesions (24/26, 92.31%), air bronchial signs (19/26, 73.081%) and cavities (9/26, 34.62%) were the main CT characteristics. The mucinous colloid type (19/26, 73.1%) was its main histopathological type, which was mainly characterized by a small amount of surrounding inflammatory cell infiltration (17/26, 65.4%). There were significant differences in the classification and characteristics of CT and pathology between the two groups (p < 0.05). Through the CT manifestations and histopathological characteristics of PC under different immune function states, it was found that immune function has a significant impact on the CT manifestations and histopathological characteristics of patients with PC.

Snail promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasiveness in human ovarian cancer cells.

There are limited reports with respect to the study on the epithelium-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) mediated by Snail in the ovarian cancer. This study detected the expression of Snail and related EMT markers in the ovarian cancer tissues, and explored the possible molecular mechanism of EMT mediated by Snail in the metastasis of ovarian cancer. The patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer according to the pathology were recruited in this study during 2010-2014. The carcinoma tissue and normal tissue adjacent to carcinoma were surgically obtained from patients. The genes of E-cadherin, ß-catenin, Fibronectin and N-cadherin were detected using the RT-PCR. The 64 patients were recruited and diagnosed as ovarian cancer by pathological examination. The expression levels of Snail, Fibronectin and N-cadherin in the stage III and IV were higher than those in the stage I and II, respectively (all P < 0.05). However, the expression levels of E-cadherin and ß-catenin decreased along with the stage developed (trend test, both P < 0.05), respectively. The expression of Snail was positively correlated with the expression of Fibronectin, N-cadherin, but negatively correlated with the expression of E-cadherin and ß-catenin. The number of A2780 cells entering into the lower compartment in the group of carcinoma tissue were significantly higher than that in the group of normal tissue after transfected with Snail expression vector. While, the invasion ability of A2780 significantly reduced after RNAi-Snail. The correlation between Snail and invasion and metastasis of ovarian cancer and epithelial-mesenchymal transition based on tissue and cell levels, and to some extent explored the molecular mechanism of the EMT process mediated by Snail.

TGF-beta induces fibroblast activation protein expression; fibroblast activation protein expression increases the proliferation, adhesion, and migration of HO-8910PM [corrected].

Several studies recognize cancer-stromal fibroblasts' role in cancer-cell invasion and metastasis. Through paracrine signaling molecules, TGF-beta and IL-1beta, cancer cells activate stromal fibroblasts and induce the expression of fibroblast activation protein (FAP). FAP, in turn, affects the proliferation, invasion and migration of the cancer cells. We report that TGF-beta and IL-1beta are important factors in inducing differentiation of myofibroblasts and expression of functional markers, notably alpha-SMA. We discover that TGF-beta is the dominant factor in promoting FAPalpha protein expression. This study also examines FAP's function in vitro by assaying the proliferation, migration and invasion of ovarian cancer cell line HO-8910PM.