A comparative study of prostate cancer detection and management in China and in France.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the detection and management of prostate cancer in one French and six Chinese urological institutions. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All the patients subjected to prostate biopsy for suspected prostate cancer in six Chinese urological institutions and in the department of urology of the Cochin hospital, France, between January 2003 and December 2005 were included. The characteristics of patients and tumors, and the management of prostate cancer were then analyzed. RESULTS: In the Chinese institutions, 95.8% of patients undergoing prostate biopsy presented with urinary disorders. The rate of abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) ranged from 29.2% to 45.1%. In the French institution, 72.7% of prostate biopsies were performed as a result of prostate cancer screening, and the rate of abnormal DRE was 16.8%. In the Chinese institutions, a total of 979 patients underwent prostate biopsy, with median PSA values varying between 10.2 ng/ml and 33 ng/ml among the institutions. Overall, 408 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed, with median PSA values varying between 24.3 ng/dl and 174.9 ng/dl and 19.4% of tumors were clinically localized. In the French institution, 565 patients underwent prostate biopsy, with a median PSA value of 7.4 ng/ml and 251 cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed, with a median PSA value of 8.1 ng/ml and 80.9% of tumors were clinically localized. In the Chinese institutions, the majority of patients received surgical or medical castration. The rate of patients subjected to surgical castration varied between 24.2% and 100%. Radical prostatectomy (RP) was performed in only three Chinese hospitals, in which the percentage of patients treated with RP varied between 12.1% and 31.1%. In the French institution, RP was the most common treatment of prostate cancer (43.8% of patients). CONCLUSION: In China, most patients subjected to prostate biopsy suffer from urinary symptoms and have elevated PSA levels. The lack of mass screening for prostate cancer results in a high rate of advanced tumors with nodal involvement and/or metastases. RP is rarely performed in Chinese hospitals, and castration represents the usual treatment of prostate cancer.

Microsatellite analyses of loci at 7q31.3-q36 reveal a minimum of two common regions of deletion in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to better define the extent and specificity of deletion in the 7q32-qter chromosomal region in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). DESIGN AND SETTING: Polymerase chain reaction-based deletion analysis was performed on DNA samples from 24 paired NPCs and corresponding germlines using 13 microsatellite markers mapped to chromosome subbands 7q31.3-q36. RESULTS: Loss of heterozygosity of at least 1 marker in this interval was found in 18 (75%) of 24 tumor specimens. Particularly frequent allelic losses were identified at 5 loci: D7S495 (46%), D7S509 (42%), D7S500 (45%), D7S631 (30%), and D7S514 (35%). Two shortest regions of overlap could be identified in this interval, although the most common shortest region of overlap appeared to lie around D7S500 between but not including D7S631 and D7S495, on chromosome subband 7q32. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that at least 2 putative tumor suppressor genes important in the pathogenesis of NPC are present in the examined interval, an interval that has also been found to harbor deletions in breast and prostate carcinomas.

Temporal lobe epilepsy induces differential expression of hippocampal miRNAs including let-7e and miR-23a/b.

To understand the role of miRNAs in the molecular mechanisms of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), we investigated the changes in microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles of chronic TLE rat models. MiRNAs microarray analysis results showed that 125 miRNAs were detected in the hippocampus of lithium-pilocarpine-induced TLE rats and normal rats. Compared with normal rats (control group), 23 of the 125 miRNAs were expressed differentially in TLE rats including 5 down-regulated miRNAs (let-7 e included) and 18 up-regulated miRNAs (miR-23 a/b included). Furthermore, let-7 e and miR-23 a/b analysis in rat hippocampus were performed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction at 0 h, 1h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 2 days, 7 days,10 days, 30 days,50 days after induction of status epilepticus (SE). let-7 e was detected down-regulated expression at 0 h, 1h, 6h, 2 days, 7 days, 50 days after SE and up-regulated expression at 12h, 24h, 10 days, 30 days after SE, which was significantly up-regulated expression at 24h after SE (10.49 folds, P<0.01). miR-23 a/b was detected down-regulated at 0 h, 1h, 6h, 12h, 2 days, 7 days, 10 days, 30 days after SE and significantly up-regulated at 24h (4.49 folds P<0.01), 50 d (2.4 folds, P<0.01) after SE. TLE alters the expression levels of a subset of miRNAs in the hippocampus and these deregulated miRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy directly or indirectly. Also the temporal change of the let-7 e and miR-23 a/b expression in the epileptogenesis indicated their underlying functions on TLE.