[Effects of puerarin on proliferation and differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts in vitro].

This study is to investigate the effects of puerarin on the proliferation and differentiation of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteoblasts. Umbilical cord MSCs were cultured by tissue adherence and the third passage of cells was used in the experiment. The effect of puerarin on proliferation of umbilical cord MSCs was measured with MTT. The effects of puerarin on umbilical cord MSCs were evaluated by ALP immunohistochemisty and von kossa staining. The OD value decreased with the increase of puerarin concentration. On 7th day, ALP expression of puerarin group was higher than that of control group. On 14th day, ALP staining showed that the positive rate of puerarin group was higher than that of control group. Von kossa staining showed the quantity of calcium nodules was higher in puerarin group than that of control group. Puerarin can promote the umbilical cord MSCs to differentiate into osteoblasts and has an effect on the proliferation of umbilical cord MSCs.

[Semen quality analysis of 2 640 infertile men in Suzhou area].

OBJECTIVE: To study the semen quality of male infertility patients in Suzhou area, China. METHODS: We detected the semen quality of 2 640 infertility patients in Suzhou area using computer-assisted semen analysis technology. RESULTS: Of the 2 640 semen samples, 27.35% were found normal in all seminal indexes, 47.35% (1 250/2 640) abnormal in the percentage of grade a + b sperm, and 42.39% (1 119/2 640) abnormal in sperm motility. The percentage of grade a + b sperm and sperm motility were decreased with the increase of age, more obviously in those over 40 years. The incidences of asthenospermia and oligospermia were 37.31% (985/2 640) and 8.94% (236/2 640), rising with the increase of age, especially in those older than 30 years. The 9 sperm motion parameters, including VSL, VCL, LIN, MAD, VAP, STR, WOB, ALH and BCF, were significantly reduced with the decrease of sperm motility and sperm concentration. CONCLUSION: The infertile men in Suzhou area are mainly characterized by a decrease in sperm motility, especially in the percentage of grade a + b sperm. The correlation of age with sperm motility and incidence of asthenospermia and oligospermia suggests that men also have an appropriate childbearing age.

DNMT3B 579 G>T promoter polymorphism and risk of esophagus carcinoma in Chinese.

AIM: To investigate the relationship between 579 G>T polymorphisms in the DNMT3B gene, which is involved in de novo methylation and associated with the risk of esophagus cancer (EC) in Chinese. METHODS: DNMT3B 579 G>T genotypes were determined by PCR-RFLP in 194 EC patients and 210 healthy controls matched for age and sex, who did not receive radiotherapy or chemotherapy for newly diagnosed and histopathologically confirmed EC. RESULTS: In control subjects, the frequency of T/T and G/T genotypes, and T and G alleles was 81.4%, 18.1%, 90.05% and 9.55%, respectively. The distribution of genotypes and allelotypes in the EC patients was not significantly different from that in the controls. When stratified by sex and age, there was still no significant association between the risks of EC and GT and GG genotypes. This study also showed a distinct difference in the distribution of DNMT3B and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) between Chinese and Koreans. CONCLUSION: DNMT3B 579 G>T polymorphism may not be a stratification marker to predict the susceptibility to EC, at least in Chinese. DNMT3B promoter SNP is diverse in ethnic populations.

CEBPA methylation and mutation in myelodysplastic syndrome.

Aberrant methylation of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPA) promoter has been observed in acute myeloid leukemia. However, little is known about CEBPA promoter in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The purpose of this study was to investigate the alteration of CEBPA promoter in MDS patients and further determine the association with CEBPA expression and mutation. CEBPA promoter was significantly methylated in 105 MDS patients compared to 22 controls (median 0.016 vs. 0.000) (P < 0.0001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis discriminated all patients or cytogenetically normal patients from normal controls. Three cases (3 %) were identified with single-mutated CEBPA and one (1 %) with double-mutated CEBPA. CEBPA methylation and mutation occurred mutually exclusive. No significant correlation was found between CEBPA expression and methylation (P = 0.586). Our findings indicate that CEBPA methylation is a common event in MDS, but could not act as a prognostic biomarker for MDS patients.

Double CEBPA mutations are prognostically favorable in non-M3 acute myeloid leukemia patients with wild-type NPM1 and FLT3-ITD.

This study is aimed to investigate the pattern of CEBPA mutations and its clinical significance in Chinese non-M3 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The entire coding region of CEBPA gene was amplified by PCR and then sequenced in samples from 233 non-M3 AML patients. Fifty mutations were identified in 37 (15.8%) patients with eleven (4.7%) double mutated CEBPA (dmCEBPA) and twenty-six (11.1%) single mutated CEBPA (smCEBPA). dmCEBPA was exclusively observed in M1 and M2 subtypes of FAB classification (P = 0.008), whereas smCEBPA occurred in almost all subtypes (P = 0.401). Patients with dmCEBPA had significantly younger age and higher WBC counts than those with wtCEBPA (P = 0.016 and 0.043, respectively). Both dmCEBPA and smCEBPA were mainly present in cytogenetically normal patients. Patients with dmCEBPA achieved higher rate of complete (CR) than wtCEBPA patients (88% vs. 51%, P = 0.037), whereas smCEBPA and wtCEBPA groups are similar (47% vs. 51%, P = 0.810). Patients with dmCEBPA had a superior overall survival (OS) compared with patients with wtCEBPA (P = 0.033), whereas patients with smCEBPA had a similar OS as patients with wtCEBPA (P = 0.976). dmCEBPA but not smCEBPA was also associated with favorable outcome in patients with wild-type NPM1 and FLT3-ITD (NPM1(wt)FLT3-ITD(wt) ). Our data confirm that dmCEBPA but not smCEBPA is prognostically favorable in NPM1(wt)FLT3-ITD(wt) AML, and suggest that the entity AML with mutated CEBPA should be definitely designated as AML with dmCEBPA in WHO classification and smCEBPA should be excluded from the favorable risk of molecular abnormalities.