Primary extramedullary plasmacytoma of the penis: a case report.

Extramedullary plasmacytoma involving the penis is extremely rare. Here, we describe a case of primary extramedullary plasmacytoma of the penis in a 64-year-old man who presented with a palpable penile mass. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging revealed the presence of a large, round non-encapsulated mass in the perineum. A contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the pelvis showed that the mass was located in the tunica albuginea and corpora cavernosa at the base of the penis. The mass encased the urethra and demonstrated no marked enhancement during the arterial phase. The patient underwent successful surgical resection of the tumor. Histologically, the tumor was composed primarily of neoplastic plasma cells that were positive for CD38, vimentin and Ki 67. Postoperatively, the patient recovered well and exhibited no evidence of development of multiple myeloma, local recurrence or distant metastasis at 2 months post-surgery. To the best of our knowledge, our case represents the first documented case of human primary extramedullary plasmacytoma of the penis.

The Proteome Landscape of Human Placentas for Monochorionic Twins with Selective Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

In perinatal medicine, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is one of the greatest challenges. The etiology of IUGR is multifactorial, but most cases are thought to arise from placental insufficiency. However, identifying the placental cause of IUGR can be difficult due to numerous confounding factors. Selective IUGR (sIUGR) would be a good model to investigate how impaired placentation affects fetal development, as the growth discordance between monochorionic twins cannot be explained by confounding genetic or maternal factors. Herein, we constructed and analyzed the placental proteomic profiles of IUGR twins and normal cotwins. Specifically, we identified a total of 5481 proteins, of which 233 were differentially expressed (57 up-regulated and 176 down-regulated) in IUGR twins. Bioinformatics analysis indicates that these differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) are mainly associated with cardiovascular system development and function, organismal survival, and organismal development. Notably, 34 DEPs are significantly enriched in angiogenesis, and diminished placental angiogenesis in IUGR twins has been further elaborately confirmed. Moreover, we found decreased expression of metadherin (MTDH) in the placentas of IUGR twins and demonstrated that MTDH contributes to placental angiogenesis and fetal growth in vitro. Collectively, our findings reveal the comprehensive proteomic signatures of placentas for sIUGR twins, and the DEPs identified may provide in-depth insights into the pathogenesis of placental dysfunction and subsequent impaired fetal growth.

[Determination of optimized MTT colorimetric assay as the identification method for the activity of B type CpG ODN BW006].

AIM: BW006, B type CpG ODN, will be approved as vaccine adjuvant for human use. So it is necessary to determine a stable, safety and easy-to-operate method for activity identification of BW006 with different lots. METHODS: According to the characteristic of BW006 to stimulate the proliferation of PBMC or mice splenocytes, MTT assay was preferentially selected to test the characteristic of BW006. The splenocytes of female BALB/c mice was stimulated by BW006, and different experiment parameters including splenocyte numbers, the shape of plate, BW006 concentration, culture medium, culture time and optimized MTT conditions were determined in these courses. RESULTS: The whole experiment scheme was defined as following: 6 x 10(5) splenocytes were co-cultured with 3 mg/L BW006 in 200 microliter RPMI1640(without phenol red) supplemented with 100 mL/L FBS in a 96 well square plate. PBS, the solvent of BW006 was used as negative control, and culture medium without cells was used as blank. After being co-cultured for 36 hours at 37 degrees C in humidified incubator with 50 mL/L CO(2), 100 microliter supernatants was aspired out and 10 microliter MTT (5 g/L) was added into each well. The plate was further incubated in dark at 37 degrees C for 4 hours that is sufficient for the formation of formazan. Afterward, 150 microliter DMSO was directly added into each well. The plate was shaken on plate shaker for nearly 20 minutes until the formazan was completely dissolved and detected A(578) value at at ELISA reader. CONCLUSION: Optimized MTT assay, which is non-radioactive contamination, low-price and simple operation, could be used as activity identification of BW006 during large-scale production.

[Enhancement of HSP-MUC1 antitumor activity by type C CpG-ODN BW005].

AIM: To investigate the enhancement of anti-tumor effect of HSP-MUC1 by self-designed type C CpG-ODN BW005. METHODS: The immunostimulatory effect of CpG-ODN BW005 was detected by IFN protection assay and (3)H proliferation assay in vitro. Sixty C57BL/6 mice were separated into 5 groups randomly, including Sodium Chloride control, HSP-MUC1 control, HSP-MUC1/1585, HSP-MUC1/1826 and HSP-MUC1/BW005. Mice were injected s.c. with agents on day 0, 14 and 28 and were implanted MUC1-EL4 tumor cells s.c. on day 33. Tumor growth and murine death were recorded. Blood was collected in 57 day from tail vein. Subtype of anti-HSP and anti-MUC1 IgG in serum was detected by indirect ELISA. RESULTS: CpG-ODN BW005 could stimulate the proliferation of hPBMC and mice spleoncyte and IFNalpha production. HSP-MUC1/BW005 postponed tumor development, with the average tumor-developed day of 44.8, and prolonged the survival of mice with the average survival day of 49.5. Moreover, final tumor-developed rate of this group was 33.33%, which was the lowest; final survival rate of this group was 66.67%, which was the highest. Levels of anti-HSP and anti-MUC1 IgG2a in HSP-MUC1/CpG-ODNs group were enhanced. CONCLUSION: CpG-ODN BW005, a kind of type C CpG-ODN, could enhance the anti-tumor effect of HSP-MUC1.