Differential Incidence of Tongue Base Cancer in Male and Female HPV16-Transgenic Mice: Role of Female Sex Hormone Receptors.

A growing proportion of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) are associated with infection by high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV). For reasons that remain largely unknown, HPV+OPSCC is significantly more common in men than in women. This study aims to determine the incidence of OPSCC in male and female HPV16-transgenic mice and to explore the role of female sex hormone receptors in the sexual predisposition for HPV+ OPSCC. The tongues of 30-weeks-old HPV16-transgenic male (n = 80) and female (n = 90) and matched wild-type male (n = 10) and female (n = 10) FVB/n mice were screened histologically for intraepithelial and invasive lesions in 2017 at the Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB), Portugal. Expression of estrogen receptors alpha (ERα) and beta (ERß), progesterone receptors (PR) and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) was studied immunohistochemically. Collagen remodeling was studied using picrosirius red. Female mice showed robust ERα and ERß expression in intraepithelial and invasive lesions, which was accompanied by strong MMP2 expression and marked collagen remodeling. Male mice showed minimal ERα, ERß and MMP2 expression and unaltered collagen patterns. These results confirm the association of HPV16 with tongue base cancer in both sexes. The higher cancer incidence in female versus male mice contrasts with data from OPSCC patients and is associated with enhanced ER expression via MMP2 upregulation.

Cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetric behaviour of guanine in the presence of copper at the static mercury drop electrode.

The cathodic adsorptive electrochemical behavior of guanine in the presence of some metal ions at the static mercury drop electrode was investigated. A 1.0x10(-3) mol l(-1) NaOH or a 2.0x10(-2) mol l(-1) Hepes buffer at pH 8.0 solutions were used as supporting electrolytes. The reduction peak potential for guanine was found to be around -0.15 V, which is very close to the mercury reduction wave. A new peak appears at -0.60 V in the presence of copper or at -1.05 V in the presence of zinc. A square wave voltammetric procedure for electroanalytical determination of guanine in 2.0x10(-2) mol l(-1) Hepes buffer at pH 8.0 containing 1.6x10(-5) mol l(-1)of copper ions, was developed. An accumulation potential of -0.15 V during 270 s for the prior adsorption of guanine at the electrode surface was used. The response of the system was found to be linear in the range of guanine concentration from 6.62x10(-8) to 1.32x10(-7) mol l(-1) and the detection limit was 7.0x10(-9) mol l(-1). The influence of DNA bases such as adenine, cytosine and thymine was also examined. Cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the interfacial and redox mechanism.