Analysis of the Electrophoretic Profiles of Prion Protein in Carcinous and Pericarcinous Lysates of Six Different Types of Cancers.

OBJECTIVE: To find the different electrophoretic profiles of prion protein in carcinous and individual pericarcinous tissues in lysates of gastric, colon, liver, lung, thyroid, and laryngeal cancers. METHODS: Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western blot were used to test the amounts and electrophoretic patterns of total PrP and the tolerance of PK (protease K) digestion among six various cancer tissue types. RESULTS: A mass of PrP signals with a large molecular weight were identified in the homogenates of peripheral tissues. The amounts and electrophoretic patterns of total PrP did not differ significantly between carcinous and pericarcinous tissues. PrPs in all types of the tested cancer samples were PK sensitive but showed diversity in the tolerance of PK digestion among various tissue types. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed that the included electrophoretic patterns of carcinous and pericarcinous tissues were almost similar. Unlike PrP-specific immunohistochemical assay, evaluation of PrP electrophoretic patterns in the peripheral organs and tissues by Western blot does not reflect tumor malignancy.

[Potential Ecological Risk Assessment and Source Analysis of Heavy Metals in Soil-crop System in Xiong'an New District].

In order to evaluate the potential ecological risk of heavy metals in the soil-crop system in the Xiong'an New District, the heavy metal contents and forms in wheat seed and root soil samples are analyzed, and the comprehensive pollution index (IPIN), potential ecological risk index (RI), bio-enrichment coefficient (BFC), risk assessment code (RAC), principal component analysis, and correlation analysis are used to assess the potential ecological risk of heavy metals and analyze their sources. The results indicate that the average content of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the root soil is significantly higher than the soil background value in Hebei province. The IPIN ranges from 0.2 to 5.18, 94.83% of the soil samples are in the safe and pollution-free grade, and the potential ecological risks of heavy metal are slight and moderate, accounting for 64.66% and 30.17%, respectively. Cd has the greatest potential ecological harm, followed by Hg, Cr, Ni, and Zn. All the heavy metal elements besides Cd in the root soil are dominated by the residual form, which accounts for 60%, and the bioactive form (ion-exchange and water-soluble state) of Cd accounts for 33.43%, indicating relatively high bio-availability. The risk assessment code can be ranked as Cd > Ni > Hg > As > Cu > Cr > Zn > Pb, and the risk of Cd is moderate, while other elements are of low or no risk. The leading potential source of heavy metals is human activity combined with the geological background. The migration and enrichment capability of the wheat seeds is in order from strong to weak of Zn > Cu > Cd > Hg > As > Ni > Pb > Cr, and the biological effective components of As, Cd, Pb, and Zn plays an substantial role in promoting the absorption of heavy metals. The content of heavy metals in the wheat seeds has a negative correlation with the soil pH, and the physical and chemical indices, such as OM and CEC, has bi-directional influence on the biological effective state of the heavy metals.

Pretreatment with low-dose gadolinium chloride attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

AIM: We have shown that low-dose gadolinium chloride (GdCl3) abolishes arachidonic acid (AA)-induced increase of cytoplasmic Ca(2+), which is known to play a crucial role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The present study sought to determine whether low-dose GdCl3 pretreatment protected rat myocardium against I/R injury in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes (NRVMs) were treated with GdCl3 or nifedipine, followed by exposure to anoxia/reoxygenation (A/R). Cell apoptosis was detected; the levels of related signaling molecules were assessed. SD rats were intravenously injected with GdCl3 or nifedipine. Thirty min after the administration the rats were subjected to LAD coronary artery ligation followed by reperfusion. Infarction size, the release of serum myocardial injury markers and AA were measured; cell apoptosis and related molecules were assessed. RESULTS: In A/R-treated NRVMs, pretreatment with GdCl3 (2.5, 5, 10 µmol/L) dose-dependently inhibited caspase-3 activation, death receptor-related molecules DR5/Fas/FADD/caspase-8 expression, cytochrome c release, AA release and sustained cytoplasmic Ca(2+) increases induced by exogenous AA. In I/R-treated rats, pre-administration of GdCl3 (10 mg/kg) significantly reduced the infarct size, and the serum levels of CK-MB, cardiac troponin-I, LDH and AA. Pre-administration of GdCl3 also significantly decreased the number of apoptotic cells, caspase-3 activity, death receptor-related molecules (DR5/Fas/FADD) expression and cytochrome c release in heart tissues. The positive control drug nifedipine produced comparable cardioprotective effects in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment with low-dose GdCl3 significantly attenuates I/R-induced myocardial apoptosis in rats by suppressing activation of both death receptor and mitochondria-mediated pathways.

Associations of TP53 mutations, codon 72 polymorphism and human papillomavirus in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients.

To investigate the possible associations between mutations in TP53 and phenotypes of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in codon 72 (SNP72) with the expression profiles of p53 and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, 93 pathologically diagnosed head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs) were included for study. Using PCR and direct sequencing, 45 TP53 mutations in 35 cases (37.6%) were confirmed out of the 93 HNSCCs. P53 immunohistochemistry (IHC) confirmed 34 (36.6%) cases with positive staining, including 22 cases with strong and 12 with weak positivity. IARC database and software analysis showed similar results that most of the mutated p53 proteins lost their normal function. Further statistical analysis found a negative correlation between p53 IHC and HPV IHC in the tissues from the group of other HNSCCs (of various sites other than the larynx) but not in the tissues from the laryngeal carcinomas. Analyses of SNP72 showed that the patients with the Arg phenotype had a significantly older age at disease onset when compared to patients with the Pro phenotype, particularly in the group of other HNSCCs. In addition, all cases with strong staining for p53 in the laryngeal carcinoma group had the Pro phenotype and all tumors with poor pathological differentiation in the group of other HNSCCs had the Pro phenotype. These data indicate that the profiles of TP53 mutations, SNP72 polymorphism, p53 IHC and HPV E6 IHC are distinct between the groups of laryngeal carcinoma and other HNSCCs.

[Analysis of the human papillomavirus in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the infection of human papillomavirus in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients. METHODS: The pathological samples of 64 clinical diagnosed laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients were collected. Lunimex and PCR techniques were used to detect the HPV gene infection and immunohistochemistry method was used to analyze the HPV protein expression in the samples. RESULTS: In the 64 cases, 7 were positive for HPV infection by Luminex and PCR tests. 18 were positive for HPV16/18 E6 protein expression. The total positive rate was about 39. 1%. CONCLUSION: The high HPV infection rate in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients in the study indicated indirectly that the importance of the HPV infection in pathogenesis of the laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Completion lobectomy and central compartment dissection in low-risk patients who had undergone less extensive surgery than hemithyroidectomy.

Many low-risk patients with solitary papillary thyroid cancer located in one lobe had undergone surgery that was less extensive than hemithyroidectomy in China. An acceptable completion surgery regimen was suggested for these patients based on our experience. A total of 117 enrolled patients underwent completion surgery. Thirty-two patients had prior tumor resection, 46 patients had prior partial thyroidectomy and 39 patients had prior subtotal thyroidectomy. No neck dissection was performed. Reoperation was scheduled a median of 1.2 months (range, 3 days-6.5 months) after primary surgery for papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). Among the 117 patients, residual tumor was pathologically confirmed in 60 patients, with a residual rate of 51.28%. Among these 60 patients, residual tumor was identified in the thyroid bed alone in 18 patients and in compartment VI alone in 28 patients, while 14 patients exhibited residual tumor in both of these regions. Lymph node metastasis was observed in compartment VI in 42 patients (35.90%), and an average of 6.5 nodes were removed (range, 2-14 nodes for each patient). Additionally, 3.14 positive lymph nodes were removed on average from each of the 42 patients. We conclude that the completion regimen, including the ipsilateral residual lobe, the isthmus and ipsilateral compartment VI (prelaryngeal, pretracheal and paratracheal lymph nodes), is reasonable and acceptable for low-risk patients undergoing surgery that is less extensive than hemithyroidectomy.

[Evaluation of the function of autotransplanted parathyroid tissues].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the function autotransplanted parathyroid tissues in thyroid surgery. METHODS: The control group comprised 120 volunteers with normal parathyroid glands in whom serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in blood samples taken from the bilateral elbow head veins. The experimental group comprised 34 patients in whom the parathyroid glands, which were mistakenly cut or could not be preserved during thyroid surgery because of ischemia, were fragmented and autografted into the brachioradialis muscle of the nondominant forearm. On the day of surgery and at 3 days, 7 days, and 2 months postoperatively, contrast imaging and detection of serum PTH levels were performed to evaluate the function of the transplanted parathyroid tissues. RESULTS: In the control group, the mean value of the difference between the bilateral brachiocephalic vein PTH levels was (1.19 ± 0.98) ng/L (maximum 4.52 ng/L). In this study, twice the maximum value (9.04 ng/L) was taken as the effective standard. Based on the 9.04 ng/L effective value, the effective number was 26 patients and the effective rate was 76.5% at 2 months postoperatively in the 34 patients of the experimental group. CONCLUSIONS: The autotransplanted parathyroid tissues showed their functions in most patients, therefore, parathyroid gland autotransplantation is an effective method of preserving function of parathyroid glands that are free or severely ischemic in thyroid surgery.

[Salvage central neck dissection for papillary thyroid cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the salvage central neck dissection (CND) for papillary thyroid cancer in the patients with suspicious residual positive lymph nodes in the central compartment. METHODS: A total of 85 cases undergoing salvage CND between January 2006 to January 2009 was reviewed. RESULTS: Fifty-nine (69.4%) of the 85 patients showed residual positive lymph nodes in the central compartments. The number of dissected lymph nodes for each dissection ranged 2 - 13 nodes, with an average of 5.7 nodes. A total of 159 positive lymph nodes were found in the 59 cases, with an average of 2.7 positive nodes in each case. Four of 6 patients who underwent initial CND in other hospitals were found with residual positive nodes in the central apartments. The incidence of postoperative complications for the salvage CND was 10.6% (9/85), of them 5 cases with hoarseness, 2 cases with transient hypoparathyroidism, 1 case with postoperative bleeding, and 1 case with subplatysmal effusion. The median of follow-up after salvage CND was 44 months (3 - 5 years), showing contralateral central recurrence in 1 case, lateral neck recurrence in 4 cases, lung metastasis in 1 case, and no death case. CONCLUSIONS: Salvage CND should be done for those patients without undergoing initial CND but with positive nodes found after thyroidectomy or the high risks (T3, T4, extra thyroid extension, residual in primary site, and vascular or lymphatic vessel invasion); and also for those patients with initial CND but insufficient extent.

[Selective neck dissection in clinical node positive low risk papillary thyroid cancer patients].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the improvement of modified radical neck dissection in clinical node positive (cN(+)) low risk papillary thyroid cancer patients. METHODS: Seventy-one cases of papillary thyroid cancer with cN(+) underwent selective neck dissection (IIa, III, IV) from 2007 to 2010 were reviewed, including 10 men and 61 women. All patients were at stage I, including 15 T1, 46 T2, 10 T3. Twenty-six patients were found Positive nodes were found by palpation in 26 cases and by ultrasonagraphy in 45 cases. RESULTS: Cervical lymph node metastasis were confirmed pathologically in 63 cases, with metastatic rate of 88.7%; 100% in cN(+) cases by palpation and 82.2% in cN(+) cases by ultrasonagraphy, respectively. Metastatic nodes existed in one level in 13 cases, two levels in 31 cases, and three levels in 19 cases. Recurrence occurred to 4 patients during follow up, with a recurrent rate of 5.6%, and 2 cases of them were found recurrence in the anterior part of Vb, 2 cases in the carotid sheath. CONCLUSION: Selective neck dissection (IIa, III, IV) is acceptable for cN(+) low risk papillary thyroid cancer patients, which can decrease complications in neck and shoulder greatly.

[The analysis of human papillomavirus infection in lip squamous cell carcinoma patients].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the infection of human papillomavirus in lip squamous cell carcinoma patients. METHODS: The pathological samples of 9 clinical diagnosed lip cancer patients were collected. Lunimex and PCR techniques were used to detect the HPV gene infection and immunohistochemistry method was used to analyze the HPV protein expression in the samples. RESULTS: In the 9 cases, 1 was positive for HPV16 gene and 7 were positive for HPV16/18 E6 protein expression. The total positive rate was about 8/9. CONCLUSION: The high HPV infection rate in lip cancer patients in the study indicated indirectly that the importance of the direct contact to the infection of HPV what was the basis for pathogenesis of the lip squamous cell carcinoma.