Protein tyrosine kinase regulates α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor trafficking induced by acute hypoxia in cultured brainstem neurons.

This study was performed to investigate the modulation effect of protein tyrosine kinase on postsynaptic a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor trafficking induced by acute hypoxia in cultured brainstem neurons. The cultured neurons were exposed to 1% O2 and the expression of AMPA receptor subunit GluR2 on the cell surface was significantly increased, while total GluR2 was not markedly changed. Furthermore, the hypoxia-induced increase in GluR2 expression on the cell surface was partially blocked by the protein tyrosine kinase membrane-permeable inhibitor genistein. In contrast, both the protein tyrosine kinase agonist nerve growth factor and protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitor vanadate promoted the hypoxia-induced increase of GluR2 expression on cell surface. Moreover, GluR2 could be phosphorylated by tyrosine under normoxia and hypoxia conditions in vitro on brainstem neurons, and tyrosine phosphorylation of GluR2 was significantly stronger under hypoxia conditions. Our results indicate that acute hypoxia induces the AMPA receptor subunit GluR2 to rapidly migrate to the cell membrane to modify the strength of the synapse. This study indicates that tyrosine phosphorylation of the receptor is an important pathway regulating the rapid migration of GluR2 in the postsynaptic domain induced by hypoxia.

Gene diagnosis of micrometastases in regional lymph nodes of patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer: impact on staging and prognosis.

PURPOSE: The long-term survival of patients with completely resected stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not optimal because of undetected lymph node micrometastasis at the time of surgery. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of survivin and livin mRNA expression in histopathologically negative lymph nodes of stage I NSCLC patients as markers of micrometastasis. METHODS: Clinical data and tissue samples of primary tumor and lymph nodes were collected from 44 patients with stage I NSCLC. Reverse-transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) was used to detect survivin and livin mRNA expression in these tumor and lymph node samples. RESULTS: Survivin mRNA was detected in all tumors, and livin mRNA was detectable in 39 of the 44 primary tumors. The cut-off values of survivin and livin mRNA levels for diagnosing micrometastasis in lymph nodes were set up according to the expression of survivin and livin mRNA in control lymph nodes. Fifteen (34.1 %) of 44 stage I NSCCL patients had micrometastasis in lymph nodes by survivin and/or livin mRNA positive expression. Survival analysis showed higher rate of cancer recurrences and tumor-related death in patients with lymph node micrometastasis (P < 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively). Tumor-free survival and overall survival were significantly worse in patients with lymph node micrometastasis compared with those without such micrometastasis (P = 0.007 and P = 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSION: RT-RCR assay for survivin and livin mRNA can be considered as useful diagnostic tool for the detection of lymph node micrometastasis for stage I NSCLC patients.